IVF cold feet
DH and I are all set to start our first IVF cycle in Feb and I'm suddenly getting cold feet about our choice in doctor. We didn't meet with any other RE's (although I did do internet research on several). We made an appointment with ours based on internet research and the fact that he claimed to be cheaper than anyone else in town (due to owning his own lab/proceedure rooms so there are no hospital fees at all). We met with him and liked him so we didn't meet with anyone else.
There are about a million pregnant women and husbands of pregnant women where I work right now. Several people have used some from of reproductive assisstance so they all have an RE and want to tell me how wonderful he/she is. One has a money back promise if you don't have a live birth, one will code proceedures as something other than infertility so insurance will pay for some of it, one does a med exchange program . . . They all have a things that make them sound appealing.
Should I make an appointment to meet some of these other drs or just stay where I'm at? The dr we chose has a good success rate and we like him just fine. I have every confidence that he will do what needs to be done to get us pregnant. I guess I just feel like I'm spending a ton of money and haven't shopped around to see if I'm getting the best deal (best deal = doctor skills and cost). Does that make sense??
The dr we are with now will not code anything differently to have any chance of insurance covering it, he doesn't do any med exchange programs. His cost is a little less than some of the others I've seen/talked to -- he estimates approx $10-12,000 for one full cycle (includes everything). Everyone else I've seen/heard estimates $12 - 15,000 per cycle. I should also say the only reason we are doing IVF is b/c DH had a vasectomy 10 years ago. We have been advised by more than one dr that b/c it is so old we would have better chances with IVF than a reversal.
Should I "shop around" or just stay where I'm at since we do like the dr?
Re: IVF cold feet
Who is your RE again? I was thinking you had told me, but I don't remember.
Do you think you're going to start your cycle earlier or later in Feb? I think it would be pretty hard to get in for second opinions before early Feb, and would probably be really stressful to try. If it was later in Feb you might have a little more time. It could still wind up being stressful though, if you wind up liking another practice better for whatever reason, since you do like the current RE himself.
The money back for no live birth sounds like a shared risk program, which has its own separate pros and cons. I didn't research it heavily, but I believe you pay a lot more up front, and then get so many IVF cycles included, or whatever other criteria they name.
Dr. M did code stuff as medical instead of fertility for my insurance whenever he could do it honestly, which was definitely nice. I had things going on that applied though, like abnormal bleeding, fibroid, pcos, family history of clots, etc.
(And hopefully your first cycle will be a success and you won't have to worry about anything else!)
I suppose you could do a wedding dress analogy. You liked the dress when you tried it on, you're buying the dress, and since it's close to the wedding date you should just stop looking.
IVF is a huge step and is scary. We haven't done a whole lot of thinking about that next step, but I do know it can be very hard. I think I would just go with your first choice unless you planned on waiting. I agree with Tricia that it'd be tough to get in more research before Feb. Our new RE quoted us 10-12 thousand as well. Shared Risk is like $23k. I'd want to do that, but that's so much money. DH isn't ready to go there yet so we haven't really talked about it much. We will try 1-2 more IUIs first.
Good Luck.
TTC since 2007
6 IUIs, 3 IVFs, and 2 m/c :< PCOS, Blood Clotting Disorder & MFI
IVF #2 Aug 2011 is a BFN:<
IVF #3 March 2012 is a BFN
Not sure what to do now. Sad and lost.
Jake is an IVF baby. We didn't like our doctor, but her stats were great and we knew we were getting a reasonable price. Plus, with all of the testing and bloodwork, etc, being close to our house was good too. I definitely had cold feet because I didn't like my doctor, but my desire to move forward was stronger, foolish or not. In your heart, you'll have to decide if you want to wait a bit longer to shop around. it's tough because it's a lot of money.
I highly recommend reading up and finding IVF support group. Going through the procedures aren't necessarily hard but not easy either. It's super weird giving yourself shots!!
good luck, keep us posted!
Thanks everyone. DH and I talked about it again. He's pretty much leaving it up to me. He is happy with the RE we have now but is willing to meet more if it makes me happy/comfortable.
I did a lot of thinking today and decided that I want to just stay where we are. I think my hesitation is just a bad case of "cold feet" about spending such a large ammount of money. I'm always looking for a deal and tend to get a little freaked out if I spend more than a $100 or so. I guess I'm a tightwad at heart.
The bottom line is that we are more than ready to have a baby. We've already waited so long and I don't want to delay it further by talking to new RE's when we like the one we have now just fine.
Thanks again! Sometimes it just helps to get it off of my chest.
I'm glad you feel more clear about what you feel. It's definitely hard to spend that kind of money, especially on something with no guarantee, and that you have so little control over.
You can always start getting second opinions if your first cycle doesn't work...but I'm obviously hoping that it does!