After the last transfer we decided to take a month off to process our failed cycle. We scheduled a follow-up for 4/14 to discuss next steps and look for answers. We had our list of questions that unfortunately no one really has the answers to why cycles fail. You have thoughts like could my diet have been better, am I exercising enough, do I drink enough water? Unexplained infertility is just a frustrating mystery. We were faced with the decision to do a medicated cycle or a natural cycle for our next frozen transfer. Basically a medicated protocol utilizes a combination of estrogen and proges ..read more

“Danielle we are calling from Doctor Luzzo’s office with some unfortunate news, your HCG test came back negative” I’ve sat here for hours trying to put in words the pain I feel. Each time I receive a call like this I lose a piece of me. It’s as if the world is just continuing around me and I am just stuck here in this dark cruel world of infertility. It has consumed my life. 3/7/2021- TRANSFER DAY. I can’t even begin to describe how excited we are, its finally HERE!!! Just to get to this day we are so grateful, there are so many variables that lead up to this. You are constantly praying that ..read more

Stims- “Ovarian Stimulation” using fertility drugs to induce a woman’s ovaries to produce a significant number of egg-containing follicles. Basically a LOT of injections, the box of medications is overwhelming! Also lets not forget that we are still in a pandemic and haven’t even met our doctor face to face, so we will be learning to mix and inject all these drugs from online videos. The first night was really scary we double checked everything about 100x but you get the hang of it quick. The injections didn’t really bother me, Dave gave me ONE injection and was fired immediately. Maybe it’s j ..read more

2/12/2021- We officially have ALL the drugs. Wow what a process that was! Besides all the insurance issues we faced throughout the month we also found out that one of the main medications (Menopur) we needed to start is on backorder due to a “national shortage”. I called numerous pharmacies trying to find Menopur and the two pharmacies that did have it wouldn’t fill just that one prescription, it needed to be prescribed with the Gonal-Rff pen which I already had delivered. Just in case you have no idea what any of this means let me just show you: $$$$$ This on top of all the emotional stre ..read more

Well I definitely wasn’t lying when I said “roller coaster” this week really got to me. It is still so crazy to me how everything can be going fine and BAM one phone call has you crying in the work bathroom wondering how to move forward from here. I wasn’t going to share an update because to be honest I still have no clue what is going on but that’s the whole point of this blog to share all the details good, bad, and the unknown. Now I’m not sure if this is just my shit luck or other people have had struggles with insurance but here is where we are at. 1/25/21- We received the phone call that ..read more

During the follow-up we agreed that next step would be IVF. I was so anxious to just start my next cycle and dive right in. HA. Wow there is so much that needs to be done before you can start. I was sent over about 10 different emails of stuff that we needed to complete to even move forward. Emails included a bunch of consent forms, a link to set us up with a financial counselor, a cycle calendar (which instantly gave me anxiety), a link to make a “medical passport” for the anesthesiologist, and a LOT of educational videos. I was told I would also need a Physical exam from my PCP to clear me f ..read more

Interuterine Insemination. The plan was to call on my cycle day 1 and go to Boston for baseline bloodwork and ultrasound. If everything looked okay we would get the call to start taking clomid cylce day 3 for 5 days. During those 5 days we would have to go in for more bloodwork and ultrasounds. We got the call that it was time to take our “trigger shot” and then in 36 hours we would come in for the insemination. Going in for the insemination I didn’t know what to expect, what I definitely didn’t expect was after Dave went in to give his semen sample they kicked him out. Dave had to wait in the ..read more

So we decide that 2020 is going to be our year! New mind set and we are ready to take on infertility once and for all. We did a bunch of research and met with PLENTY of doctors until we finally decided to go with Boston IVF Doctor Kerri Luzzo, now this alone took months to even get an appointment at a place like this. Here we go…. COVID 19, you bitch. Let’s meet with a brand new doctor and discuss all of our issues on a laptop, everything is telehealth. After MORE tests all resulting in normal she advised us to do IVF. Dave and I mentioned we wanted to try something a little less aggressive to ..read more

Our experience devastated me. I felt as if I was robbed of all the joys/experiences of your first time pregnancy and I will never get those back. I was given an option at this point to do the laparoscopic surgery or to take methotrexate which is a drug used in chemo that stops cell growth. I chose to do the methotrexate after much research, I was worried with the surgery I may get scar tissue or end up possibly losing a tube. The methotrexate sucked, I felt like shit and after my blood work came back it showed my numbers were still rising. Still in denial, you have thoughts like maybe it was a ..read more

In 2018 we decided to start tracking periods and using ovulation kits, slowly trying to get things moving. I’m very regular with periods every 28 days, a period that lasts for about 3/4 days, and I ovulate every month. Was never really on a birth control for long periods of time, every once in a while before marriage I was on the Nuvaring (when I remembered). So why is this so hard? We decided in the beginning of 2019 to make an appointment at my OBGYN to run some blood tests and fill her in on trying to conceive on our own for over a year now. She ran a bunch of hormone panels, sperm analysis ..read more