2006-2007- Let's try IVF

By late 2006 Dr. Strawn recommended that In-Vitro Fertilization or IVF, was the best next step for us. 

We agreed.  By this point - we learned that being pro-active was one of the most important pieces of handling any health situation.  Doctors are experts in their field, but they are not an expert in YOU and your body and your experiences and your questions.  All throughout the years we never accepted advice without asking lots of questions and exploring our options.  We wanted as much education as possible.

IVF is the process in history referred as "Test-Tube" baby.  What happens is, my ovaries would be stimulated with special ( and very expensive) medication so that they would let many eggs mature at the same time.  Then I have surgery where the doctor removes as many mature eggs as he can find.  The same day as the surgery - called the "egg retrieval" - Dan gets to make yet another trip to the "collection room" and provide a sample of only his best swimmers.  Then, the swimmers and eggs party in a petri dish and hopefully get along so that we have a bunch of fertilized eggs - called embryos.    Actually we did the process where a sperm is injected into each egg.  Maybe Dan's guys had no sense of direction and did not know what to do???  Then - hoping you get some embryos - they live in the petri dish for either 3 or 5 days while the specialists see how well they can divide.  The ones that survive are given a rating - the best are called "A", the ones that try hard are called "B", then C, then D.  The Embryologist will select 2 of the top quality embryos that are put back into my uterus via a catheter.  Then you wait 2 weeks and take a pregnancy test.

This is a lot to consider - they make you take a class and clearly explain the costs before you commit.  It is a big and very personal decision.

We were convinced that IVF would work for us.  If we didn't already have a child - who knows if we would have gone this far.  I KNEW it would work - I rarely have that much confidence - but I had a gut feeling.