Status Update

I think it's safe to tell you that I've set many of my passwords to be "Don't Give Up". I have to remind myself every day that there's a purpose to all this madness and hurt. Dan and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this week. It was nice, we cooked a meal at home and ate outside on our deck with our dog babies. It gave us the time to reflect on the last 4 years and how much we've been tested and how lucky we feel to have each other throughout the journey. A lot of people ask what all we've done so I thought I'd write it all out here....... We married on March 28, 2009 and I had already stopped taking birth control. We both wanted kids right away and since I was almost 36, I didn't want waste any time. We tried for about 6 months on our own. But that September, I was laid off at work and it made sense then that we should focus on my getting a new job instead of getting pregnant. I was jobless for about 5 months, then hired back by my boss in February of 2010. At that time, I began worrying something may be wrong because we tried for several months and nothing was happening. So summer of 2010, we were introduced to the wonderful world of fertility clinics. My gyno had recommended RBA (Reproductive Biology Associates) because one of the doctors there, Dr. Hilton Kort was one of the original doctors on the team that created the first IVF baby. He brought the technique to Georgia....so we knew he was the best. Dan and I both went through testing there and we finally learned that Dan had a blockage in his vas deferans and he needed surgery to correct it. They gave us the option of doing IVF as well, because of our ages, time was important. However, when we sat with the business manager at the clinic, we learned everything would cost close to 25k. Devastation and depression hit us because we could not afford even a quarter of that. We had just paid for most of our wedding ourselves a year earlier and were still paying off that debt. This is when I got creative. I was looking around the internet and found out about My IVF Alternative. A concierge service for couples looking to save money on IVF by being treated in the Czech Republic. The owner of the company lived here in Atlanta and it all sounded so perfect. We met with them and determined the cost for travel and treatment to be around 8k. Then God walked in. Our friends and family encouraged us to start a "baby fund" (Z Baby Quest)to help us quicken the time it took to raise the money to go. We had the money to go and left for Prague on our 2nd anniversary, March 29, 2011. Most of you know that our experience and treatment there was very positive, however it was not meant to be. When I got back, I went to my gyno to figure out why it didn't work. He performed an sonohysterogram. I had a polyp in my uterus that needed removal. I had that surgery in May 2011. Dan and I were trying to figure out what to do next. We started couples counseling at that time because we were considering using donor sperm to do IUI. We finally decided to do this because it was 2k per try and we were able to scrape the money together. Dan wasn't happy about not being able to use his sperm, but it was for the greater good. So we went back to RBA and tried IUI in June, July and August. None of them worked. Broke and feeling hopeless, I decided to look into my company's benefit plans versus Dan's company benefit plans and happily discovered that my plan covered the surgery Dan needed to correct his blockage. We were on Dan's plan at that time, so we had to wait until January 2012 to switch coverage. The surgery took place on January 29, 2012. It was a success, but it meant waiting for him to heal. This could take a year or more! We had no money to do any other treatments so we decided to try on our own each month. I bought the ovulation kits, took hormones, all of it. Still no pregnancy. Around August, I'd grown restless and severerly depressed. I'd learned that my credit had gone from Fair to Good so I took the chance that I'd be able to take out a loan. I found out I'd be able to get about 10k in loans....not enough to be treated at RBA, or the other major clinics in Georgia. That's when the magic of the internet happened again in our favor. I found out there was a clinic here called Servy Massey Institute that offered affordable treatment by offsetting the costs using a lab in Augusta. We immediately met there and signed up for our second official IVF treatment. And you know the ending there....... So NOW, as you know, GOd walked in again and my company allowed me to switch medical plan coverage, and we are able to try IVF at clinics in Atlanta. I cannot use Servy Massey, whom I loved, because they aren't in network. After some back and forth, I've decided to see Dr Lisa Hasty at Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine. I've heard great things and it will be refreshing to get a woman's perspective on everything. Wish us luck.....this is been a loooonnnggg process as you can tell and we hope, hope, hope this is our last attempt. We only get one more shot because insurance covers up to 20k so we will be maxing out. My first appointment is April 8th. Pray for us as you all do. We love you.