Baseline

I went for my first official IVF appt today. Back up to last night around midnight...I finally decided to read all the literature that the RE gave, consent forms, information, etc. What do I find....oh crap....we forgot to get our blood tests done. They have to test you and your spouse for HIV, Hepatitis and a few other contagious diseases. The FDA requires this testing before they will allow any of your frozen embryos to be stored. Fortunately it did not affect our schedule and we were able to get the blood work done after the appt.
The appt. itself was almost mundane, I expected a little fanfare, you like some trumpets or a drum roll, but nope. Just strip from the waist down and lay on this table with the warmest paper sheet we offer, put your feet in the stirrups and relax. So I have a tiny cyst on each ovary but RE says its no big deal so we are good to go. We met with the IVF nurse who had to witness our signatures saying that if we don't pay they will claim any conceived children and will auction them off to cover any remaining debt...LOL
Fri, January 11th we begin our meds, I have the joy of receiving 2 shots every evening until my next appt, on Wed, January 16th. We begin our cocktail with 360 units of Follistim and 1cc of Menopur, sounds tasty huh.
I have put in a request for a prescription for some Emala(sp?) creme for my butt before we start the PIO shots, the nurse just laughed at me. Fortunately for her she avoided being slapped due to the fact that she herself is a veteran IVF'r, but she said she would ask the DR. I also asked why a complimentary prescription of Xanax is not included with this IVF protocol as I believe everyone would benefit from me being on it...LOL. As I sure my stress level will continue to rise during this process I figure a little sedation might be good for my little egg friends, you know to kind of dull the roar they hear coming from me periodically. I love me some Tylenol PM, wonder if that is contraindicated, couldn't get an answer about that, I guess I will have to rely on my own super Internet sleuthing to find out.
I really want this IVF to work the 1st time and part of me thinks it will. I have to think that way to get through this, but what if it doesn't, I am so afraid it wont. I mean there are no guarantees, but we did find out that my RE's office has one of the highest success rates in the country. Pretty cool! Maybe he has some cool mojo going on and meets with the embryos prior to transfer. So tonight is my last night of freedom, tomorrow my body becomes a very expensive science project...stay tuned