Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Clinic + Me = BFF

I love my IVF clinic. Our friendship was rocky at first, but now we are BFF's. You see, when I started this whole fertility treatment thing I just went with my OB/Gyn. He has a specialty in fertility and they even do IUI's, but I wouldn't need that anyway because a few months on Clomid and I will be pregnant. Well, I was kind of right, I did get pg on my third round of Clomid but miscarried shortly there after. I stuck with them through 4 or so IUI's - 3 with injectable meds, but nothing happened. One of the CNP's then suggest that I get the ball going on IVF and since she used to work for a IVF clinic she thought that we could ease into it by having my DH get the ART SA. Little did we know that would change things, a lot. The SA came back with 1 - 2% morphology using Kruegger's and low motility and viability. The nurse just kept saying, the emryologist recommends IVF w/ ICSI. That was a huge blow. It was at that moment that I lost my, "maybe next month" optimism.

I switched clinics shortly thereafter and I was not so fond of this new clinic. The receptionist didn't smile, the nurses were straight to the point, and did the dr. really know me??? I must admit that I was being a little hard since I just left what I thought was the best clinic in the world - a place where they let me have a say, didn't shun my desire to involve acupuncture, herbs and relaxation, and were friendly. The new clinic was scary and I didn't know anyone and I was there for business purposes only. It was kind of like going from jr. high to high school and I thought my fertility days would never be the same.

The first thing my new clinic did to really set me off was put me on BCP, even though we did not have anything scheduled!!! Looking back on it, I was more angry at the situation then them. My husband just started working after years pursuing his PhD and we were just starting to get established. HOW COULD WE AFFORD IVF??? The new clinic didn't pressure me to get the ball rolling, rather they humored me through all my stages of realization and were right there when I was ready to make the leap. Also, I realized that they do IVF really, really well and once you join that club you get your IVF Letter Jacket and get to play the game rather than sit on the bench.

IVF Update
Med's
200 Follistim - morning
1 pre-filled syringe ganirelix
150 Menopur - eveing

Baseline E2: 9.4
Day 4 E2: 182
Day 6 E2: 714
Day 6 Follies: 12 total - 6 on each ovary - all about same size
Day 9 Follies: 9 on right and 7 on left - largest is at 15 and smallest at 6

I feel very different this cycle compared to last, which is good since that one resulted on zero fertilization. I go back Friday and am hoping the retrieval will be Sunday.

2 comments:

DD said...

Tell us more about your first IVF.

Follicles
ICSI/no ICSI

And what they did differently if anything with the 2nd's protocol.

Anonymous said...

I think DD subscribes to all things new :-) like this blog :D. How does she always get to be there first....:D

Welcome to the blogosphere! I'm also interested to hear more about IVF #1 and if you know why there was no fertilization.

We did 2 IVF cycles, both resulted in zero fertilization. I really really hope that you are going to be more lucky than we were. We are moving on with donor Sperm.

Good luck anyways, and as you requested, I added you to the cycles sitas! Welcome sister!