Our IVF Story

Since I have gone through IVF I’ve heard many women tell me they are struggling to get pregnant and want more information on my IVF process.

I personally feel we all need to share our stories. Women need to know they aren’t alone. They need to know it’s okay to talk about what they’re going through. They need to know there is options and they have support out there.

Fortunately I was blessed with a fertile body however I want to share my story. If my story helps just one woman then I’d say I’ve done my part.

In April of 2019 I met with Dr Parker of the Idaho Fertility Center. I asked him what options I have. We discussed the difference between IUI and IVF. He explained that IUI is a much cheaper procedure but the odds of getting pregnant was only about 20%. It’s very similar to having sex, they inject the sperm and wait to see if it makes it to fertilization. IVF has a bigger price tag but has about a 70% success rate. You transfer a fertilized embryo and hope your body accepts. I chose to go with IVF

That same day they drew my blood. It was to be used to do multiple tests. The doctor did an ultrasound to make sure my uterus everything else looked good enough to handle the procedure. Everything looked great.

When you go through IVF the timing of everything is based on your cycle. After the initial appointment I had to wait for my next cycle to start. Once it did I had to call the office. They had me start on birth control for three weeks. I was to only take the active pills. The purpose of this is the re-regulate your system and get it on track to handle the IVF process.

I took the pills and was ready for the next step which was to start on my next cycle. On May 16 I met with the nurse and reviewed my schedule. She gave me a calendar with very specific instructions on when I was to start each step. Shortly after this we hit a snag. The request for my medicine was never sent in. It would have been extremely hard to get the medication in time. Next, the day of my retrieval had a conflict in my schedule so I was stressing how I was going to make it work. Before you start on medication they do one final ultrasound. During this appointment the nurse and I talked about what to do since I still didn’t have medication. My options were to stress and try to get everything to deliver on time or move everything out a month. I decided to move things out a month. I knew this wasn’t something that I needed to stress over and it fit better into my schedule.

The next snag was that I didn’t know once the prescriptions were called in it was my responsibility to follow up with the pharmacy to get everything delivered. It took a full 3 weeks to get the medications ordered. I spent hours on the phone with pharmacies and my insurance trying to get everything straightened out.

My insurance wanted me to use one type of medicine but it wouldn’t work for the procedure I was doing. In the end they wouldn’t cover all of it. I had to come up with close to $5000 that day to pay for this or they were shipping it. I called my mom in tears. I didn’t have anything close to that amount and I didn’t think I was going to be able to move forward at that time. Her, being the amazing angel that she is, came up with a plan to make it all work out. She was running from different banks moving money around for me. I will never be able to repay her for all she did during this time. I called the pharmacy back and gave them the credit card information to pay for the medication.

The medication delivered to me 2 days later.

On the last week of taking my birth control pills they have you take a z-pack to kill any infections you may have. Its done as a precaution. I had one final ultra-sound to make sure all was still good.

Next came the fun part. I had to start with 2 shots in my stomach each morning and 2 in the evening for 10 straight days. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to give myself shots but once I did the first one I was good to go. Pushing a needle through your skin the first time is kinda crazy I have to admit. On day 6 a 3rd shot in the morning is added. Day 3, 6, 8, 9 and 10 all include appointments for either blood draws and/or ultrasounds. On day 10 after my ultrasound my information was sent to Dr Parker to review. If he feels my eggs are where they should be they will call you and tell you when to take your trigger shot. I had to take mine at 10pm that night. 36 hours later I had an appointment in Utah for my egg retrieval.

During this time I had to find a sperm donor and have it shipped to the clinic in Utah. This may have been the hardest part. they test for so many different things and have so much information on their families, its a lot of information to sort through.

They call it a surgery because they do put you under. I was to be at the clinic by 9 am to be checked in and ready to go. I wasn’t able to wear any make up or perfume and my hair had to be pulled up in a pony tail. They called my name to come back to the procedure room. They asked me to go use the bathroom and then wash my hands really well. I went back into my procedure room and but the gown on. Next the anesthesiologist came into the room. He explained to me that he’d put the IV into my arm and the doctor would come in and talk to me. Then he’d put the mask on me and I’d go to sleep for a bit. He said it was pretty likely that I wouldn’t remember what the doctor told me so he’d tell me again when I woke up. I remember the doctor coming in and talking to me and the next thing I remembered was being woke up. They walked me to a seating area with the IV still in my arm. The had me sit in there for about 30 min to make sure I was okay and not having any issues. The game me water and a snack. They brought my mom in so they could go over the next steps with me.

Over the next few days I would get a call each day getting my fertilization report. They pulled 18 eggs from me and 15 were mature enough to use. They tell you to expect to lose about half of your eggs due to them not fertilizing. On day 5 I had 11 that made it to embryo.

My parents had taken a trip to Chicago at this time so my brother and his wife took me to Utah for my embryo transfer. Again, I had to show up an hour early and they ask that you arrive with a full bladder. This time they had me take a pill, I forgot the name of it, but it relaxes you so you aren’t nervous for the transfer. They take you back to the procedure room, you get in the gown with your “lucky socks” that they give you and lay on the chair. They have one nurse who has an ultrasound machine on your stomach so that you can see the transfer happening on the TV that is on the wall by your feet. The doctor comes in and explains the process and when its time, a nurse from the lab brings the embryo in. The doctor transfers it as you watch on the screen. When they are done, which is only about 5 min later, they tip your chair back and raise your feet. You lay there about 15 min and then you are free to get dressed and leave.

The rest of that day and the following 2 days are called your princess days. You are to just lay in bed and not do anything. The nurse told me I couldn’t even be up to cook dinner. I could only get up to go to the bathroom and shower. I took the time to catch up on some needed sleep. My brother came by each day to check on my and get me anything I needed.

After that it was a waiting game. 10 days later I had my blood drawn to see if I was pregnant. I am beyond grateful that it came back positive and I was able to announce it to my family and the world.

I spent the next 10 weeks giving myself a progesterone shot in my bum once a day. This one hurt way more than my stomach and bruised more as well.

I know everyone’s process and story is different. I know not everyone has the success that I had, I’m blessed to say that my body accepted this challenge with grace and handled it with flying colors. I know not everyone gets to the exciting phone call I got saying I was pregnant. I’m extremely grateful that my story went the way it did.

I hope my story encourages other women to pursue their dreams of motherhood. Every shot, dr appointment and ultrasound was worth it!