What Did I Get For Christmas?

That seems to be the question when I talk to people. Well, this year Dana and I decided to go all out. We spent more money on each other than we have in our entire 9 years of marriage. Our gift to each other was the opportunity to have an Earth Baby. We have officially started our IVF cycle.

To get started, we had an initial meeting on Dec. 17. On that day, we met with Dr. W who was also my doctor at Kaiser. He basically told us everything we already knew. He believes my unexplained infertility is starting to become explained. Dr. W thinks that I have diminishing ovarian reserve. In other words, I'm running out of eggs.

After meeting with Dr. W for an hour we then met with the financial advisor. The financial advisor explained when payments are due. Since we are self payers all payments are due at the time of services rendered. Dana asked if they had a coupon in the Penny Saver. Not a chance but the financial advisor got a good laugh. We left the Financial Advisor's office with our heads spinning.

Our next meeting was with the nurse. She set up an IVF calendar for us and spent the next hour explaining what everything meant. The nurse was very kind and patient with us. She took the time to answer all our questions, even the same questions we asked for the second or third time. As I mentioned above our heads were spinning from the numbers we were told so I don't think we absorbed much. After three hours we were on our way home with orders to continue to take birth control pills and 81 mg of aspirin.

I know you're probably wondering why I'm taking birth control pills if I'm trying to get pregnant. The reason for the pills is to give my ovaries a rest. It also allows the doctor to have complete control over my cycle. There is nothing natural about the IVF process. Everything is controlled by science.

A few days after our visit I got a phone call from the pharmacy regarding my medication and payment. Several medications, o.k. a lot of medication was ordered for one round of IVF. To begin my cycle I will take Doxycycline to fight off any infections I might have. By the way, Dana will be taking this too since we will be using his sperm and want him to be infection free too. The next drugs I'll take are or should I say inject will be Follistim and Menopur. Both of these are follicle stimulating hormones. If my body reacts as it should to these medications I will produce a bunch of mature eggs. Along with these I will be asked to start injecting an Antagonist. After, about nine days I will be instructed to give the next medication which is a HCG shot. This tells my body to release my eggs. Following the egg retrieval I will be instructed on the Progesterone injections and Medrol. Once the embryo transfer is complete I will begin taking Estrace. I will also be instructed to take Valium to keep my uterus calm. If all goes well I'll never have to take these meds again in my life. Now drum roll please, the grand total of my medication for ONE round of IVF is $4,994.31. Now do you understand why my head was spinning? And this is just the beginning.