IVF – Let’s Make Some Embabies – Our Infertility Journey: Part Two

If you are here and wondering how we got to the IVF stage, you might want to head over to “So, When Are You Guys Having Kids? – Our Infertility Journey: Part One” to learn more about our several year struggle with infertility and 3 unsuccessful IUI cycles.

This post specifically will share our IVF journey with you all.

BUT FIRST A DISCLAIMER – every single body is different, every single journey is different, and in no way do I recommend comparing your journey to ours. We share this to provide insight into OUR experience, and to hopefully answer some of your pressing questions about struggling with infertility.

Finding Our Clinic

Being in the Boston-area this was difficult, but not because of a lack of clinics, rather because there are so many phenomenal clinics to choose from. Here were some important factors for us, that might be different for you:

• Timing: We only had 7 months left in MA, so we needed a clinic that could get us in soon to start the process to give us ample time to try 1-2 rounds before moving out of state.
• Cost: We were in search of a location that offered a military discount, and that had a price within reason for us to make happen in a short period of time with little time to prepare and save.
• Reputation: We read reviews, spoke to friends in the area, and eventually, did a virtual consultation to make sure the clinic was reputable and that we ‘jived’ with the physician team.

To that end, we ended up with Fertility Solutions who have locations in Woburn and Dedham, MA. All monitoring appts were done in Woburn (40 mins from us) while procedures were done in Dedham (1 hr from us).

Cost

Like I said in Part One – this is a touchy subject for me, because the cost TRULY varies based on so so many different criteria (especially medications and treatment plans, which vary by clinic but also by person because HEY, OUR BODIES ARE SUPER DIFFERENT. However, in an effort to remain incredibly transparent with you, I will share what we paid for our entire round of IVF and what all that included:

$7,200 – cost of IVF cycle at Fertility Solutions for their ‘IVF Advantage Plan’ with military discount: This included egg retrieval, anesthesia for retrieval, fertilization of the egg(s), ICSI if elected, assisted hatching if necessary, extended embryo culture, fresh embryo transfer and the first blood pregnancy test of the cycle. It also includes cryopreservation and storage of the remaining embryos for 6 months. This plan also included a frozen embryo transfer should the fresh transfer not work out. Not included: ‘ monitoring’ AKA bloodwork and ultrasounds (of which there were many, but were billed Tricare and covered), and medications (listed below).

$2,400 – cost of medications (gasp, would you believe me if I told you this is actually quite low? We had expected $5,000 – $7,000 in meds for our first cycle. There are a few reasons for this ‘lower’ cost. (1) I was on a lighter med cycle than expected, which was to be modified as needed moving forward (2) I used Freedom Fertility Pharmacy, there was one close to me – They offer good military self-pay pricing on fertility meds (3) I enrolled in the EMD Serono Compassionate Care program for military, giving me an extra 25% off certain qualifying meds (4) Tricare ended up covering a very small fraction of the meds.

In all, IVF is very expensive – and I truly believe we found good deals and did what we could to save costs as much as possible. Again – it will be different for you! Without a doubt your clinic, your treatment plan, where you get your medications, etc. will all impact the cost of your cycle. I am also only talking about one cycle here – of course with each additional cycle (whether that is another egg retrieval, frozen embryo transfer, or otherwise, will include new medications and new facility costs. Lastly, we did not do genetic testing on our embryos, which was a personal decision for us. That is another heavy cost if you choose that route.

Our IVF cycle, step by step – An Oversimplified Explanation

• Find a clinic that meets YOUR needs: We had virtual consultations with multiple clinics before selecting ours in November, 2020
• Do your research and start preparing your body: This will look different for everyone (have I said that enough?) but here is some of what I did in the short time leading up to the IVF cycle. I read It Starts With The Egg by Rebecca Fett and could not recommend this enough. What a phenomenal book that clearly breaks down the literature and scientific evidence showing how to improve egg quality. I followed her “Advanced Plan: Trying to Conceive Through IUI or IVF” pretty closely. Leading up to and through IVF until I got pregnant I took: Prenatal, CoQ10 400mg, R-alpha lipoic acid 200mg, Vitamin E 200 IU, Vitamin C 500mg, melatonin 3mg and was also on Levothyroxine 50mg for my thyroid. Once I got pregnant I only continued the Prenatal and Levothyroxine. I also kept my diet mostly plant-based, and continued regular exercise!

• Get up to date on bloodwork, ultrasounds, etc.: Although we had just done 3 IUI’s, our new clinic still wanted the following, which we did over the months of November and December. Carissa: baseline bloodwork and ultrasound on day 2-4 of cycle, Saline Infusion Sonohystero (SIS) on day 5-10 of cycle, a less invasive version of the HSG to look at the shape of the uterus, and complete genetic testing panel. Adam: updated Semen Analysis and complete genetic testing panel.
• Get the OK to start IVF: All testing was completed in early January and we received the OK to start IVF on January 4th, but had to wait until my cycle started again
• January 11th: Started cycle – instructed to start birth control pills in 2 days
• January 13th: Start birth control pills, still waiting on Adam’s genetic testing results before they would officially start our medicated cycle
• January 22nd: Adam’s results came in – negative for everything (yay) so we are good to move forward (I am a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis so we needed to make sure he was not)
• January 25th: Baseline ultrasound and blood work to see if ovaries are sufficiently ‘suppressed’ from the birth control pills: They were! I took my last birth control pill that day

• January 29th – February 3rd: Stims injections – Gonal F 175 units in belly every evening
• February 3rd: bloodwork and ultrasound to see if I need to switch up med protocol
• February 3rd – 4th: Continue Gonal F in evening, add Cetrotide .25mg injection in mornings
• February 5th: bloodwork and ultrasound
• February 5th – 8th: Continue same protocol, Gonal F in PM, Cetrotide in AM

• February 8th: bloodwork and ultrasound – determined it is TRIGGER DAY! 11pm took Lupron 80 unit injection and Novarel 1,000iu injection
• February 10th: Egg Retrieval 10am – no meds the day before or this day, no food / drink before procedure. Adam came with me to provide semen sample, but had to stay in the car for the procedure. All in all the process was a few hours long (getting prepped for procedure, procedure, waiting for anesthetic to wear off). I went home and slept most of the day to recover — was told to consume extra protein and electrolytes over the next few days, and to monitor symptoms for OHS (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome). I found out that day they retrieved 9 eggs, 8 of which were mature. Now you sit and wait to find out how many, if any, fertilize.

• February 11th – 14th: I received calls daily from my clinic with updates. 11th I was told that 5 of the 8 eggs fertilized. 12th – 14th I was told that all 5 continued to grow and remained in good quality, which was the most incredible and shocking news.
• February 14th: Told I would be doing my FRESH embryo transfer tomorrow – given instructions on transfer.
• February 15th: EMBRYO TRANSFER DAY! Our best embryo was transferred via catheter into my uterus and the remaining 4 good quality embryos were cryopreserved for future use! The transfer process was very simple for me – in that I didn’t have to take meds or do anything to prepare, other than arrive with a VERY full bladder. After the procedure I drove straight to my acupuncturist for a very relaxing acupuncture appointment. I then rested the next couple of days, with very minimal activity other than walks.

• February 16th – 23rd: WAIT. You just wait and hope that the embryo ‘took’ and that you are finally pregnant …. this was the most difficult part of the process for me. I was also taking Endometrin vaginal tablets 3x daily for progesterone production.
• February 24th: Blood pregnancy test in clinic – which for me, was POSITIVE! My HCG levels were good, and I was told to come back in a few days to measure them again. My progesterone levels were looking good so I decreased my Endometrin vaginal tablets to 2x daily AM and PM.
• March 1st: Blood HCG test – levels still really good! My progesterone levels were also still being measured, and I was able to decrease my Endometrin vaginal tablets to 1x in the PM!
• March 8th: Bloodwork still good – HCG levels increasing at a good rate, and my progesterone levels were totally normal so I was told to stop taking the Endometrin!
• March 15th: ULTRASOUND DAY! Everything looked good in the ultrasound and my bloodwork looked good as well. I was officially discharged from my fertility clinic on this day (or as they say ‘graduated’ from my clinic)! They also had done a full Thyroid panel again and my levels had normalized, so I actually went off my Levothyroxine — I am still having Thyroid monitored regularly throughout pregnancy due to a history of hypothyroidism.

Like I said – that breakdown above is a bit oversimplified, but I hope provided perspective on our timeline. To be honest, it all happened MUCH faster than I expected once we got the official OK to start in January, which is fantastic because every single day in between appointments is torture. Always waiting for information – ultrasound results, blood work results, updates on the egg retrieval, updates on the embryos, waiting to take a pregnancy test, etc.

Wrapping Up

It is possible this post prompted a lot of questions – feel free to ask away! Share either in the comments below, email me, or send me a message on Instagram.

I also understand this post may be triggering for some – as our IVF cycle was successful on our first fresh embryo transfer. I share our story with you to provide one small glimpse into the world of infertility, and in no way is our journey the same as anyone else’s.

My heart is with everyone who has had trouble conceiving, who has suffered a lost pregnancy, who is in the midst of this process right now, and who will be in the future. I am glad more women (and men) are talking about infertility, because it truly impacts so many of us.