IVF 101 Please!

Mommy&Mum · July 2014

Hi ladies,

My wife and have had 4 unsuccessful iui's. One was a chemical pregnancy hcg was only 8.5. We have not tried in well over a year and were looking to start up again. After some back and forth ordeals with my clinic they have agreed to do a test called "Transvaginal Endoscopy (TVE) which is combination of hysteroscopy and transvaginal hydrolaparoscopy, is a revolutionary technique used for direct visualization and assessment of the entire female reproductive system. The procedure is done under light sedation with only one needle puncture to enter the abdomen through the vagina and behind the uterus. A Normal Saline solution, instead of CO2 gas, is used to visualize the entire female pelvis directly. Post-operative recovery is fairly quick, with most patients feeling back to normal within hours."

I cannot have this test done until September 28th so that really sucks! But I'm taking this extra time to do some more research about our next steps. One more iui and then ivf? Or just jump right to ivf. We have one more vial of sperm paid for and our donor is now retired with no vials left. So if we go for iui and it worked we would have to go with another donor for future children. A perk with ivf is we would hopefully have frosty sibs for future use.

Anyway the point of my post is I would like to know anything you could tell me about ivf. The good bad and the ugly. Do you need to do icis if using donor sperm? How much were the meds? If you do a fet how much are meds? How many tries till BFP? I have no known issues, my dr think I'm just fine and young (I'm 32) but we want a baby now!! And are running out of money that we will need to care for and raise the child(ren) god willing!

Anyway, thank you so much for reading my long post. Thank you in advance for sharing your knowledge!!

Alishia

StacyLH24 · July 2014

I'm sorry for your loss. I don't have time to respond right now, but will later today with my experience.

You might want to check out the Infertility board. Almost everyone there is in the IVF process and for some it is not their first. Please lurk first and read through the different threads. There is a lot of information already posted there. If you need further information, introduce yourself and then ask. Please please please read the newbie thread there first before posting though.

firstcomeslove2013 · July 2014

Welcome, sorry to hear you are having a difficult time! If you search out IVF in our board you will find a TON of information. We have not had any IVF so I can't speak to the experience.

Also, please provide us with an intro post so we can learn more about you! :-)

StacyLH24 · July 2014

1. You do not need to use ICSI with donor sperm. We did not end up needing ICSI for the IVF cycle we just did. ICSI is usually used when there is MFI and/or the "shell" of the egg is impermeable. If you are using donor sperm from a bank and there is MFI, then there are bigger issues at hand!

2. Cost of meds depends on your insurance coverage and what pharmacy you order from. Ten 300 iu Gonal-F pens from Freedom Pharmacy runs about $5200.00. Five shots of Ganirelix from there runs about $724.50. I didn't use Lupron so I have no idea how much that is. I stocked up on Gonal-F during my IUI cycles, when my copay was only $20.00 for 10. I also used Gonal-F that a friend had leftover and that was about to expire. All of my other meds were just copays. I can't speak to meds for a FET. Almost forgot, Ovidrel from Freedom is about $104.

3. This is my first IVF cycle and I'm only 2dp3dt - so no idea about a BFP or BFN yet. I have seen some folks have healthy and successful pregnancies after IVF#1. I have also seen some folks who are way beyond that and still do not have a healthy take home baby. Everyone is different.

I did well on the meds, in terms of side effects. I didn't start feeling icky until towards the end, but I also stimmed for 13 days. I was up to 4 shots a night at the end and I was getting tired of it. We were also exhausted because we live 1.5 hours from our RE's office, so every other day monitoring (and then every day) was rough. I have taken more meds at one time than probably ever in my life.

ER wasn't bad because I was under sedation. It took me about 2-3 days after before I wasn't sore anymore. ET was no big deal at all. I was given a Valium to take beforehand and it kept me from having cramping during and after. ET was 100% easier than any IUI I have had.

The progesterone is a fun ride (sarcasm). My boobs are varying levels of sore all day and I'm pretty sure my tiredness is also a side effect. Potentially how hungry I am as well. The great part about it in my mind is that I can't play mind games wondering if the side effects are pregnancy symptoms. I know they aren't, so I don't even give them a second thought.

Getting frosties is a crapshoot IMHO. I had 9 eggs retrieved. Six of those fertilized with only 4 fertilizing normally. We transferred 2 that were perfect on day 3. I will know for sure about the other 2 tomorrow, but they probably will not make it to freeze. He said they were growing too fast. After doing some Google "research" I found that embies that grow too slow or too fast more than likely have chromosome issues that will not lead to a healthy take home baby.

If you can see my siggy, my IVF cycle is there in detail.

2MamazInSeattle · July 2014

Ditto what PPs said. Def check out the Infertility board!

Drugs for my egg donor's IVF cycle were around $5K.
Each of my FETs were basically cost of estrogen and progesterone ($700 or so a month, but you keep taking them once pregnant - but then they aren't IF drugs, they are pregnant person drugs).

One other thing - my clinic DOES require ICSI for frozen sperm - this is because they believe it's better to select the best swimmer and optimize fertilization rate. So I think what @StaceyLH24 said depends on the clinic. And, indeed it does cost more!

Anyhow, good luck as you move forward!

StacyLH24 · July 2014

Here is a thread from the Infertility board that you might find helpful

https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/12394444/things-you-wish-you-would-ve-known-ivf#latest

@2Mamaz - Interesting on the ICSI with frozen sperm at your RE's office. I think it makes sense though.

Mommy&Mum · July 2014

Thank you thank you thank you everyone!!!! I will re-introduce myself in another post

CageyMack · July 2014

I really respect and agree with most of what has been written already. It is a decision that only you and your doctor can make.

We went to IVF after four IUIs for a couple reasons:

1. It was newly covered by insurance.

2. We are/were very committed to our donor and we were rapidly using our vials. The counts went down with every IUI (perhaps they were not holding well in the "freeze?).

3. We felt sure we would end up with a baby and "spares" frozen.

Our reality:

1. We are pregnant.

2. It was covered by insurance, except our copay of around $3000.

3. We only had two eggs to transfer and none to freeze, in spite of 19 that were retrieved (only about half that mature). All that were mature were ICSId.

4. So far, we have a baby, and that is our miracle. We are so worried that it sticks.

5. The shots were a pain, the other meds make a sane person feel crazy (not the side-effects, but the "did I remember to take it?").

6. Infertility makes a regular pregnancy feel high-risk. There is a LOT that went into that baby, and I'm pretty sure I won't forget it her whole life.

Good luck!

KH826 · July 2014

So a lot has already been said, so I won't rehash, but here are a few highlights from my IVF experience:

*my IVF meds were only about $3400 -- I think a lot depends on your protocol. My RE wanted to be conservative and not over order for me since she thought I would have a good response with low level meds,and I did. I was also on follistim, which seems to be a tad cheaper than some of the other stim meds.

*we also did not do ICSI and used frozen donor sperm.

*agree a thousand percent that transfer was easier than any IUI I ever had.

*we did 5 IUIs before moving to IVF. Finances were a huge factor. We were out of pocket for everything, and one IUI cycle including sperm, meds, monitoring, was costing us about $1750 ... We were also down to one more vial of sperm so we had to decide to do a 6th IUI and then take a break if it didn't work, or move to IVF with our last vial. Our IVF cycle was $6500 plus meds, so just about $10k.

*for me, IVF was not too bad of a process. I actually expected worse. In terms of the meds, the most difficult ones were Lupron (I had pretty bad headaches, and some general moodiness) and progesterone (shots in the butt for 12 weeks are just not fun).

*heck yes about the bloating! I was up a pant size after egg retrieval and never went back. I also seemed to gain weight during stims (but I gain weight very easily, I was indulging in carbs more often, and I also had OHSS which made me gain from excess fluid and mega swollen ovaries) -- even still though, all totally doable and all totally manageable. I personally am relieved that we have do many frozen embryos and will never try another IUI again. 2 months leading up to and then going through my IVF cycle was way better emotionally than 6 months of TTC with IUIs, in my opinion.

That's what comes to mind initially, but please ask questions if you have them. There are plenty of IVF vets here to jump in and try to give you an answer. Good luck!

1blueridgemama · July 2014

Our experience with IVF was wonderful. The only downside was the cost. We had to pay up front before the insemination was done and it was around 12K. Not good. But, we honestly spent almost that much (and way much more time) on unsuccessful IUIs. Worked the first time with us and we are now entering third trimester with boy/girl twins. The medications were included in that above cost and they were delivered through a pharmacy the OB set up that specializes in fertility, so they were helpful when we had questions. We still have 3 frozen embryos but we are done after these babies are born. I'm hitting the big 4-0 in a few months, my wife is older than I am and we have older children. All in all, IVF was very successful with just the financial burden being the hard part.

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