So....yeah....
Well, it seems I went and got pregnant. Who woulda thunk it?
The story goes like this. I have level 4 endometriosis. That's as bad as it can get. (Go here for more on endometriosis.) So in July 2002 I had a grapefruit sized tumor removed, along with my right tube and ovary. This was followed by a six month Lupron protocol. My left ovary was intact. However, after two HSGs, my left tube was found to be completely blocked. Which makes it kind of tough for Chris' swimmers to get to whatever eggs my poor little ovary can make. So off we go from the regular everyday gynecologist to the Reproductive Endocrinologist.
My RE is wonderful. I love him, really. I often tell Chris that he's my not-so-secret boyfriend. But it is a love-hate relationship. When they pump you full of hormones that make you crazy, make you come in for dozens of trans-vaginal ultrasounds (some while you're ON your period), and take so much blood from you that your veins collapse, you start to feel a little bit resentful. Since my remaining tube was blocked, the only avenue open to us was in vitro fertilization. We had to think about it for about six months before we decided to go ahead with it. It's exhausting, it's expensive, and there's still no guarantee that it will work. (My clinic has what is considered to be an extremely good success rate..and that's still only 50%.) So at the end of December 2004, we started the protocol for what we really wanted to be our only IVF cycle. Well, I got through all the injections and the probing. And I received a very low, but positive pregnancy test result. Unfortunately, it didn't last, and I ended up losing the pregnancy at 4 weeks. Since it was before they could verify with an ultrasound, it's what is known as a chemical pregnancy. To me, it was just a nice way of saying I lost my baby really early. Thanks, doc.
Meanwhile, right after that, we had our cat put to sleep. I was devastated, to say the least.
So we waited awhile, and looked at the finances. Insurance usually doesn't cover this. Oh, sure, our insurance will cover erectile dysfunction medication if Chris were to ever medically need it, but not infertility treatments. (Insurance companies, including the one I WORK FOR, usually say these treatments are experimental and voluntary. First of all, the first "test tube baby" is now old enough to have children of her own, and secondly, I sure as hell did not volunteer to have extremely painful and debilitating endo. I have a disease that has made me infertile. And infertility in itself is a disease. SO LET US GET TREATMENT!! Fuckers. =þ) Go here for more on this particular peeve of mine. Anyway, we were able, with some help, to scrape together enough money to have another go at it. This time, it just seemed different. Everything went a lot more smoothly. I was more calm, and knew what to expect. I have always been a rather poor responder to the protocols, but I did make more eggs this time. They all fertilized, and we had one really good embryo and two okay embryos to transfer. (We did not have any left over to freeze on either attempt.) The transfer went well, and the week I was laid up after went well. Everything went great. And we got the good news that I was pregnant, with really good numbers, which were doubling the way they should. I was released back to my regular OBGYN.
So, to finally end this horribly personal history of my woman bits, I'm in my second trimester. We had yet another ultrasound this past Wednesday where we saw the baby moving around, sucking his thumb, and we heard the heartbeat. I'm due, in terms of how big the baby is, May 13th. Time wise, it's more like May 17th. In reality, my OBGYN won't let me go that long, since, as she said, the last two weeks are just gravy, and she doesn't like to let her IVF patients go that long. If you've managed to come this far, here's a picture of our little peanut. He's sucking his thumb. (Yes, we're calling the baby a "he." That's much better than referring to the baby as in "it." Much to early to tell as of yet, but we are going to find out for certain. Wow...will he be mad if he turns out to be a girl.) Chris is being so damn mushy about it, it's making me sick. I still don't know what to think. It's still just so....abstract. I think it will be a lot more real once I actually feel the baby moving around. Just wait for the huge ass post when *that* happens.
The story goes like this. I have level 4 endometriosis. That's as bad as it can get. (Go here for more on endometriosis.) So in July 2002 I had a grapefruit sized tumor removed, along with my right tube and ovary. This was followed by a six month Lupron protocol. My left ovary was intact. However, after two HSGs, my left tube was found to be completely blocked. Which makes it kind of tough for Chris' swimmers to get to whatever eggs my poor little ovary can make. So off we go from the regular everyday gynecologist to the Reproductive Endocrinologist.
My RE is wonderful. I love him, really. I often tell Chris that he's my not-so-secret boyfriend. But it is a love-hate relationship. When they pump you full of hormones that make you crazy, make you come in for dozens of trans-vaginal ultrasounds (some while you're ON your period), and take so much blood from you that your veins collapse, you start to feel a little bit resentful. Since my remaining tube was blocked, the only avenue open to us was in vitro fertilization. We had to think about it for about six months before we decided to go ahead with it. It's exhausting, it's expensive, and there's still no guarantee that it will work. (My clinic has what is considered to be an extremely good success rate..and that's still only 50%.) So at the end of December 2004, we started the protocol for what we really wanted to be our only IVF cycle. Well, I got through all the injections and the probing. And I received a very low, but positive pregnancy test result. Unfortunately, it didn't last, and I ended up losing the pregnancy at 4 weeks. Since it was before they could verify with an ultrasound, it's what is known as a chemical pregnancy. To me, it was just a nice way of saying I lost my baby really early. Thanks, doc.
Meanwhile, right after that, we had our cat put to sleep. I was devastated, to say the least.
So we waited awhile, and looked at the finances. Insurance usually doesn't cover this. Oh, sure, our insurance will cover erectile dysfunction medication if Chris were to ever medically need it, but not infertility treatments. (Insurance companies, including the one I WORK FOR, usually say these treatments are experimental and voluntary. First of all, the first "test tube baby" is now old enough to have children of her own, and secondly, I sure as hell did not volunteer to have extremely painful and debilitating endo. I have a disease that has made me infertile. And infertility in itself is a disease. SO LET US GET TREATMENT!! Fuckers. =þ) Go here for more on this particular peeve of mine. Anyway, we were able, with some help, to scrape together enough money to have another go at it. This time, it just seemed different. Everything went a lot more smoothly. I was more calm, and knew what to expect. I have always been a rather poor responder to the protocols, but I did make more eggs this time. They all fertilized, and we had one really good embryo and two okay embryos to transfer. (We did not have any left over to freeze on either attempt.) The transfer went well, and the week I was laid up after went well. Everything went great. And we got the good news that I was pregnant, with really good numbers, which were doubling the way they should. I was released back to my regular OBGYN.
So, to finally end this horribly personal history of my woman bits, I'm in my second trimester. We had yet another ultrasound this past Wednesday where we saw the baby moving around, sucking his thumb, and we heard the heartbeat. I'm due, in terms of how big the baby is, May 13th. Time wise, it's more like May 17th. In reality, my OBGYN won't let me go that long, since, as she said, the last two weeks are just gravy, and she doesn't like to let her IVF patients go that long. If you've managed to come this far, here's a picture of our little peanut. He's sucking his thumb. (Yes, we're calling the baby a "he." That's much better than referring to the baby as in "it." Much to early to tell as of yet, but we are going to find out for certain. Wow...will he be mad if he turns out to be a girl.) Chris is being so damn mushy about it, it's making me sick. I still don't know what to think. It's still just so....abstract. I think it will be a lot more real once I actually feel the baby moving around. Just wait for the huge ass post when *that* happens.