Initial Doctor Visit, March 8, 2019

Luck of Irish!

I went to my first doctor visit to start my baby journey on Friday, March 8, 2019. I visited the fertility treatment center last spring, the last visit was in June. I decided to wait a year to start my fertility and baby journey.

Last year I had an internal ultrasound to start, followed by a consult regarding my options, which might be depend on my blood work. Once the blood work was in, I had a follow up consult to go over results.

The diagnosis/RX was 1. I had a regular cycle and age. That was good. The follicle count is the best measure of ovarian reserve. A normal result is 6-10, over 12 is high, my count was 24
I had 24 follicle count. So that is good.

My labs showed FSH = 5.9 and AmH = 2.2 which are both good results. My LH however is greater than my FSH which might mean that even though I have eggs they aren't ovulating correctly. It is very easy to fix and the medication will last about 11 months. It was not something to worry about until I was ready to get pregnant.

Dr. Craig estimated that I would probably be able to get pregnant naturally for about 8 more years. I believe by naturally he meant without IVF or IUI. I would still need fix my LH and FSH ratios with medication.

My thyroid levels were also a little low. Dr. Craig said it was minor enough that I didn't need to take medication, but I decided to anyway. It wasn't really a surprise since my siblings and dad have some thyroid issues. I'd rather take care of it now.

So, at this appointment we went over my results from last year. Then we went over my options.

Options:
1. Do nothing. Which is the option I took last year.
2. Do IUI - There is simple IUI and then more complex as go depending on success. For simple typical success rates is 25% of women will be pregnant after 2 cycles, after 6 it is 50% success rate. It also is the least expensive. It can be more complex by adding FSH inject and etc. The success rates of that is 50% at 3 cycles and 70% at 6. Cost is higher because there is more medication and procedures that take place.
3. Do IVF - Cost the most money. The success rates are 70% after 1 cycle and 95% after two.

Most people will do option 2 getting more complex as they go on and then go to IVF after they exhausted other options. The treatment center I go to is also a research center. They have studies and trials regularly which will cover a lot of the cost of the IVF. They will also freeze any embryos that are not used for later. I may qualify for one of the research studies. If I do I will probably accept, but meanwhile I will start the IUI process.

Plan: IUI

Step 1: Choose donor and buy vials. It is recommended that I buy IUI versus IUI-ART or ICI. I need at least 2 vials for IUI and for IVF. Since I'm not sure about the IVF I will just buy two for now.
Step 2: Have health screening for STDs, on menses. A psychological screening schedule for Wednesday March, 13.
Step 3: IUI cycle -
day 1 (about March 27th) of menses call to schedule blood work within 3 days.
days 3-7 (about March 29-April 2) I take femara, use to be clomid.
day 6-10 (about April 1-April 5) hysterosalpingogram x-ray
day 10 (about April 5) ultrasound
day depending on ultrasound tigger injection hCG
36 hours after injection IUI

Plan: IVF

Tuesday, March 12, I will meet with a research tech about the trials. After that I will know more about this plan.

Even though I have done a lot of research, watched a lot of videos, read blogs and books, I am a little whelmed by the process and the work that it takes. Sitting down with the doctor and nurse, I also felt really confident in my decision. So even though it is a little eye widening I am also getting really excited.

Tree has Sperm and Egg!

By the way I picked the champion.