This last flashback brings us to the present. All posts after this will be on the current cycle and they might not be as frequent. It will just depend on how the events of the cycle and since this is all new, I don't know how often I will have enough information for a new post. But I will keep this updated with new and major information. We meet with the doctor this week to learn how to use the new medication, so I assume that will be the next post.

Segue from IUI to IVF - December 2011/January 2012

After the third failed IUI, we asked the doctor what our options were. First, she said it would not be wise to spend any more money on IUI. She also said that being in our position we could try switching partners. And she said that we should take a couple of months to think about it.

We agreed to take some time. I became really depressed after the third attempt. I needed to be hormone free for a while and clear my head anyway.

My girlfriend and I discussed our options. Switching and having her try wasn't a viable option. The initial decision on who would try was easy, I wanted to and she didn't. But if our only choice left was to switch, she would have. However, I get paid for maternity leave and she doesn't. So if she has to take 2 months off or more if there were complications, that's time with no paycheck and possibly not being considered for a position the next semester. Plus, she really didn't want to before and now that she had seen everything I had to go though...now she really really didn't want to. And I still did so we knew the next step was to figure out how to pay for IVF.

First, I applied for a loan through a medical financing website. They only approved me for around $13,000 which would not be enough. Plus it was like 17% interest or something like that. We added my girlfriend as a cosigner and got a better loan, but we wanted to see if our credit union could do anything for us. We had a home equity loan years ago to help pay off credit card debt so we figured that we could easily get another one. What we didn't know is that property values had sunk so low that we no longer have equity so that option was out.

Luckily, my girlfriend had just paid off her car completely. The loan officer suggested an auto refinance loan because the rates were way low, like around 3% and then a personal loan for the difference. I was hesitant because I didn't want her to have to put her car on the line. But she made the point that we basically got the credit union to buy the car for $11,000 and we only have to pay 3%. And we got to keep the car, so I felt better, though I still feel a little guilty even today.

We turned over the title and signed the papers the same day. Armed with $20,000 in my savings I told the doctor we were ready to move forward. They called in a prescription for the period pill again and a birth control pill for the month. These are gearing me up for a February cycle.

We're cautiously optimistic going into all this. My doctor claims that the IVF method she has developed has a 70% success rate, which is insanely high to the point where people kind of don't believe it. But she says that 70% of people will take home a baby on the first attempt. That implies to me a successful pregnancy to term, not just a pregnancy that ends in miscarriage. And we get 3 attempts with this method, so yeah...we're letting ourselves get our hopes up, just a little.

Now, for my picture today...this is one of the first things I'm going to buy once I'm finally pregnant. It's just so perfect.

"Made With Love and Science"