I don't have much to say until the 20th when I have my first appointment with the reproductive endocrinologist (RE). It's a 2 hour appointment that includes a tour of the embryology lab and a meeting with the financial advisor. I originally thought that we wouldn't be able to start a cycle for another month, but I've been doing more reading and if they can test my day 3 hormone levels while also putting me on the birth control pill, it may be that we could start in February.
After the appointment on the 20th, I'll post a full description of what happened. Until then, I keep looking at websites about raising twins with a sense of impending doom. I have to keep reminding myself that there's a 60% chance that I'll get a singleton. I'm really worried about getting pregnant with twins. So, I also have to remind myself that if I actually do get pregnant with twins, I'll probably be excited.
7 comments:
Twins are not a foregone conclusion. They happen so much because RE's routinely transfer 2 high-quality embies and patients tend to assume that 2 is the right number. Single blast transfers are catching on, especially for younger and first-time IVF-ers, because it's safer. Just Google "single embryo transfer" for more info. I'm 39 and we're doing it.
I think currently it's more common for people who have insurance that covers IVF to try the single embryo transfer. For us, we get no coverage, so we feel like we have to cover our bases the first time around. If we had insurance to cover at least 1 cycle, I would do a single embryo transfer.
The RE we go to typically transfers 2.5 in my age group (36), so I assume that means that 1/2 the time he transfers two and the other 1/2 three. I think we should be good candidates for no more than 2.
Good point. However, the biggest ticket item is the retrieval itself. Do you know what would be the cost of embryo freezing and a potential future FET if you were to consider a single transfer and it failed? Also, even if you did a double transfer, you'd still probably freeze the extras (just in case) so that may be an assumed cost regardless. I have good coverage, so this obviously skews my outlook.. but the one-shot "all or nothing" mindset makes me nervous.
P.S. embryo quality is a key factor. We're doing our AA (5 day blasts) as singles, but previously we did an AB and BB as a pair. Your embryologists and RE should base recommendations on this grading, plus age and other factors, as you know.
Yes, I believe it would be $3500 more for each FET, plus the PGD (we're likely going to do genetic testing for at least the main 5-6 problem genes). I think the PGD alone costs an additional $5,000. So, we'd be looking at essentially the same cost as the original IVF cycle before PGD is tacked on. It seems like a huge gamble to us, you know?
I didn't know about the grading of the embryos - here's to hoping we get a bunch of AA's!! :)
Wait, I take that back - it's less than the original IVF cycle, because that's $18k, not $8k. But $8k is still a whole lot more money!
Would you need to pay for PGD again for a potential FET cycle? I thought this was a one-time cost, i.e. that you'd check all your embryos during the fresh IVF cycle to help decide which ones are transfered, frozen, or discarded. We never did PGD, so I dunno.
You know, I really don't know. I'll add that to my list of questions to ask!
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