And So it Begins.....

Well, it's finally arrived. Steve & I (age 43 & 39) are finally embarking on our IVF journey. Now that the time has finally arrived, we are both crazy excited! Yesterday we had about 7 or 8 little hellions running around our place. Despite the breaking stuff, scuff marks on walls (how'd they do that??!), booger picking (and eating) and cat tormenting, we are still completely stoked to try to have one of our own!

Lemme give you a little history on what brought us to this point...In 2006, my OB discovered I had a ginormous fibroid. About the size of a small orange. Couple of golf balls in there as well. Had those removed in 2006 even though we had no immediate plans to try to get pregnant. Subsequent visits to OB showed signs of severe and aggressive endometriosis. I was able to see one of the country's leading endo docs. He went in, removed a couple of small fibroids and cleaned up the endo in early 2008. Later in the year, I visited 3 different reproductive endocrinologists. A friend of mine encouraged me to not get into bed with the first RE that kissed me :-) So, anyway, after further testing, my tubes appeared to be blocked and full of fluid. All 3 docs advised having a bilateral salpingectomy. This is fancy talk for removal of the fallopian tubes. The reason for this is the fluid can leak into the uterus and create a hostile environment for the embryos and keep them from implanting.

On top of all that, my endo was worse than ever. It invaded my colon, for chrissakes! So, we head back to endo doc for what my guy and I determined would be my last surgery. Tubes removed, endo removed, a couple of small fibroids removed. And don't let me forget the bowel resection. About 11 centimeters of my of my colon cut out and they stitched it right back together! I should be all ready to go, but noooooooo! My surgery ended up lasting for almost SIX HOURS and I developed pulmonary embolus. That's fancy talk for blood clots in my lungs that could've killed me. PE is the leading cause of death in hospitals. I thanked my lucky stars I had such stellar docs that recognized the symptoms before it was too late. I was sent home with an old lady pill box, a pill cutter (nifty!), and a prescription for the blood thinner, coumadin. I was to be on it for 6 months, which is how long endo doc said I should wait to try to get knocked up.

So, I'm off coumadin. I've done a battery of tests to make sure I'm not genetically predisposed to getting PE (I'm not, thankfully). This past week, Steve & I did all the prerequisite tests to prepare for this journey. We're good to go. Step one is the seminar we will go to tonite. It's mostly to get an overview of the process (this is mostly for S, as I am all studied up). We will also get to meet our baby doc and interview him. Our official consultation is next Monday. That's when we'll decide on a treatment plan and it's full steam ahead!

I started this blog as a way to keep all of you who have been so supportive in the loop. This is sure to be an emotional, but exhilarating ride.Thanks for all the love. Send warm fertility fuzzies into the universe for us!