Our IVF Journey to G
Our story is precious to me. To think that there are men and women on this earth so talented and skilled to be able to make this happen for us, is truly amazing.
So hubby and I began trying to conceive the old fashioned way in 2013-2014. However, with his travel schedule (he works in the oil industry for 4 weeks at a time) and (what we found out later was) a low supply of eggs on my part, we just weren’t getting pregnant. I was 40 in 2014 and things still weren’t happening. I talked to my ob/gyn and got some recommendations for local IVF doctors. I vetted a few out and eventually went with Dr. Moshe Peress in Boca Raton. He and his staff are so friendly, helpful and professional.
Dr. Peress felt that due to my age and low supply of eggs that we forgo the usual drugs (Clomid, etc.) and IUI (Intrauterine Insemination) and go directly to the IVF (InVitro Fertilization) process. Thankfully my insurance through work covered all but the deductible for this entire process, otherwise the out of pocket costs would be around $18,000. This was a true blessing as my husband’s insurance does not cover any infertility treatments.
So Feb 2, 2015, we started the process. I met with a nurse at Dr. Peress’ office and she walked me through the process of home injections with the hormones I would need to “plump” up my eggs for retrieval. Two shots in the morning and 1 shot in the evening. For someone who hates needles, I still do NOT know how I gave them to myself for a week prior to the retrieval. The egg retrieval was completed under anesthesia the following week and 4 eggs were taken out. Three of the eggs were mature enough to attempt to fertilize. Two of the embryos made it to day 4 of 5 and only 1 embryo made it to day 5. That one was the winner! She was already coming out looking for something to attach to (aka my uterus). On 2/17/15, that embryo was inserted back in to my uterus. The embryologist at Dr. Peress’ office (and I cannot remember his name to save my life!) truly loves his job. We sat in his office for about 30 minutes prior to the procedure to talk about the embryo and procedure itself. He even gave me a photo of Baby G from under the microscope prior to her implantation. What a loving, talented man. Heaven-sent for sure.
On Friday 2/27/15, I went in to the doctor’s office that morning at 8am for my blood test to see if we were pregnant. I didn’t do the pee test as I was cautiously optimistic and didn’t want to get my hopes up at all. I’ve never done anything like this before, so who knows if it’s going to work! Around lunchtime, Amy from Dr. Peress’ office called to let me know that the procedure was a success and we were expecting! I couldn’t believe it. We were going to have a baby! I shared the news with hubby via email unfortunately because he was out of the country and I couldn’t call him. He was over the moon! I shared the news with a few select friends and family, but not everyone. The official announcement would come later. Our story is precious to me. To think that there are men and women on this earth so talented and skilled to be able to make this happen for us, is truly amazing. They are a Godsend to us and to all of the people they help.
I love telling people this story and in the shortened version, we technically got pregnant in the span of a month, without hubby even being in the country and in a petri dish before my body was!
JM