Attempt # 4

I almost hesitate to blog just because my postings seem to be getting a bit repetitive.  But, here we go again.
So this time around we've taken a few extra steps increase our chances of this working.  First of all, I had my IUD removed.  It is likely (but not for sure) that it is the reason that I don't produce many eggs.  Maybe we'll get a few more this time.   I have maxed out on the fertility medication dosage-- they can't give me anything stronger so hopefully the IUD removal will help.
Secondly, we are going to be doing genetic testing our embryos.  There are all different sorts of genetic testing, but we are testing all 24 chromosomes.  We will then be given a big report of and embryo's genetic abnormalities and % chance of each one having different problems (like late-life brain cancer, Downs syndrome, etc).  The reason for this is that if we pick the most genetically healthy embryos our chances of pregnancy are greatly increased (from about 45% chance to 75 % chance) and chances of miscarriage are decreased.  They say that this is because a body's natural tendency is to reject pregnancies with genetic defects.  The extra cost $3700. Ouch-- but worth it if it gets us a healthy baby or 2 here.
According to the genetic counselor person I spoke with, at least 55% of our embryos will have significant genetic abnormalities when doing IVF (but not normally).  I can understand this since so many of them are yanked from me before they are done cooking and also some that are way over-done.
So when our embryos are about 6 cells big they will biopsy 1 cell off of each (hoping its not a limb!), mail to to California for testing, then they will send the report for us to review with our doctor and make our choice on embryos. 
Also included on the genetic report is the gender of each kiddo.  We will definitely be leaning towards boys, but if the girls all look healthier, we'll choose them instead.  Successful pregnancy is more important than gender.  But if they are all the same, it will be nice to balance out our family  : )
So I'm feeling cautiously optimistic this time around.  Excited and nervous (thus the 3am blog).