Sorry! Here's the info!

Thank you to all of you who emailed me during the day saying "Checked your blog. There's no news, so how did it go." The appointment ran until about 12:30 meaning I had to go right to RLS with no time for an update. I knew I was in trouble when I got home to hear Kristi on my answering machine saying, "Wendi, update your blog, or call me!" Okay, okay. Sorry! Here is the update:

1st Appointment: Our first appointment was with the nurse who gave me the whole schedule. Unfortunately we did not get an earlier stim date but after she told me that there are 400 (YES! FOUR HUNDRED) women on the waiting list, I decided I should not complain. So here are how the dates will work:

• February 14th-April 16th Birth control pills (no placebo pills)
• April 17th Begin shots of lupron (to shut down my ovaries)
• April 26 Go in for ultrasound and blood test to determine if ovaries are ready to go
• April 28 Begin stimulation medication if all is well. These are 2 shots a day and will continue mixed with ultrasounds until they believe I am ready. (At least 6 days)
• May 5 (approximately) take shot to release eggs (called HCG).
• 36 hours after shot, go in for surgery called "retrieval"
• 3 days after surgery, return for "transfer"
• Begin taking shots of Progesterone. These are the killer shots! They will last for 10 weeks if I am pregnant, 2 weeks if I am not.
• 12 days after transfer, blood test to see if I am pregnant.
• If I am pregnant, return for blood test two days later to recheck.
• If still pregnant, return 3 weeks later for ultrasound to determine number of children.
• If I am not pregnant, wait 1-2 months, and return for frozen embryos.

After we discussed all this she quickly talked about the shots with JB. He's not worried about that at all.

2nd Appointment: Financial breakdown with bookkeeper. Actually IVF isn't quite as expensive as we had initially thought. It looks like it will be between $5,000-$8,000. Each subsequent return for frozen embryos will cost about $1,500

3rd Appointment: Psychiatrist. This was actually much more helpful than I initially thought it would be. Prior to this appointment we answer a ton of questions and then she went over our emotional states with us. Not surprisingly, John's emotional state was, "John, does anything bother you?" We spent a lot more time on me. Basically though, she said I am doing very well and that my main area of focus was getting past reminders (i.e. pregnant bellies, baby showers, mother's day, the mall, etc.) without letting them affect my mood. She gave me some great CD's to help with my thinking. As my dad always says: avoid "Stinkin' thinkin'."

4th Appointment: Dr. Coddington. He is wonderful! He honestly reminds me of what John's dad would be like if he were an RE. Just so caring and thoughtful and compassionate. A real joy. Anyways, with Dr. Coddington, we answered the tough questions, primarily, how many embryos we will have them attempt to fertilize. Our number is 14. No matter how many eggs they get that day, we will only have them fertilize 14 (There's a whole formular for that -- I could dedicate a whole blog to this but I will spare you). We also went over my "Advanced Directives" with him which basically state that if I die, John can have my eggs and if we both die, my brother Keith gets them (to be responsible for donating them to another couple.) Without these directives, all embryos are destroyed or used for research. We also decided that if John dies, I get to keep the eggs. If we get into an argument we can't get past, I get to make the decision, and if we divorce or separate, I get to keep them. Either way, I feel like a winner!

We also spent a lot of time talking about exercise. His feeling is that until IVF is over, I should limit myself to walking or swimming and not "raising my core body temperature". His word was "Chill!" to which John said "Geez it takes an MD after your name to get her to listen." He has said "Chill" quite a bit, but okay Dr. Coddington, walking or pool. Got it! John laid it on thick telling me if I went to the gym and ran, he would be MAD, so now I feel very stuck into being hard on myself with limiting exercise.

5th Appointment: Signing off on allowing them to use any extra "materials" (anything other than embryos -- extra eggs or sperm etc.) for research which we agreed to.

Okay, so that sums everything up. Maybe tomorrow I will write down more of how I feel about all this but right now, JB and I are getting ready for a nice Valentine's Day dinner and dessert! Overall, however, I should tell you that I couldn't sleep last night and I was doing my usual "Ssssh, John, quit trying to distract me" in the waiting room as I dealt with my nerves. However, by the time we got started, well, it must have been everyone who was praying for us, because I was just filled with so much peace, even about the dates. We are ready to move forward and feel comfortable with every single thing in this process. The nurses and doctor are wonderful and excited that I am one of the 12 women who will get to do IVF in May. So am I. It could actually fall that we get our results close to my birthday. Anyways, thank you for your prayers. We are "ready to get this PARTY STARTED!"