This is an update to an earlier post I wrote this year. In
that post I talked about our infertility experiences, and that we were planning
on trying In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) this summer. Instead of boring you with
a huge wordy post, I thought I’d give you the quick rundown of our experience
in numbers. These are just our
experiences, some of which are a little TMI and not for the faint of heart. But
for those of you who are interested, I thought it would be interesting to see
the whole process in numbers.
·
6—Years we have been trying to get pregnant
·
3—Combined years we tried to get pregnant with
the assistance of doctors and meds
·
?—Thousands of dollars spent on unsuccessful
fertility treatments
·
2—Doctors we saw during said unsuccessful
fertility treatments
·
1—Perfect domestic adoption of a little boy
·
2—Years we “took off” from fertility treatments
while we adopted and loved on our sweet boy
·
1—Adoption papers/homestudy completed for a
second child/adoption
·
1—Adoption program closed four months later
·
1—New job with insurance that covers IVF
treatments
·
100 (give or take)—Number of hours spent
researching IVF and related fertility treatments (similar research was done for
our adoption)
·
1—New fertility doctor
·
2—Number of inches thick our medical records
were when we transferred to our new doctor
·
1—Decision to proceed with IVF treatment
o
1—giant box of medications
o
5—various refills for that giant box of
medications
o
2--weeks away from home during treatments (in
Utah with my in-laws—going to appointments and being a “single mother” for
awhile)
o
3--round-trip (one-day) visits to the fertility doctor in
Utah (8 hours each-one included a carsick toddler)
o
3--family members who watched our crazy
(sometimes post-carsick) toddler while I went to doctor’s appointments (many
more offered to help). We have the best family!
o
4—number of times Sam threw up in the car while
traveling to or from doctors appointments
o
11 ultrasounds
o
27 self administered subcutaneous shots in the
belly
o
13 blood draws (many of which were consecutive
days in a row—talk about a bruised arm)
o
42 eggs retrieved
o
7 days for the bloating and pain in my ovaries
to subside after egg retrieval
o
66—progesterone vaginal suppositories
o
84 husband administered (although a few were
self administered) intramuscular shots in the bum
o
?—Countless bruises (including 2 continuous,
golf ball-sized bruises lasting one month after the previously mentioned 84
shots in the bum)
o
?—Thousands of dollars spent on IVF
o
?—Thousands more covered by our insurance
company
o
2—embryos transferred into my uterus
·
1—pregnancy
·
2—perfect babies
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| First test to ever show a positive. :) |
Confessions of a 1st time Pregnant, Second time
Mom
- I have never known true hunger before, not until I got pregnant with twins.
- Mom guilt. It snuck up on me. One minute I was excited about being pregnant and having two more children come into our home, the next I was weeping over the fact that my little boy will not be an only child. Yes, I fully realize that he will love having siblings. That doesn’t mean I’m not a little sad about him losing his one-on-one mama time. Poor kid. He doesn’t even know what’s coming for him. In the mean time, he and I are doing a lot of fun things together.
- My body didn’t announce that it was pregnant. After six years of trying to get pregnant, I thought it would be a little more “TA DA! I’m pregnant!” Instead, the first weeks of pregnancy didn’t feel any different than all the times I “thought” I was pregnant. It turns out, squeezing your boobs to see if they hurt is only a symptom of stupidity, not pregnancy. I know some women (my mother included) have this sixth sense, or are really in tune with their bodies so they know exactly when they are pregnant. I’m not one of those people.
- Every person experiences pregnancy differently. I’ve had lots of people (including doctors) tell me that I’ll be so much more sick with a twin pregnancy than if I were pregnant with a singleton. Well, if being a bit nauseous is way worse, I think I could handle a single pregnancy with ease. But seriously, it doesn’t matter how sick my sisters or mother or cousin or anyone else was. My pregnancy is different. My body is different. Right now I’m just happy that I haven’t been losing my lunch.
- I have so much more appreciation for my son’s birthmother now that I am pregnant. She did something so amazing and brave and loving. I can’t imagine going through this and then sending my child out into the world with another woman. Talk about brave and downright angelic.
- Finding an OB is difficult. Maybe it’s just the fact that I’ve waited so long to get to this point. I’m not about to trust any weirdo with my body and my babies. After dealing with doctors for six years, I also really know what I like, and what I don’t.
- My husband hasn’t been present for the conception of any of his children. He may have been for the twins, but he couldn’t get off work. His mom drove me to the doctor’s appointment. We laughed that she was there for the conception but he wasn’t.
- I'm grateful that we are just having two . . .you know not like this Utah couple who did the exact same thing as us http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/02/living/ivf-mom-gardner-quads-photo/index.html.
- It doesn't matter if you are pregnant with twins or just one, or four. You start to feel big. Like a hippo. Thank goodness it's all for a good reason. :)
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| 18 weeks with twins! |
