First Step

Friday we had our initial consult with the clinic here in our new city. It was a very through appointment. They have you feel out an extensive questionnaire online before your appointment and then our RE went over all of it with us. We talked a lot about cycle #1 and OHSS. I told the RE this time I CANNOT have that happen. I have an almost 2 year old at home, I can't be down in bed for 2.5 weeks. They have new protocols in place to help women who are sensitive like me. And they have different triggers than they did in 2010. And she said if I still have OHSS they can induce my period 4 days after retrieval, so that means only a few days of suffering. I felt good that this cycle wouldn't end like last cycle. Which was my #1 concern with doing IVF again.

After talking in her office for about 90 mins we went to an exam room where she did a physical exam and ultrasound. Physical exam went well. The ultrasound revealed a fibroid outside my uterus. I don't know anything about fibroids, other than what I have read on your blogs, so I don't know how long I've had it or if it will need to be removed before we cycle. They will do a Hysteroscopy and check the inside of my uterus before we cycle to determine if I will need to have surgery to remove it. I was really sad they found something wrong with my uterus. I guess it's good it isn't anything major. I was on cycle day 12 when we met and she was able to count lots of follicles and see the lead follicle and see I was about to ovulate. She said she guessed I would not have any issues with my AMH levels. (This is the hormone they now measure instead of FSH)

There are many things that make me feel good about this clinic. One of the big things is the RE's (there are 4 that rotate) will do all of the monitoring during my cycle. Last time I saw my RE at the consult and then egg retrieval. A NP reviewed all the labs and US's while I cycled. It felt very disconnected, so I'm happy this clinic is different. There are new procedures in place that will "hopefully" keep me from experiencing OHSS once again. There are lots of new things in place to make the cycle a success; Blast transfer, genetic screening on me and DH before cycling, vitrification of embryos instead of freezing, and more.

So the next step is to wait for the nurse coordinator to call and get us in to get the hysteroscopy set up and blood work for both of us. DH need to give his sample so we can see where his count is at now. We will also meet with the financial coordinator to see what all this will cost us. We are VERY blessed DH's new insurance will cove some of the costs. I'm guessing will will spend about $3-4K out of pocket. Which is a lot better than last time. We still have a few things to do before we actually cycle and if anything shows something unfavorable it will push us back even more. But here's to getting back on the horse!