Second Stim Monitoring Appt. Day 5.5

My appointment went well today! I have 8 follicles measuring over 10mm and my E2 (estrogen level) jumped from 108 to 300, a good sign. I still have several smaller follicles that are starting to "pop" as the nurse put it, that means they are growing now, all good things. Meds are to stay the same and I go back Wednesday for my next check. Me and the nurse have a "bet" going to see who is right, I say I will trigger Friday, she thinks Saturday. We shall see... The only bummer is the weather is about to take another DUMP on us! Storm forecasted for tonight into tomorrow and it's supposed to be a nasty one.. I hope they are wrong and it only brings rain, not the sleet and ice layer they are saying, the roads are already hectic! Luckily I am only 3.5 miles from the clinic so I can get there even if i have to walk!! I met up with some friends from elementary school and hung out today, even though we just hit a few grocery stores and had lunch it was a good day! Just to be able to relax and laugh my butt off, did me some good.. So a good day today. You never know what God has in store for you. Just a few days ago, I thought all was lost and was in a pit of despair. Now things have taken a definite turn for the better!YAY for old friends!! Stay tuned to the Stimulation Chronicles for more updates! =)

First Stim Monitoring Appt Day 3.5

Today as of my appointment was 3.5 days on stimulation meds. During my ultrasound the nurse said I have over 27 follicles!! Three of them are over 10mm, with the lead follicle already measuring 13mm, this means they MAY let that one grow so I lose it, in order to give the small ones time to catch up (a normal thing in IVF cycles) My E2 (estrogen level) is only 108 right now, RE says it's good because it went up, but she wants it up more for day 5.5 of meds so she doubled my evening dose of meds so now I am on 150IU of Menopur and 150IU of Gonal-F as well as the .05cc of Lupron to keep me suppressed. Lots of hormones coursing through my body right now, but it's moving along really nicely! This next appointment on Monday should tell them (and me) a lot more because the meds will be higher so they should see a nice jump in my levels and the number of follicles that are maturing.. So a pretty boring update today, sorry! :D More of the same for the next few days I'm afraid.. Stay tuned for Monday's episode of the Stimulation Chronicles!

I bet you didn't expect this when you woke up this morning

So much has happened today, I don't even know where to begin... Last night I was doing ok, albeit disappointed that things weren't on track. This morning things with my cycle got on track, but everything is was in chaos. I won't go into all of the details, but suffice it to say,I WAS a 25 minute drive from the clinic staying with friends and now I am over 80 miles ONE WAY from the clinic... When the arrangements were made well before my cycle I was assured it was ok and I was welcome anytime.. 3 days later apparently that is not the case. I am unbelievably disappointed and my faith took a beating today, but thanks to my wonderful sister, things are looking up. As of Monday, I will be 15 minutes from the clinic again.. I CANNOT thank my sister enough.. Our funds are just so depleted that even $300 for a hotel was just NOT doable.. Several "extra" expenses popped up for this cycle mainly extra monitoring that ate up our entire $2,000 cushion! That was just to get us to the point of starting bcp and finally lupron... The only bright spot today is I DID get to start stims today.. So we have officially started.. I hope these next days go by smoothly and drama free, I have had enough for AT LEAST 12 months!

Not what I expected

Made it to the clinic today and it is COLD here!! I'm talking stinging cold, freeze your tears cold! OK, anyway.... So went and had my bloodwork and ultrasound done and waited patiently for my callback to hear the glorious words, you can start your stims! NO.SUCH.LUCK. While my E2 (estrogen level) DID drop below 50 like they wanted it to, apparently Dr. Lady thinks it needs to drop down to 35 now!! DAMMIT!! So this is pushing things back by a day. Now that may not sound like much to you, but it is A HUGE DIFFERENCE!! Now IF I get to start on Wednesday, that means I will possibly go to retrieval Sunday now instead of Friday or Saturday like we planned. This is JACKING up my trip plans! Not cool..... Not cool at all.. I know they are trying to do what they feel is best for me and for the most successful cycle, but damn, does the a 9 point difference in E2 MAKE THAT MUCH DIFFERENCE!?!?! It damn well better... Sorry, but not a cheery blogger tonight.. Hopefully Wednesday yields better news.. That is all

The Cost of IVF

I have been keeping a running tally of how much this IVF is costing us and while I am sure it is cheaper than a lot of people pay, it is NOT cheap! So I wanted to do a breakdown of the costs we have paid to this point, mind you this is JUST for the IVF, the surrogacy is a whole separate expense.. Hold on to your hats:


Consult IVF Clinic #1: $250.00

2nd Consult IVF Clinic: $250.00

FIRED THIS CLINIC ----------------

Subtotal $500.00


Consult IVF Clinic #2: $300.00

IVF Cycle Costs $5000.00

Stimulation Drugs $2349.00

Anesthesia: $550.00 (you don't wanna feel the egg retrieval, trust me)

ICSI: $1150.00 (Dr. injects sperm directly into egg)

FDA Testing $760.00 (Special testing since we are using a surrogate)

BW & U/S Pkg $640.00 (covers 4 bloodwork & 4 ultrasounds at ivf clinic)

Cycle Monitoring $1235.00 (bloodwork & ultrasound to start meds 4 visits)

Travel: $670.00 (driving + 1 Rt plane ticket, staying w/friends)

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GRAND TOTAL $13154.00 IVF CYCLE ONLY!

(Keep in mind this also does NOT include all the pre-testing, just to get to the point of being able to do the IVF cycle. Thankfully our insurance covered it since we used a lab affiliated with dh's job, if you use their lab, no charge) BUT this is what the testing WOULD have cost us:

HIM- 542.60
ME- 883.45
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$1426.05 (I don't have the other EOB's in yet so this is PART 1!!)



Now the costs of the surrogacy portion (some of these are estimates)


Contracts: $2500.00

PBO $3500.00 ( Pre Birth Order, this puts our names on birth certificate)

Psych Eval $1200.00 ( To make sure we are all sane!)

J & E Test $1200.00 (Blood work for surro & her husband)

PG expense $4000.00 (est. expenses for pregnancy, co-pays, vitamins,etc.)

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$12400.00 (could be more could be less- we pray it's less!)


And that folks is the run down.. So we have paid the IVF portion, now we have to work on the surrogacy portion, thankfully between our tax refund and some other things we have in the works, we will only have to say about $3,500 - $4,000, which is doable, as long as things keep going according to plan!