So this is my first time blogging on my own.... so bear with me if this is a little wacky or long. ...

So as you know we did paperwork and then had some appointments. If you want to spare yourself some very graphic details please stop reading now... if you keep reading, don't say I didn't warn you.

So, first comes the paperwork.. Heather wasn't kidding about the phone calls to my parents, by the 3rd phone call they refused to hang up and just stayed on the phone for the remainder of the million and half questions about my family history. It was pretty entertaining, especially when my mom gave one answer and my dad another, and then would spend 3 to 5 minutes debating who was actually right. All in all that took almost 2 hours .. no joke!

Then came the appointments, and when Heather says we had appointments, she means Amy has more things stuck in her lady parts then ever before!

When you are going through IVF in any form at all, everything goes off of cycle days. Day 1 is when your period starts, and so on and so forth... after the first consultation appointment they have you waiting until day 1 of your cycle to call and let them know and then the scheduling starts. Jennifer (our nurse) said blood work is day 3 and then a whole bunch of ultrasounds days 6 to 12

Day one was a Sunday so day 3 was a Tuesday, I show up at 8:45am after not having eaten for the last 12 hours, and say "Hi, I'm here for my blood work." Easy right, WRONG. oh so very wrong. The response I receive... "we have you scheduled for an internal ultrasound as well"... UMM, Happy freakin Tuesday to you too! a surprise vaginal ultrasound.... have i mentioned that is has now been 12 hours and 15 minutes with no food and no coffee!!!!!! You can imagine the hangry that was setting in.

Ok, so 8 vials of blood later into the ultrasound room I go. So the extremely nice tech walks in and gets the machine all set up, places a condom on the probe, and then lube, and lots of it. She looks at what must be my petrified face and says, "Don't worry it doesn't all go in." and then says "do you want to insert it or me." My answer " You can go ahead I don't normally put things in that hole!"

Then the first time of many of times hearing "wow, you look great and normal".First time ever that I have been called normal, and I was ok with it.

Next appointment was on day 6 which was Friday of the same week where they squirt water into your uterus and then take another vaginal ultrasound (for those of you who are counting, that is 2 in 1 week! Lucky me!) but after the catheter was in i jumped when the "wand" went in and the nurse was very concerned about my jump, and asked me if I was ok, and my response "things don't normally go in there, so that was a surprise" .. after a good laugh by all it was again "wow, you look great and normal". She was actually confused why were were at IVF, I had to explain my wife and I were just looking to get hooked up with some sperm.

So then 1 more test, I can do this, no biggie... Damn I could not have been more wrong. Like dead wrong. This next test they squirt dye into your Fallopian tubes and take an x-ray to ensure they are clear of blockage. This test is hell, actual hell. Your Fallopian tubes are the size of a pencil line. that skinny and squirting dye up there while on an x-ray table is pretty darn awful.

Again, "wow, you look great and normal" so all the test are done, and I have clear understanding of what my lady parts look like.

So on to the consultation on Wed the 29th for the game plan. Fingers crossed that everything with the blood work is "wow, you look great and normal"

Next up, consultation debrief, pysch eval (because we are using donor sperm, and NYS wants to ensure we know what we are doing), and then DONOR PARTY!!!! Ladies and gentlemen we are going shopping for sperm!

Stay tuned, as this is going to be interesting!

Loves! -amy

Step 2 - Paperwork and Appointment - Per Heather

It has been awhile since our last update, and things have been happening. As is typical with Amy and myself, we decided to start this process, and try to blog about it in what is undoubtedly the busiest time of year for us. This is not new - from July to December for the entirety of our relationship, we have always been the busiest. So things have kinda just steamed along as usual, and we are as always just playing catch up.

So, the filling our of the paperwork happened. Fertility places really want to know everything as far back as you can go, and by about the 5th phone call to Amy's parents, I feel that they may have just been making it up to get us off the phone, but I can't really blame them. I would have too. So, it took about an hour to fill this all out. Once that was done though, Amy started to get nervous.  I do not enjoy when my wife is nervous. Not only do I simply not like it, as I adore her more than anything or anyone else, but because a nervous Amy is quite frankly a lot of work. I am not being mean, or implying anything bad, I am simply stating a fact. When Amy is nervous, she needs to be managed, and she will slowly but surely delve into a cranky Amy. However, I put a ring on it knowing this, so we trudged on through the nerves. The day of the appointment was the worst in cranky, nervous Amy, but we got through, got signed in and we waited. We got called back, vitals got done, and the big, bad scary doctor was not at all terrifying and good thing I could tell how good she is and how much she knows her stuff because in all other ways she kinda reminds me of a munchkin, and I am simply glad that she doesn't let that vibe through to her obvious expertise, or Amy would in fact simply get up, walk out and I would spend the next 6 months trying to convince her it is not a sign of the universe that we should not have a baby, because sometimes there is some over reacting to the point of crazy. However the doctor was reassuring, kind and sincere in her want to help us, so we moved on throughout the appointment and went on to meet with the Nurse who will be ours throughout the process to move through the next steps before our followup on October 29th.

We go into the room to wait for her, and realize we are not at a regular doctors office when we both spot a sign that states Effective as of May 1, 2014 Semen for processing at the lab can only be dropped off by the male patient - Valid ID will be required at the time of drop off.

...

True Story.

So we go through the tests that Amy is going to have to have once her next "cycle" starts. The blood tests will have to be fasting on Day 3-5. Then there will be a few ultrasounds, an exam. Then there will be a saline test and a dye test to check on the uterus/Fallopian tubes/egg reserves...it is all very confusing. Amy at this point has had the tests done, and everything is perfect for us to proceed. Our game plan appointment is on Wednesday, October 29th at 3:30. That is when we will make the plan as to when we will attempt insemination for the first time, and to make a real timeline. After that appointment is when we will really need to focus in and narrow down the donor choices for the "donor party" we are going to have, for our close family and friends to give us input and "vote" on who the finalist should be. Just as a side note, we plan on picking the donors who are shown at this party, and out of the upwards of 50 or so we have seen, those that have passed the initial medical history/bio tests has been maybe half of that...and we have only agreed on 2 as "favorites." Houston, I think we have encountered our greatest challenge. 

So the baby quest continues, and I think that as long as we approach this as we approach all of life - that there is nothing that you can take too seriously - then we may be able to do it.

OH - update on Step 1 - Vitamins - Amy has been pretty vigilant on the vitamins, and has even gotten quite good at choking them down easily. That my friends, is huge dedication and personal growth on her part.