Baby update March 16, 2019

I had two baby related appointments this week. The first was regarding the IVF trial. It was on Tuesday. It was about 30 minute consult. The second was a psych screening.

IVF Appointment:

The IVF trial is for a company that is developing their own fsh shot. It is already used in Europe and Canada, so that makes me comfortable with it. I would give myself the fsh injection every day in the tummy, this would trick my ovaries into producing more eggs. The eggs would be collected and fertilized with the Champion sperm. This would create embryos. After five days the very best embryo would be put into uterus. The remaining embryos would be frozen. 

This all sounds like pretty typical IVF treatment, so no problems there for me. The cost is about $900 and the embryos would be frozen no cost. Since this is a study about 10% of ladies will receive placebo drugs. The placebo would be water. So at that time when they retrieve the eggs there will not be a bunch of eggs to retrieve. If a lady does receive the placebo then the company will pay for regular IVF later.

I would be a good candidate, except for 1 issue. I need to try to get pregnant by other means for two cycles first to show I have infertility issues. So, if I am not pregnant with IUI this cycle or the next I could qualify, but the study might be full then. However, the clinic might have another study in October, with a different company/situation. Hopefully, I will be pregnant after my first cycle, but if I do have trouble IVF does look like it could be an option for me.

Psych Screening:

The psych screening was on Wednesday. It was with Angela Bowers. I had to drive 45 minutes to get there, but really that's not a lot for a single appointment which will help me become a mom.

The office was in a building with a courtyard with an adorable water feature. Inside the office it was a little new-age medicine for me. They had hindu statues, and mediation books. This wouldn't affect their ability to determine if I would be a good mom. 

I spoke with Angela for about thirty minutes. It was while I was speaking with her that I realized how much thought I have put in to this adventure. Every question she asked, childcare, support system and financials I had an answer. I didn't even need to think. I already knew the answers. 

After speaking with Angela, I took an assessment on a computer. The questions were about drug use, drinking, mood, and behavior. I answered false, slightly true, mostly true, very true and ?. I'm not sure about how accurate someone can be with words like slightly and mostly, but I answered nonetheless. There was one question at the end that said: "Does your drug use affect your friends and family." I couldn't say false because did that mean I was admitting to drug use. I couldn't say true because then I would be admitting that my drug use causes a problem. So, I answered ?. 

Other than those appointments, I gathered my prescriptions and have me schedule set out ready for me to start. There is really any steps next week. So I think I will do a blog post about names or my thoughts on girls vs boys.  

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.

This Baby Adventure

February 16, 2019 - Decision

It's been a while. Since the journey, I haven't taken any major trips. The only new place I traveled to was Charlotte, for a wedding. I really enjoyed the trip. However, I didn't journal it like I normally do.

In the last few years, I have started planning for a new adventure. That adventure is to be a mom. I always wanted to be a mom, but I haven't found a significant other.

When I turned thirty, I realized that I might only have another ten years where I could have children of my own. I have been no stranger to dating apps before, but never with the goal that I was looking for someone to settle down with. However, in the last few years, I have chatted with many people, met with some of those people, and dated a few, but everyone ended eventually. I was cautious about settling with someone in order to have children. I knew I needed to find someone that I was compatible with foremost.

On the Fourth of July weekend in 2017, I visited Grandma's Cabin with Aunt Karen, uncle, G'ma and cousins. It was a pretty quiet occasion because there were so few of use. During an evening HOSA  event Aunt Karen asked why I couldn't use IVF.

The thought of using IVF had not occurred to me before. I only knew one person who talked about IVF at a personal level. Her husband's vasectomy reversal had not worked and they discussed using IVF. However, they decided that it was too expensive. Believing the process to be expensive, I told my aunt that it was expensive so that's why I couldn't use it.

However, after that trip I began looking into IVF and other fertility treatments. I came to realize that IVF can be expensive, but if I didn't have fertility issues that it wasn't necessary to use IVF. Instead I could use IUI or ICI. ICI can be performed at home so the cost is greatly reduced.

Having this in mind, I began to plan. I would wait until I was 35 to see if I met someone.

Additionally, I started saving. As you might know, I review all of my financial accounts at least once a year, usually around tax season, just in case I need to re-balance. I spend a lot of time using spreadsheets to predict future value of money and I also plan out my financial goals. I realized one year, maybe 2016 or 2017 that in almost every scenario I would be able to retire by 65 without contributing another penny to retirement. In the other scenarios, I would only need to contribute $50 every month or wait to 67 to retire. In 2018, I realized that if I continued to save the same amount of money that I would reach financial independence and could retire at 55. After a decade of listening to financial gurus and a lifetime of learning finance advice from my father, I realized that all the saving I did in my teens and 20's had given me the ability to choose to be a mom on my own.

So, last year I started to contribute more money towards my Health Savings account and less money to my retirement account. I know that having a baby will be a large medical cost.

Additionally, in 2018 I went to a fertility center for a consult. I wanted to learn how many eggs I had and how long I would be fertile. The doctor was a nice older man, maybe in 50's. He explained all of the procedures and about each hormone that would be tested to determine fertile. After getting the blood work in, I met with the doctor again. He said that I would be fertile for 5-6 years and maybe up to 8 years. My FSH and LH levels were ok, but they inverted. He said that would be an easy fix when I was ready. He also said that waiting a year would be fine.

Now my original plan was to wait until I was 35, however I have had a few friends and family members around my age that have had troubled pregnancies. I also learned that if you are going to give birth after 35 then it is considered a geriatric pregnancy, at best that means you will be monitored more often and you will have more ultrasounds. It still concerns me however. Also, I would like to give myself the option of a second child in the future. So, now the aim is to have had the baby before I am 35. That will be before May of 2020. So I will need to be pregnant by July 2019 or August 2019.

So this year I have been preparing for that.

When I first did the research about IUI and IVF, I learned about the different cryobanks. I liked California Cryobank and Seattle Sperm Bank. The doctor I visited gave me a list of 6 banks that had the best success rates. Both of the ones I liked were on it, and I learned about a few more. I finally decided on Seattle Sperm Bank. I have also narrowed down the donors. There are two that I really like, but I haven't decided between those two. This is a common practice of mine. I narrow down to two options and once it is time to decide then I go with my gut, which is how I decided on Seattle Sperm Bank.

I already missed my ovulation for February, and I know the fertility center will need at least one cycle to get new blood work and results. So, I think the earliest I could start would be April, but if I need to do hormone treatments it might be May. Since May is my birthday month, that seems cute to me. The majority of people (who do not have fertility issue) will get pregnant within three cycles. So, if I start in May my third cycle will be in July, so that will be within my goal time-frame.

I am hoping to share my adventure in this blog for a while. However, I am not attempting to turn this into a mommy blog.