Let the games begin!

I know there are hundreds if not thousands of couples out there struggling with infertility. I bet none of us thought this would EVER happen to us. Who could plan for this to be in their future? Certainly not me.

This is my story. I am in my late twenties and work in a demanding male-dominated field. While in school, I met my husband. Unfortunately, he has cystic fibrosis, which totally sucks. For those of you not familiar with CF, it affects every part of you, although the lungs and the GI are most affected. Most men with CF are also unable to have kids the old fashioned way since they are lacking vas deferens. When we first dating and my hubby to be told me about his inability to have children, at first I was excited. Worry free sex! About 10 seconds later I realized how sad that is. I then told him I was fairly sure there was a way around that because of IVF.

At the time, IVF was far away in the future and I didn’t know how financially and emotionally draining the whole process is. I had no idea what I was in for. Maybe I still don’t. It has taken us 4 years to save up the money for IVF. We got a discount, which helped. There are two other couples with CF going through IVF at the same time we are. I haven’t met them, but I still feel like we’re in it together.

We are still at the beginning of our first cycle. So far, so good. I have been on birth control pills for 3 weeks and had a saline infusion sonogram this week with a practice transfer. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part was the speculum. I thought I would be out of commission all day, but it wasn’t that bad, just a little squishy. My sweet hubby was there the whole time. I am lucky that he is just as into this as I am. It definitely wasn’t always this way.

Earlier this year we tried an IUI. It didn’t take and he was in the hospital during the dreaded two week wait. I was also crazy from the fertility drugs. It almost ended our marriage. Somehow, we got through it with the help of a marriage counselor. I highly recommend them for anyone undergoing this procedure. Add a terminal illness and a demanding job to the mix and it’s a miracle that we’re both still alive and trying for a baby.

Anyway, I started the Lupron two days ago. So far my only side effects are nausea and a little bit of a head ache. Maybe I would have had the head ache anyway. I hate the insulin needles. By the time you get the lupron into the syringe, it’s so dull you practically have to stab yourself to get it in. I have a bruise from the first shot, but I did much better this morning. I am grateful low rise jeans are still in style. I have been making sure my injection sites are well above the jean line. All in all, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

Next week I start the real drugs, the gonadotropins. Also, for all you lovely ladies out there that are on a tight budget (who isn’t?), we got all our drugs from Shraft’s pharmacy. Instead of the $3000 we were expecting to spend, it was only $1396.50. That includes the bcp’s, lupron, hcg, and gonadotropins. It was $1,603 less than we were expecting to spend. We haven’t purchased the progesterone yet, but the insurance should cover that.

The other thing I want to put out there is financing. When ever I asked anyone how they paid for it they always said they had the money or parents paid for it. What about regular people? We tried to get a medical loan from capital one, but we were turned down. In the end, we sold a car. Any time we had extra money, like from a tax refund, we saved that too.

I hope that there are lovely ladies out there who can relate to this or get solace knowing they are not struggling alone.