Started Stims

I started this whole crazy process last night.
300 units of Follistim (easy, this is what I was on last time) and
150 IU of Repronex (OUCH- I have a huge red welt on my stomach from this)-- not looking forward to 10 days of this.
Maybe I will stim fast and I won't have to do it for 10 days.

Gotta keep my eye on the prize.

Let the games begin

So I took my last BCP last night and go to the Dr. tomorrow for b/w and u/s. They will give me the injectible schedule at that point.

I am glad to be off the pill, I think it has made me really emotional. I felt depressed almost yesterday and again today. Has to be the pill.

I am sure the huge doses of hormones that I am about to inject myself with are not going to help with the emotions. But I just have to get through the next few weeks and will hopefully be pregnant. Gotta keep my eye on the prize!!

We had our IVF orientation at the hospital last night. Some of the questions people asked amazed me. I don't know how people got this far into IVF without knowing that information. I feel very well informed, but I do alot of research on it- I guess some people don't-

Anyway more news tomorrow after the Dr. appt. Ready to get this ball rollin!!

More good news

What a great week this has been!! First we get approved to go ahead and to IVF and then today DH just got a pretty significant raise and he got promoted to manager.

He does leasing for an oil and gas company-- well today two different managers asked that he be moved over to their team because he was such an asset.

The main manager decided since he was so "sought after" that he should get a promotion so he got promoted to manager. He has his own crew that will work under him now.

This is amazing since he has only been doing this for 1 year. Just proves that hard work DOES pay off!

We have had such a good week this week, I hope the good news continues to roll in!!

Wow- starting IVF

I can't believe this!! Monday when AF showed I got a call from my insurance that I did not have to do another IUI cycle- I could move on to IVF if I wanted to.

So I called Jason to make sure that we had the money at the moment to cover the medicine. He said "Call the Dr and get going- I will find the money." (very sweet)

Anyway I called the RE to see if I could start this cycle and he said yes-

So I have started BCP, will be on them for 10 days. Go in for u/s on Jan. 25 and then I guess start stims at that point. Dr. said about 10 days of stims, then trigger shot. 36 hours later Egg retrieval and 5 days later transfer them back in.

He will put back in two embryos, so there is a possibility of twins-- but we will just cross that bridge when we come to it. At this point I am taking things day to day because I know once I start the stim shots it is going to fly by (until the 2ww)

OMG- I am overwhelmed!! I am very excited but nervous as well. I can't believe I have gotten to this point. I never thought this would happen, well it wouldn't have had I not checked and re-checked for the IVF coverage.

I have had a feeling all along that the second cycle with this RE will be the lucky one-and this is the second cycle. Hopefully my intuition is right!!

Ugh--BFN

This was not our lucky month. AF came today-right on time.

Onto inj/IUI cycle number two. I have sent in all of the paper work to get approved for IVF- so hopefully if this isn't our lucky cycle things will be in order and we can get started on IVF in mid-Feb.

I never in a million years would have thought I would be facing IVF in a month.
Well actually I never would be doing it had we not gotten the insurance coverage that we did- I am very lucky to have such coverage!!

Insurance calculations

Here is an example of how screwed up the whole health care/insurance industry is.

I went through and added up all of my claims on my insurance for IF related stuff.
The grand total that the insurance has been charged (or what I would have been charged had I not had insurance) is $15,188.95. WOW

The total they have actually paid (since they have agreed prices with the Dr.) is $6276.93.

That is less that half of what I would have paid had I been self pay.

I think that is so unfair. I mean the people without insurance usually can not afford insurance yet they are being charged the most for the services that they are receiving.

And another thing that really upsets me about insurance, at least here in Texas, is that none of the private policies really cover maternity. Meaning if I am self-employed and just pay my insurance privately, maternity will be MINIMALLY covered at best. Hopefully things have changed since I was looking into it 4+ years ago, but back then there was ONE company that covered maternity and that was if you had been with them a year and only up to $3000. THAT IS IT. So I guess mid-income self employed women either have to pay their own pre-natal care or they just don't get it.
We had to pay for our own care, even though we had insurance. The policy didn't cover maternity.

I don't know what the answer is to fix the problem, but something needs to be done about it. I hope whoever gets elected President will be able to, at least, get a plan started to turn this around.


I just don't understand...

Halfway through the 2WT

We are half way there. I went in this morning for Estrogen and Progesterone tests. They said they would call me if I needed to increase or decrease meds. If I heard nothing from them everything was fine.

I kinda wanted to know the numbers but I do know that they will be skewed because I am on supplements and I do know that even if they are high it doesn't mean that I am pg. So I guess it is best for me not to know- one less thing to stress about right?!?

They said to take a pg test on the 14th and call them if positive. If negative stop meds and call them on cd 1. I expected that they would want to do a beta either way, but at least this way is saving me the $30 copay I guess.

Monday is so far away...

The inlaws are coming this weekend to visit so at least it will be a busy weekend to keep my mind off of it.

Will I test before Monday?? Probably! It would be fun to tell both sets of Grandparents on Sat night when we all go out to dinner. Maybe, just maybe that will happen.

We have our fingers crossed...

Funny thought

I was just reading on an IF support group. A girl on there was asking all kinds of questions about her DH having to give a "sample". She was embarrassed and said he was embarrassed...

So the other ladies on there were giving her support and telling her it wasn't that bad and some things to bring to make it easier for him to "perform"

One of the suggestions was a LAMP in case the room didn't have soft lighting.
A lamp? Really?
Can you see a man sitting in the waiting room with a lamp?

I really got a kick out of that response. I wonder if he brought a lamp with him??!!