Killing time until IVF 5 Part A Begins!

I guess I haven’t been as good about posting on my blog as I thought I would. Oh well, better late than never.

So, I’m about to embark on ivf cycle 5 part A. Incase I haven’t explained what Mark and I are doing this time around. We will do a full stimulation ivf cycle. We will have our egg retrieval. Depending on the number of eggs that the doctor is able to get, we will use ICSI on almost of all them, save maybe 3-5 for conventional fertilization. Backup, and I’ll tell you why we are trying this. Back during our 2nd IVF cycle, we retrieved 18 eggs. The doctor thought that we should do ICSI on 9 and conventional fertilization on the other half. Well, NOTHING fertilized conventionally, so we have been doing ICSI on everything ever since. Our new doctor isn’t sure if we truly have an issue with sperm, or if IVF #2 was a fluke…so, assuming we retrieve enough eggs, we will try it again. If nothing fertilizes that way, we will definitely know that I can’t get pregnant the old fashioned way, and that IVF is our only hope.

So Part B of our 5th IVF cycle won’t be until September. After our egg retrieval, the embryologist will freeze any viable embryos on day 2 after our retrieval. Mark and I will then wait through 2 full natural cycles to make sure that all the drugs are out of my system. We are also debating about going down to Nogales, Mexico in September for a special procedure called lymphocyte immunotherapy. It helps with immunological issues, and my doctor has done studies where pregnancy rates increase after LIT in women who have had 3+ failed ivf cycles…and we clearly fit that criteria : ( If we do travel down to Mexico, I’ll definitely put the details in my blog.

I’ve been seeing an acupuncturist for the last couple of weeks. I think he’s great…and he’s only a 30 minute walk from work. Hmm, notice the sarcasm there? He’s much better than the guy I used in Haddonfield. He had the nerve to tell me that his daughter (who was 12) would never have to worry about infertility, as he was sure she’d have kids no problem. Would you really tell someone who is experiencing infertility a comment like that?? People are stupid.

One nice thing that I’ve realized over the course of my journey is that there are tons of MEs out there. Not just on the message boards that I frequent, but some of my close friends are going through the same things. It’s nice to be able to “suffer” with someone else, and when one of them has good news, it gives me hope.

So, I guess this entry is just me babbling, and once I start my extensive drugs in a few days, my blog will be more IVF intensive.