Today we officially started the in-vitro process! In honor of this I have posted the cute little fur baby picture of Orion. awwww ; )
Excited, scared, and cautiously optimistic sums up how we both feel. We started the day with an internal ultrasound to look at the number of pre-medication follicles I have, which will help the doctor determine exactly how much stimulation I will need and what medications we will be using. Then we got his and hers blood tests done as per California state law for in-vitro couples. Tomorrow we will start on his and hers antibiotics for ten days prior to the start of the Lupron (the first of my injections). We got the breakdown sheet of the fees which was scary to see (about $10,000 if all goes according to plan), but seemed not too bad compared to some places (after doing some research into it).
After the Lupron we will be starting the stimulation injections then onto the egg retrieval which will happen at a respected facility in Beverly Hills. I have decided to have acupuncture right before (Needles and I will be close friends when all of this is done). A study in Germany found that acupuncture right before can increase the success rate of in-vitro by 50%. We don't know if it will help, but we do know that it will not hurt our chances. My "good" eggs and his sperm will be formally introduced, a little Barry White will be playing in the background, and hopefully they will get their groove on without needing any further assistance (if they are fussy this will cost more, they should find one another to be soul mates though!). The new little embryos will be babysat for three to five days and then implanted within me sometime early July. *Crosses fingers* then the dreaded two week wait to see.
It feels surreal to us that so many people will be involved in helping us to conceive a baby (or babies). We look forward to be able to hold our baby, look into their eyes, and have all of this culminate into that one incredible moment~ = )
