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Blessed
Posted by
Anotherhopeful
,
07 May 2012
·
1896 views
There have been times during our infertility journey where it has been pretty difficult to practice gratitude. But now is not one of them! We have been blessed. Much more than we could possibly deserve.
The last year has been an intensive ivf existence. The fourth cycle in 10 months ended up being the charm. We are now a day shy of 14 weeks with a lovely little singleton who checked out beautifully at our recent NT scan notwithstanding that I am older than dirt! Estimated due date is November 7, 2012.
I have been around here long enough, and read enough tragic stories to know that we are not out of the woods until a healthy infant is in our arms, and indeed, that there is never really a time when nothing can go wrong. But I am choosing to be optimistic and to enjoy this experience with nothing but hope.
I know it is not always easy to read about others having success, and perhaps even harder to read about someone like me who already had the blessing of healthy twin boys. One of the things that has been reinforced to me a million times in reading stories here is that life is not fair. There is no rhyme or reason to why or when these processes work and when they don't. I am grateful but deeply humbled.
I do hope that instead of pain that my story might inspire or provide hope. We have severe male factor, attributable to my DH's significant issues with inflammation. Made 1,000 times worse by my age - I am as I have already said to use the lovely Mouse's phrase, "older than dirt". Initial diagnosis for me: poor responder, poor egg quality - you name it. But as everyone here knows, barriers to fertility don't dampen the desire for children in our lives.
Key for us in this success was trusting ourselves, sticking with it, and making sure that we were satisfied that we had done all that was possible, within the parameters that we established in February last year. I have already written at length about my love affair with Victoria, and how healing the process of getting treatment there has been. Obviously now having a success tops off those feelings with the whipped cream and cherry!
My wish for everyone struggling through this sometimes impossibly difficult process is to get the basic whole-patient care available. Please really think hard about the clinic you chose. Geography is important; I worked in a demanding job through my first two cycles and the travel I did for my two most recent cycles would have been very difficult without adjusting priorities. But geography isn't everything. You need to find that magical balance of physician/lab/nurse competence, exceptional and compassionate patient care, cost considerations, and convenience of receiving treatment. I now believe that a doctor who listens, who is willing to try new things, and who is truly on top of developments and research in the field is critical. I asked my old clinic to run the protocol that led to success and they refused. I BELIEVED it would work for me based on my research and discussions, so I found someone who would do it. And it worked. Trust yourself - only when you know when it is time to keep trying, look for a second opinion, or to walk away.
26 weeks to go. Fingers crossed and heart full of hope.
Wishing peace, clarity of thought and a huge dose of luck to everyone on their journey.
AH
The last year has been an intensive ivf existence. The fourth cycle in 10 months ended up being the charm. We are now a day shy of 14 weeks with a lovely little singleton who checked out beautifully at our recent NT scan notwithstanding that I am older than dirt! Estimated due date is November 7, 2012.
I have been around here long enough, and read enough tragic stories to know that we are not out of the woods until a healthy infant is in our arms, and indeed, that there is never really a time when nothing can go wrong. But I am choosing to be optimistic and to enjoy this experience with nothing but hope.
I know it is not always easy to read about others having success, and perhaps even harder to read about someone like me who already had the blessing of healthy twin boys. One of the things that has been reinforced to me a million times in reading stories here is that life is not fair. There is no rhyme or reason to why or when these processes work and when they don't. I am grateful but deeply humbled.
I do hope that instead of pain that my story might inspire or provide hope. We have severe male factor, attributable to my DH's significant issues with inflammation. Made 1,000 times worse by my age - I am as I have already said to use the lovely Mouse's phrase, "older than dirt". Initial diagnosis for me: poor responder, poor egg quality - you name it. But as everyone here knows, barriers to fertility don't dampen the desire for children in our lives.
Key for us in this success was trusting ourselves, sticking with it, and making sure that we were satisfied that we had done all that was possible, within the parameters that we established in February last year. I have already written at length about my love affair with Victoria, and how healing the process of getting treatment there has been. Obviously now having a success tops off those feelings with the whipped cream and cherry!
My wish for everyone struggling through this sometimes impossibly difficult process is to get the basic whole-patient care available. Please really think hard about the clinic you chose. Geography is important; I worked in a demanding job through my first two cycles and the travel I did for my two most recent cycles would have been very difficult without adjusting priorities. But geography isn't everything. You need to find that magical balance of physician/lab/nurse competence, exceptional and compassionate patient care, cost considerations, and convenience of receiving treatment. I now believe that a doctor who listens, who is willing to try new things, and who is truly on top of developments and research in the field is critical. I asked my old clinic to run the protocol that led to success and they refused. I BELIEVED it would work for me based on my research and discussions, so I found someone who would do it. And it worked. Trust yourself - only when you know when it is time to keep trying, look for a second opinion, or to walk away.
26 weeks to go. Fingers crossed and heart full of hope.
Wishing peace, clarity of thought and a huge dose of luck to everyone on their journey.
AH
