Timeline

I'm still waiting for my exact 'plan of care' from my fertility clinic. However, I did get a sheet labeled "Visit schedule for the routine IVF patient". Of course, now I'm obsessing over this, lol. I think as the date approaches, I'm feeling more and more out of control. I know that there's very little that's in my hands right now. At least with regular baby-making, you get to have intercourse! With IVF, I'm feeling a bit powerless in a lot of ways, so I think I'm concentrating on the details that seem concrete.

Anyway, please humor me as I obsess over the timeline. 

Originally, I was told I would be on at least 10 days of birth control pills. In my mind, I've been preparing for a certain timeline that includes getting AF (aunt flo) around October 2nd, then starting about 2 weeks of bcp before we start injections. Then, yesterday, I heard from my nurse that no, she was pretty sure I would NOT be on bcp. Some part of me freaked out, because no birth control pills means the entire IVF timeline gets pushed up by 2 weeks. On one hand, it's incredibly exciting. On the other, it's also scary! Nurse C is running our IVF education class next Tuesday, so I will find out more for sure at that point. I guess it seems silly after all this time to be concerned about a two week difference, but I am! I want to know whether to expect a mid-October transfer or an early November transfer. In my head, it makes a big difference!

The other part of the timeline that's concerning me is the after-care. The sheet I have says '1st pregnancy test blood draw - 14 days after transfer'. Ugh. After reading all these blogs, I know that most clinics do a 9 or 10 day wait. I had already been excited about the fact that I wouldn't have to go through another full two weeks after IVF to find out if I'm pregnant or not. I have no idea why they wait 14 days! The embryo is already 3-5 days old when the transfer occurs, so right now, it just seems too long. And I really didn't want to take a home pregnancy test.

THEN, the excruciating part is that it also says the first pregnancy ultrasound isn't until 1 month after the first positive pregnancy test. WHAT??! Even normal, healthy pregnancies usually come in for their first u/s at six weeks! Why would you have to wait until you're 8 weeks along with IVF? Last night, I seriously went through every blog that I follow of women who have gone through IVF this year and gotten pregnant. And every single one of them had their first u/s at only 6 weeks. My thought about this is that if there's not really a living baby in there, I would rather know at 6 weeks than have to live through another 2 weeks worrying about whether everything is okay in there. If I have to wait a full month after the positive test and then I get in there and find out there's not a baby in the sac or there's no heartbeat? I'll freak out. It's just like prolonging the worry. I know myself well enough to know that I won't be able to settle into really believing I'm pregnant until I see that baby on the screen and know that everything is okay. This is the part of the timeline that worries me most. I seriously do not want to have to wait until 8 weeks for the ultrasound.

Okay, Sarra, take a deep breath! Next week, we have our education class. It will be an opportunity to ask questions and hopefully get some definitive answers. I'm praying with all my heart that they are willing to alter their normal timeline and will agree to do that first u/s at 6 weeks. I can handle the 14 day wait until the pregnancy test, but the u/s wait will be awful. Please, please, please let them be willing to push that up!

On a good note, the timeline moving up means that if I do get pregnant, I will officially be into the second trimester by the time we go home for Christmas! That would definitely make me very happy! Also, I might actually find out if I'm pregnant by Halloween, hehe. And I love Halloween.