The Packet

Last Friday Matt and I received our IVF packet in the mail.  Dr Henry's nurse called a few days before and casually mentioned to me that she should be sending it.  I assumed it would include our "calendar" and maybe some info on the drugs.  I was wrong.  Reading though the pages felt like I was in high school again studying for a final exam.  Lets hope I pass this test.

Not only does the packet include our estimated IVF schedule, it also contains lab orders for both of us for an infectious disease screening, drug information and consent forms.  And that's just one side of the folder.  The other side gives a step by step reading of IVF in a nutshell; pictures, detailed info on the retrieval and then the transfer and more than 10 pages of how to administer the medication I will be taking.  My head is spinning.

This is a long process.  Mine of course, longer than most.  According to my cycle the retrieval and transfer should have been the 3rd week of July, but because they are so busy making babies at Reproductive Care of Indiana we were not able to be fit into the schedule until the 3rd week of August.  Which is fine, I guess.  I mean, I've waited this long already.  Why not wait another month? All this means is that I will be constantly taking (active only) birth control pills a little longer and that I will (yea!) not have a period next month.  

We don't make the trek to Indianapolis again until July 16th.  On that day we will be meeting with our nurse for our IVF conference.  The patient checklist states to read the packet throughly and to ask a lot of questions.  What the nurse doesn't know is that I am a list maker and a question asker.  She may loathe me in the end.  I am definitely prepared for this journey.

Day 35

Today is my cycle day 35. This may mean nothing to you, but to me it means 3 things.

The first: I finally started; not that I wanted to. I was 2 days late with no symptoms of my period on the horizon. Usually the week before I am a bitch. And that putting it kindly. This time...nothing. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that maybe, just maybe I was pregnant. Three negative pregnant tests proved me wrong.

The Second: Thursday I will start taking birth control again. It may seem like the last thing I should be doing since we have been trying to get pregnant for so long; but it is part of the IVF process.

Lastly: We are one day closer IVF and to a baby or two! Today Dr. Henry's office gave me the estimated dates for the retrieval (August 13-16) and the transfer (August 18-21). It seems like a lifetime away. But after trying for 2 1/2 years a 2 months is a piece of cake.

Please wish us luck, cross your fingers, and say a prayer.