Going historical

As promised in my virgin post, I'm going to share my IVF history with you. At least part of it for tongiht. I'll try to be brief. Could be tough.

Hubs & I tried on our own for about 1 1/2 years with no success. (Yes, I tried charting and relaxing!) I had read enough books to scare me into realizing that at 37, I may have some trouble. (Thank you TCOYF. By the way that book should be required reading in health class! Teachers are you listening?!)

The 1st step was with the OB/GYN. They sent my hub for an SA (sperm cocktail)and he whined about it. It's far easier than what the women have to go through (and downright fun by comparision,IMO) They found a small problem with his,um material. (MFI-male factor infertility) and referred us to the Reproductive Endocrinologist.

My turn next: I had the SHG and HSG. One shoots dye in your tubes, the other, water up your "lady business". My tubes are beautiful-I can show you photos if you want. However ,they found a polyp in my ute. (Not a big deal in the IF world)It was removed swiftly and we were cleared for our 1st IVF cycle.

Cycle # 1 in August 2008 ended in a chemical pregnancy and we found out that the quality of my eggs were showing their age. (37 to be exact.)

We now had a new diagnosis in addition to the MFI. AMA. (Ugh. Advance maternal age)2 strikes against us (3 if you count the fact that I have an autoimmune disease!)

Cycle #2 in October 2008 was negative. The RE told me to start thinking about donor eggs before he even transferred them back to me.(and he took bets at my transfer about how many I would put back)It was either donor eggs or move on to the Big Apple (yup,NYC)

Ginger's TIP ALERT: Sometimes the smaller clinics will suggest donor eggs before you are ready so you don't keep messing up their stats with your negative cycles. In addition to having more ideas and "tricks" the big city clinics treat almost everyone and their stats may be lower because they rarely turn people away. They see the toughest, most hopeless cases.

After cycle #2 and the news of my geriatric eggs, we decided to regroup. I'll tell you more another day.

This stuff is kind of dry so I appreciate it if you made it through this post-thanks!