IVF Consult

Yesterday was our consultation with Dr. A, our RE. Can I just say how happy I am that he is our doctor?! He is great, and I don't say that about many of my doctors. We discussed our options first. He said that we could continue trying IUI's, but that he isn't fond of that option because we have done four already without luck. He also talked about doing a laparoscopy to look for any possible endometriosis or adhesions that can happen from a previous surgery, ie: my c-section. I wasn't fond of this option because I feel it is intrusive and we might still have to do IVF on top of it. His third recommendation was moving onto IVF. We talked and asked a bunch of questions, weighed the pros and cons, looked at our finances and decided that IVF was our best option.

I will start Aygestin for a week, then Lupron to suppress my ovaries {think menopause symptoms - eek}, then add in stims after a week, trigger ovulation like I did with my IUI's and then I have an egg retrieval under a light anesthetic. The eggs will be fertilized and Dr. A watches the embryos grow until day 5 or 6, then they take some cells from those embryos and do PGS {Preimplantation Genetic Screening} on them. PGS will tell us which ones have normal chromosomes, and even the gender. That was pretty crazy to think about knowing that early on! The embyros will be frozen while we wait for the PGS results. About two weeks later, I should have a period and then start the process for a FET {Frozen Embryo Transfer} I will take estrogen to get my lining ready and then transfer the best embryo we have. Dr. A said he usually transfers just one when doing PGS. He compares an IUI success rate of 15-20% to 85% with IVF + PGS. I am just hoping that I respond well and get a good number of good quality eggs.

I am hopeful, terrified and anxious all at the same time. I think the only part I am really worried about is the retrieval because of the anesthetic. I have been under a light {twilight} anesthetic before and it didn't go well. Hopefully this time is different. And of course it is scary that this is our last chance for a biological sibling. I don't think we will do another fresh IVF, so fingers crossed for this one. It still feels so surreal to be at this point for baby #2. I would have never guessed that what worked for baby #1 wouldn't work for #2.

xoxo,

Megan