Unceremonious Resumption of the Pill

When David and I got married way back in 2002, we talked about children, how many we'd have, how soon we'd begin trying, etc. Like many couples, we agreed on a timeline that worked for us. We decided that we'd begin trying after being married for a little more than a year. And so, in August 2003, we performed our own little ceremony. We called it the "Ceremonial Tossing of the Pills." We held hands, looked into each other's eyes, said a few words and threw my birth control pills away. We were making a pact to embark on a great journey into parenthood together, both ready to move forward and embrace our bright future.

Well, dear reader, you know what came next. I got a physical to make sure that I was healthy, getting my blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol checked. I continued working out and tried eating even more healthily. I purchased both Taking Charge of Your Fertility and Before Your Pregnancy - A 90 Day Guide for Couples on How to Prepare for a Healthy Conception. We went from spontaneous intercourse to timed intercourse. I tried charting, ovulation predictors, etc. We went from the Gyn for tests to the RE for more tests. Many of you are quite familiar with what followed, an unsuccessful medicated IUI, a lap and now IVF.

So that pretty much brings everyone up to date. Yesterday Nurse Mindy and I spoke and she gave me the go ahead to begin taking birth control pills. So friends, tomorrow morning will mark the first of my 21 days of birth control pills, as part of the suppression phase of our IVF cycle. It will lack the fanfare of our Tossing of the Pill Ceremony but, hopefully, it will lead us one step closer to our eventual goal of having a child together. Nurse Mindy and I talked about my protocol - 21 days of BCPs, Lupron on days 19-21 of BCPs and continuing until I go in for day 2 testing. And then around October 27th or 28th, I will begin taking stims. Hopefully, I'll have lots of mature follies after 10 days of stimming and, "knock on wood," you know the rest.

My next visit to the RE's office will be on Monday morning for a mock embryo transfer. It's my understanding that this should be a relatively painless procedure, sort of a dry run, for a real embryo transfer.

I guess this means that we are really getting started. I am not sure whether to feel excited or scared, anxious or weary. I so hope that this works. So very, very much.