The day had finally come that John and I would get to meet our fertility specialist. Our scheduled appointment was at 11:30 AM. We woke up early to start our drive from our town to Adelaide. We took our Ford Ranger van on this particular trip. We were aiming to hit two birds with one stone. John was going to pick up his order from Nippy's warehouse before we'd head over to the clinic, which would save him freight cost so that his order didn't have to be delivered to our place. However, when we got there, we found out that the freight company already picked up the order, even though they did not receive the instruction to pick up the order. They should not have picked that up.
Of course, we were quite disappointed and frustrated. We could have taken our car where we could be more comfortable and it would be so much faster to get to our destination and back. It would also have been easier to deal with traffic in the city. We left the warehouse (which is in Regency Park, Adelaide) at 10:45 AM and we only had less than 30 minutes to drive to Flinders Fertility clinic in Belair, South Australia.
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Good thing that John is an excellent driver!!! We arrived at the clinic at exactly 11:20 A.M. I do get anxious when I feel like I will be late for an appointment, especially when I have been anticipating for something that is a really great deal to me. John kept on reassuring me that we would get there on time and that I had to stop fidgeting. He was right. As soon as we got there, I hurriedly went inside to let the receptionists know that we had arrived. We weren't late. In fact, we actually had to wait for another 30 minutes before the specialist could see us. I was already starving since we still had not had breakfast or lunch. We just had coffee and bits of nibbles in the van on our way to Adelaide.
While we were waiting to be called, we quickly filled out the New Patient Form and then handed it out to the Admin Officer.
I have always thought that those who want to explore the IVF process in order to get pregnant and have a baby are remarkably brave. But in my case, it's not really about being brave. All that time while looking forward to this day, I had already decided that we should opt for the in-vitro fertlisation treatment. I just want to have a baby so much that I am prepared to go through physical or emotional pain to give myself a chance. I guess, it's about me being desperate or helpless.
It's not because I lost faith in God that He didn't seem to hear my pleas, or my prayers, or my heart's desire. But I know that God has given these fertility specialists wisdom and intellect so that they can help those people who are struggling with infertility. I strongly believe that it is still God's will for the "IVF babies" to be born and they are special and very blessed, too.
Like I said, my mind was already set to tell the doctor of our decision - or solely, my decision. John said that he would support me in my choice, whatever it is, although I didn't explicitly tell John that we had to get the IVF treatment and nothing else, even though there were other options apart from IVF such as the Ovulation Induction (OI) and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), according to the booklet.
The specialist doctor finally called us and welcomed us into his office. He asked us if we had read the Information Booklet and if we had understood it. No, he didn't sound condescending at all. It was probably his way of questioning to determine whether we knew what we were about to get ourselves in for. Of course, we told him we had read the booklet, but there were just some medical terms that we could not grasp, especially the ones that pertained to the treatments available at their clinic.
I was definitely prepared way ahead before our first consultation with the specialist doctor. I brought with me a medium-sized file folder containing all our medical records of test results, doctor's referral, etc. I handed to the doctor all those lab results I gathered and organised (by the date), and he was quite impressed by how well-prepared I was. He interpreted all the test results and said the same thing that my G.P. had already told me. Everything was normal. I didn't seem to have a problem. Great results, actually!
The doctor then gave John the request to get his sperm cells tested. So, it's the only one thing that's missing. John's sperm test results in 2015 were great but for the efficacy and efficiency of whatever treatment we would take, the specialist needed to ascertain the current viability of John's sperm cells.
Overall, our first visit was mainly about the doctor getting to know us, giving us the details about the different treatments available, explaining the risks involved and the cost of each treatment, and answering our questions. The meeting took only about 30 minutes. The doctor said that if we were absolutely determined to proceed that we just had to book for another appointment to discuss our options. He gave us a hard copy of the Patient Information Booklet and wanted us to read it thoroughly.
I asked if we could just go ahead already and make a decision. The doctor refused and said that John and I needed to discuss this process and basically, the doctor just wanted to give me and my husband ample time, about 4-6 weeks, to arrive at a mutual decision. He probably sensed that John had reservations about it.
Before we left, I went to the receptionist's desk to book for another appointment. The soonest possible date would be the 2nd of May 2019, which meant we had to wait for 48 days before we could see the fertility specialist again. John totally understood why it had to be that way. This was a very serious matter and so we needed that time to talk about this to weigh the pros and cons of this whole process of fertility treatment. And who knows, maybe during this time of waiting, we might get pregnant the natural way.
John's words of encouragement and reassurance assuaged my feelings of frustration and impatience. He was right. One more period of waiting was not going to hurt us. We just had to be patient and let the "waiting" run its course.
Related Posts:
My IVF Pregnancy Journey Part 1
My IVF Pregnancy Journey Part 2
My IVF Pregnancy Journey Part 3
