Decision Made

I can practically hear you squealing with glee while holding your breath at the same time. Yes, it's exactly what you've been waiting for: we've finally made a decision. I apologize immensely for the Great Clinic Debate of 2013 and for leaving you hanging for so long with the final vote... I know you've been on pins and needles the whole time. It's a miracle you've been able to accomplish anything while you've waited for this decision. I won't keep you hanging. Without any further ado (than I've already made of this):

We're going to FIRM 

(Florida Institute for Reproductive Medicine) in Jacksonville, Florida

Whew! I don't know about you, but I feel better. Ultimately, it came down to a few things: 

• cost- Sam felt very strongly about choosing one of the lower cost clinics. I didn't feel as strongly about it, but I did feel good about the opportunity to pay 100% out of our savings account rather than take out another loan. To pay out of our savings for one of the more expensive clinics (like RBA) it would be at least June of 2014 before we could start, and knowing us and our poor budgeting skills, probably even later. Ultimately, I'm tired of waiting. 
• embryos- I loved that Dr. Duffy not only agreed to save the embryos I wanted from being discarded, but that this is kind of his standard procedure. He put it like this, "your chances with a grade C embryo are lower, a lot lower, there's no denying it, but there's also no denying that there are a lot of people walking the earth today from some really ugly embryos". Exactly. I couldn't have said it better myself.
• stress- I've explained my feelings on this already, but I really think that I will be the least stressed if I'm off work and not dealing with a 1-2 hour commute each way. Granted, I could take off of work even if I chose a Georgia location, but I wouldn't. Add in that I will see the same physician each day for my monitoring appointments, and I really believe that FIRM is the least stressful option.

We're still a long way off; actually, we are exactly three months from our predicted IVF start date, if all goes according to plan. We're along way off, but I'm a planner, so I have, of course, talked these poor nurses' ears off. My last name is pretty memorable, so I'm fairly sure when I show up, they'll know exactly who I am after we've chatted for the next three months (probably thinking, "oh no"). They've been sweet enough to ease my mind by giving me a predicted timeline:

December 26, 2013- go to Jacksonville with Sam
December 27, 2013- IVF start date*
December 28, 2013- stim day 2
December 29, 2013- stim day 3, Sam goes back, mom comes down
December 30, 2013- stim day 4
December 31, 2013- stim day 5
January 1, 2014- stim day 6
January 2, 2014- stim day 7, first day of paid time off (PTO)
January 3, 2014- stim day 8, second day of PTO
January 4, 2014- stim day 9
January 5, 2014- stim day 10, mom leaves
January 6, 2014- trigger or stim day 11, third day of PTO
January 7, 2014- day off, or trigger, or stim day 12, fourth day of PTO
January 8, 2014- retrieval, or day off, or trigger, fifth day of PTO
January 9, 2014- embryo day 1, or retrieval, or day off, 6th day of PTO
January 10, 2014- embryo day 2, or embryo day 1, or retrieval, 7th day of PTO
January 11, 2014- embryo day 3, or embryo day 2, or embryo day 1

January 12, 2014- embryo day 4, or embryo day 3, or embryo day 2
January 13, 2014- embryo transfer, or embryo day 4, or embryo day 3, 8th day of PTO
January 14, 2014- embryo transfer, or embryo day 4, 9th day of PTO
January 15, 2014- transfer, 10th day of PTO
*We're going with a birth control pill method of suppression, so there is supposedly some wiggle room for how long I can be on. They feel confident that this can be my start date as long as my cycle starts sometime in between November 19th and December 10th.

The miracle here, if you notice, is that I can do a complete IVF cycle in Jacksonville with a five day transfer by only taking two weeks off of work. I'm crazy blessed by a great holiday schedule with a full eight days off of work. Now all of this is of course assuming that I stim for the predicted 10 to 12 days, it might be less or it might be more. It is also assuming that we decide on a day five transfer. We're going to make that decision after the embryos begin developing. So there are lots of undetermined factors yet... there's a lot that I simply can't control. And due to the lack of control we haven't decided at all when Sam will return for the second time. I'm currently hoping that he can just take off three days (January 8-10) and stay with me for five days regardless of the timing.

So there you have it, not only have we decided where we are going, but we also have a plan. Talk about progress! Thanks for hanging in there with me during the longest decision of my life!