Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A new beginning

So, I am starting to write in a blog because I am terrified to go through IVF #3. It's not that I physically can't handle it, I just am so scared of failure again. I am scheduled to start shots in 8 days. I'd like to share my story. In order for me to write every day and about this experience, I feel like I have to start backwards.
In March 2008 my husband and I visited a local fertility clinic for testing. He was 33 and I was 29. We were told that the reason we could not conceive was because my husband had a strict morphology number of 3% and I had a minor luteal phase defect. We were told that there is "nothing" that can be done for morphology and that LPDs are an easy fix. The doctor looked at us and said confidentally, "this is a piece of cake, you will be pregnant by the end of summer." That exact moment has played over and over in my head, I can't seem to let it go. We would spend the next three months (May, June, and July) going through IUI, all which were unsuccessful. In August we decided to go for our first IVF (23 eggs were retrieved, 17 were fertilized), and at the day 5 embryo transfer there was 1 embryo left which was not that good of quality. All the nurses and everyone we met with that day seemed shocked, so we felt like something was horribly wrong. I did not become pregnant. After meeting with the doctor, he again seemed confident, and assured us that trying something new would make things better so we decided to go right into IVF #2 in October 2008. In IVF #2, 17 eggs were retrieved and 14 were fertilized. We were so hopeful. They requested me for transfer on day 3 this time. They said the embryo quality was even worse than the first time, but they would transfer 3. I became pregnant, but it was a chemical pregancy. As you can imagine, devastation is not even the right word to describe how we felt. We did wise up though and decided that there could be absolutely no harm in having my husband visit an andrologist (male specialist). The fertility doctor said we could try, but that there was usually nothing that they could do. After many tests, they found my husband to have a severe hormone imbalance. The imbalance was so bad that the andrologist in his 20 years of practice had never seen someone who's hormone were so off. The andrologist told my husband that in order for a man to be producing good quality semen, everything needs to be in balance. My husband was put on medication to correct this imbalance. Recent tests have indicated that his strict morphology has improved to 8% and his hormones are now balanced. We were so mad that we did not or we were not advised to see an andrologist in the beginning. So, this brings me back to the beginning. We are ready. Ready to try IVF a third time. I am so hopeful that since the hormones are fixed, we will have much better result. Keep you readers posted!

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