IVF May/June/July 2015, Lets Get Ready!

[Hopethisyear]

Welcome Pecks & Krissy!!

Pecks - My RE is like yours. Saw him in March when we decided to to IVF for June. Pretty much I have been told take vitamins, start BCP in May and call the next cycle on Day 1 for an appointment. In the mean time I have so many questions as I just got a basic fact sheet with costs but that's about it. I feel so silly emailing them all the time with all my questions, but without a proper appointment with my nurse to sit down and talk it really hard. Plus, my nurse I was talking to just quit and now I have a new one.

Krissy - My RE has me taking micronized DHEA, Vitamin E, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Omega 3, COQ10. I cut out wheat and caffeine on my own. We only get one shot IVF so I figure anything I can do to help on my own is good.

AFM - This is my last cycle to try naturally before I start BCP next month and I have been so sick and no sign of O yet.

 

[ttcbaby117]

Pecks & Hope - Don't ever feel like a bother, remember you are paying these Dr a ton of money to provide you a service. They are there to support you. If you have questions or concerns absolutely contact them and keep doing so until you feel comfortable.

Krissy - My dr had me start on a vitamin regimen this month, so 3 months ahead of time. basically the same as Hopethisyear, but I added in Royal Jelly. I am also on a low glycemic diet, more to lose some weight prior to IVF, b/c I put on so much during my last one. I figure if I lose some now then it wont be so bad when I put some on. Oh and also me and DH stopped drinking about 5 months ago. We didnt stop drinking b/c of IVF though, we just decided we wanted to try and not drink. Turns out we really enjoy our life without so we never started again. Not sure if this all will work but I figured let me try.

AFM - I just got my genetic tests back and I am a carrier for Alpa-Thalassemia, which is a genetic blood disorder. DH has to go and get tested now to see if he is also a carrier. I have not idea what the next step is if we are both carriers...PGD? If so, wow, I am not sure if I can find anther 6k!

 

[Hopethisyear]

TTC - Sorry to hear about your genetic test. Will insurance cover PGD since you have it ? I know some insurances cover for different issues.

AFM - I just got assigned a new nurse who is so much better at explaining everything to me. I had no idea about most of this process and she explained more of the schedule for ER & FET. I had no idea that FET was done almost 6 weeks after ER, so I'm a bit bummed about that but I would much rather have a receptive uterus and get all those meds out of my system before transfer. I still have a ton of questions but at least this new nurse and I communicate better and she takes the time to answer my questions.

Question: Anyone going to take or have taken the Human Growth Hormone?

 

[MrsL4]

Glad to hear your new nurse was thorough..... I'm hoping ours will be too, if this iui doesn't stick!

Just curious.....how do yall balance privacy and work? I work in a very tight knit group, and obviously there are a lot of medical appointments. The people I work closest with know we are dealing w infertility..... Which is fine (I told them, since I was having to leave for appts, and that was influencing their work load). .... But as we continue to progress into more intensive treatment, I don't want to share every detail (ESP egg retrieval and transfer and 2ww)

How have yall handled that? I'm a pretty private person and I am still at that point where I want to internalize emotions before sharing with others. But obviously, support can be helpful as we travel this journey.

 

[KrissyB]

Hope - I had the exact same calendar-shock about the 6 week between ER and FET... but yeah, in the end I think it's the healthier choice for me and the embryo. Plus I'm starting to hear some more... intense stories about the stim process, so I think I'll appreciate the time to emotionally and physically recover.

Mrs - I have it easy. I'm a PhD student doing my dissertation reserach, so I have a lot of room to work from home and attend appointments with a great deal of privacy. But to be honest with you, if they know you're going for medical appointments... I don't think most people will pry much more than that. Or if you're open to sharing a semi-specific blanket statement just say "IVF" without breaking down what's occuring at each appointment.

 

[mommylov]

Hope, CCRM had me use the growth hormone Saizen. I'm not sure how it will work out for me with the three embryos I had tested since I'm still waiting on my CCS results but they told me that my eggs didn't look good at the time of retrieval so I don't know.

 

[ttcbaby117]

Hope - I haven't used the Human Growth hormone but I am happy to hear you are with someone that you are comfortable with. It is hard to wait, but it might be best. I actually was considering doing a FET instead but being that I am traveling to my RE for treatment, I cut out another plane ticket by doing a fresh cycle.

MrsL4 - Yes, I told my co-worker - we are both mgmt. for a company and work closely together. She knows but no one else does. I think the best thing to do because everyone knows that you are dealing with infertility is just be general if someone asks. If they don't then leave it alone. You could always just tell them but also ask for privacy as you do not want to discuss the details while you are going through it.

AFM - I have been pricing my meds...HOLY MOLY!!!!! I am doing my IVF in the US, but there are some online pharmacies out of the UK which seem to have great prices, like 1/2 of what the US pharmacies are offering. Where did everyone get their meds from? Did anyone get their meds from abroad? I only am considering this because it is a savings of about $2000 USD.

 

[ttcbaby117]

TTC - Sorry to hear about your genetic test. Will insurance cover PGD since you have it ? I know some insurances cover for different issues.

Hope - nope my insurance will not cover PGD as they will not cover anything fertility related.

 

[mommylov]

AFM - I have been pricing my meds...HOLY MOLY!!!!! I am doing my IVF in the US, but there are some online pharmacies out of the UK which seem to have great prices, like 1/2 of what the US pharmacies are offering. Where did everyone get their meds from? Did anyone get their meds from abroad? I only am considering this because it is a savings of about $2000 USD.

I used Freedom Fertility Pharmacy and applied for their compassionate care program which offers up to 75% off certain meds like Gonal-F and Cetrotide etc. There is another program you can use that will offer discounts off of Folistim, Ganirelix, etc but Ill have to look up that one. I actually think I posted this all at some point on Hope's journal lol. Ill try and take a look. They are all income based so I thought for sure I wasn't going to be qualified but I got the bare minimum which was 25%. Better than nothing so its definitely worth it to check it out. What's the name of the UK pharmacy?? Just incase Also, great thing about Freedom is they do free overnight service which you might need seeing as how IVF is a random process and you may end up needing more meds then you thought and wont know until that morning

 

[Hopethisyear]

Here is the post

Thanks girls!

Hope, ins will help with some of the procedure costs but all the meds and some of the labs that they have ran that are pretty pricey have and will all be out of pocket. If you are ordering meds for your IVF cycle and are paying out of pocket, I suggest you use Freedom Fertility Pharmacy. They are who I have used (for Gonal-F, cetrotide, Menopur, etc) and they are really easy to work with. Also if you dont go through insurance for the meds, they work with a program called compasionate care. You can get up to 75% off of the cost of your meds. They are worth looking into and applying for. If you dont end up using the meds they help cover like Follistim etc, there is another program called First Steps that helps in the same way with the cost of those meds. We applied for both and got the bare minimum from both since its income based but still better than nothing. This was given to us based on the fact that my DH is a vet. Here are the links to both and it costs nothing to do.

First Steps:
https://www.fertilitybydesign.com/PatientPortal/Designrx/FirstSteps.aspx

Compasionate Care:
https://wvuhealthcare.com/media/1525/gonal_cc_enrollment_editable_form.pdf


and here is the pharmacy we have used for our IVF meds:
Freedom Fertility Pharmacy
https://www.freedomfertility.com/

 

[ttcbaby117]

Thanks Ladies, I don't think I will qualify for compassionate care because I do not reside or work in the US. I am American but I live in another country. I am not paying in to the system so they usually don't allow me to utilize programs like that, but that is wonderful that they have those programs. Freedomfertility is one of the top runners right now. I think I will call them and see if there is anything they can do. Worth a shot I guess!

 

[Renaendel]

How early did you apply before you purchased the meds. My RE gave me the paperwork on the two, but since we got bumped from the June cycle to the September cycle my timing is screwed up on everything.

 

[KrissyB]

Mommy - LOL I had to reread your post five times (in a panic). I couldn't figure out that "sued" was a typo for "used" and I just kept thinking "Why did she sue them?!? What went wrong?!" . I used Fertility Pharmacy too. But I went through insurance so I didn't price shop much.

AFM - had my second monitoring and there's a few growing in there... it'd be nice if a few more start popping up over the next few days though.

 

[ttcbaby117]

LOL Krissy I thought the same thing.....Did she sue them??? How funny......Grow Follies GROW!!!!!

 

[Wish2BMom]

Glad to hear your new nurse was thorough..... I'm hoping ours will be too, if this iui doesn't stick!

Just curious.....how do yall balance privacy and work? I work in a very tight knit group, and obviously there are a lot of medical appointments. The people I work closest with know we are dealing w infertility..... Which is fine (I told them, since I was having to leave for appts, and that was influencing their work load). .... But as we continue to progress into more intensive treatment, I don't want to share every detail (ESP egg retrieval and transfer and 2ww)

How have yall handled that? I'm a pretty private person and I am still at that point where I want to internalize emotions before sharing with others. But obviously, support can be helpful as we travel this journey.

Hi all, I know I haven't been posting much on here but it's my first IVF and I JUST got started on my BCPs over the weekend. I don't really know enough about the process yet to jump in! So i'm lurking and learning!

MrsL - I totally get this. I work from home but I work very closely with teams of people at my company and we've become somewhat close. I've kept it at 'we're trying to have a baby' - that's even what I told my boss. No need to go further than that - I think they understand that sometimes it takes more appts than others! Some who are closer, who I consider friends, will sometimes ask out of concern if I'm ok, but I just respond with a happy 'yep! just blood work and junk like that'. It feels good knowing they are concerned enough to ask a vague question but then respect my privacy enough to not ask too much. But I know they are there for me.

 

[mommylov]

Thanks Ladies, I don't think I will qualify for compassionate care because I do not reside or work in the US. I am American but I live in another country. I am not paying in to the system so they usually don't allow me to utilize programs like that, but that is wonderful that they have those programs. Freedomfertility is one of the top runners right now. I think I will call them and see if there is anything they can do. Worth a shot I guess!

Oh darn it! If you apply worse case they tell you no, right?

How early did you apply before you purchased the meds. My RE gave me the paperwork on the two, but since we got bumped from the June cycle to the September cycle my timing is screwed up on everything.

I applied right away. I dont think there is a time limit as far as when the card runs out but my RE told me just to get it ready and apply for both asap. They will then email you a virtual card with a code on it that you would give to the pharmacy when you order your meds.

Mommy - LOL I had to reread your post five times (in a panic). I couldn't figure out that "sued" was a typo for "used" and I just kept thinking "Why did she sue them?!? What went wrong?!" . I used Fertility Pharmacy too. But I went through insurance so I didn't price shop much.

LOL Krissy I thought the same thing.....Did she sue them??? How funny......Grow Follies GROW!!!!!

OMG oops! Ill go back and fix that! LOL No not sue LOL This is what happens when you try and post while at work and multitask lol!

 

[ttcbaby117]

Mommy - yes I will try and see what they say!

Welcome Wish - let us know if you have any questions. we are happy to help.

 

[Hopethisyear]

So I'm just curious and obviously, don't answer if you don't want.

Will you tell your child that they were conceived by IVF?

 

[KrissyB]

Hope - I don't really see the relevance in telling them. Would you tell a naturally conceived child "You were conceived because Mommy and Daddy had sex"? Or an IUI conception the details of that? Maybe when they were much older and facing some of those life choices themselves... but I don't see much benefit in mentioning it earlier.

 

[MrsL4]

Yeah I think I agree -- I don't particularly see IVF mattering that much to a kid. I don't think there is anything wrong with saying "Mommy needed help from the doctor to have me"

I do think I will be open about having difficulty conceiving and how we had to wait so many years for our precious baby --- because I think it is important to know how common it is, and how sometimes you may need to seek help.

I don't think that would come up really until the kid is in high school and college really.