Quick recap of the last four days (plus cost breakdown)

I'm going to do my best to keep a day by day account of what I am going through this cycle. I'm keeping a seperate journal for this but I will copy and paste it here as well so that you can all follow along with where I am at - mentally and physically.

Also, LaLa asked about costs for an IVF w/ICSI and I'll answer the best I can. Just a reminder, we have no infertility coverage which means absolutely nothing to do with the IVF cycle is covered - including tests, monitoring, meds, etc. We are paying 100% out of pocket. I don't have a full grasp on what the meds are going to cost us yet but I'll know by March 10 and will update again at that point. My doctor is donating the Follistim to us so that will save us some money but I expect to still pay around $1,000 for the remaining meds. My cycle (period) started on February 22. I had to pay $20 for birth control and the antibiotic on February 23. I have a Trail Transfer scheduled for March 5 and that costs $75. We have to pay a "downpayment" of $9,442 on March 10. Since we are opting to do ICSI, we will also need to pay $930 on March 10 - for a total of $10,372. If we want to do cryopreservation (freeze embryos), we will have to pay an additional $825 on that day as well. That cost includes the freezing and first six months of storage. I'm not sure if we are doing this or not. I think that is it for now, but I will keep you posted as I go along. When it is all said and done, we'll probably be paying around $13,000.

Here is my four day re-cap:

CD1
I don’t know what it is about the infertile and our inability to let hope die. Every month, whether it is a treatment cycle or not, I hold out hope. I hope that this is going to our month and that a miracle will happen and spare us from any more pain. This month is no different. I thought that surely we would end up miraculously pregnant and we would be spared from having to go through IVF. Because really? I never thought we’d be here. Our infertility “issues” aren’t even that serious – I mean, we were able to naturally conceive a baby once. What’s stopping us from doing it again?? I guess I’ll never know the answer to that because here we go…today is CD 1 of IVF#1. Now if only I could swallow this huge lump in my throat.

CD2
Today my fertility clinic and I were able to kick off this IVF cycle together. I went in for a blood draw and also received a prescription for birth control pills and an antibiotic. These are the only two medications I’ll take in the next six weeks that will be covered by insurance. The rest will all be completely out of pocket (deep breath in, deep breath out...). I must say that my RE is gifting me all of the Follistim that I’ll need for the cycle, so at least I won’t have to pay for that which is wonderful. Every little bit helps.

CD3
I’m looking at that little red pill and partly thinking, “Here we go! And so it begins!” but mostly I am thinking, “Oh God, I wonder what time I am going to start puking??” Have I mentioned how much I HATE birth control pills? We do not get along. I only have 21 days to go until I can stop taking them. It’s going to be a very long three weeks. It’s 9:51 am and the pill has officially been swallowed. Stay tuned…

CD4
I started feeling pretty creepy late in the day yesterday and by about 7pm I felt the worst BUT it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I would be puking for sure but it didn’t happen. After I peaked out around 7pm, I started coming around and felt pretty normal by the time I went to bed at 11pm. So, that is great news! We’ll see how I do after I take pill number two but if last night is the worst it is going to get, I can take it! The next 20 days will go by a lot more smoothly now that I know that I won’t be puking every single day.
I got another packet in the mail yesterday and it outlines my meds a little more. I’m kind of confused because there are more meds listed than I thought I would need. I thought I only needed the Follistim and Lupron but the stuff I got yesterday also lists Menopur. Also, it lists Vivelle (no idea what that is) and both the progesterone shots as well as the suppositories. Ugh. I hope I don’t need both of them! I thought it is usually one or the other? I guess I’ll find out a lot more at my RN consult on March 10. It should be interesting to see how much they all cost. I guess it is sort of a moot point at this time. It is what it is. We are doing this.
I also received information about freezing embryos. I need to do a lot of thinking about this. I’m not sure we’ll be doing this. I know, for a fact, that we will not go through a FET. I just can’t imagine doing this again. And the cost? Ugh. Not going to happen. I don’t know enough about FETs though to know if you can just do some sort of natural FET? Maybe that would be an option? But then I would still have the issue of paying for the freezing and storage. Also, if this cycle doesn’t work – I really want to be done. I do not want to live cycle to cycle anymore and I do not want to go on an emotional rollercoaster again. Whatever we decide, we have until March 10 to figure it out.