The IVF process is just that … a calculated, medicated step by step process that will hopefully give us our bundle of joy (yay!!) But even before that begins, there’s a process to get to the process! LOL. And now Laryen and I can officially say that process (the IVF process) is FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😉

But here’s what I mean:

This is the checklist of things we had to do even before the IVF started. Don’t you just love how organized my clinic is. I do!! Things like this helps me so much, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Dr. Huang explained during the IVF consult (#1 on the checklist) that it’ll take about 8 weeks total before we start IVF. My timing landed around the holidays (there’s always something isn’t there!) and we were going to be out of town anyways so we broke it up. I did a lot of IVF testing in November and then everything else happened in the past few weeks.

I know I’m going out of order here, but #6 and #7 are all the meds that I will be taking and shooting myself up with (yes I kind of feel like a druggie or a pin cushion might be a better way to explain it) #2 on the list is just blood work. They look at my hormone levels and see if I’m low, high or normal and that’s how they decide how much medicine I’ll need during my IVF cycle. Luckily my levels were GREAT so no need for extra meds! You want to know what else is cool that they can see? My egg reserve! I think that’s more important for someone who is in their late 30’s or even 40’s and going through IVF but isn’t it crazy that there is a test that can see that?! I know I keep saying this, but science is amazing!

#3 (part B specifically) was not fun. I’m not going to lie…I hope that was the most pain I’ve felt in this whole process, and I NEVER WANT TO DO IT AGAIN! The doctor needs to check your uterus to make sure there aren’t any polyps, weird things in there, etc that could hurt implantation. That was nothing…and the results were “textbook” according to Dr.Huang (another hurdle cleared!) But then came the Endometrial Biopsy … and ladies if your lady doctor ever says, ‘hey I think we need to do this,’ run like hell in the opposite direction and say no!!!! Ok, I’m really overreacting but it sucks! And the nurses and Dr. Huang said it was going to hurt so they gave me fair warning. They pretty much take a piece of your lining to test for any infectious disease. And the way they get that is by using a tube like scraper thingy that sucks a piece of your lining out and it feels just like you are probably imagining it does. But thank the Lord that came back normal too, so I never need to do that again!

#4 is more organization (yay!)

Here’s a look at my calendar for the next few weeks! The doctor and nurses have a copy so we’re all on the same page with medications, procedures, and doctors appointments. Everything can change based on how my ovaries react to the medication but right now it looks like the egg retrieval will be February 4th and they’ll put the fertilized eggs back in me 3-5 days later.

But we need to get there first! Check out this calendar I made!

Color coded and everything! (yes, I’m a dork) I’ll put all my shots, doctors appointments, procedures and other meds I need to take on this calendar. Everyone I talk to and all the blogs I read say organization during this process is key so the more organized I am, the less stressful I will feel which hopefully will mean a good IVF cycle.

#8 and #9 happened yesterday!

We learned all about my medication; where to inject them, how to mix the medicine, how much to give me every night, and what symptoms I might feel because of the meds. I’ll give most of the shots myself near my stomach area and luckily the needles aren’t too big. (until we get to the progesterone– eek!) But I really don’t care! I’d prick myself a million times if it means we get to have a little Laryen or little Lauren running around.

I also had a baseline ultrasound (#9) This is where they check to make sure you don’t have any cysts on your ovaries or anything that looks suspicious that could ruin your IVF chances. A majority of women get cysts on their ovaries from time to time but they go away. If you pump the ovaries up with hormones it could also make the cysts bigger possibly blocking the tubes or creating chaos. IVF cycles have been cancelled because of cysts — luckily another hurdle cleared! No cysts and everything looks GREAT!

So our checklist is done. And that means we’re done with our process to get to the IVF process. Oh yeah, just one more last minor detail:

I can’t believe it’s here! I know we still have a long way to go before we know if it worked or not but we are here. Step one is right around the corner.

Prayers and happy thoughts are welcome from one and all over the next month. And I just want to say thank you for all the support during this crazy time. We are so blessed beyond words to have so many wonderful people in our lives who care for us so much. Thank you isn’t enough.

Alright….let’s go turn me into a human pin cushion!