She's doing great!

Baby Mama is a rock star! She's got the schedule down, the meds all readied, appointments highlighted on the calendar with every possible scenario analyzed four or five times - I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be doing this with her!

And I am totally serious.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

First Shot

Tonight was our first shot of Lupron. It's not my first time having to take medication by injection, but it was the first time having to do it in my stomach. Not sure why, but that freaked me out and I froze, not wanting to pull the trigger. Thankfully, Baby Daddy was super supportive and helped me through it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Didn't actually hurt at all. So, I will do this same injection nightly for a total of 11 days and then we bring out the big guns.

The Real Costs of IVF

So, in true Baby Mamma fashion, I decided to put together a spreadsheet this morning to track all of our costs...yikes!

$2,063 Initial consult, screenings, bloodwork, etc.

$3,067 Medications

$3,603 TESA

$12,801 Egg Retrieval and Embryo Transfer

$21,534 Total cost

Now it really begins

So, today I had an Office Hysteroscopy/Sounding procedure along with our final Consent Appointment. The procedure itself only took minutes. It was really weird and interesting to see the view inside from the 2mm camera inserted into my cervix. Apparently I have a "petite" cervix, which is just fine, and the uterus looks good to go too. Of course, I broke down crying during the procedure though. Not because it hurt. I think more because with each step, this becomes more real. Am I really going to be a mommy? I still feel too young! Which is crazy, given that I am on the heels of 40!

Am I really ready for this incredible, amazing change? Baby Daddy says I am ready - that we are ready. He did fabulous in the appointment - was very supportive through the process, which I am super grateful for. And, he entertained the doctor with stories from his TESA procedure.

So, we had our entire list of questions answered...no stone unturned. And then we signed about 6 pages of consent forms. I had no idea so many decisions would need to be made along the way. How many embryos do we implant? What do we do with any "leftovers"? Who has custody? Do we donate to research? Wow.

So, the next step....start nightly injections. In total there are 4 different medications that I will need to take by injection over the course of about 3 weeks. Can't recall exactly what they all do...prevent ovulation, stimulate ovulation, mature eggs...too many details to keep straight. Most of them I will do myself since they will go into my stomach, but Baby Daddy gets the honor of doing the last one...since it will need to go into my butt! Yikes! And he's not a big fan of needles or blood. I have faith. Stay tuned for a post on that one.

In reviewing our calendar of events, the egg retrieval will happen sometime between Feb 14th and 18th. Now, wouldn't that be a miracle for conception to occur on Valentine's Day. I think that would be the perfect detail for this amazing story. But, we leave this decision to the powers that be.

today's the first big day of several big days

Today is the last doctor appointment prior to starting IVF. Baby Mama has been on birth control pills per the schedule (seems odd to me, counterintuitive, that BC is needed before one actually gets pregnant, but that's why the docs are the experts).

By the end of the month we're to pay out about $10K not including medications.

We just watched the injection tutorials last night. I fainted. (Not really... just felt like it).

And who can remember all the names for all of the meds?

And in about 5 weeks, we could be implanting an embryo (blastocyst?) that we'll be having to name about 40 weeks later if all goes according to plan.

And the house will never be quiet again...

But it takes a lot of big days between now and then. And today is one in a chain of many, from the first one, the night I met up with Baby Mama for dinner for our first date.