Nothing better than getting up before the sun on a Saturday to drive across the state for a blood test. Today they tested my progesterone I think. Why? No clue...just do what I'm told.
So my husband has decided he does want genetic counseling. Anyone know how that works? We can only give information back to our grandparents since his family was wiped out in the Holocaust and we have little information on the members of my family who made it out of Europe. Still, we already did the Jewish testing and I'm not a carrier so what more is there to do? I'm afraid more testing will delay our IVF process. At the class the other night someone mentioned the PGD test and now he wants that too. It's my understanding this is thousands of dollars if it isn't covered by insurance. I've tried to tell him that it doesn't guarantee our baby will be perfect, but he figures if it's an option, we should do it.
So the one other thing that's on my mind these days is the retrieval. Does it bother anyone else that this is done when you are sedated? Someone is going to spread my legs and invade my holy of holies while I'm unconscious. My husband won't be allowed in the room. When I asked my nurse why this was so she got defensive and tried to convince me that no one would do anything inappropriate. Still, I don't feel better about this situation. Maybe if I could put my own legs in the stirrups and then they sedated me I'd feel better. I hate the idea of someone manipulating my body while I have no idea what they are doing. I can just imagine my husband's response if he was told he would be sedated and then an instrument would be shoved inside his butt...not exactly the same thing, but the closest I can think of. It wouldn't happen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Um, genetic counseling...I'm not sure if you'll be going through a different process or not, but basically I just had a meeting with the high risk (fat, old, infertile) pregnancy doctors. They asked me about my ancestry and that of my husbands, and we discussed what we might do in the case of Downs and stuff. More or less it was to get us thinking about what our options would be should our prenatal testing have come back with results we didn't want to see. Unless there are issues in his family, or you know for sure you have a higher risk of something or have had multiple miscarriages, I can't see a reason for you to do PGD.
As for retrieval, when I went through it, I was given a light relaxant in the recovery room, then walked down the short hallway to the OR. I put my own legs in the stirrups and scooted down as requested, and then the anesthesiologist gave me the druuuuug...I was out in less than 5seconds! And I woke up just as I was being wheeled back into the recovery room.
For what it's worth, my legs weren't painful at all afterwards, but my pelvis was very very tender through the next 4-5 days. I highly recommend you get a prescription for painkillers afterwards. You might not need them, but if you're anything like me, the Percocet merely allowed me to sleep...and any jostling was very painful. So was standing, walking, and sitting to use the toilet. We spent an extra day and night at the hotel as I wasn't fit to drive.
Of course, your experience might be completely different! I know a lot of women have no trouble at all after retrieval, I just wasn't one of them.
Can't comment on IVF stuff, but can do so on genetic counseling and testing. Our doctor just wanted to go back to the grandparents' generation. Every insurance company is different, but mine covered all the tests. I know that some will only cover based on your medical history. For example, there is cystic fibrosis in my mother's family, so my old insurance covered genetic testing for CF.
I wouldn't recommend doing PGD unless it's absolutely necessary. Studies have shown that it reduces pregnancy rates - messing with the embryos is not good for them. I have a relative who did it and did not get pregnant with this process. She got pregnant on her own later on.
PGD is used to tell if there are any problems with the embryos. It can also be used if you want to pick the gender of your baby (assuming you produce both male and female embryos, of course).
Our genetic counseling was also just me in the room with a counselor ... only unlike Hekateris, mine was a very young girl who I didn't think really knew what she was talking about. It lasted about 30 minutes and then I got a bill for about $75 I think I can't remember but insurance didn't cover it. My husband was screened for all the Jewish genetic stuff and I was screened for the general stuff. No other testing that I can remember.
Good discussion on genetic testing! My husband is Jewish, but his mom wasn't. I'm Italian, so I'm not worried about the genetic diseases that run in Jewish families. I don't think we'll have enough embryos to do PGD, though DH want's to do it, mostly for gender selection. My RE and embryologist actually recommend against it.
Don't know about genetic counseling or PGD, but retrieval is a breeze. I was sore for about 24 hours afterwards. I just had mine Friday 2/1. You will probably get more used to the idea of someone poking your "who ha" by the time retrieval comes along from all of the monitoring appts. I think the being "out" part is best b/c then you don't get the humiliation of knowing there are 4-5 people in the room all looking at your "who ha"... also, you should try a laparoscopy or two...they go at cha from all directions while you're out. hahaha... p.s. I just found you from cyclesista... good luck :)
Post a Comment