LolaInLove's Infertility Journey

[begonia]

I'm practically singing in my head "Lola's going to have a baaaaybee! Lola's going to have a baaaybee!" because this thread just makes me so POSITIVE it is going to happen for you. I have zero blue dust, even my dog is a girl, but I have lots of baby dust and that I give to you my friend

I think it would be totally amazing to take your DD's to Prague for a summer trip. Fantastic. They're old enough to really enjoy and remember it, too.

[zanacal]

The Prague option sounds amazing Lola! Of course I'm crossing everything that you won't need to make that trip but I'm so happy that it's there as a do-able and affordable back-up plan for you guys Baby dust from me too!

[LolaInLove]

I'm seriously thinking to give it one more try for a boy, BUT....the option of gender selection is soooo tempting, I'm more then willing to go through IVF if that would guarantee I get my

Do you believe it is available in Serbia? I've found 2 private clinics in Belgrade, they do IVF/PGD WITH gender selection, PICSI is also available and ICSI ( I'm not sure what's the diff) and we *could* afford it in a year or two if we develop a serious saving plan lol

I just took a glance, it would cost us somewhere between 4000-5000 euros ( approx. 5200$-6500$) we COULD afford that! Now I mentioned to DH I'm willing to try for #4, he just laughed and said we'll see after this bubba is born.

I hesitate to tell him about gender selection and costs, at this point he would probably chop my head off I will have to prepare him step-by-step for my brilliant plan

It is really silly it's so much cheaper in Europe than in States, when I was reading threads about costs, I was convinced it couldn't be cheaper then 20.000 euros or so, which is science fiction for us, but 5000 euros could be done.

Keep us posted, I'm so excited for you!!!!!

Oh, if there's any possibility, take the girls with you, I believe it is ultimately important for children to travel and get to know diff cultures as much as possible, it will make their horizons wider. They are both big now, esp your older, I'm sure she'll appreciate it! Our DD1 was truly happy and grateful when we took her in Budapest ( well we took DD2 as well, but she doesn't remember much our journey lol!)

Hugs and kisiz!!!!

Oh, I'd love to take the girls with.....it's definitely a thought. I'd have to work it out with their a$$ father, but it may be able to be done. I completely agree, I think traveling is one of the best educational things you can do for a child. There is no teacher who can tell you about the world vs. actually seeing the world.

And yea, SEE??? It's totally affordable somewhere near you! I was the same way- just to THINK about taking a $20-25K hit to chance getting pregnant (because it may not work or you may lose the baby) was not an option. But for $5K US dollars, it is way better. I bet there is a clinic that will do it somewhere. I keep hoping that I can maybe see if there is the remote possibility that they will give me xy embies if there is a choice between the best ones, but I doubt it. I really don't care at this point anyway.

Oh, and the difference between PICSI and ICSI is this: with regular ICSI, they get the sample from your DH and wash them to weed the dead ones out and then analyze them under a scope to find the most robust and best swimmer they can find and then they take that guy and inject him right into your egg. Well, they do this to all of your eggs they retrieve, so they need ya know, 10+ good sperm. In PICSI, they wash the sperm and then instead of just looking at them under a scope, they first put them in a solution that had a "fake" egg made of some gel substance and see which ones go straight to the fake egg. Then, they take those guys first. The fact that they go straight to the fake egg means that they are the most mature and "smart" sperm and more likely to be completely healthy and devoid of abnormalities. It's just another reassuring step to creating healthy embryos.

In Prague, at PFC, they also have that embryo monitoring so you literally get a video of your egg and sperm cell, as it was when they put the sperm in, dividing into 2, then 4, then 16 cells and so on, until they take it and put it in your uterus. Can you imagine seeing your son or daughter as a single cell??? When they embryos divide normally, it means they are most likely normal, and the abnormal ones will divide abnormally. Check this out, this video shows how they can detect an abnormal embryo from the get-go: Abormal 2nd cleavage - abnormal cleavage line producing atypical 4cell stage - YouTube

Super interesting, huh??? ZB, I really like your super brilliant plan! Did you find a clinic there that will do GS? I wish more women knew about this option- it's not necessarily for gender selection, but really ALL medical procedures are cheaper outside of the US because of the US's stupid healthcare and insurance monopolies.

[LolaInLove]

Thanks, Begonia and Zan!!!! It is SO much nicer to have a back-up plan. I feel like this is all doable with one. I am just such a planner, I couldn't handle the leaving-it-up-to-nature forever plan at all.

I know, wouldn't it be great to take them to Prague? And my DD2 would be with her best friend there also (her mom is the one that is my good friend from Czech that we would stay with!).

SO, I finally took the bull by the horns and made an appt for R with the local reproductive urologist for April 20th. For some reason, he kept "forgetting." I am sure he is not thrilled to have some dude manhandle his balls for an hour, but it's gotta be done. I have a tiny inkling of hope that he will put R on Clomid to see if it works for the count issue (yes, Clomid can make men's count raise tremendously) and then maybe after a few months of that and no dancebelt, we may have a surprise natural pregnancy later this summer. Who knows. Even though I'd love to go to Czech and all, I'd also love to not have to prod myself with stim drugs and go through all of the IVF turmoil and just get pg like a normal person.

[Hobbermittens]

Yea, we are going to keep trying naturally until the end of next March, and then we will put the plan into motion and go during the summer of 2013. Not exactly sure when, it does depend a good bit on when I'd want to have a baby (or babies!). I would really like to have them in May, which would mean we'd need to go in August. Oh, and I am assuming it will be twins because that will help me get used to that idea, which is very likely if we do this. I've got to ask when the best time to be there is! Not that it matters as much.....I'd just rather not have a December baby, that is for sure. I loved having my DD2 in late March, was the perfect weather over my pregnancy where I live.

When is your DD's birthday? My DD2 is March 24th.

I am so glad you have a plan in mind! And twins might be really fun... especially since you are going through so much to get a baby, you might as well get two!!

[LolaInLove]

When is your DD's birthday? My DD2 is March 24th.

I am so glad you have a plan in mind! And twins might be really fun... especially since you are going through so much to get a baby, you might as well get two!!

She turned 7 on March 22. I absolutely loved being pregnant over the winter and delivering in the spring as opposed to my 1st kiddo who was born in the dead southern heat of July. I could not even leave my house the last 4 weeks because I'd feel faint as it was well over 100 degrees that year.

And yea, I've been asking on the forum about how many they will transfer. Seems that it is kinda stupid to pay all that money and just transfer 1, although they will do it if you request. They have a roll call also, and really no one transfers just 1 embryo since most of these couples don't have any kids at all and many of them use donor eggs or embryos anyway. The advantage of CZ is that in their law, donors are compensated nicely and are completely anonymous no matter what. So, they have a lot of people donate eggs, embryos, and sperm, and have no waiting times for it. Literally, if we got there and everything turned out bunk, I could take an extra couple of days and have donor embryos transferred in if we didn't want to go home empty-handed. They will tell you a few things about the donors, like their hair and eye color and stature, but otherwise, you don't get any other info. They do guarantee that the donors are healthy as they have a rigorous screening process, but because they mandate that it is completely anonymous, you can never know who your children came from. The other reason it's so popular there is because CZ people look relatively American (I apparently look very Czech, although I just look like any other gal in the US really). They are fair and have a variety of hair and eye colors.

Anyway, when it boils down, I would just have 2 transferred and hope at least one of them took, but if I get twins, well, that is the way it will go down and we will be ecstatic. We told the in-laws about it this last week when they were in town and they said they will move down here if we have even 1 baby as they were planning on moving from Michigan at some point anyway. I said, what if we have twins? They said they'd be down asap and totally help out. It would be craziness, but hey, I guess you don't really get to choose what happens. We just want some baby somehow!

[SweetLily]

Lola, wow...I had no iea you;ve been through so much since I met you on IG forever ago (used to be toddsgirl). I knew you had a mc, but that was about all. I really hope you get your baby soon, I agree with other posters that if you got pregnant a couple of times, you CAN and WILL again, but it may take time. I understand the pain, I have had 5 CP's in the last 2 years and am going to a fertility clinic now--after 4 kids. I think its teh 2 cm polyp in my uterus causing them, so they are doing some tests to see if they need to remove it.

I wish you success, not luck, for luck is blind and I dont believe in it. I belive in work and care and effort, and you are putting those things in and you will reap your reward eventually. Hugs

[LolaInLove]

Hey girl!!!! Yep, it's been a while and nothing is happening, so we are kinda moving on and planning for some assisted reproduction. But, my DH does have his uro appt on the 20th, so there is a chance that he can get his balls fixed (LOL) and we'll have some success without having to do IVF.

So, you've had 5??? I'm so sorry, Weezie! Hopefully it is an easy thing like removal of that polyp (which isn't exactly EASY per se, but at least there is something that is the culprit that you can fix as opposed to unknown infertility). Keep me posted!!!!! So good to hear from you! xoxo

[LolaInLove]

I'm excited to see what happens on Friday at the urologist. Part of me is so hoping it just takes a round of Clomid for him to get his hormones (T levels) and all up so the sperm production goes up. I really hope it's not the varicocele thing.

On a good note, I started the Rapid Fat Loss Diet that Michaela recommended to me yesterday. I eat only a chunk of lean protein and some fibrous veggies all day, and I feel a lot better already! My body HATES carbs, I think they have caught up with me at the ripe old age of 36 and now they just pack on my body. Getting old is so fun. So, we'll see how the diet goes. I am going to be a bridesmaid in September now, so I am really motivated to lose all of this swaying weight really soon!

[auroara78]

Lola, this is sooo exciting!!!

I will be thinking of your husband on Friday and hope that his balls can get fixed, as you say!! I think being this proactive is awesome, and it would still be nice to get pg naturally of course, but the IVF in Prague sounds very promising as well, seeing a really, cool historical place then possibly getting twins from it! I think whatever is meant to be in your case will unfold, but I definitely see a babe(or babies) in your future!