Drinking from a fire hose

 May 21. 2021 is when this journey into the land of IVF really began.  It was my first doctors appointment, I was anxious and nervous not knowing what to expect, however I was so grateful to have the same doctor I used with Jack!  Dr. Thomas is so sweet and has been through IVF herself, so she really understands what her patients are going through!

I was called back for my blood draw first, to my surprise this went well…usually it takes a couple times or fishing the need around under the skin before finding a vein.  This was a welcomed change, maybe a sign of good things to come!  

The nurse sent me from blood draw straight to sonogram.  During the sonogram Dr. Thomas checked to see if there was anything abnormal on my uterus or ovaries, everything looked great.  Then she counted the follicles on each ovary: 11 on the left, 7 on the right.  Of course during a typical cycle usually only one follicle matures, but during IVF they stimulate more follicles to mature in one cycle with medication. It’s not uncommon to see 18 or more follicles mature in one round.

I waited for about a week for my blood test results to come back.  Everything was in the normal range. A couple pieces of information that are important for IVF:

-My vitamin D level was almost 40 which is in the high end of the normal range, but apparently most women are deficient in vitamin D. These levels are also predictive for implantation. Low levels of Vitamin D in pregnancy are associated with pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and other complications with the baby. No vitamin D supplements for me!

-My AMH level was 2.5, you want this to be above 1.  These levels just tell you how many potential egg cells you have left.  I’m still not 100% sure I understand AMH, but my level is okay, so I’ll take it.

A few days after this follow up call, I spoke to the IVF coordinator for my clinic. I am sure they are supposed to take about getting everything started and creating a calendar of appointments and medication timing.  I honestly only remember one thing from our whole conversation: your medication will likely cost between $3000 and $5000!!!!

I’m the state of Texas insurance doesn’t cover any infertility treatment costs, so everything is out of pocket.  This is not the case for every state.  I’m fact most company insurance plans don’t include this coverage either.  The cost for IVF in the US is so expensive, a lot of people choose to take vacations to Greece or other countries to do their treatment there because the cost of treatment and travel is less expensive than treatment here!  Mind blowing!

After these initial appointments and conversations, I realized how important it would be for me to have someone in my corner for support through this process.  I was in over my head.  All of this was new to me and it was like drinking from a fire hose.  So, I got a coach that is a RN and has worked in this field for over a decade.  She has helped every step of the way!  She even coordinated with my clinic and the pharmacy to have medication delivered to my house! 

Check out the photo below to see how much medication this process requires!  This is only medication for egg retrieval and does not include what’s required for embryo transfer.  

Have I mentioned that I didn’t use ANY medication when I got pregnant with Jack?!?  I’ll share this story with you guys next time!