If you have to have an appointment about why your IVF cycle failed….

…this would be the appointment to have. In a nut shell, Dr. F thought that I would be a super stimmer and was worried about OHSS so he didn’t put me on the full standard dose. Surprise, I’m an average stimmer! But he said that in the end I had really good results on about ¾ dose with 6 mature eggs. And while Hammer’s boys only fertilized at 50% rate we still can do natural fertilization and do it well. He said that we had two beautiful embryos and why they didn’t stick is beyond him. When Hammer asked if we should throw in the towel if this next cycle doesn’t work our RE said “Absolutely not, I’m going to get you pregnant, you will be pregnant, there is absolutely no reason why you should not be able to get pregnant.” Boy I hope he’s right because that really gets a girl’s hopes up.

I had gone in there will all my research articles on definitions of what makes a woman a ‘poor stimmer’ and effects of ovarian endometriosis. But those were not needed because he started right off saying I wasn’t a poor stimmer and I don’t show signs of any effects from my endometriosis. He validated that I made sufficient eggs on ¾ dose but he would like more (about 10), that I always did well on clomid, that I had a normal resting follicle count that showed no signs of reduced ovarian reserve. He did also agree that I was quite suppressed by the Lupron but felt that a full does of stims plus some LH added in should correct that issue. He said that there was nothing he would change about our cycle except putting me on the full dose. And not to leave Hammer out, we asked about his results and everything was great on his end too. Apparently the Fertilaid continues to do its job. He said that IVF has a 40% success rate and for some reason we fell in the 60% fail this time around but he feels very good about this next cycle.

Wow, I was ready for bad news but we left there feeling really positive. It was great.

I did tell him about my hot flashes and he ordered a 7dpo progesterone to see if ovulation occurred and threw in an FSH just to check. I feel so relieved by this because if I didn’t ovulate I will immediately be put on Prov.era to start my cycle and prevent any delays for Operation Hammer Babies Take Two!

So I will be back on BCP, Lupron, Bravelle (oh yes, that again) plus Menopur or Luvaris. And just yesterday I learned that one of the girls from our local RESOLVE group has 15 vials she is selling at half the price she paid (~20/vial). Once I knew I was going to be back on it, I contacted her and made arrangements to buy her extras. There was also another girl who had some extra vials but I have yet to hear back from her. If I can get close to half of my supply needed ~40 vials it would be so great. To have to be on 4 vials a day for 10 days at $45 a vial is not cheap ($1,800, yikes!) What a blessing that I found out about this the day before our meeting!

On a final note, thank you to all the ladies who have given me blogger awards the last few days. You are all awesome! I will get right on them but I didn’t want to keep you all waiting.

Update 7:59 am: I just heard back from the other girl with extra Bravelle and she has 13 vials FOR FREE!! So with my two left over vials, plus the additional 15 I'm getting I will only have to pay for 10 more vials. I just love to see the way God continues to move our mountains!