About a month ago I said that I would post more details about my IVM schedule and the medications involved… and the time has come!
I have to say that it feels good to be getting back into the baby-making process! I feel like so much time has passed and been wasted since we last tried this past May, but we are back in the saddle, we overcame the roadblocks, won the battle, and we are now “back to work”! And, bonus, it’s going to be paid for by the government! Yay!
So, to answer a couple of questions, what is this IVM I keep talking about? IVM stands for In-Vitro Maturation. It is a much newer procedure than the In-Vitro Fertilization we have grown up hearing about (the first baby born through IVM was in 1999), but for a variety of reasons it is the best option for me right now.
Basically, immature eggs are collected from me, matured in the lab for 24-48 hours (thus no hormone injections for me, yay!), and then fertilized one by one using Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) and left to mature once more. About 2-5 days after fertilization, one embryo is transferred back into me and then we keep our fingers crossed. Before the government was involved in the process I would have been able to try with 2-3 embryos at one time, but now I am limited. But, at least it is free! They will cover 6 rounds of treatment per pregnancy. I have posted this link before, but once again, you can read more about this and even see some pictures here.
And, as some of you know, I have had a long running joke that I will get pregnant by my doctor while DH is out of the country and some other person (friend, family or nurse) holds my hand. Well, it WAS a joke but it seems like it will also be the case! DH is currently away on business again, and then he will be home only briefly before leaving once more (and hopefully for the last time in 2010). So, if things go as “planned”, he will only be here for my egg retrieval! It still makes me laugh, but don’t get me wrong… it isn’t easy. As a friend said to me a couple of weeks ago (about her own life), “My husband missed pretty much all the big events in my life too because of work! Not to sound insensitive but I am used to it, calloused if you will... Everyone thinks I am so strong too, but it's a facade that you have no choice but to put on, otherwise you crumble”. I couldn’t have said this better myself.
So this is it for now. Tomorrow, I will post all of the steps and medications involved! Fun!
