We're Biting the Bullet - For Real This Time

A lot of my blog readers are fellow infertiles, so none of the cost associated with fertility treatments is news to them, but for everyone else who reads and wants to know, I am going to let you all know how much everything costs and how much of your life a cycle takes. All because I know people want to know but are afraid to ask, and I think people should be educated on what they don't completely understand.

I went and saw Dr H last Friday and we discussed in great length the potential cycle plans for this month. In the end, we decided to go the injectible route because it has no negative side-effects on the cycle and will give us multiple follicles. (One follicle = one egg = one chance at a baby)

Today I got a call from Dr H's office and either his benefits lady screwed us over in regard to our insurance covering any cost of any cycle (she told us last month the insurance would cover the cycle as long as it didn't end in artificial insemination, which was why we opted out of IUI last month), or she just doesn't want to call and verify benefits again. Long story short, she says our insurance will no longer cover the cost of ANYTHING we do with Dr H. I asked her how we got away with them covering everything for the last two years when we saw Dr Dumb, but not now. She said she didn't know, but I do. So far I haven't seen a denied claim from my insurance for last month's cycle. I think if they just submit the claims, the will get paid.

But I digress. So the lady calls today to tell me that this current cycle is going to cost us $1100 out of pocket, which based on the previous paragraph, I did not expect. I was sick and wanted to cry because I was having $840 worth of injecibles delivered to my house and my husband had said he wanted to hold off on the expensive cycles for now. This left me with the dilemma of do we cancel the cycle and hang onto the meds for a couple months; do we go ahead with the cycle; or do we go ahead with the cycle and throw in the IUI (artificial insemination) since we're already shelling out.

I thought about it long and hard all day, and in the end, I decided we're going to do an IUI. We've already paid for the meds, and if we're going to go ahead with the cycle, we might as well pay the extra $385 to do IUI to give us the best possible chance of getting pregnant and being done with all of this, especially considering how much we're going to have to spend anyway.

I told Hubs I know it wasn't happening the way he would like, and that I am throwing big numbers at him and forcing him to make a split-second decision, but I wanted to just go ahead with it and be done. Basically I told him if he let me go through with it now, I'd call it quits for the rest of this year. We have two vacations coming up, so I would rather pay for the cycle now and save up for our vacations rather than drag this out.

So if you're doing the math, so far we are spending:

• $840 for injectibles
• A minimum of $1100 for the cycle, which could cost more if we need additional dr appointments or sonos.
• $385 for the IUI
• $90 for progesterone after the IUI to help keep a pregnancy

That puts us just shy of $2500 for one cycle that may or may not result in a pregnancy.

As I said before, if you've been through treatments, this number isn't shocking. But to everyone else, it seems like a big price tag, and it is, unless you get a baby out of it, and then it is chump change. I'm hoping this money ends up being chump change for us.

So far we have spent more money and gone through more trying for #2 than we did for #1. More medicated cycles, way more surgeries, more shots, and more doctors. I am sure we have spent enough money over the past 6 years in trying to get pregnant that would could have probably bought a couple of really nice cars. But #1 was worth it, and I know that #2 will be as well.

So tomorrow is the beginning of this cycle. The beginning sono to make sure we are clear for takeoff, and then the 10-day regimen of shots begins. Its all in God's hands now.