Well, after lots of indecisiveness on my part, we finally decided to go ahead with the
IUI this cycle. I tried to talk Chris into waiting until June (I think mostly just cold feet about the whole thing....and being afraid of how let down I would be if it doesn't work). Chris finally said he didn't mind if we waited but I knew he really wanted to go ahead with it now. So I caved. I got brave about it and decided that it was worth the risk. I went in Tuesday for an ultrasound to measure my uterus and ovaries. And started the medications that night (
Femara, a pill that I've been on before to lengthen my
luteal phase and
Menopur, an injection that will make me produce more eggs). So our nightly routine is for Chris to draw out 1cc of water, inject into the bottle of powdered
menopur, swirl it around, pull it all back out, switch to a smaller needle, and give me a shot in my stomach (he's getting pretty good at it and I'm doing much better! It doesn't hurt bad at all, I'm just a WIMP) then I take 3
Femara pills. I'm on the
Femara for 5 days total. And I take the
Menopur until the
dr tells me to stop. I go back on Tuesday for an ultrasound (to see how many follicles I have and to measure them) and
bloodwork and they will tell me to either stop the
Menopur and give myself an
HCG injection to make me ovulate or they will tell me to give myself shots for X amount of days then I'll come back for another u/s and b/w and we'll go from there. After I have the
HCG trigger shot, I will ovulate and come in for the
IUI, where they will inject Chris' sperm into my uterus. I'm impressed with anyone who got through that all!
The nurse said that I have about a 25-30% chance that it will work. At first blush, I know that doesn't sound that great. But the average couple has about a 20% chance each month so it's a little better than a normal,
unmedicated cycle. I do have a chance of multiples, but not a high chance. On paper, it says a 30% chance of multiples (with about 25% of that being twins) but the nurse said they only have about 2-3 cases of twins per year with this procedure (which to be honest, I was a little disappointed about...yes, I'm crazy and would LOVE twins). They want me to produce 2-3 eggs. The nurse also told us that with my age and our situation (no known factors...unexplained infertility) that we would have about a 70% chance of success with one
IVF cycle. That really made me feel better. I am trying to tell myself that it WILL work. I am not even thinking about the "if it doesn't" right now. It does me absolutely NO good at all. I am telling myself "it IS going to work"...."all this money is going to be
SOOO worth it"...."our prayers are finally going to be answered." Otherwise, I don't think I could mentally take all of this right now.
I am so thankful for everyone that has been truly there for me. If I were not surrounded by those that have been so caring, understanding, and supportive I don't know how I would have gotten through the past 19 months of trying. Thank you for the e-mails,
phone calls, and genuine support. Those are the people I have to surround myself with. I love you guys!
