Infertility Awareness Week

Did you know that this week is National Infertility Awareness Week?

It feels surreal that we were able to announce that our baby is on the way when at times I was not sure we ever would. We are the 1 in 6 who experience infertility.

The story of starting our family would not have been possible without all of the doctors at our IVF clinic. I became a pin cushion, and Hunter became my nurse, caregiver, and everything in between.

It has been a journey and throughout this process knew I wanted to share. For anyone who has gone through this, is going through this or will in the future- if you ever want to talk, ask questions, whatever- even if we do not know each other well, just send me a message.

Last November (pictured above) after all of the shots, we were ready for our retrieval. Our numbers looked great, I was uncomfortable and feeling really ready to have the procedure done. They put you to sleep so I needed an IV, after four tries and some tears from me I went in and before I knew it, I was asking Hunter questions repeatedly without remembering the asnwers. We left feeling hopeful and excited.

I took a few days off of work- most people can go back the next day, but I have an active job so I took one more day. I was still not feeling the best even after two days, but back to work I went. I kind of knew something was up when it started to hurt to breathe deeply. A long story short, a canceled transfer, and a trip to the ER I was cleared from having a pulmonary embolism (yay), but I could not walk more than a few feet before my blood oxygen levels tanked into the 80’s and I would almost pass out (boo).

I was admitted for two days, I officially had developed Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Syndrome (OHSS) which this day and age is a low occurrence complication from an egg retrieval, especially for someone who had zero risk factors (lucky me!). We found out after some tests I had fluid around my lungs which was impacting my breathing. They removed about three cups of fluid from around my lungs. My breathing and blood pressure went back to normal about 24 hours later. Oh, and during this time, I had the worst nausea of my life and could hardly keep anything down (pictured below; a barf bag was always close by). I cried daily and was so miserable. It felt like it would never end. Thankfully, it did.

I went back to work for the last two days of a week and when I got home on Friday we had a letter from the insurance company that let us know that because fertility services are not a covered service (we knew this and had prepared to pay for IVF), any complications were also not covered, so my two-day inpatient stay would not be covered. It felt as if we had been kicked while we were already down bad.

Another long story short- after several appeals, many months, and doctors saying that my care was medically necessary they still denied it.

So if you are pursuing fertility services my biggest advice is to ask your insurance company about what happens if complications arise, because they might and you might not have coverage.

We had to recover- mentally, emotionally, and physically. We took time off over the holidays to heal and eventually decided we were ready to start our journey again.

Thankfully the preparation for a transfer involves mostly pills to take and is much easier on the body. Unbeknown to everyone in our circle one day in February we had our transfer (pictured above). Aside from a full bladder that I thought might explode, it was easy. We celebrated with our McDonalds fries (pictured below) which is said to bring good luck and a trip to IKEA to keep moving around for a bit.

We had the dreaded 10 day wait with daily progesterone shots (enter nurse Hunter) before we found out that our little baby was on the way. Two days later when our HCG number increased it was confirmed we were having a baby!

Everything we had gone through finally felt all worth it and I would do it all again if I had to. Telling our parents, friends, and family was something I will never forget.

It’s almost poetic that our due date is the same date that we had our egg retrieval. We can’t wait to meet you baby!

And, if you have made it this far and want to chat about anything or just want someone to listen in this sometimes lonely place of infertility just reach out. I have been through a lot of it, I get it and I am happy to share!