What is there to know about IVF?

[Melts]

Could someone please explain to me everything about ivf. Like what it costs on average? How do you go about doing it? How do you prepare? Do you have a choice how many eggs you do? Your experience. Just everything and anything there is to know about the procedure.
Thanks

 

[Emmi]

Gosh - so much to say about IVF! Are you in the UK?? The NHS offers you 3 goes if you are under a certain age. As we were older we had to pay.
We self referred ourselves to a clinic but my doctor also sent a referral letter. We had been down the NHS route and all they could offer was clomid which didn't work. With regards to a clinic - do some research of ones in your area and look at what the statistics are for your age and live births. You basically decide which one you want to go with and book a consultation after a lot of form filling. Usually at the consultation, they will want the results of a lot of blood tests which they will ask you for(rubella,FSH etc) which you should be able to do at your GP.

IVF costs do vary depending where you go and what you - we paid £8,000 but that included something called ICSI and also the embryoscope and having my hubby's sperm frozen. It really is not cheap and we were lucky to have family help us. All very unfair that people that would be amazing parents have to find that kind of money - very unjust....

The actual process of injections and the medication varies according to your needs. With regards to how many eggs - I think that depends on how many you produce and the quality.

So much more to say but I hope that helps a little

 

[Melts]

Thank you that does help. I'm in the US so I don't know how different it would be. We are very young and I am just trying to get used to the idea that we may have to do ivf. We were considering doing it at the end of the year if I don't get pregnant by then, but I am just very unsure about it. It is so much money to waste if you don't get pregnant. Because my husbands sperm count is so low we would probably have to do ICSI as well.

 

[popchick75]

The entire process usually takes about 2 months total. You start off on birth control pills to regulate your cycle. Depending on where you get it done, a lot of clinics like to use birth control pills to line up the cycles of all of the women who are doing IVF during that month...it just makes it less confusing and easy to schedule everything.

You start out with daily injections to stimulate follicle growth. Your doctor will have you get blood work and an ultrasound every day or every other day for a follicle count and hormone levels. They will adjust your dose up or down depending on how your follicles are reacting. When the follicles are ready, they will put you under anesthesia for the aspiration...some doctors will just do a 'twilight' anesthesia so you can be sort of awake to watch the whole thing on ultrasound. Your DH will also do 'his part' that day as well

Once they have the eggs, they will do ICSI. You will find out that day how many eggs they were able to harvest. In the next few days, they will update you about how everything is progressing...mainly how many fertilized and how many are dividing. When they are ready to put them back into you, they will give you the final verdict about how many viable embryos you have and how many cells they contain. They are also rated about how good of a quality they are. You have control over how many you want to put back in. If they are of good quality, they will probably put back 2. If they are not so great or they don't think they will survive being frozen, they may want to put 3.

During the TWW you will take progesterone. And wait. And wait. And wait.
Just prepare to feel cruddy during the tww....the process will take a lot out of you emotionally and physically. The more follicles you had, the longer it will take everything to regulate.

I'm in the midwest and the prices usually run around $15-$20,000. sometimes if you are lucky, your insurance *may* pick up the cost of some of the bloodwork and ultrasounds, but most doctor's prices are a 'package deal'.

 

[Melts]

Thank you that was very informational.