Pregnancy IVF Blog

Answers please! When Can We Start Our Next IVF Cycle?

Wendi — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 16:31:46 +0000

Just a few days ago I went in for some blood work in search of some answers on where I am at in my cycle. I am currently on CD 36, which means my last period was 36 days ago. Yikes! Let me remind you, we had a failed FET in March, with a initial beta of zero – so we thought moving on to another fresh round of IVF wouldn’t take too long.

We are so anxious and excited to begin this IVF cycle, but can’t even think about it or do any further testing until my period comes. I definitely thought I be on birth control pills (part of my IVF protocol) right now and getting close to my stimulation phase of my cycle. Unfortunately, we are a few weeks behind in our plan.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get a phone call from one of the nurses giving me the good news that my period is in sight or maybe they can induce it with Provera. The answer I don’t want to hear is you’ll just have to keep waiting. In a dream world they’ll call and say your PREGNANT! Okay, so I know the chances of that happening are slim to none, but you never know. Last week I thought I felt that AF was in the near future, but here we are and nothing, nada, zilch!!!

Stay tuned, let’s hope we are on our way to IVF #2!

Fertility Forums

Wendi — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:57:40 +0000

Fertility forums can be a great way to interact with others when you are struggling with infertility. With that said, they can also cause stress. I admit, I have a terrible addiction to fertility forums. I don’t know what it is, but I am drawn to reading about everyone else, while at the same time struggling with my own fertility issues.

I originally joined a forum in order to seek support and found it! All to often I have found that those who haven’t struggled with infertiliy truly don’t get it. That isn’t to say they aren’t supportive, but I don’t think they fully understand the heartache that goes along with it. The women and men on the fertiliy forums have first hand experiences of what I have gone through and am currently going through.

It wouldn’t be uncommon to find me reading for hours on a forum. Reading all kinds of things, both good and bad. Reading about women who are upset that they have to take Clomid-seriously?!?!? I’d love for Clomid to be my quick fix. I read about women who are nervous about doing an IUI-again, seriously?!?! Once again, totally jealous, I’d trade an IUI for IVF any day. Then I read about women who can do IVF and don’t have to pay a dime for it, why you ask-INSURANCE. Our insurance doesn’t cover anything, so lucky us (not), we are paying out of pocket. So I’ve found that I begin to get frustruated at all of these women who have it “better off” than I do.

I am quickly humbled as I read about women who aren’t able to use their own eggs or sperm for IVF – I feel fortunate because we can. I read about women who have egg retrievals and no eggs are to be found – I haven’t had that problem. I read about women who haven’t carried a baby for 9 months – I have and will be eternally grateful.

So, there’s good, there’s bad and there’s worse. We are all on these forums to give each other support. That’s what I am there to do-share my story in hopes that I can help someone else who is struggling. I am not there to see who has it worse off. I am not there to count the successes from other women, while counting my defeats. I am there because we all need support from each other, as infertility shouldn’t be dealt with alone.

Show Me The Money – Fertility Treatment Cost

Wendi — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 12:56:15 +0000

One of the biggest stressors that couples face while battling infertility is, “How am I going to pay for this?” We are one of the unfortunate couples that don’t have an ounce of insurance coverage for infertility, which makes this process even more frustrating. Yes, you could go completely broke paying for treatments!! Good-bye vacations, good-bye big house, hello baby!

So now we are trying to figure out which route we are going to take. We can pay the doctor a flat fee, which will cover IVF with ICSI and pay for the meds from a local pharmacy separately. For some, this is the only option you have if you are seeking treatment without insurance coverage. Our doctor works with a program though which gives us two more choices. The first one being a refund plan, known as a shared risk program, where you pay a heck of a lot of money up front (not including $4,000-5,000 worth of meds). You are given up to 3 fresh IVF cycles and 3 frozen transfers. You are guaranteed a refund of 70% if you don’t bring home a baby from the hospital. In essence, if it works the first time you have “overpaid”…but have you really overpaid if you have a baby, I think not?!?!

With their other plan (still a lot of money, but not quite as much as the shared-risk plan) you are given two fresh cycles and two frozen cycles, but no refund.

Lot’s to consider!

Changes Are Coming! Website Redesign & Additional Features

Mike — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:25:16 +0000

This is just a quick note to let the PregnancyIVF community know that we are going to be making some changes with the website. We will be redesigning the site to offer a cleaner, more user friendly site and we will also be adding on features to help the community voice their opinion as well.

We are in the planning phase now but hope to have these changes completed within the next 1-2 months. If you have any suggestions, please let us know by commenting on this post or you can always send me an email at mike@pregnancyivf.com.

Thanks for your support and have a great day.

Circle + Bloom March Promotion: 20% Off

Wendi — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:06:18 +0000

Circle + Bloom is running a promotion for the month of March that gets you 20% off of your order and we are delighted to be able to offer this to the PregnancyIVF community.

To take advantage of this discount, head over to Circle + Bloom and start shopping now! At checkout, be sure to enter code: Fertilitypod20 so it’s applied to your order.

Visit Circle + Bloom Now!

Single Embryo Transfer Next Week!

Mike — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:46:51 +0000

We are less than a week away from our FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer). This is our last frozen embryo and to no surprise we are hoping we are blessed with a sibling for our dear daughter. I had my ultrasound yesterday to check my uterine lining, it was a 10.5, which to my understanding is great. I assume it will continue to thicken as we get closer to the FET. It is so different going through the process this time around, mainly because we are distracted with a 15 month old-the distraction may indeed be a good thing. Just like last time, I have been doing acupuncture twice a week and will continue to do so up until the transfer. On the day of the transfer, I will have a treatment right before and right after the procedure. Here’s to positive vibes!

FertilityPod has Launched – Fertility Social Network & Expert Content Resources

Mike — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:51:05 +0000

Our new venture, FertilityPod, has launched. Over the next few weeks we will be rolling out new features and services to help support those who battle infertility as well as help connect fertility professionals with the community.

We encourage you to check us out and connect with us on Facebook here and Twitter here.

If you have any questions about FertilityPod, please email mmcgrath@fertilitypod.com.

We hope you enjoy our new venture. Thank you in advance for your support!

Kate’s First Steps!!! About Time

Mike — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:52:28 +0000

Single Embryo Transfer & Our Second FET!!!

Wendi — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 22:31:11 +0000

Okay! Round 2 – Here We Go!

I am just finishing my first pack of birth control pills in order to regulate my cycle for our upcoming FET in March. About 10 days about I had a “sono-mock” done by one of our fertility doctors. This procedure involves a mock transfer as well as filling the uterine cavity with fluid and viewing it with ultrasound to make sure that everything looks good. Both procedures went smoothly and things are moving right along. After I finish this pack of pills, I will continue into a second pack and then begin Estrace in order to help build my uttering lining. The past two days were a little rough, I experienced a migraine each day, from which I believe is from the pills that I am on. The first migraine wasn’t too bad, but yesterday’s was an entirely different story-that one was a whopper! (So far so good day-keep your fingers crossed!)

I also began acupuncture again from the same gal who treated me before. At this point, I am just going once a week and then once we are about a month out from the transfer I will begin going twice a week. It gets tricky trying to work out all of these appointments with a one-year old around. I enjoy relaxing once I am there.

This is getting very exciting, but along with the excitement does come nerves and a bit of anxiety. We will be doing a single embryo transfer because that is all we have left-and we are sure hoping it brings a beautiful little addition to our family in late November.

Kate is 1, New Venture and Hope

Mike — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 18:50:39 +0000

Kate 1 Year Old

Well, our little girl, Kate, just turned 1 this past week. This year has definitely flown by but with many memories that we will hold tight forever.

Kate was our first successful FET after many failed IUI’s and a failed fresh IVF cycle. Our hopes were definitely down after the failed tries but we got through the tough times and now we have just put the first year of Kate’s life on the books with many more wonderful years ahead of us! What a wonderful year it has been….the best year of Wendi and my life. There have been ups and downs and challenges and tough days but this little girl puts a huge smile on our faces each and every day. We love her with all we have…and couldn’t imagine life without her!

We have a lot of things going on right now as well. We have 1 frozen embryo left that we will be using in an FET after the first of the year. If he or she is as feisty as Kate, we’ll likely be blessed again! That is our hope as we journey back into the life of fertility treatments and the stress it brings!

We will also be launching a new web venture, FertilityPod, which is a social network and expert community aimed to help those struggling with infertility to offer support and hope. It’s something we can use ourselves as we battle infertility and we hope others join us to help get through this stressful and tough part of trying to start a family. Look for the launch shortly after the new year! You can also follow us on Twitter @FertilityPod.

Other than that, we just want to enjoy each and every day with Kate. She is our miracle. We are blessed and we want to soak in each and every moment with her.

Wishing everyone else out there who is struggling to start a family the best of luck. Especially to all of the females who sacrifice so much going through fertility treatments. We know first hand that it’s a very tough thing to go through but there is hope and support. We’re always here as well to chat with anyone who just needs some support or someone to talk to about their own fertility journey.