A Recap for ICLWer's

If you are participating in ICLW, welcome and thank you SO much for stopping by my blog!  Actually, even if you aren't doing ICLW, thank you for visiting as well :)

Here's a little recap about me and our story:

I am 38, have been married for 15 years, and have been TTC for 13 of those years.  We spent a long time way back when taking temps, charting, all that jazz...to no avail.  I tried expensive supplements to try to increase my fertility, but that didn't work.

We were told that it wasn't IMPOSSIBLE to get pregnant, but it was highly unlikely.  We were not able to pursue fertility treatments at that time because we just simply did not have the finances for it.  So we continued trying naturally, and basically came to the conclusion that we just weren't meant to be parents, although both Hubby and I wanted a family very much.

We have distracted ourselves over the years by coaching softball.  The girls we have coached became "our kids."  The only problem with that, is that they graduate from high school and move on.  While we keep in touch with a lot of them, it is just not the same.  We also have dedicated ourselves to being an outstanding Auntie and Uncle to our nieces and nephews, who truly are the loves of our lives.

In October of last year, I turned 37 and just 3 days after my birthday, I witnessed my youngest nephew being born.  That was the turning point.  I didn't want to end up in my 40's/50's and look back regretting that we didn't do absolutely everything we possibly could to have a baby.  So we scheduled a consultation at a fertility clinic.

At that very first appointment, we were shocked when Dr. W took me right in for my first ultrasound screening.  We thought it would just be a consultation, but were SO excited that apparently the timing was just right for her to see what she needed to see.  Wow.  We've begun.

The first thing we experienced was a cancer scare.  I had a fairly large cyst on my right ovary and I was referred to a specialist to get it checked out.  They decided it was not cancer and they would just continue monitoring it closely.  Only problem was, that cyst took up space on the ovary and didn't allow for as many eggs to grow.  That ended up being a problem because I was also diagnosed with diminished ovarian reserve.  Basically, I was pre-menopausal.  Wonderful.

The next step was to attempt an IUI, even though our chances were pretty slim.  In fact, on the day of the procedure, before I was inseminated with the turkey baster, the Dr. was upfront and told me it was unlikely to work due to the poor quality of Hubby's swimmers.  In addition to my issues, we also had a male factor to deal with as well.  She said "it only takes one though."  But we knew it wasn't going to work.

We then went through our first round of IVF.  My biggest problem through this was the injections.  I hate needles.  With a passion.  But I managed, despite the awful itching and allergic reaction my belly seemed to get each night with the Menopur.  I was only able to get 5 mature eggs, and only 3 of those fertilized.  On a Friday 2 weeks later, I got a positive pregnancy.  On that Monday, I was told I had a chemical pregnancy.  Yay me.

We attempted our 2nd round of IVF, but I did not respond to the meds and only got one follicle that was growing.  So this IVF turned into another not likely to succeed IUI.  Might as well take advantage of the one egg we DID get.  Nope.  Didn't work.

So then Hubby and I spent the summer coaching and deciding what we were going to do next.  The stim meds were costing up close to $6000 each time because I was on the max dosage, in addition to what the procedure costs.  Our insurance doesn't cover anything.  We could try it again, but was it worth the expense for such low odds of it working?  So we then started talking about using an egg donor.  The debate was do we use a known, or unknown donor.  In the end, we decided to accept the generous offer of my sister to be an egg donor.

On Friday, November 30th was her egg retrieval and we had a 3 day transfer on December 3rd.  We waited 8 days before we took our first HPT, and it was positive!  I proceeded to take 3 more tests because I had a hard time believing it was real.  On Monday this week, I went in for my beta, and we got our official "congratulations, you're pregnant!" call from Dr. W.  The 2nd beta on Wednesday confirmed that I was still pregnant.

Our first ultrasound is scheduled for December 31st.  We absolutely cannot wait!  Last night Hubby and I went through a short week by week of what to expect throughout the entire pregnancy of how my body will change and how the baby is developing each week.  It was so much fun!

Now if only I would start feeling pregnant.....I might be able to actually believe it more.  As it is, it all feels very surreal.