500 Packs of Pampers

Next to an actual pregnancy announcement, I feel like this is the most anticipated post.

No guys, we did not go out and buy 500 packs of pampers, but with the amount it is going to cost to make this baby, we might as well!

Today was our IVF consultation. It was an overwhelming hour and a half of crazy mixed emotions. Before I go into that appointment, let us backtrack to yesterdays ultrasound with V. For five months I have had day 12 (of my cycle) checks to see if I have formed any follicles (remember we need a 20mm, or 2cm, follicle to get excited about). Up to this point, I had only created one single follicle that would not get larger than 6mm. Well on my last month before starting IVF, my body has decided to create six follicles, ranging from 5mm-10mm! It sounds super exciting and monumental, but considering I have been at this for a while now we are not calling it a victory. V said she still highly suggest we pursue IVF. Which brings us to today.

The clinic we have decided to go through is in Raleigh NC, and for those of you not living here, that is 2 hours and 11 minutes from my door to theirs. We hit the road early in the morning and made it in time for our 10:45am appointment. The doctor (we'll call her G) was amazing. She was very professional, informative, and straight to the point which is what I look for in a physician. She explained to us the entire process and why certain things would be in our favor compared to others.

The first step that we have decided on is to force another period with Provera, starting April 6th. When I start my cycle, I will begin a three week round of birth control. Sounds absolutely insane, but medicine is amazing nowadays. The BC will basically shut my ovaries down - all that hard work the past 5 months just to shut them down!

On May 7th, we will attend a nurses education class where Nick and I will meet one-on-one (two-on-one?) and learn all about the medications, how to administer them, and create an extensive and thorough calendar for when to take the medications.

After the nurses class, we will be contacted by a third-party pharmacy to deliver the baby juice, which I am totally a pro at giving myself by now. During the cycle of medications, I will have 4-5 monitoring visits at the doctor. Thankfully there is a location in Wilmington NC which is an hour and a half as opposed to two and a half.

Once I produce the eggs, G will surgically remove them. This is the tricky part. Producing eggs is something we want, however, if I produce too many eggs the office can refuse to implant an embryo that month. Producing, let's say 30 eggs, can cause my ovaries to hyperstimulate and implanting the embryo can cause damage inside of me.

If all goes as planned during the egg retrieval, the next step will be for the embryologist to mix the eggs and sperm. The embryo will then incubate for 2-5 days, outside of my body. It is common to lose some embryos during this time, so if I end up getting 18 eggs, fertilize 15, 11 take, I can still end up with only 7 usable embryos. One embryo will be transferred and the rest we will freeze.

Two weeks after the embryo transfer I can take a pregnancy test and see if it stuck! If I am pregnant, then I will continue to be monitored at Carolina Conceptions until I am 8 weeks along and then graduate their program and continue at an OB office of my choice.

It was all very exciting and crazy to think that we could be pregnant by June. She even said we could freeze Nicks sperm if his school schedule starts to interfere.

After meeting with G, we were walked over to a financial advisor. That is when we decided to sell our kidneys. Kidding. But really, holy crap. At the end of our nurse class, we will have to pay $7,965 up front. That is for the general parts of the IVF procedure. After the nurse class, when the pharmacy calls to confirm our medications, we will have to pay $4,000-$8,000 in order to receive them. This will depend on my dose and what G orders for me. From then, it is miscellaneous charges for ultrasounds, labs, medical screenings, scans, and any other IVF related appointment. Our total cost is going to be from $15,000-$20,000. Again, this is determined based on the dosage of my medications, the labs that are ordered, and the other patient-specific cost. Me specifically, I think we are looking at closer to $18,000 total cost. This is where questioning every single financial choice I have ever made comes into play. Why did I need three of the same color sweatpants? Why does my husband need every piece of military gear? Can I sell my car? My soul? In terms of financing, we were not given any guidance other than "find a personal loan". However, we are smart enough to know to do our own research, so we will find a way. I mean unless someone can get me Ellen DeGeneres (we will name our baby after you Ellen!).

The astronomical cost of all this is terrifying. It is going to be everything I think about for the next 3 months. I honestly do not know 100% where to go from here. It has taken a good chunk of the excitement away and it is so sad to me that it is like this.

If you made it this far (I just realized how long this post is) I hope you continue to keep us in your prayers. As Nicks training and deployment creeps up on us, I get more and more worried about timelines. I know it will happen, I do not know how but I know it will.

If you or anyone you know wants to help, we have set up a PayPal account for Baby D. GoFundMe takes 5% of every donation, and we feel more comfortable with the security promises of PayPal. All the money goes straight into an account we set up at NavyFed just to pay for IVF, all my receipts are always going to be posted on my blog, and I am extremely transparent about all of this.

Keep praying Team D.

xoxo, ALD

Baby D IVF ttd: $125.00

https://www.paypal.me/JTBD