IVF #5

As my faith continues to mature, I have come to understand that God uses us in many different ways to help others. I have discovered that after battling kidney disease, 3 IUIs, 4 fresh IVF cycles, 2 frozen transfers, and a couple miscarriages, the responsibility given to me from God is to help provide hope to the hopeless. It is with this honor that I am choosing to document my next fresh IVF cycle from start to finish in hopes that someone will be motivated and comforted by my story. I am 36 years old living with FSG (Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis), a fairly rare kidney disease for white females. I was diagnosed at age 20 while playing college soccer at Georgia State University. My prognosis is good as I've been in remission for a few years now. While I'll never be completely cured, my medications keep me stable and as a result I have not had to pursue a transplant. Backing up about 9 years ago, Chad and I decided that at age 27, we'd like to start our family. We tried unsuccessfully for 4 years. We did IUIs, Clomid, 3 IVFs, and spent thousands of dollars with only a few chemical pregnancies to show. We decided that it was time to try something new, so in 2010, we visited RBA. We were introduced to the AACEP Protocol with Follisitim and Menopur. Fortunately, this was the right choice and 34wks later, Myer was born. Of course, I endured countless shots, procedures, doctor visits, and eventually preeclampsia, but in the end it was worth it for my son to be here with us today. Some my think I'm nuts for putting my body through anymore, but the love of a child is so great and with God on my side, I know we are doing the right thing. Before going to this next round of IVF, we did attempt two frozen transfers with embryos left over from Myer's cycle, but one ended in a miscarriage at 6wks and the other never took. To start from scratch was devastating so we took some time off and thought maybe we could conceive a sibling for Myer on our own. Obviously, that didn't work out for us since the title of my post is IVF #5. However, I will say that I have read a lot of stories where natural conception takes place for so many after success with IVF. This just wasn't the path paved for us. There was a silver lining though that presented itself around October 2014 when my company switched insurance programs and infertility was finally going to be covered. We decided at that time, that we would wait til Jan. 2015 when the insurance coverage kicked in to try for baby #2. Now on January 21, 2015, I am excited to report that we have officially begun our 5th fresh and last IVF process to work on completing our family. The meds, procedures, and doctors are what help me prepare my body, but it is my faith in God that I know we will have what we need in the end. It is a long process, but my goal is to document it along the way, so that someone reading this that is scared, nervous, or contemplating their choices, can reach out to me for help. So, on day 1 of this process, I have started my first birth control pill. I will take these til Feb. 10. Lupron shots will be added during this time starting on Feb. 4-13. From there, I will start another injection called Ganirelix on Feb.14-16. That is phase I, the easier segment, of this cycle. Stay tuned for Phase II to begin shortly after mid Feb. All in all this entire process will take around 60 days, so I've got a lot of posts coming! Thanks for checking in and if you know of anyone that is going through or considering assisted reproductive technology, please feel free to pass along my blog address or facebook page. Until next time.... Jill