Part 6: Our Fertility Journey...IVF Mode

The first step after bloodwork and consultation appointments for IVF is starting medications leading up to egg retrieval. We met with my fertility specialist and expressed our desire to be conservative with our stimulation so we weren't wasting any eggs or overproducing. My doctor hoped for the best and expected to get maybe 8 eggs with the hopes 2 of them would be viable once all were fertilized.

I started 5 days of birth control hormones and then daily hormone injections into my stomach. The medication I used was easy to inject and the needles were pretty small. I was SO nervous and never thought I could do this myself, but after just 2 days I felt comfortable doing them all on my own. It's amazing how you can rise to an occasion that you never dreamed you would be able to do when faced with something you never thought you would need to do. Props to the many individuals out there that have to do injections daily for diabetes. You all are warriors! I didn't have too many side effects of the medication....just some bruising at times and I felt super bloated the closer I got to egg retrieval. There was a larger shot give as the "trigger shot" just a day or two before egg retrieval.

On the day of the egg retrieval, James and I went into the clinic in Atlanta where I was put under light anesthesia. My nurse was so kind and walked us through the process of that day with grace and even talked to me about faith. Once the procedure was complete, the doctor came out to congratulate us on the 11 eggs that were retrieved. My body definitely showed out despite my age and a few autoimmune conditions. We were elated that we had some eggs that would hopefully result in our embryo that could help us bring home a sweet healthy baby at the end of this process.

Over the next few days the nurses from our clinic would call with reports on how many eggs made it through fertilization and then genetic testing. Genetic testing isn't for everyone. We were told that if we implanted a fertilized embryo that was not genetically sound, chances are likely that I would just miscarry that one. I wasn't mentally prepared to continue going through that process after losing three babies within 14 months. The mental drain of those loses were not something I wanted to experience again if I could avoid it.

Eventually we ended up with 7 fertilized embryos and 4 genetically sound embryos ready for transfer. I couldn't believe it! We defied the odds and God showed up and showed out. I had lost 3 babies. God gave us 3+1 as our little embryos. We ended up with 2 boys and 2 girls. It was tempting to select the gender of our first little embryo to transfer. I had one daughter that was already 17 and two boys, 14 and 7. I love being a boy mom and being a girl mom too. There is something fun about dressing up a little baby girl in bows and my daughter longed for a sister. My youngest also dreamt of being a big brother to a boy and has asked for a baby brother for a couple of years. I knew in my heart that I wanted God's plan for our family to prevail and left it up to him to select the gender through our embryologist. We just asked for the healthiest embryo we had.

James and I prayed together fervently through this process. We had grown in our faith independently and as a couple through the losses and the process of IVF. At the first of this year we began seeking God's face through his word daily through personal time alone with God. We also began praying together as a couple and seeking God in our daily lives of our marriage, raising kids, careers, and finances. We knew that the outcome was totally in God's hands and we were letting go and trusting in his plan. God is the giver of life. I knew I could implant all the embryos I wanted, but unless God breathes life into my womb it would just fail. I prayed over my womb prior to our transfer date and that God would give us a healthy baby if it were his will. Next up....embryo transfer post....post #7!