IVF it is!

This week I emailed the urologist with a bunch of questions because there was some confusion about his recommendations after J's ultrasound. He wrote me back, pretty bluntly stating that IUI (intrauterine insemination) would not be an option for us and IVF is definitely recommended. So, there's no way to get around it. Unless some miracle happens and we conceive naturally, which is pretty unlikely, we'll be heading down the IVF route. I was pretty sure this would be the case, so I'm not really surprised. I guess I just had a little hope that he would say IUI would be possible because it's so much cheaper, less time consuming and less invasive on my body.

 Egg being fertilized with a single sperm (ICSI procedure)

Last night J and I attended a seminar at Oregon Reproductive Medicine, which is one of the fertility clinics in Portland. Apparently they're one of the best in the country with one of the highest success rates (72.5%), so we definitely wanted to see what they were all about. Another option for us is to stick with OHSU, which is where J's been going for his urology stuff. We'll have to do more research about them though. One thing we're very sure of is that it's going to be EXPENSIVE. At the seminar they were saying about $17,000 per cycle! That's including everything (tests, ultrasounds, medications, etc.). We've already gotten a lot of the required tests done and I'm hoping insurance would be able to cover even a portion of the treatments, but most insurances in Oregon don't cover fertility treatments. I think the best part of the seminar was being in a room with other people that I knew were going through similar things as us. Infertility is such a taboo topic and most people feel uncomfortable talking openly about it. Hearing others share their struggles and asking questions about what their options are really put me at ease...because I didn't feel alone anymore.

So, I guess "the plan" is for J to get blood work done (to test for cystic fibrosis) and a biopsy so they can retrieve and freeze sperm. Meanwhile, we'll need to come up with a way to pay for this baby! We've saved quite a bit, but we joke about standing outside with signs that say "Need $$ for test tube baby!" Haha!! I wonder how many people would help?? Seriously, if people give to those that have signs that say "Why lie? I need a beer!" or "Ninjas kidnapped my parents. Need $$ for kung fu lessons." then why wouldn't they give to us?

Anyway, I'm trying not to get ahead of myself but I have a tentative date of hopefully starting the treatment in July or August since my insurance doesn't kick back in until July 1st. Treatment takes about 10 weeks, so that would be great to be pregnant by mid September. That would mean a baby by June 2012!!