Initial IVF Consult w/ Dr. Deaton 4-5-11

After deciding to move forward with IVF, we scheduled a consultation with Dr. Deaton.  We had questions upon questions with the main one being.... "what are our chances of being successful?"

The excellent news that we got today was that I have excellent egg quality...and plenty of them.  This is key when doing IVF.  The more eggs they can retrieve, the much better the results of having healthy embryos for the doctor to choose from when deciding which ones to transfer back to the uterus.  I guess they have some sort of key factors they are looking for in the embryos.  More good news, is that much of the pre-IVF work up stuff is already done.  Now we move forward with the news that we have a very high rate of success for this pregnancy.  We will participate in the shared risk program where the doctor will give us back $12,000 of the $14,000 cost if we do not achieve a pregnancy through 14 weeks.  So, not only is he guaranteeing that we will get pregnant...but he is also guaranteeing the health of the pregnancy through a little past the 1st trimester.

Today, we were not intending to do much other than consult with the doctor.  But since we had already decided to move forward, Dr. Deaton went ahead and had blood work drawn on both me and Ryan.  After that, we met with the IVF Coordinator, Angela.  She gave us tons of paperwork to read through and forms to sign.  I felt butterflies in my stomach just knowing that this journey was officially a "go"

What's next?

• Tomorrow I begin prenatal vitamins and Prometrium (remember this from a previous blog?) to induce a period.  On day 3 of my cycle, I will begin taking birth control pills so that they can control my cycle in order to prepare for the IVF.
• IVF Orientation with a few other couples (who will become our IVF buddies) on April 12th at 5pm.  Dr. will spend an hour with us going over everything regarding IVF and explaining everything we can expect.  It will be nice to meet some other folks going through this with us at the same time.
• I have a Pap Smear scheduled for April 15th
• IVF procedure time begins May 30th, with our embryo placement being the 1st week of June!!