Aaaannnd, We're Off!

After 21 months, a year of fertility treatments and a miscarriage, we're finally embarking on our first IVF cycle. Considering we have no insurance coverage, this is a big step. A big, atrociously expensive, step. But unfortunately, necessary. So we're off to our first "interview" with the clinic closest to us.

We've had more than a few disappointments with appointments and our (ok, my) expectations, and since we're now paying completely out of pocket and we're basically paying $200 to interview our RE and clinic, I'm coming out with guns a-blazing. No fucking around. $200 for one hour? Oh, we're gonna talk about what I want to talk about, what I want to know, and nothing else. No need for a biology lesson, here. We've been through the ringer, we know what we need to do to try and have a successful pregnancy, and we don't need the formalities. Period.

Here's hubby's and my conversation driving to the clinic:
Me: We're paying $200 bucks for this appointment and we will discuss what I want to talk about.
Hubby: Uh-huh.
Me: No biology lesson, no detailed explanation of IVF - I know what it's all about.
Hubby: MmmmmmK.
Me: Yeah - I have no problem telling her that we aren't going to sit there and listen to her whole shpeel. We're not her average patient. We're not new. Right?
Hubby: Right...

This is the gist of what happened:

Dr. R: - OK, so here is a diagram of the female reproductive system, and here are your ovaries...
Me: [silence and some head nods]

Yeah, I talk a pretty good game. But this woman was intimidating, even for me! I went in with my guard up - big time - and even crossed my arms across my chest and smirked a few times, until I realized, uh...I think she really knows what she's talking about. Aside from her comment that I should lose weight (I am ONE good stomach flu away from an ideal weight - I'm not a skinny minny, but c'mon - a couple days of intense diarrhea and vomiting and I would so be at an ideal weight) to which I again smirked and thought "You are so fired before you were even hired", but eventually, she did get my attention in a good way. I also started to relent that maybe, just maybe, my Google MD might be no competition for her actual MD, or PhD, or certification in Reproductive Endocrinology. That maybe, just maybe, her competence and great statistics and overall computer mind when it comes to infertility, might finally be our answer. So after a little over an hour (score! we totally got free minutes), we both decided this would be our home for our very first IVF cycle. And so the journey begins.