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The Beginning of a New Journey into Pregnancy - My IVF ExperienceSeptember 30, 2009By Melissa Moog, Founder/CEO of Itsabelly Baby Planners
As any woman knows pregnancy is a miracle - it is a gift from the heavens above - it is a mere blessing that we can produce life. Three years ago I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Isabella and I'll never forget the amazing transformation my body went through to grow a baby. Today, Isabella is the inspiration and joy in my life - she is also the reason Itsabelly exists. You can tell from my company's website and the work I do that pregnancy and babies are where my passions thrive. So, I only see it fitting to be able to share my story with you. I debated for a very long time about sharing my personal experiences with you regarding our journey into pregnancy because I wasn't sure if I wanted to go public with such an important decision in our life. In the end, I decided that it would be in my best interest to write about it hoping I could help other women (& significant others) who are going through a similar experience. If I can help just one person out there who is feeling the same emotion or just needs support I would feel writing about my journey has been worth it! In addition, for me writing is therapeutic and I have been known to keep a journal or two so putting words down comes easy. Without writing a long novel, I wanted to share how Randy (my husband) and I came to the decision of going through In Vitro Fertilization. Last year in August, 2008 Randy was diagnosed with non hodgkin lymphoma - it was the most devastating situation either of us had to go through. Our hearts were filled with sadness and our eyes were filled with tears the day we found out. We were also trying to get pregnant at the time but now appreciate that it wasn't meant to be. For a week (it seemed like a year), we did not know how serious his cancer was as we waited for test results - it was pure torture having to wait, neither of us got much sleep that week. Now for the good news...fast forward to the present, Randy's cancer has now been in remission since December 2008 and he is in chemo maintenance treatment every quarter. So, we are extremely excited to be in a happy place. With Randy's cancer we had to choose an alternative method of getting pregnant since natural means were out due to chemo treatments affecting fertility. As if we didn't have enough to worry our pretty little heads about, right? So, here we are after having many fertility consults including going through a failed Artificial Insemination in January. We have now figured out how we would pay for treatment which by the way costs about $15,000 (jaw dropping motion happens here) but fortunately Randy has excellent insurance which covers a large %. Hip, hip hooray! I'll be writing a post on just the cost of IVF alone. We feel extremely lucky to be able to barely afford it! On a side note, these past few weeks have wreaked havoc on my body as I had to take the pill for two weeks to regulate my ovaries - I haven't taken the pill in YEARS so the hormones were having a raging party, not fun! Now on to bigger and better things especially sharp pointy objects! Tomorrow we begin our first injection of Lupron which will start us on the process of creating as many eggs as possible. My wonderful husband will do the honors of giving me my injections. Thank goodness! I will receive one injection in the early AM and another 12 hours later. Over the weekend I add two other shots for a total of four a day for a few weeks. Shots aren't my thing and I would guess it's not on the top of anyone's list to have to go through 2-4 sharp needles a day but this is our life. I must accept it. So, the first major step of my journey continues tomorrow. I welcome any comments, questions and especially positive vibes from all of our readers. Thank you for letting me share my personal experiences with you - you don't know it yet but you will help me through one of the most challenging times in my life and for that I'm truly grateful! Stay tuned for more as I begin to journal my way through this IVF journey! Permalink:The Beginning of a New Journey into Pregnancy - My IVF Experience
Tags:In Vitro Fertilization, IVF, Pregnancy Posted in Itsabelly Portland, IVF, baby planning, Pregnancy 16 Visitor Comments
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It is such wonderful news about your husband! Thanks for sharing your story. 
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September 30, 2009 04:34 PM
Reading your story was heavy on my heart and brought back memories of our own 18-mos long journey of trying to conceive and going thru countless efforts with fertility experts. I kept a journal as well, and had hoped that someday these memories, which were painful to put on paper at times, would help someone else. I've never done anything with them but plan to at least share them with my children when they're older.
I'm so proud of you for sharing your journey and feelings with others. When we're faced with challenging times it's always comforting to simply know that we're not alone.
I wish you and your family the very best as you take on this new chapter.