Informal GKU IF Check-in *8/29*

[♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪]

Howdy. I've been MIA for the past couple weeks, so I will start 'er off this week!


This check-in is meant for anyone on GKU who has hit the 1 year mark of TTC (6 months if you’re over 35), has an infertility diagnosis, or is going through IF testing/treatment. It is meant to be a place for people to share and ask any questions who might not participate on 3T/IF and who would like the company of others going through the same experiences.

If you would like to participate, please send cateyes a PRIVATE MESSAGE or TAG her with your info and she will add you on. This will be posted every Monday. If you have any suggestions or would like something added, please feel free to post.

QOTW: Have any plans for Labor Day weekend?

[ironbaby]

Oh, HAI!

Just going completely stir-crazy in TWW of an IUI/Clomid cycle. 7DPO is the WORST.

QOTW: We are going to an apple festival, but no other set plans yet. I am excited, but mostly just ready for some sleep.

[♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪]

I've been in BC land for a while (since beginning of August). I had a procedure done yesterday - a hysteroscopy-guided cervical dilation. I guess the path to my lining bits was just too tight! I thought I would be a lot more sore than I am today. Luckily I am able to work with no restrictions. While he was up in my business, he removed a small polyp that was on the posterior side of my lining. Should hear results from pathology late next week.

I start meds to prep for ET in the next couple of weeks. ET scheduled for 10/7.

QOTW: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. And I am a-okay with that! Time to relax. We had tentative plans for some cousins to come visit, but that fell through.

[BurritosAtEveryMeal]

Hey ladies! I have an IUI scheduled tomorrow morning, so hoping it is productive

QOTW- we are headed to the beach for a few days then I have to start up at work on Tuesday (teaching). Can't believe it's September!

[BurritosAtEveryMeal]

Hang in there ironbaby! Waiting stinks. FX for you.

[daisy818]

ironbaby, waiting is the WORST. So much damn waiting.

♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪, glad you are not too sore!! Hope the procedure helps, and all my fingers crossed for your FET!!

I am just starting out my TWW on medicated (Femara) TI cycle #4. I O'ed earlier than expected, so I'm just glad we didn't completely miss our window. You'd think I would be more on top of a medicated cycle, but apparently I'm at a stage where zero fucks are given. I'm already starting to wonder what I should do next cycle - Femara? Clomid? Nothing but plain ol' secks?

QOTW: I gots nothing planned. Might just relax. Might clean our messy ass house.

[kawaiikitsune]

ironbaby Crossing all the things for you!
♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪ Thanks for starting. FX for a good pathology report!
BurritosAtEveryMeal GL tomorrow!!! Hope everything goes well!
daisy818 Glad to hear you didn't miss your window. FX this cycle!

AFM, today is CD11. Getting back into the routine of temping is proving harder than I had hoped. IDK, after 3 years of TTC, we are just winging it at this point so I'm not really stressing it. We might go back to the RE in a few months if we are unsuccessful, since my MS diagnosis brought a 6 month limit before I have to start meds. We are struggling to decide if we want to pursue fertility meds/TI/IUI/etc. or just be CFNBC. We bounce back and forth a lot.

QOTW - MH will be working so I'll just be hanging out at home, in the a/c because the heat is brutal.

[ironbaby]

kawaiikitsune, sending you lots of strength as you and your H negotiate those decisions.

BurritosAtEveryMeal, Best of luck with the IUI! Hope it is easy for you.

daisy818, will you keep doing TI or move on to IUI?

[easilyunamused]

Thanks for starting ♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪, I hope clearing all of that up helps with the next IVF cycle 

ironbaby, good luck this cycle!

BurritosAtEveryMeal, I hope all goes well with your IUI.

daisy818, I hope this is the cycle for you!

kawaiikitsune, I hate temping as well. I hope you can come to a decision on how you'd like to proceed. It's definitely not an easy one.

AFM, I've it the 2 year point this cycle, and I am trying to not think about it. I started birth control yesterday to prepare for my IVF cycle. I've been having some issues with my IVF coordinator. I write her very detail emails, and she writes back one thing, and doesn't follow through. I am currently waiting on her to send me my IVF calendar, and if she doesn't get it to me by the end of the week, I might ask if I can have someone else. This extra stress is not something I need to deal with.

We talked to my MIL about our struggles, she was great about it. It felt like a weight lifted off of our shoulders to finally have her know. I'm trying to remain positive about this IVF cycle. I think because I have been sick since I got back from vacation, it's put me in a weird headspace.

QOTW: I'm working.

[kayladawn91]

Hi. I had a SHG done today which was painful physically and emotionally. My OB pissed me off with some rude comments that I shared in the TTCAL thread, including "Okay all done, now just go and get pregnant!" 😑
She did say that everything looked good and apparently I have "beautiful ovaries" whatever the fuck that means. I left there so upset I could barely drive down the road.

Needless to say, I'm finished with her and her rude comments every time I go in. I was trying to save money with testing since she's coding things so insurance will cover costs but now I'm just ready to move onto an RE. I just don't really know where to start. I don't know who to go to and I don't know what to expect as far as OOP costs. I know insurance will cover absolutely nothing though. So that's a fantastic start.

Eta QOTW: Michigan football!!! H's family is having a cookout too. I might go, I might not. We'll see.

[Rama]

4DPO. Already ready to test, hahah.

daisy818 I think I started trying to figure out next cycle before we even started treatment on this one. I feel ya.

kawaiikitsune *hug* I love you, Foxy.

QOTW: MrRama wants to play his game all weekend before his other game comes out. We'll see how that goes.

[teachermomtobe]

ironbaby, I hope the rest of your TWW goes by quickly!
♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪, Glad you're feeling pretty good today. Your ET will be here before you know it!
BurritosAtEveryMeal, GL at your IUI. My students started today. Boo to summer ending! GL next week!
daisy818, Glad you didn't miss your FW
kawaiikitsune, Thinking of you and your H as you make some difficult decisions
easilyunamused, Ugh sorry your IVF coordinator is sucking. They should make this whole shitty process easier not harder. Also glad your MIL was supportive. I also felt a weight lifted when we started telling people about our IF.
kayladawn91, WTF to your doctor?! Ugh! So sorry she made you feel so shitty. *hugs*

AFM, I am pretty sure I O'd Sunday/Monday but my temps are slow to rise. It's also been cold in our room lately so who knows. Just waiting on CD1 so we can start FET prep.

[ironbaby]

kayladawn91 had asked some questions about finding REs and costs in the TTCAL thread, so I am continuing the conversation here in case it's helpful to others.

I found my RE pretty easily. There are only 2 offices in my area, and my insurance plan only covers one of them. My OBGYN had mentioned the name of one of the docs in that practice, so we picked her. Even though my insurance doesn't cover IF treatment, it does cover diagnostic testing, so it was important that we be in-network.

So, on to the OOP thing. I am *technically* OOP, but I called my insurance and found out they cover diagnostics. This was a HUGE help.

HSG - OOP cost was $2200. I paid $774 (contributing toward deductible).

SA - $190 all OOP.

My insurance also picks up parts of costs on all bloodwork.

And this is the estimated cost of IUI with my RE.


I pay $8.37 for Clomid. Check your insurance card and see if there is a website you can go to for prescriptions. You can put in the medicine, and it will tell you your insurance's preferred pharmacy, knocking some money off filling the script.

Ovidrel was available through my hospital pharmacy at a significantly reduced rate compared to a normal pharmacy. Call around.

I haven't been billed yet for the cost of the sperm wash, but my insurance is still picking up things like ultrasounds and knocking some costs off, even though they DO NOT cover IF. So, it may not be as damning as it seems.

[mustloveerica]

kayladawn91 if you have any questions about OOP costs in particular please give me a shout. We did pretty much everything and paid OOP for it all. I also became a pro and getting med discounts. Happy to help and give any advice!

[ironbaby]

Rama, the urge to test is STRONG.

I also realized I have almost 50 Wondfos. It is not helping my case.

8DPO is utterly useless.

[kayladawn91]

Thank you ironbaby! Super helpful to know some of those possibilities for saving money!
And thank you mustloveerica as well! I may take you up on that!

[wannabmama]

ironbaby the waiting is the hardest part, I agree 7dpo is about the worst!

♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪ glad that procedure is done and you aren't too sore. good luck getting ready for the ET!

BurritosAtEveryMeal FX for a great IUI (today right?)!

daisy818 It's hard to keep as focused as all the time goes by. I missed the date for my b/w before my last (supposed to be) IVF cycle, just totally missed the date. Getting to be too blase about everything, ha! Glad you got in your FW, though!

kawaiikitsune good luck with your decision, it's tough to know what to do.

easilyunamused definitely advocate for yourself if your coordinator is dropping the ball, you are right, the whole thing is stressful enough, you need to at least have confidence that you can reach out to someone and get an answer, especially if anything out of the ordinary happens mid cycle or something like that. good luck prepping!

@samrs22 all the blood work and such is stressful and you will get SO MUCH info (and if you look online you will get SO MUCH contradictory info), try not to let it stress you out if anything looks "off" or anything until you can talk to the RE and see what s/he thinks it really means! good luck!

kayladawn91 your OB is a jerkface, that is all.

Rama hang in there!

teachermomtobe hope the next couple weeks go by quickly for you!

AFM, back to waiting...evidently now for two more months...before doing IVF again (though I am going to try to push back on that when I call tomorrow to let them know MH did his repeat SA). I can't believe the last IVF was in March and it's taken us this long to get to #2...and it's still two months off. Sigh.

QOTW: going to SIL baby shower (why oh why is there a baby shower in the middle of labor day weekend??) and then to a big party my bff throws every year, she has a band and it's catered this year by friends of ours who have a mexican restaurant and I am making big batch margaritas, yippee! Hopefully it won't be crazy windy or rainy thanks to the tail end of the hurricane...

[daisy818]

Slowly catching back up:

BurritosAtEveryMeal - GL today!!! FX for good IUI results

kawaiikitsune - big hugs - you and YH are in my thoughts as you work through difficult decisions

easilyunamused, sorry about the crappy communication from the IVF coordinator - hope she steps it up and stops adding stress!

[daisy818]

Aug 31, 2016 15:15:42 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

 

daisy818 , will you keep doing TI or move on to IUI?

My RE said looking over our case he didn't think that IUI would really increase our chances enough over TI to justify the OOP cost, so he recommended sticking with TI for a little while longer (although if we wanted to try IUI he said he's more than happy to). Given how tight money is right now, I think we'll be sticking with TI for at least another 2 cycles.  When we hit the two year mark in December I think I'll either try a round of IUI or just look into ways to try to finance IVF. If DH can get approved for financial aid now that he's in school that will help a lot. 

[daisy818]

kayladawn91 - sorry your OB was such a twatwaffle

As far as cost-saving with an RE, my RE is actually part of an OB/GYN practice, so my appointments with him are billed like normal GYN appointments, which helps. My insurance does not cover any treatment for IF, but the RE codes all my testing under endometriosis, so thus far it's all been covered (except for the contrast for my HSG, which I had to pay about $800 for - that's one expensive liquid!) As for meds, I've found that Femara is covered by my insurance (since it has a non-IF use) and then the pharmacy I use has a discount program so I got the Clomid for $10 despite it not being covered by insurance. My RE is very conscious of costs, which has been nice.

Now, once I switch to IUI or IVF, I'll be 100% OOP, which I am dreading.

[daisy818]

wannabmama, I hope you're able to successfully push back with the RE - waiting two more months seems ridiculous. Sorry they are being so frustrating

[ohinvrtedworld]

ironbaby all my FX for you this cycle! I hope the craziness of this TWW pays off!
♪♫choppinbroccoli♫♪ yay for this show getting on the road and not being in too much pain after that procedure.
BurritosAtEveryMeal hope your IUI went well/will go well today!
daisy818 yay for not missing your FW! good luck! 
kawaiikitsune *hugs* those decisions are so hard.
easilyunamused so glad your MIL responded well, that does bring a lot of relief! I hope your coordinator either gets it together or you get another one!
@samrs22 it'd be great if you got a nice surprise and didn't have to go through that testing, but if you do, I hope it feels productive for you!
kayladawn91 awww friend, I'm sorry about that OB. Bye bitch. I also had some feels about hearing how great everything looking during my SHG even though that's technically good news. I'd recommend my RE but it'd be a HUGE drive for you. I am probably not the most helpful, but I'm sorta-kinda nearby if you need anything! Also, go Blue
Rama don't you dare be one of those 6 DPO pee-ers
teachermomtobe I hope the wait for your FET prep goes fast!
wannabmama UGH i want to nutpunch the universe for you for all the waiting. I'm sorry

AFM: natural cycles for a while, which is why I haven't been super active here. We've kind of decided to hold off on paying for even medicated cycles a while because we have an opportunity to travel next summer to Asia with our work. If I somehow magically got KU in the meantime, I'd be thankful for the miracle and gladly postpone that trip. But otherwise, it kind of gives us something to look forward to that is a little more likely to happen, at least in my debbie downer brain. So I may not update all that much here for a while but if you don't mind, I'll try to come lovetit and support all of you guys because you're the best.

QOTW: some of my in-laws are having a pool party, so probably that and some hard-earned relaxation!

[ironbaby]

ohinvrtedworld, that trip sounds amazing!

[Rama]

Sept 1, 2016 9:35:06 GMT -5 ohinvrtedworld said:

Rama don't you dare be one of those 6 DPO pee-ers ;)

I won't, I promise!




Now 10DPO...I make no promises.

[ceejay]

Hi friends. I'm 10 DPO in our third IUI cycle, and I've been cramping really badly since Tuesday... it's typical PMS cramping for me, so I'm pretty sure I'm out. Since H's sperm counts seem to be declining, he has a urologist appointment next week, and we aren't going to pursue any more IUIs. We are mostly decided to move on to IVF after this and have communicated that with the RE. Assuming we can get everything done this month, we should be able to cycle in October! H had a bit of sticker shock when I told him what IVF would cost us out of pocket. We have good insurance coverage, but still have to pay the coinsurance since we're not at our OOP max for the year. H's response was not encouraging and he almost changed his mind completely about doing IVF, but later said the cost would be worth it and we should go ahead...

I have somewhat mixed feelings about starting IVF since we STILL don't know for sure if our foster sons' bio mom is pregnant. We are pretty sure that she is and that she should be due any day now. We have now been told that the baby (assuming it exists) would definitely enter foster care right away, and we would be asked to take him/her. So depending on the circumstances surrounding that, we may delay IVF by a month or two or more. H and I are both feeling a lot of stress lately with all of the uncertainties of our current foster care situation, the possibility of getting a newborn within the next month, and making big decisions about IF treatments.


QOTW: I'm running a 5k on Sunday but other than that we don't have any plans! If the weather is nice, we will probably spend a lot of time outside and maybe go for a bike ride on Monday.

[ironbaby]

ceejay, what an insane situation. I am so glad you'd be able to move on to IVF quickly, but what a cluster of unknowns to deal with. Hopefully you will have a definitive answer before you have to make any final decisions.

[easilyunamused]

teachermomtobe, fx this FET is the one! I hope cd1 comes quickly.

ohinvrtedworld, the Asia trip sounds great and the perfect distraction.

kayladawn91, I know it seems pretty overwhelming to search for REs, but once you weed them out, it's not so bad. I use a website called vitals.com that you can put the dr name or practice and it'll bring up their reviews. Good luck! Oh, and try not to feel too bad about your OB, they are in the business of keeping you pregnant, not getting you pregnant.

ceejay, that's so incredibly stressful. Why is the bio mom hiding the pregnancy anyway? The sticker shock was real for both ke and MH for IVF as well. And we have limited coverage.

[easilyunamused]

wannabmama, first off, I'm sorry for your loss. What a mind fuck. I'm so incredibly annoyed for you. What's the point in waiting again, if your beta is at zero? I agree with other PPs, I'd push to start. Or could you start birth control pills so cd1 could be in a week or two?

[wannabmama]

Sept 1, 2016 10:26:31 GMT -5 easilyunamused said:

wannabmama , first off, I'm sorry for your loss. What a mind fuck. I'm so incredibly annoyed for you. What's the point in waiting again, if your beta is at zero? I agree with other PPs, I'd push to start. Or could you start birth control pills so cd1 could be in a week or two?

My doc doesn't do BCPs, unfortunately (I actually have a bad history with them, too, so am not eager to use them)...but I am gaining my strength to fight the good fight with the nurse tomorrow...they said it was because they couldn't know when CD1 was b/c of the CP but that really doesn't make any sense, either.

[kawaiikitsune]

easilyunamused Ugh, sorry your IVF coordinator has not been very helpful. Hopefully, you get your calendar when you're supposed to.
@samrs22 Waiting is the worst. FX the time passes quickly and you get good results from the tests.
kayladawn91 Wow, sorry your OB was being such a bitch. Hope you are able to find an RE quickly and as stress-free as possible.
Rama I love you too, Rama. And feel your pain at wanting to test uber early. You know better (we both do)!
teachermomtobe FX CD1 comes soon so you can get started with your prep for FET.
ironbaby Yikes, that is quite a bill. Glad that you were able to find your meds at a cheaper price though. FX some of the cost gets knocked off. Also, thanks for the tips on saving money. That is one of MH & I's main issues with continuing treatment.
wannabmama Huge hugs. Waiting sucks so much.
ohinvrtedworld *hugs* Crossing everything for you & YH.
ceejay Wow, so much uncertainty. Sending you so many T&P's and good vibes.

Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragement. You all mean so much to me and I honestly don't know how I would have made it this far into dealing with IF without ya'll.