Well... almost the beginning.  I cannot believe it's been almost two weeks since I decided I wanted to chronicle our IVF journey as we go through it - and yet I've written nothing!  A lot of the "writer's block" I've been experiencing with this is where do you start the journey?  Clearly, most couples who come to the cross roads of IVF don't arrive here over night.  Most often, as is the case for us, the decision to move to InVitro Fertilization (IVF) is preceded by years of previous fertility treatments, procedures, various doctors, trial and error of old wives tales, alternative medicine attempts, and tests... oh the endless tests.  So as tempting as it is, the thought of backing this train up and writing about each stop over the last 3.5 years of trying for our little one is both impossible and so incredibly daunting it makes climbing Mount Everest seem like a more attainable goal for me - I think I'll just rewind to last month when we made the definitive decision to go forward with IVF, with a little cliff notes version of the 3.5 years that we will one day far far in the future, affectionately call "the trying to conceive years".  You can of course read more about our journey over the past few years on the main page of the blog.

On August 16th 2008, with tears of joy in my eyes, I took my best friend as my husband and wanted nothing more than to spend my life with him and one day see our children looking up at him with love and adoration soaking through them.  It was a specific moment on our wedding day that I'll never forget.  I remember looking at him, and thinking... "I can't believe he chose me!",  followed quickly by "He is going to be such an amazing father!"

Little did I know that the point between then and now would be followed by years of infertility, multiple miscarriages, two different Reproductive Endocrinologists (RE) on the East Coast, an MRI, an HSG, countless blood tests and scopes, seeing Naturopathic Doctors, and acupuncturists, a move across the country, meeting with yet another RE, telling the whole story all over again, learning I have endometriosis that had gone undiagnosed for years, another MRI, scheduled for surgery to cure endometriosis, learning that the surgery did not fix the endo, then to the decision to pull out the big guns and go for IVF.

Since moving to British Columbia, we are now with a phenomenal Reproductive Endocrinologist who we love!  The level of care between here and what we received on the east coast is literally worlds apart, and we're both certain we would have had no hopes of having children if we had staid in our previous city, with our previous doctors.  The doctor we are seeing now is rated as one of the top REs in Canada and it certainly shows.  We have made more progress here in B.C. in the last 6 months than we had in the entire 3 years prior.  As he works along side his wife and daughters in his clinic it is clear that family is what drives him to be so dedicated to his work.

On December 8th, 2011 I had a laparoscopy which we had thought would cure the endometriosis, along with a few other issues which have been interfering with our ability to get pregnant and stay pregnant.  Immediately after the surgery, hubby and I were over the moon that the issues which were getting in our way had been resolved and we could finally focus on baby - or so we thought.  The next morning the surgeon gave us the heartbreaking news that I have stage 4 endometriosis and they were unable to treat that level of endo laparoscopically.  With the help of my wonderful husband, I spent the next few weeks trying hard to heal from the physically and emotionally painful surgery.  We were given the choice of opting for another surgery which would have to be done via bikini cut (c-section cut) which may treat the endometriosis which may or may not help us get pregnant and stay pregnant, or bypass the ovaries and endometriosis all together and move forward with IVF - it's own personal rollercoaster within the rollercoaster of infertility.

Obviously, since I'm writing this, after a lot of soul searching, hard decision making, prayers, chatting with our doctors, and long talks with each other, hubby and I have decided to move forward with IVF.  It will be an interesting and rigorous journey I'm sure, with its own ups and downs.