Every story has a beginning

I decided to post this blog in the hope someone may be going through something the same & be able to relate to what we are going through. If it helps one person or gives them some hope then that's a great thing. IVF is something STILL people don't like to discuss, so I will discuss it warts & all here. I am not a writer so really this is just my recording everything that has happened so far. Hopefully it makes sense. I'm not looking for sympathy & I hope I don't sound that I am complaining, it's just been a road far longer & harder than we both expected. Hopefully one day when this all comes to an end & we got our much longer for child, I'll let them read this one day to see how much they were wanted.

WHEN WE FIRST STARTED TRYING FOR A FAMILY I SAW THIS HARAJUKU LOVERS BY GWEN STEFANI BABY CAP - I'M A BIG FAN OF GWEN'S AND HAD TO GET IT & PUT IT AWAY FOR OUR LITTLE ONE THE WOULD BE ARRIVING SOON OR SO I THOUGHT

How our story began:

After being with H (Hubby) for 3 years then marrying in 1999 we decided at the time we weren't ready for a family straight away. We had some rough times ahead like my being diagnosed with severe depression in 2000, then a few health problems. Finally recovered we were fit & ready to take on the world & decided to spend some quality time together, travel & enjoy life. At 35 (I was born in 72 & H 73) we decided the time was right for us to settle down & start a family of our own. Sound's easy right?

So from 2007 we tried to conceive and when things were not happening we did everything under the sun, from herbs, diets & various alternate therapies after all the timing & ovulation prediction things never made anything happen. We were both healthy so didn't give it a lot of thought as you hear all the time 'relax & it will happen!'

In early 2009 I was experiencing some pain so went & saw a gynaecologist to have it checked out, she diagnosed me with PCOS (poly cystic ovary syndrome - there is a ton of info about this online so I went go into here). She did a laparoscopy & found my pain was being caused by adhesion's which she removed & also discovered I had a blocked tube. After surgery we discussed our failure to conceive so she decide to test H as well.

 The test results for H did not come back good either with big sperm quality issues with motility etc.. it looks like it was caused by his having undescended testes when he was very young. We were told very bluntly by this Dr that our only chance to conceive was using IVF with a process called ICSI (where they actually inject the egg with the sperm). We left feeling shattered but thought if that's what we have to do, then we will do it. We just need a bit of medical assistance!

We found a clinic and a great Dr and the whole process was explained to us including the costs ($10,000 per cycle - health care covers a large chunk BUT you need that money to pay upfront before health care refund you). So we mentally & financially prepared ourselves to begin down the road of IVF/ICSI.