Ready for action

OK I think we are officially ready to start treatment!!!

I asked D if he was ready, and he said "Bring It ON!" so I guess we are ready! lol

Tonight was our final appointment before it's time for AF and BCP. My BBT tells me that I ovulated a few days ago, back into the swing of my Day 14 ovulation, so hopefully that means I'm back to a 28 or 30 day cycle, and AF will arrive pre-Christmas.... fingers crossed, cos really, every day counts for me!!! Let's get this show on the road!!!!

We went in to the clinic tonight for a "First Cycle Seminar", with all the other newbies that are about to embark on their IVF Journeys. I had thought it would be a somewhat smaller group, as they run these sessions every week, and that maybe we could find some 'cycle buddies' to befriend. But alas, there were about 15 couples there, and nobody was chatty, or even sat next to any other couples really!! There were spare seats between each couple!

We covered a lot of ground that I already knew (actually crossed my mind that maybe I'm too much of an expert on contraceptive pill down regulation cycles, and I haven't even started yet. I have, however, studied the website, been to another seminar, studied the handbooks, and chatted to a friend of mine who has been through a stimulated cycle.) It was all presented by the head of the Nursing Staff at the clinic, and she was fabulous. Very informative, friendly and approachable. She went through how the cycle works, when you have to take the meds etc, all of which I've been through before.

We got a little bag of goodies to play with and look at. D was repulsed by the progesterone pessary, which I found quite amusing :) We all got out of Gonal-F demo pens, and a piece of fake stomach, and the Nurse said that she was assuming the guys were all gonna do the injections, and pretty much all the guys nodded. No way jose!! D is not doing mine. It's such a teeny little needle, so easy to use! Makes me feel like a diabetic actually, it's so similar to an insulin needle. I'm suprised more chicks weren't gonna do their own injections. I asked D if he wanted to play with the pen and the fake stomach fat, but he's not interested. I told him that I'd prefer to do it myself, and if the trigger is an intramuscular injection, I know plenty of nurses who have offered to take care of that one for me too. So, no deal on the D doing injections. No Sir.

At the end of the session, everyone cleared out pretty quickly. We hung back so that I could ask a quick question about what payment methods are acceptable for my appointment in Jan when I pick up my goodies and hand over a large sum of money.

Apparently Australia is probably the best place in the world to get IVF, as far as money is concerned. Most of the meds are actually covered by the government (except for the Synarel) and we have a fab government health care scheme, which will refund a couple thousand dollars back to us after we've made the upfront payment. The nurse said that couples come over to Australia from Asia and other countries some time, just to have their IVF, and then go back home to see out their pregnancy and have their babies.

You may want to look away if you're American, cos I'm gonna tell you how much we're paying for our treatment.... It's about $4600 upfront. That includes most meds. My health insurance covers us for 100% of my day surgery for ER. And then the government gives us back about $2000 or so. Lucky, huh?!? Of course we have to pay for our clinic visits, ultrasounds, blood tests etc separately, but I still think we get a great deal over here!!!


So that's it for appointments!!

Ready to roll....