IVF: no update

It’s been 2 months since my post about how we were starting our IVF journey. Unfortunately, no progress has been made since our video appointment with our fertility doctor. The clinic is new and was not fully operational when it opened its doors so we’re waiting for all their accreditation to go through. They were optimistic to be starting treatment in April or May but it’s been pushed out to an undetermined date.

I’m frustrated. I wish we could do more or get mad but it’s not like someone is holding us back. From what I understand, it’s because of the province of Alberta, Alberta Health Services and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta and that they are in no rush to put this through. This isn’t surprising as the Regional Fertility Program has held a monopoly in infertility for forever and they don’t want the competition. It’s been a year since we invested in this process and I don’t have any proof that I’m going through this. No brochure or pamphlet, nothing from the clinic, no guide book, nothing.

I’m mad. I want to threaten to pull my funds out. I want to storm down to the clinic. If it’s the college, I want to start a petition. If they want more attention, I’ll go on the news. Let me just do something. I’m not a believer in God and that ‘He has a plan for all of us’. I believe I’m in control of my own fate and that I can influence my own destiny. I can’t just sit back and wait to hear what’s going to happen.

I’m sad I was excited. This is the worst part. I want to believe it’s going to work. I want to imagine myself as a mother. I want to celebrate! Dang it, I was looking up so much about IVF success, pregnancy, and having a baby on Pinterest! Now, I’m slowly crawling back to the misery of infertility and thinking about ‘maybe it’s not meant to be’. I’m losing the small glimmer of hope I had with the clinic. I’m losing faith that they’ll take care of us or that I matter to them.

I’m distracted…for now. At least a little bit. We’ve got the new house we’re getting ready to start building (with its own headaches).  Fixing up our house now to get ready to sell. There’s been some good new shows. Some new movies. It’s summer so we’re starting to enjoy time out on the patio. Having friends over to talk about anything else. It’s hard not to think about it – but how could I not? This is a big life altering event. I’m such a planner that I’ve planned out the next year in the two scenarios of if it’s successful and if it’s not.

I’ll keep this blog posted. Hopefully my next post can finally be a happy one! More exclamations!

IVF Acupuncture: Volume 1

Pins and needles…literally!
A few months ago, we had met with one of the doctors from the clinic for a introductory appointment. We had the option to do it through video but we opted for an in-person meeting. Our doctor had recommended to get ready for the IVF through some vitamins and acupuncture. When she mentioned acupuncture, I thought of my family friend that I knew who did acupuncture immediately. Coincidentally, she actually specialized in fertility acupuncture treatments.

I went for my first appointment in November and it was great. I hadn’t told many people at that point about our IVF and was nervous to tell my acupuncturist but she was very empathetic and naturally has a very soothing personality anyway. She explained her recommendations (to see her weekly and to bring in my husband too). My husband and I went back for a treatment in late November and my husband thought she must’ve been able to do magic because he had also mentioned his back hurt and immediately after he felt amazing.  He actually said “she must be a wizard”.

Due to some family conflicts and hectic work schedules, we didn’t go back until just last night.  Because we’re doing our IVF through Effortless IVF and they just opened, we haven’t really met our doctors and or seen even seen the clinic.  This was nice to start a routine of appointments.  Our acupuncturist advised that we go weekly until the stimulation phase of our treatment.  Then I would do more acupuncture treatments more frequently once that started.  My husband would be ‘off the hook’, although I’m sure he wouldn’t mind to keep going!  She said that we’d work on the nervous system and just get my body in tune for the treatments and then work on thickening my uterine lining.

We’re also working on a healthy diet – cutting caffeine is hard!  And fries!  More dark greens, salmon, eggs, bananas, etc – really not too difficult – just less eating out!

Signing off for now!  Next up should be starting birth control (ironic isn’t it?).

Will post updates as they come!
Thanks for reading!

Big changes – Moving and Possibly Baby?

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted but it’s been a tough year and haven’t had the inspiration or want to share. Let me explain a little…

You may question the title as to why ‘possibly’ baby? My husband and I found out early last summer that we had extremely low chances of having children naturally. It was a heavy blow and we just tried to distract ourselves with buying things and trips. I actually started this blog with the intention of sharing the struggle but I wasn’t ready to talk about or share it. Our only way to conceive children now is to go through in-vitro fertilization and we’ve decided to go for it. We haven’t quite started but will be soon as we were waiting a long time for our clinic to open.

So if that wasn’t crazy enough, as the date got closer and more real that we’d be starting IVF soon, I thought it’d be a great idea to move too!  My husband and I go through these bouts of ‘what if we could live in a nicer place’ every once in a while but we’ve never actually gone for it. Before our home now, we had rented for a few months to test out living together and then moved to our place now and have stayed here for 10 years. It’s a small townhouse and we still love our place but thought that if we were to upgrade our house, I’d rather do it before baby comes. We’re not the type to move all the time so I knew if I waited till after baby, it would probably be years after baby.

So we have decided to do a new-build (ha, we thought making a baby through IVF wasn’t stressful enough apparently!). We’ve never done this before but very excited to customize it and make it our own. We’re looking to start the IVF process my next cycle, we’ll be going to make decisions on colors and finishings on the house in May, move into the new house around November and if we’re successful with our IVF, we’ll have a new baby this time next year. It’s going to be a big year!

I want to share my process as I know there are a lot of infertility strugglers out there. I know how sad it can be and I’m also trying to prepare myself if it isn’t successful. I also want to share my journey to a new-build house as it’s fun and exciting but can be stressful too!

If you want to hear more about our infertility story, please let me know. There are many different reasons and ours is not uncommon but I didn’t want to make this post too sad!

Ok time for distraction!

For the new house kitchen, I’m planning on grey walls, white cabinets in the kitchen, and a greyish color for hardwood floors. 

This is some inspiration I found on Pinterest:

Thoughts???