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2nd Trimester
Fertility Clinic question
I know a girl who is about to start going to a fertility clinic. I have never had to go to one but it has caught my interest. I have asked her a couple of questions, but I am starting to feel like I am prying into her business, when it is just general curiosity and has nothing to do with her personally, she is just the only person I will know who has been to one. Anyways, I was wondering what exactly happens at the clinic? What do they do for you? (Besides try to get you pregnant) What are the costs? How long do they keep trying? Just some random questions I have. TIA
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Re: Fertility Clinic question
If you dont have insurance its very expensive...and it depends on what procedure you're having done.
You get blood work done constantly. Ultrasounds, you get your meds, they teach you how to use your meds.
It depends on what treatment your doing... I had 3 IUI's (artificial insemination) luckly my insurance company covered it.... i had to pay 25$ every time I went... and I was there about 2-3 times a week.
If your friend is willing and open to talking about it, ask away. If she isnt... respect her wishes!
Oh wow. I wouldnt try to pry her for info unless she is willing to give out info. It is probably one of the hardest times in her life right now. I can talk from personal experience that it absolutely sucks when everyone around you is getting pregnant with no problems at all or Oppsies..and you are having to go and get poked and pricked every week almost.
So that being said, there are numerous reasons why someone would go to a fertiltiy clinic. I have PCOS which makes me ovaries not do what they are supposed to do...so with close care they can monitor them and see what it takes to make them work. If someone's husband has a low sperm count of low mobility they may go....umm...if they have had several miscarriages they may go to get monitored. There main purpose is to figure out why a couple can not get pregnant on their own and they will give you options.
Needing to go to a fertility clinic is a very private and sensitive issue for a lot of people. Even some of my closest friends who have used fertility clinics haven't wanted to talk openly about it - and when they have wanted to talk, it has been on their own terms.
If your interest is truly peaked in this, I would suggest google as your best friend. That is probably a much better option for learning than asking questions of someone you know who is in the middle of going through this process.
And to answer your questions, as the previous posters have mentioned, there are any number of reasons someone could go to a fertility clinic, and therefore what they do for you and what it costs vary greatly.
The first month is lots of testing for both partners. Blood work, ultrasounds, sperm analysis. Depending on what they find, they chose a course of action. IUI, IVF, Donor Egg etc.
After that, like mentioned earlier, it's blood work, ultrasounds, insemination. I think it's physically harder on the woman because of all the poking and proding, but it does take its toll on both partners. (DH and I had a major fight over timed intercourse vs. insemination.)
Cost depends on the procedure and insurance.
When I was going through it, I didn't want to talk about it at all. I had a few friends who kept asking questions and I found that the more I talked about it, the easier it was to deal with.
You should ask your friend if she wants to talk about it or not. It might be helpful and you'll know whether or not to ask questions.
At most typical clinic appointments you get blood drawn and an ultrasound (the vaginal kind). The doctors usually run a series of test when you are starting treatment to detect issues.....this includes but is not limited to: a semen analysis for the DH, ultrasound, bloodwork, an HSG--where they fill the uterus with dye and take images of it to determine if there are any blockages, etc. It might include a hysterocopy where they insert a small camera into the uterus to see abnormalities.
Costs vary greatly depending on what procedures you have done and what insurance covers. Long story short though it is expensive. I know our insurance covered approximately $15,000 in medication ALONE not to mention visits, procedures, etc because we tried several different things.
How long you keep trying is up to you and your doctors. We did 6 months of clomid (2 with IUI), 3 cycles with injectable medications and IUI, and then finally moved on to IVF. Luckily, we got pregnant on our first IVF cycle but that is not always the case. We have friends who did 4-5 IVF cycles. Sometimes a cycle will produce extra embryos that can be frozen and transferred later.
IUI--they insert the sperm into the uterus....basically what would happen in the privacy of your own bedroom gets some doctor assistance
IVF--they take the eggs out of the ovaries and combine them with sperm in a petri dish.....then if embryos grow those are transferred back into the uterus a few days later.
It sounds like y'all are friends and that she feels okay talking about this. Just respect that at times it might be hard for her.
What happens at a fertility clinic varies significantly depending on diagnosis and treatment. Kind of like asking what happens at any doctors office. It just depends.
Typically you start with lots of blood work and testing for both female and male partners.
Once there is a diagnosis there is a treatment plan and depending on the treatment plan, probably lots of monitoring, which includes ultrasounds and blood work. Fertillity clinics also do surgery, embryology, etc
Costs are very high. A typical round of IVF costs around $20K depending on where you are in the country.
Typically you try for at least a year on your own before going to this type of doctor and how long you keep trying depends on you more than anything. $$$ tends to be the biggest roadblock to continuing to try
~Working Mom~Breastfeeding Mom~Cloth Diapering Mom~BLW Mom~
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Shawn and Larissa
LO #1 - Took 2 years and 2 IVFs ~ DX - severe MFI mild PCOS homozygous MTHFR (a1298c)
LO #2 - TTC 7 months, surprise spontaneous BFP!
I would never and have never brought up her going to a fertility clinic when we talk about ttc, it has always been after she has started the conversation with me. TTC in general is private even if you don't end up at a clinic. I never told friends of 13 years that I was ttc, or that I had a m/c. Sometimes it is easier to ask questions of people you don't know personally.
All I can tell you about is our experience. DH and I tried for about 14 months to get pg. After about 8 months I decided to see my regular doctor who sent me to an OB to try and come up with some reasons that DH and I may not be getting pg. I was 28 and he was 29. The OB suggested a semen analysis for DH and a HSG for myself to see if my ovaries were clear an open. DH's first 2 SA's came back a little lower than normal and my HSG came back fine. The OB thought that since DH's SA came back low we should see a fertility specialist.
Our initial consulatation with the specialist caught us off guard. Basically he asked history of cycle questions and as soon as I told him about my cycle he immediately guessed PCOS. I had no idea I even had this. I didn't carry the normal symptoms of PCOS and we thought our problems were from DH's lower sperm count. The RE (fertility dr) didn't believe that DH's sperm counts were really low, just on the low side of normal. He did an internal ultrasound on me and did in fact confirm PCOS at the 1st appt. Total Shocker.
We had a few options:
1. Try to take metaformin (a pill) for a few months to see if that helped regulate my ovulation and hopefully get pregnant $20 for a 3 month supply. Since it is also a diabetes medication, our insurance covered it. Anything fertility related, it would NOT have.
2. jump straight into an IUI which they implant DH's sperm about 3K a cycle
3. IVF after trying IUI we didn't talk about prices, but I'd gather them to be around 10-20K a cycle. ONE MONTH, crazy!!
Thankfully, after taking metaformin for 2 months and ovulating right on schedule both months, I got pregnant!
Everyone has different reasons for seeing an RE, but thankfully our fix was cheap and easy!!
There's an entire board devoted to IF - Trouble TTC. If you are super curious you can lurk there and educate yourself. It would probably be helpful as you try to be supportive of your friend. I agree with the pp that "what happens there" is as varied as the individual. I've been to three clinics and had more procedures, diagnostic tests and screens than you can shake a stick at. I've been through basically every procedure in the book - but I am not a typical patient
I am a runner, knitter, scientist, DE-IVF veteran, and stage III colon cancer survivor.