IVF Class

We had IVF Class yesterday! There were 6 other couples in our class and basically it was a Powerpoint presentation about IVF/Infertility and then a discussion of how to do the injections. So, for anyone who wants to know, here is how IVF works...

The first day of my next cycle I will start Desogen - a birth control pill and a low-dose aspirin daily. Before starting Lupron (which I'll talk about in just a minute) I will take a weeks worth of antibiotics (Doxycycline and Metronidazole twice a day) and Jeremy will take Augmentin twice daily for a week. This will clear up any infections we don't know about and protect against any possible infections (from the procedures or that we might develop otherwise). Then after I finish my Desogen (how long I take that is decided my the Dr.) I will have a baseling ultrasound.

Then I start taking Lupron injections every evening to "quiet" my ovaries which prevents the spontaneous release of eggs prior to retreival.

Next I start Follistim injections in the mornings and Repronex injections in the evening (in addition to the Lupron) to stimulate the ovaries to produce several eggs in one cycle. During the stimulations injections (stims) I will have multiple ultrasounds to monitor how many eggs are developing and their size.

Once, there are the appropriate number and size of eggs, I take two injections of Ovidrel to mature the eggs. Then 35 hours later we'll have our retreival!

So the retreival is done in the fertility docs office under light sedation (Fentanyl and Versed). They use an ultrasound guided needle to "suck" out the eggs :) Then they fertilize them that day. They grow for 3-5 days and then we go in for our embryo transfer. Then we wait...

After the embryos are transferred, we have to wait 12 days to have a pregnancy test to see if all of the above worked. I think that's going to be the worst part since I am so impatient ;)

Last night I was feeling pretty overwhelmed but I am doing better today and just telling myself not to worry about what I can't control. There are so many things that have to go right it is so hard to imagine that this could work but I want to stay positive so I am just trying to take it one step at a time.

Oh, and after the transfer, I have to do Progesterone injections which are IM and have to be given in my butt - Jeremy is excited he gets to do that one since I told him I was doing all the shots ;-)

Thanks for reading!

~R