 
|
||||||||||||
              
|
  After seven years of tears, a childless couple ponders next step (Pt. 4)
As 1998 began, the Brants began researching adoption options, but also weren't ready to forsake becoming biological parents. At least, Stephanie wasn't. Brian was willing to move on two years ago. Easy-going by nature, he deferred to his wife's desire to experience pregnancy as well as motherhood. "I don't know what it is, but I haven't been able to let go of treatment yet," Stephanie said in early January. "I don't have any problem with adoption of a child -- I just want to know in my heart that I did everything I could." So on Friday, Jan. 9, the third day of her menstrual cycle, they renewed now-familiar rituals. For 10 consecutive evenings, at their chosen hour of 8 p.m., an hour or two before their customary early bedtime, Stephanie had to be injected with a fertility drug, Fertinex. It contains follicle-stimulating hormones derived from the urine of post-menopausal women. Produced by Serono Laboratories Inc., the nation's largest manufacturer of fertility drugs, Fertinex is considered an improvement over Metrodin and other predecessor drugs, though it's no more effective. The main difference is the Fertinex needle is five-eighths of an inch long, compared to 11/2-inch needles for most other fertility drugs marketed prior to this year, including the one the Brants had used earlier. Placed side by side, it looks like the difference between a large handgun and rifle. Fertinex is effective just beneath the skin, rather than requiring a deeper poke into muscle. When Brian flicked the needle like a dart into his wife's arm, she winced. "Ooooo, that burns," she whispered, not knowing she would feel far worse in the days ahead. She's one of the women who react to such drugs with sharp mood swings and irritation on top of crying binges from stress. She was an emotional mess by the time she showed up five days later at East Suburban Obstetrical & Gynecological Associates for an ultrasound to see how her follicles were developing. Follicles contain the eggs released into the fallopian tubes at ovulation for potential fertilization with sperm. Pelekanos noted two shadowy ovals on the screen representing follicles, one bigger than the other, but it wasn't enough to satisfy Stephanie. Four or five follicles appeared in screenings during previous IUI cycles. The more follicles there are, the more eggs could be available for sperm to fertilize, increasing the odds of pregnancy. It's a fine line, because over-reaction to the drugs, or hyperstimulation, could produce so many follicles that multiple births become too much of a risk. Because Stephanie's follicle size and numbers were still low, Pelekanos had her increase the dosage of Fertinex for the next few days. "I know I'm not responding to this stuff," she said over the telephone later, between sniffles. "You stab yourself, you go to the doctor every day, and I don't know why. . . . You hurt, you can't breathe, you feel like you're in trouble, and you don't know if it's from the drugs or from putting yourself through everything to get to where you want to get to." A week prior to insemination, she was more pessimistic about becoming pregnant than she'd ever been. It didn't stop her from proceeding. She's a trouper, remember.
|
|||||||||||
