Choosing the Right Dozen

A lot of things have been changing in the Lawhead house over the last few months!  First, we moved!  Second, we added a yellow furry child to our family!  While he was not exactly "loved" by our brown furry child at first, they have since become best friends.  Welcome to our family, Rooney!  Sophie has decided that you can stay.

The second biggest change is the whole reason for this blog.  Matt and I have been making numerous trips to Frederick, MD, to a fertility specialist (Shady Grove Fertility) and going through some intense testing and screening procedures.  After approximately three full months of blood work (I've officially lost count of the number of tubes of blood I have had taken from my arms within the last 3 months), various tests (some quite painful) and many days off work, our doctor finally came to the conclusion that we will need to undergo the In-vitro Fertilization process in order to expand our family.

This was a shock at first, and not exactly what we wanted to hear.  But, we have had a few weeks to process (somewhat) everything and deal with the things we need to so that we can move forward with this plan.  

We were approved for a program that gives us a total of 6 fresh cycles to attempt to get pregnant.  Our first cycle will begin within the next week and take approximately two months from start to finish.  The first four weeks are nothing more than daily medication.  It is the next four weeks where all of the excitement begins.  By excitement, I mean daily injections (yes, I will need to give myself 3 shots a day at VERY specific times.. yippie!), many trips to Frederick and Rockville, MD (pretty much daily), more medications, and lots and lots of blood work and tests, and eventually end with a transfer.  

We have a 60% chance at success with this cycle.  If it does not take this time, we will begin cycle two about a month after cycle one ends.  We have a 95% chance of success within the first three cycles.. so hopefully we will be expanding our little family (with human children!) within the next year to year and a half.

We decided this would be the best way to keep everyone updated rather than making 25 phone calls after each and every appointment.  Feel free to call, text, or email either one of us.  We would love to hear from you!  We just know that with everything we will have to do, we may forget to call someone and we don't want anyone to feel left out.  One of us will update after every appointment, which will not be too often over the next couple of weeks, but will pick up sometime in April.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!