Post 8

Just watching the View and it happens to be about infertility. (June is infertility awareness month). This episode is focusing on surrogacy, but the ladies are also talking about in-vitro.

Guiliana Rancic explained that her and her husband are having fertility problems and it's so difficult because they felt like they were winners--whatever they set their mind to, they accomplished. Getting pregnant is the ONE thing that you can't just go out and accomplish--no matter how hard you want it.

I have said the exact same thing over the past year. For anyone who knows me, they know that if I want something, I go out and get it. I don't like sitting around and waiting for something to happen. Getting pregnant has been the biggest trial in patience that I have ever gone through. Sometimes I say that God is trying to teach me an important life lesson in patience--and then I say, "Okay, God! I got it! I need to patient! Can I have a baby now, please?" And although part of that is a joke, I do think the universe...God...whomever, has a plan for us. I know that when Chris and I look into our child's eyes we won't be able to imagine any other journey to get to that perfect baby.

When I think about it though, Chris and I have been as proactive as possible in this process. Sometimes I feel guilty when I hear about other women who have tried to get pregnant for five years and are just now starting IVF. They've been trying so much longer than us! But if we don't do IVF now, we would eventually be trying for 5 years with probably no results. When Chris and I didn't get pregnant after 6 months, we went to the doctor. Some people thought that was a little early, but as my fertility doctor will tell you, if you aren't pregnant naturally after 6 months, there's a good chance you need some medical intervention. I was aggressive in getting Chris tested and making appointments as quickly as I could. Even with the IVF process we've been proactive. We did IUI (insemination) twice. Most couples who conceive with this process do so in 3-4 cycles. So we could have kept trying with IUI, However, if we continue to try IUI, we would be doing in-vitro during the school year. Since I have job that allows me to be off for a few months, we decided to just go for the in-vitro. Our doctor truly thinks this is our best chance for success and Chris' sperm count has not improved over the past months of IUI.

So watching these stories of surrogacy have been very interesting. It doesn't really apply to our situation since there is no evidence to suggest I won't be able to carry children, but I can't imagine what a difficult decision it would be to use a surrogate. So scary!

Waiting for Tuesday to get here so I can know what the next steps are!