The Appointment

We had our very first appointment at Bourn Hall today.

I will give you the step by step of our consultation to help out anyone planning on seeking help at a fertility clinic like this one.

We arrived  at 930 AM. The lady at reception got us all checked in and then walked us over to the wards. We were then greeted by a nurse. She did our height, weight,  identification check and took our picture.
Once we were finished with that my husband had to go give a sample so I got to wait in a very nice waiting area. It was quite calm there.  We went to the main waiting area after my husband was done, which was not nearly as private or calm.
Our Dr was right on time and she is wonderful. Her name is Dr. Valentino. She started out the appointment with getting lots of medical background information on both of us. She asked many important questions that nobody had ever bothered asking us before.She went through all of my tests and explained each one to me and what it meant. I had over 20 pages of lab results from the past 12 months, two ultrasound scounds , and the tube dye test  so this took some time. She was very patient with us and explained everything in full detail!
Our appointment lasted over 1 hour. She told us that what will happen is on CD 1 I will call the clinic to schedule my scan and be able to come in and see the nurses to get information on how to use all the medication.  The great news is we can start a month before we had planned because full payment is not due until the day of the first scan. This wonderful Dr also said she knows money is an issue so she told us to check out other pharmacies and we might be able to save up to $1000 or 600 GBP.

The first appointment cost us $515. (a little over 300 GBP).


I will be hosting a giveaway on the blog starting this week. Prizes will be  an amazon gift card and  some wax items. The requirements for entries will be a share of our gofundme page, a follow on bloglovin, and a like of our facebook page.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am super nervous and anxious about our appointment on Monday. I am wondering what this doctor will tell us. Our  possible future of being parents is going to be told at this appointment.
I had not mentioned before how Bryan and I met. It was actually online in 2001 through yahoo ads. I know these days this is quite common but sure was not back then!  We went on a blind date and that was that. He took me to a Korean restaurant and tried to impress me his ability to say all the dishes right lol!
I still remember it like it was yesterday even though it was 13 years ago!
I suppose you just never know where you will meet the person you are meant to spend your life with. I know I was not looking for anyone and enjoying being single at the time.
Have a blessed weekend and I will post again on Monday after our appointment.
Thank you for all the shares and donations so far and we pray we will reach our goal to have the procedure done.

Please donate or share our go fund me page. Shares are greatly appreciated!

Here is the Link for you
http://www.gofundme.com/7a58xk

Silvia

This is Bourn Hall Clinic located just south of Cambridge. It is a gorgeous setting and I will say we are impressed with the staff. Bryan and I visited yesterday to drop off our registration papers. It was a little bit past lunch time and the receptionist asked us if we  had eaten lunch and we told her we had no time as I had to pick up lab results to drop off. She then went to the kitchen got us sandwiches and made us coffee.
I believe we sat there about 5 minutes before a patient representative came over and  gave us some basic information and asked a few questions with regards to our lab results.
We also had the AMH results back which I was confused on as some places say the result is normal and some say it is low. If you are having any doubts about your ability to conceive I highly recommend you ask your doctor to do this simply blood test. It can be done at any time. There is no need to wait for a certain date to have the blood drawn. I wish we had  fought harder for our cause years ago as now it may be to late but I hope to help others in their journey. Fight as hard as you can for someone to take you seriously, do not let them give you whatever reason they come up with when nothing is medically found.
I personally have fibroids and a tumour on one of my ovaries which is causing issues as well as a thyroid disorder.  It took years to find this out. I only found out because of an ER visit. I went to see the doctor because I was in screaming pain and they finally diagnosed me.
I am not saying all medical care is bad because it is not but just remember if you believe something is wrong then investigate it!
Our first appointment is on Monday the 17th of March .I will be updating with what happens during the first appointment shortly after we get home.

Please be so kind as to share our fundraising  page as  we raise the last of the money for our IVF cycle.  Simply click on fundraising and it will take you there.
My blog is updated at least once a week and sometimes more depending on what I feel like writing about at the time.

I just wanted to share this real fast because it made me laugh!

This is our dog Molly stealing all the pillows on the couch!

My second funny was this.  I decided to try fertilaid because I have heard so much about it. I ordered it, one other vitamin and some ovulation strips. I checked the tracking and it said it arrived at our post office on base. I waited patiently for 2 days to get my package and finally decided to go check up on it yesterday.
It must have been a sign that I wrote about crazy things we try to get pregnant because I got told I am so sorry we have no idea where your package is but it says its here some here!
Have a Great Weekend!

I spent my morning thinking about all the crazy things I have tried in order to make any given month a success. I have browsed forums like crazy looking for that magical answer! Each and every time I read about some new method that supposedly works I tried it.
Have you found yourself taking Mucinex for a few days because its suppose to make the CM better? Sticking your legs up in the air for an hour just because gravity might make a difference? or how about taking all kinds of odd medications just because they promise to make you fertile? I have spent tons of money on lots of things just to get that BFN (negative pregnancy test) at the end of the long and dreaded two week wait.  I just wanted to share a couple of fertility  facts with you today.

Fact: Many women are placed on birth control pills (BCPs) because of medical conditions such as irregular periods, heavy periods, orendometriosis, all of which are associated with reduced fertility. For these women, the pill may actually preserve fertility. For women who use BCPs for contraception, the hormones are very quickly eliminated from the body and do not cause infertility.

Fact: There is no doubt that infertility causes stress, but the stress of an overcommitted lifestyle and poor health habits can adversely affect fertility as demonstrated in a number of medical studies.

Finally here are some common myths

Ovulation occurs on the day of the drop or the day of the rise in BBT.

This is one of the most common myths perpetuated by the medical community. In reality, the exact day of ovulation cannot be determined by the basal body temperature. Only about 10% of women even have a drop in basal temperature. And once the temperature has risen, it is virtually certain that the egg is already gone (assuming conception hadn’t occurred beforehand.) This is because an egg only lives 12-24 hours, and by the time the temperature has risen, the egg is no longer viable. Therefore, if a couple wants to achieve a pregnancy, the sign to focus on is not the basal temperature, but the cervical fluid.

A woman can get pregnant only one day per cycle.

While it is true that a human egg is only viable for 12 to 24 hours, a woman can actually get pregnant from an act of intercourse occurring anytime from about five days prior to ovulation to even occasionally two days after, for a total of about seven days.

The reason for this is that the sperm can survive up to five days inside the woman's reproductive tract, and a woman can release two or more eggs within a 24 hour period.. Hence, for all intents and purposes, a women can get pregnant for about one week per cycle.

Ovulation usually occurs on Day 14 of the cycle.

Probably the most widely held fertility myth is the notion that women always ovulate on Day 14 of their cycle. If this were indeed true, there would be virtually no need for birth control, since couples could simply avoid that one day. And scores of couples desiring a child would simply have intercourse on Day 14, and Bingo, get pregnant.

There are several serious consequences to the Day 14 fallacy:

    * Many unplanned pregnancies occur because couples think they are safe for unprotected intercourse on any day but Day 14.
    * Many couples who desire to get pregnant actually impede pregnancy by timing intercourse on Day 14, when, in reality, the woman may ovulate either much earlier or later than that one particular day.
    * Many diagnostic tests and therapies are performed at an inappropriate time in the woman’s cycle. These include infertility procedures such as post-coital tests and endometrial biopsies, as well as general health procedures such as mammograms and diaphragm fittings.
    * If a woman does get pregnant, the doctor’s office will usually utilize a "pregnancy wheel" to determine her due date. But this device assumes that women ovulate on Day 14, and therefore could be off by several weeks, leading physicians to perform diagnostic tests at inappropriate times (e.g. amniocentesis) or even induce labor before the baby is fully developed.

I am pretty sure this month was not successful and officially marks month 55 of TTC.  I was chatting with some friends last night and realized that people start to distance themselves once they all have children. It is almost like nobody wants to talk about infertility and they would prefer to just ignore it. I find it sad that at a time when a person struggling with infertility can most use someone to talk to is when those someone's have usually distanced themselves that it no longer feels right just calling them to tell them how you feel.
Please feel free to share anything you wish with me at anytime because I do understand.

Lucky Baby dust to all!
Silvia

I woke up this morning in tears. I had this sense of defeat like I am failing at being a woman. I am filled with such hope every month thinking that this will be the month for sure! I started feeling light cramping last night so I know that AF must be on her way.
I also realized that there is nobody I can reach out to here that understands this emotional journey. It is a topic so avoided! People just assume that we have chosen not to have any children but the truth is that we did not choose this. We want a child more then anything and our  hearts feel like there is  something missing.Our home is not filled with the laughter of a child.
We are both looking forward to our first official appointment at the Fertility Clinic but Nervous at the same time. I know that my weight will become a huge factor! I have struggled with it for a long time due to my thyroid disorder. I am at a loss of 35 pounds but it took me 15 months. I have 4 months before I am 40 and my odds of conceiving via IVF drop even further! I wanted to drop the last 20 pounds but I am realistic with a slowed metablism this is not going to happen.
I have  just had another set of labs drawn and we are awaiting the results of these. I am thankful that modern medicine can allow us a chance of having a child but saddened at the cost of it.
We have started a gofundme account which you can visit at this lnk.
HOPE

Please know that even a $1 donation will help us toward our ultimate goal of having a child. Our insurance covers none of the costs involved with  IVF. Our first appointment plus tests is going to cost us around $700.
We saved up to cover this but they actual cycles of IVF will be costly so we are hoping to find some people to help us cover the cost of medication.

I pray that I can help someone understand the process  of this journey including all the emotions involved. It is very hard to deal with each and every month