The Big Leagues

So do you want the good news or the bad news?  Bad first?  OK our IUI was a flop.  Took a test this morning first thing and it was negative.  Have I told y'all how much I *hate* taking pregnancy tests?  Like seriously hate them.  But we have to take them when doing an IUI.  I just stared at my alarm clock after it went off this morning and then prayed, prayed, prayed - not for a positive result (OK maybe I mentioned that), but for total peace with however many lines we got.  I checked my temperature... still up, so that was a good sign.  But sure enough, only one line on the pee stick.

 

This was our last IUI attempt, so the good news is, we're now moving on to the big leagues!  We had already done our IVF consult months and months ago.  So we have our protocol laid out and I called the doctor's office today to let them know I got a BFN on my HPT after my IUI, so let's do IVF.  Haha, I just felt like making your head spin with lots of acronyms.  Infertility world is full of 'em!  I seriously have to remind myself to spell things out for you damn fertiles.  So anyway, we're trying to get all our ducks in a row - today has been crazy!  I've been on and off the phone with RBA all day figuring out how to get my meds and also trying to figure out the $$ end.  I had my mom calling too, so I haven't gotten much work done today - ha.  Went ahead and did my initial bloodwork this afternoon, so now we're trying to digest all of this information and figure out if it makes sense to move forward immediately or to sit out this next cycle and hit the following one.  I think we just need the weekend to absorb it all and figure things out.  We're eager to move forward but of course don't want to rush anything we don't have to!

 

So yes, while getting a big fat *NO* on the pregnancy test was a bummer, all this IVF madness has me well distracted and excited to move forward.  I'll of course keep y'all updated and let you know the ins and outs!

 

OK and just so my bases are covered (and because someone asked me the other night to explain), here's a quick explanation of IUI vs. IVF for those who may not know.  I forget that not everyone lives in my world, gawh...  IUI is basically the "turkey baster" method... artificial sex on steroids.  Sex with a catheter... in stirrups.  Highly romantic!  Generally, they put you on Clomid or some other drug to stimulate your ovaries and when the time comes, your man does his thing in a plastic cup.  They take his sample, concentrate and turn it into *super sperm* and then use a catheter to insert the goods directly through your cervix.  Again, textbook definitions here.

 

IVF involves a lot MORE drugs so that you make tons of eggies.  Then they go in surgically and extract those eggs, once mature.  Meanwhile, the hub does his thing in a cup again.  The eggs and sperm all party in a petri dish.  Some hopefully will fertilize on their own, but they'll also force some to, if need be.  A few days later, the fertilized eggs (probably 2) will be inserted through a catheter back to the uterus. 

 

I think I need a glass of wine.