Our IVF Story Part I (Finding Out)

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. "Our IVF Story Part I Finding out".
I never imagined I would be taking a walk down this path in life, with three healthy children from three easy pregnancies, Jeff and I were doing everything we could not to get pregnant! About one year ago we decided that it would be a good time to expand our family. With Jeff approaching his last semester of nursing school things were looking good, besides, I could hardly wait! A new baby, a little special member of our family waiting to come here, I was just so excited! So we decided to try. When I didn't get pregnant the first month I didn't think too much about it, but when the second and third month went by I felt deep down something was up. Before we went to doctors however, we tried using an ovulation kit, and when that didn't work for a couple months I was starting to feel depressed. I decided to make an appointment with my doctor for a regular exam. (I was due for one anyway). Another couple of months to try before my appointment and still no luck.
After talking with my doctor, she recommended running some blood tests to check my hormone levels. She thought maybe I just needed a little clomid or a medication to help get things going. When all my tests came back normal, she recommended that Jeff have a semen analysis done.
He scheduled his test and had it done. The next day when we got the results we were so shocked! He had zero sperm! How was that even possible? He talked with a urologist and discovered that in 2010 he had bilateral hernia surgery. Infertility is one of the risks to this surgery and Jeff remembers reading it in the paper he signed about possible death, etc. But it is so rare! The surgeon didn't even talk to him about it. In fact he was the only case the urologist had ever seen. During his healing process, scar tissue had built up around the vas deferens completely blocking the sperm from getting out. We were both just sick. One of the worst feelings I've ever had in my life. Was there anything we could do? Our family just didn't feel complete, were we going to adopt? What do we do now? So many emotions, tears, frustration, and questions. We are so grateful for our three boys, we love them so much!
I decided to make an appointment with a reproductive specialist in Salt Lake.
We were told by the urologist in Logan that we might be able to have artificial ensemenation done for about $2,000.00. Whoa! Just to get pregnant?
We met with Dr. Hammoud a doctor at the University of Utah. He talked to us about our medical histories, our reproductive histories, and sadly he said the only way for us to conceive ever again is through Invitro Fertilization. And if we wanted it to be Jeff's sperm, he would have to have a biopsy surgery done. He estimated the cost to be around $18,000.00!!!
The whole way home we were in shock. We were relieved to find there was a way. We were saddened that the only reason we would have to go through this was due to a botched surgery and the scar tissue in the way. We didn't know how we would come up with the money, but it was almost without a doubt the direction we wanted to go.
After many prayers,fasting, and a lot of helpful advise from our caring families and friends, we decided to return to Dr. Hammoud to begin the screening process. We saw him in September of 2012.