IVF appointment Update

Well we had out IVF appointment today. I don't want to bore you all with the details but here is a quick summary.

Our new doctor, Dr. Coddington, is wonderful. I instantly loved him and so did Jb, much more so than our other doctor. The resident who was there has worked with Jb before. That was a little weird but it went fine.

First of all, both doctors believe I am a very good candidate for IVF. Because we have no other issues and are both at prime reproductive age, they said that that while they can't assure us success, they feel very confident in our prognosis. Many of you have asked me for stats. We asked for them too. The best they can tell me is that my chances of achieving a full-term child is about 40% each time we try and the chances are best with the first time because these embryos are fresh instead of frozen. The rates of pregnancy is higher than 40% but actually going all the way to term is 40%. Twins is very high as well, but I didn't ask for numbers on that.

They are thinking that we will actually get to do the procedure sometime in early March. That seems like a long time but there are a lot of stinkin' things we both have to do between now and then which was what my friends in Hearts like Hannah had told me. We both have to get a series of tests run to rule out a variety of STD's and other disorders, I have to have another ultrasound, some other test that I don't have a clue about, and go back on birth control pills for a few months to help get things inside of me in prime-shape. We also have to meet with a psychiatrist to determine if we are mentally able to handle this stress (we think we can fake them out :) and also meet with a financial planner, someone about my advanced directives, and also make some big decisions in regards to the embryos.

One of the things we can use the most prayer for is that it appears that I will probably produce a large number of eggs being as this was our problem before (too high a chance of multiples so they would cancel the cycle). Please pray that the Lord gives us wisdom for how many eggs we want to fertilize. If too few survive, we won't have enough for as many children (or chances) as we would like to have. If too many survive, we have already made the decision that we will donate these to a couple that cannot conceive with their own embryos. However, we would like to avoid this possibility. Anyways, this is the area that we need the most prayer in.

Right now, the schedule is to return to the doctor on January 17th to go over my test results and set up the schedule for IVF. The nurse told me she forsees a chance at conception in March. The shots will be twice a day, double the dose I did with artificial insemination.

So that's all I got. If I didn't answer your questions, feel free to post a comment or email me. We are very open about this, and I have no problems with any questions. We both feel pretty good right now, and will now just get all these other appointments done before our January 17th return.

Thanks everyone!