I haven't explicitly talked about trying to have a baby and thought about keeping it that way but at this point I figured I can use all the positive thoughts I can get. The process hasn't been easy so far and I don't think it is going to be easy in the near future either.
My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for almost the last 2 years without any success. I was 32 when we started trying so not young but also not old by any stretch of the imagination. What has thrown a wrench in that not being old theory is the fact that my mom, aunt and my grandmother were all in menopause by their early to mid 40's. None of them went into menopause early enough for it to be classified as "early menopause" but they are definitely on the earlier side of normal.
After trying for a year with no pregnancy we went to the doctor where they ran about a million tests. They took so much blood I felt like I was feeding a vampire. Most of my tests came back fine but a couple of the tests indicated that despite being 33 at that time my ovaries were closer to menopause that they would like.
Since my body was acting a little older than I actually I am they recommended that we try to do an IUI. I am going to write a whole separate post on my IUI experience but after doing 6 IUIs I am still not pregnant. If you are not pregnant after 6 there isn't a very good chance of you getting pregnant with an IUI so that brings us to where we are today.
After more tests (so much blood) and doctor appointments and training videos and a whole host of other prep work we started our first IVF cycle this past week.
Now the start of my IVF cycle is actually anti-climatic in terms of actually doing much because the first week or so of the cycle is taking birth control pills to suppress and level out my natural hormones.
The real stuff begins this week with two doctors appointments and another training. I am a little over a week away from beginning daily shots which I am not looking forward to but am trying to tell myself will be no big deal. With my IUI I had to give myself shots but only one a day. With IVF I am giving myself anywhere between 2 and 4 shots a day.
At the end of the cycle they will go in and harvest all the eggs they have been trying to grow inside of me, fertilized them and then hope they into healthy embryos to be frozen. Since I am not getting any younger and we would both like to have more than one child my husband and I have decided our plan is to do three harvest cycles before we implant any of the embryos in me. It is looking like it will be near the end of the year at the absolute earliest that I could be pregnant so we still have while to go before we see that positive pregnancy test we have been hoping for.
As we go through all of this I am going to try and write down my thoughts here not only for myself to look back on but hopefully someone else reading this can see that they are not the only one who has to go to great measures to have a baby.
In the meantime happy thoughts, prayers and any advice are welcome.
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