I wondered over from the trying to get pregnant board....
First off, I would like to say hello and thank you in advance...
I was wondering for those that tried iui or any fertility treatment...how did you pay for it? Did you save thousands first or did you save a little for each part of the treatment? Mine and dh insurances do not cover fertility treatments (but are good with pregnancy/delivery)...we have had basic testing done, but the charges we were able to handle such as $100 per blood draw, $300 for a panel or $100 SA, but the next test is $900 for the tube dye test (can't think of the formal name)...and I will again have to have a blood panel done and ultrasound...my gut is telling me to wait a couple of months save up..continue opk's and sex, then have everything done at one time...basic blood work confirmed I do ovulate and SA confirmed dh semen is "excellent", but we are still not pregnant....I am 32 dh is 33 and we've been married 2 years
I have a co-worker that told me it cost them $15,000 for in vitro..although they did concieve and have their bundle of joy
Re: cost/payment of fertility treatments
We just bought a house together in October, and I was finally able to lease my house last week after it being on the market for 6 months...carrying 2 mortgages is for the birds! So, now I think we can build our savings back up..plus I guess I need to cook more meals instead of eating out..lol
Me: 30, DH: 32
My hx: uterus/hormones normal Dx: low AMH 0.5 = poor ovarian reserve
hubby hx: low sperm count, poor motility, started on clomid, retest in May showed no improvement, will be on clomid another 3 months, another retest scheduled for August
Started IVF #1: ~BFP Mentioned~
Me: 30, DH: 32
My hx: uterus/hormones normal Dx: low AMH 0.5 = poor ovarian reserve
hubby hx: low sperm count, poor motility, started on clomid, retest in May showed no improvement, will be on clomid another 3 months, another retest scheduled for August
Started IVF #1: ~BFP Mentioned~
Even though our tests were covered, we still had company's and things that weren't covered. We just cut back where we could and pay for them as they were done. No eating out, no big trips, cut out activities like sports events and concerts, etc. not a lot of fun, but worth it to avoid debt. We were prepping for IVF when we got the BFP, but we were looking at about $27000. This was going to be done with our savings. We wouldn't have much left after that, but our parents were willing to loan to us if we got in a pinch. Some of the financial options the RE's office had for IVF we weren't allowed to use because of the DOR diagnosis. The tests your RE wants to do will determine a lot about costs and timeline and in my opinion it would be better to do them sooner rather than later.
4 rounds of clomid, 2 with IUI = BFN
For testing and my Lap they my RE's office let us pay it out over time. That was not the case once we got into treatment cycles though. For those we had to pony up the cash up front.
**************SIGGY WARNING**************
BLOG
Me 32 :: DH 41
TTC since November, 2011
DH's SA : Excellent
Lap and Hysteroscopy June 2012
DX: PCOS, Stage III Endo, slight Adenomyosis, blocked tube, and probable LPD
Treatments: 6 Months Lupron Depot injections; 1500 mg metformin; 3 cycles of Clomid + TI = BFN
3 endometrial biopsies all were "out of phase"
September - December, 2013: Break to lose weight and get healthy
40 lb weight loss but still not ovulating "in phase"
February - March 2014: bcps + follistim + trigger + TI = BFP
Beta #1 (12dpo): 30; Beta #2 (18dpo): 500; Beta #3 (25dpo): 7,000!!!
1st u/s 4/16: One beautiful hb at 144 bmp
2nd u/s 4/29: hb at 166 bmp. Graduated from RE!!
TEAM PINK!
Baby girl arrived on Thanksgiving day weighing 7lbs 6oz and measuring 20 inches
We both took on a second job (basically consulting so we could do it on weekends and during our off hours) in between the IUIs and the IVFs. And then depleted all of our savings. We put the rest on a credit card. While it sucked having two jobs each, and it was really stressful, I think it was the best choice for us, and we knew it was only temporary and obviously for a good cause. The worst part was just waiting for each cycle to begin! I get so impatient.
Me: 32, DH: 34 / TTC since February 2011 / SA: all normal, HSG: all clear! / on Lovenox for anticardiolipid antibodies
4 IUIs with Clomid, Letrozole, and Menopur. All BFN.
9/12: lap / hysteroscopy: found and removed mild endometriosis, cervical polyp, and 2 para-tubular cysts
5/13 IVF #1: Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix, 10R/4M/4F, ET of 2, 5 cell and 4 cell, no frosties = BFN
12/13 IVF #2 = November / December 2013. Microdose Lupron Protocol: 15R/6M/6F, Froze all 6 due to high E2 and P4
FET 1: Jan 22, 2014 of one 4AB blast and one 3BB blast (3 blasts on ice!)
BFP on HPT 4dp5dt, Beta #1 9dp5dt: 310, Beta #2 11dp5dt: 899
First u/s on 2/17/14: TWINS!!!!! both w/HBs of 114 at 6w3d, HBs 150 and 152 at 7w5d
5/27/2014: Team purple!!!! EDD 10/10/2014 /
Baby Boy 4lbs 1oz, 17 inches
Baby Girl 3lbs 5oz, 16 inches
Thank you
We did 9 cycles of IUIs w/meds before ultimately doing IVF. While we did the IUIs we just saved up like mad for about a year so we could afford it.
N14 Nov. Siggy: CELEBRATION!
1/13 Decided to pursue DIA, 4/13 Home study Approved 9/13 Matched!
10/13 DS home with us! 2/14 TPR completed 5/14 ADOPTION IS FINAL!
3/14 Surprise BFP 11/14 DD is here!
One thing - definitely keep all receipts, records etc. We wrote off everything on our taxes up to I think $25K maximum. Saved us big time in April.
Good luck!
09/12-11/13: 3 TIs, 3 IUIs, ICSI/PGS IVF & 2 FETs
08/14: Our little miracle has FINALLY arrived - 3 years after we started trying!
We've spent approx. $30K but that's for our son & this pregnancy. My advice is to try and do as much as possible in the same calendar year so you don't have to reach 10% of your wages every year. So come January be ready to do what ever it is your plan is & try to squeeze as many cycles in as possible into the same calendar year so then come tax time you get a nice healthy tax refund that will help pay off the bills/debt of treatment. For us we were thinking it would take about 3 IVFs to be successful so we had an early March transfer to allow for time to complete a few more cycle this year if necessary.
We took out a home equity loan before our first IVF of $50K so we knew that money would be there to pay for treatments if we needed it & that really helped reduce stress. Thankfully we didn't have to dip into it, we were very lucky & only needed 2 IVFs, one in 2012, one this year so we saved like crazy between the 2. Most of sons clothes are second hand, we stopped going out to eat etc. so we could save for all the cycles this year. Good luck & hopefully you'll be able to be successfully with treatments that are a lot cheaper & less invesaive than IVF!
As for payment, we had money in savings that thankfully even after we paid for the treatments still left us with a emergency cushion for a little over 3 months of living expenses. We put all of the IVF costs, which totaled around $22K (includes meds and procedures) on our credit card for reward miles. We then paid it off immediately. Like PP, keep a log of your mileage, all out of pocket costs for tax reasons. We were able to write off the medical costs and got a small refund this year. Best of luck.
For Ivf I got it through walgreens pharmacy and for pregnancy I got it through my regular pharmacy. I'm with kaiser though so it's the medical plans pharmacy, not just anyone can walk in and get a prescription. I think it's what regular women call P17 shots and some get to maintain pregnancy due to a history of early labor with previous pregnancies. Could be wrong but have seen it talked about on other boards. U cud ask on another board where they were able to purchase it ( although I have seen a lot where women talk about going in to get the shot rather than it being self administered)
BFP #3 on 7/23/16 EDD 3/30/16
I can't comment on what you should and should not do financially for your treatment but I am glad that we moved forward when we did with our treatments. We started out 3 years ago and it took us this long to get pregnant. Had I known how it would be for us, I would have started sooner no matter the cost.
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** After 2 1/2 years of Unexplained IF, 2 failed medicated cycles, and 4 failed IUI's - our baby girl came to us through the miracle of Mini IVF! **