IVF Cycle #1

IVF, here we come!  Several things that we didn't expect would be ready for awhile have fallen into place so we had a decision to make: Should we do a cycle before our trip to Europe in August or would it be better to wait and start everything when we get back?  It really came down to one important factor--are we ready? After a lot of praying and pondering, together we decided that we are ready to take this step and we couldn't be more grateful this opportunity is available to us.  

In order to be finished with the cycle and have plenty of time for recovery before our trip, I need to start Lupron this Sunday.  It's hard to believe we're starting so soon!  I won't have an appointment at the clinic for a couple weeks so it sounds like I will begin the shots on Sunday with a tentative retrieval date of July 11th.

Because of our need to test the embryos, we will be doing a frozen transfer.  We have not decided or even discussed when that might be, however, we are excited that we will go on our trip knowing whether or not we have any healthy embryos frozen for future use.  

For those of you that are curious and aren't as familiar with IVF, the process will go something like this: I will begin on Sunday, June 15th and the egg retrieval will be sometime around the middle of July. When the embryos are five days old, five cells from the outer layer of each embryo will be biopsied and sent to a lab in California to be tested.  Once biopsied, the embryos will be frozen at the clinic. The lab will be performing PGD and PGS.  PGD will test the embryos for SCID and PGS will test for any missing or extra chromosomes.  Every disorder can't be tested for but PGS will rule out many genetic conditions.  It will take around one week before we receive the results from the lab at which point we will know, as I said above, if we have any healthy embryos.  

I remember hearing about IVF growing up and happen to be surrounded by many friends and family members that have done IVF themselves but never imagined it was a route we would have to go ourselves.  Who does though, right?  To all of you who have any experience with IVF: We would love your input/advice/tips/tricks!  Whether it's advice for me, who will obviously be doing the cycle, or Logan, who will be my biggest supporter, we would love any words of wisdom you have to offer!

When we began the IVF process back in November, I created a draft page that I've been using as a journal so we don't forget the details.  I didn't plan on posting it until we started a cycle but the entries were all written on the date the appointment or news took place.  The entries probably won't be exciting and more than likely won't have pictures, I simply want to write down the details because I know we'll quickly forget them.  You're more than welcome to check that page out if you're interested in more frequent updates during my cycle.  I'll write a main post occasionally but will probably post a few times a week on the "IVF Journal" tab.

I've said it many times before but I'll happily say it again: Logan and I are so grateful for the endless amount of support we continue to receive.  It is so fun sharing our journey and experiences with all of you and we would appreciate your prayers for a successful cycle more than you can imagine.  Here's to our next great adventure!