Cycle 4 , CD 1

Guess it is a go again. Seems weird to be calling this cycle 4. Cycle 1 was way back in December which got me pregnant but resulted in a disaster. Cycle 2 all my follicles but one (or was it two?) were on my tubeless side so we converted that to a timed intercourse cycle which I knew wasn't going to work, and it didn't. What was supposed to be cycle 3 ended up being canceled since I had a bunch of cysts. Had to take some time off since I was out of town and at last we have made it to trying again. But of course not without insane amounts of stress.

I have meds leftover so I didn't have to purchase those. One good thing I got going for me. Then DH had to go off and get himself a new job. He starts a week from Monday, right in time for my IUI. All I can really do at this point is keep my fingers crossed that this won't be a conflict. The hours are supposed to be somewhat flexible and he should be able to start as late as 10 am. Not sure how flexible this job will be before he gets settled though.

His old job was located about 10 minutes from my RE. This was rather convenient so on those early mornings when I had to go in for a vaginal u/s and I couldn't really take the kids in the room with me, he was able to go with me and then I could just drop him off at work afterward. He new job is over an hour from my RE, without traffic. (RE is in the city about 35 miles north and his new job is about 30 miles south of our house.) I have no clue what we are going to do now. The logical thing would be to tell my mom what we are up to and I am sure she would be more than willing to watch her grandkids in the hope to get more grandkids. But if you knew my mom, telling her what we are up to really isn't all that logical at all.

Another hurdle, we have new insurance now. Old insurance covered meds somewhat. For three vials of Gonal-F (each lasts an entire cycle), the HCG trigger shot, and the progesterone suppositories, it costs a little over $100. I am not sure what the cost is without coverage but I am thinking it is closer to $700 for some reason. I went ahead and ordered more meds (to be delivered next week) on the old insurance just in case I might need them. I would rather be out the $100 than need the meds next cycle and be struggling to figure out how to pay for them. Our current insurance now covers some costs involved with infertility. New insurance doesn't. On the cycle that ended up being converted to timed intercourse, we ended up having to pay about $500 instead of about $3000. So, if my ovaries don't cooperate so we can't use our ARC package that is pre-paid, that will be a big chunk of money to come up with.

So, here it is back to CD1. I was initially excited this morning when I realized we could give this all another shot. As much as I want to be optimistic, I just am not. I keep thinking that surely something else will go wrong this time. Maybe another cycle with all my follicles on the wrong side. Maybe it will be something new like actually getting pregnant and then having a miscarriage. Or maybe we will do all the drugs and the IUI and not get pregnant at all. I haven't done the math, but next month might be out for trying if this month doesn't happen (out of town wedding and out of town for another week on vacation). I guess I should just attempt to take it all one day at a time. Easier said than done.

Cycle 2, CD 13

I got a call back from my RE's billing department yesterday. Finally, good news!! First of all, turns out I overpaid my account by almost $200 so we will be getting a refund. But more importantly, the lady in billing started looking into charging me for the bloodwork and u/s this cycle since we won't be using our ARC package. She double checked with my insurance just to make sure that it wasn't covered. My insurance never covered anything. Oddly, she got back some information that said it was covered. So, she called my insurance company and they told her that as of January 1st, I now have $10,000 in infertility coverage!! It is like free money!! The downside is that we already bought a package to cover three cycles of IUIs from ARC. I am almost certain that since we already used part of our package it will be non-refundable. With this new development, I feel a little less pressure about the financial situation dealing with infertility as well as less pressure in general. We still have this cycle, two more ARC cycles we paid for, and our insurance should cover 2-3 more IUI cycles if these ones don't work out. Plus, don't have to worry about shelling out the extra money for the "canceled" cycles like this one. Yay!

No sex for me last night. I didn't bring it up and DH didn't either.

I feel better this time around after the HCG trigger shot than I did last time. Last time I was just miserable and felt like I had the flu until I ovulated. Plus, the area around where I gave myself the injection was a huge red welt that burned so badly that I had to put ice on it. This time around I have a welt again that hurts a little, itches a little, but is tolerable. Felt pretty much normal all day until about 6:45. Then my left (useless) ovary started to feel like it was the size of a basketball. My right (good) ovary was definitely up to something too since I could feel it just a little bit. Go righty!!

Jumped in the sack with DH this evening. Was quite anxious myself because I didn't know how it would turn out. Five minutes later the deed was done. I propped a pillow under my hips for a little bit and hung out afterward just because you never know if that helps or not. Now I wait.

Financing Fertility

As if infertility isn't emotionally taxing, it is financially taxing as well. We have zero coverage for procedures involving fertility treatment. I about had a heart attack when I saw the cost estimate sheet. How much? For one cycle of monitoring and an IUI, $2845. And how much money do we have? None. Okay, maybe a couple jars of pennies hidden around the house. I think I mentioned before that I used to be all relaxed about this. If it worked out, great. If not, I can never look back at the "what if we only tried" and we could move on to adoption. Either way, we win. However, now I am feeling anxious, what with the financial investment and no guarantee of return.

On top of that, the $2845 doesn't even include all the medications required. At least we have something going for us. Our prescription coverage includes coverage on injectable medications for fertility. I called a couple months ago and was told this, but no one could tell me what that really means. Do I get $5 off the total price, or do I only have to pay $5 for each medication?

I talked with the financial office at my RE just to make sure that there really was no coverage on fertility monitoring and procedures. There's not. The lady referred me to a company called ARC. The company works with several Fertility Clinics and their prices are less than what we would pay to the RE ourselves. We pay ARC, and ARC pays my RE. We can choose a package of 1-3 cycles. If we get pregnant the first try, we lose the rest of the package. Their goal is a live birth, so if we miscarry and we still have cycles left in our package, we can use those. We ended up deciding to purchase 3 cycles, for $5118. Who knows how long that will last. If I ovulate from the wrong side, the cycle will be canceled and we will just pay out of pocket for that cycle instead of using our ARC package. Confusing? Probably. It only took me 3 phone calls and a ton of questions to ARC to get it all figured out, and I am not typing it all up here.

My medications are supposed to arrive tomorrow. I got the call this morning to find out at last how much it is going to cost for the meds. The total comes to $125 for my Gonal-F, HSG trigger shot, and progesterone. I was told that my prescription coverage is covering over $3000 of the medications. So glad we have something going to us!