Overwhelmed.....

So, we attended our Fertility Class last week which was overwhelming to say the least! The class consisted of two portions, a group setting with other couples who are going to be starting this process and an individual session. So we began, we were educated on all of the medications we could possibly be placed on....holy cow. We then were taught how to inject these medications correctly. Thankfully, having experience in this, it wasn't so bad....Alan did a great job of learning, though we didn't actually inject ourselves. After the medications were covered, we went through our rules of what we can and can't do over the cycle process and into pregnancy. Let's go with the hardest things Lauren learned:
   1. Caffeine reduction to 50 mg a day. (I had a Diet Mountain Dew worth over 100 mg sitting in from of me for my "morning" drink). This will be a dramatic change that I am starting to wean myself off of as we speak (since I think it may be a long process!). It was quite humorous because Alan and I had coffee and Diet Mountain Dew while every other couple had water.....
   2. Once I begin injections I cannot exercise anymore, not even a brisk walk. Now, I was quite excited about this part because most people know I loathe running, so an excuse was music to my ears! Which also means that I need to get on it now so that I can handle not exercising and not gaining anymore weight! It was quite humorous because the lady beside me was upset beyond words she would not be able to exercise (I was like "OMG, not that serious."). She was more upset than I was about caffeine! haha.
   3. Pelvic rest......3 months of it......look it up. They don't tell ya that part.

So, once we had that covered, we went on to more and more information about each day of the cycle and the schedule of blood work, ultrasounds, and transfers. It was all OVERWHELMING! We then had to go through paperwork for decisions we wanted to make concerning genetic counseling, freezing of embryos, placement of embryos, etc. Lots to decide about!

    So after we completed that information, we met with an IVF nurse, she went over our individual plan, asked when we would like to begin, and answered some further questions. She was the teacher of the class and when she found out I was in the medical field apologized for the class being so simple.....my eyes got big, I was like, um, there was nothing simple about that! Even us medical people don't know the ins and outs of infertility!
  
   So the journey continues, we are making our final decisions and I probably will not be posting as much in detail as some things I want to keep private and don't want to expose our exact cycle until it is completed. I am going to continue keeping track and will be posting the process after we are completed. That being said, we ask for prayers over the next several months as we make our decision of when to begin this process, the process itself, and its outcome. We want God's will to be done in this and His grace to be upon us. Until next time.....