The IVF Consult

It's probably a good idea to go into your fertility clinic before your insurance kicks in so you can come up with a plan.  Now, if you don't have other insurance, this may not be covered and you'll end up paying out of pocket.  Many fertility clinics are booked out at least a few weeks (if not a few months!) so call as soon as you know this is the road you want to take.  You don't want to wait for your benefits to kick in and then have to wait 2 months before even having a consult.

As I've mentioned, we had been heading down this road for a while.  At our last appointment with them they basically said to call back when we made a decision about which road we wanted to head down (IUI vs IVF) and were financially ready.  I got an appointment for the beginning of May, which is 1 month before the insurance became active.

At this appointment, the doctor went over, in detail, our timeline for IVF and what the whole process entails.  She told us what medicines I'd be taking and what each of these are for, went over approximately how many times I would need to come into the clinic for monitoring, and answered most all of our questions regarding the process.

We decided to do a FET (frozen embryo transfer) which means that after the egg retrieval they would freeze the embryos and we would wait a couple of months before implanting one.  It's also a possibility to implant an embryo a few days after the egg retrieval.  This is called a "fresh transfer."  Which one you do is something you should talk to your doctor about.

Because I have a slight case of PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), I was at a higher risk to develop OHSS (ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome).  The doctor recommended a FET to give my body time to get back to normal from all the hormones and meds I was injecting everyday.  Before coming to the appointment, I had been researching fresh v frozen and liked the sound of frozen better anyways, so that worked out great!

Everything you do relating to fertility procedures revolves around your ovulation cycle (duh) and how your body reacts to the medications.  So usually you can't come up with a timeline until your period starts.  We decided we would start everything with my June period...whenever that would be.  See, this is why it's good to consult early, so you can start everything as close to insurance kicking in as possible!

After our consult with the doctor, we met with a nurse who went over all the medications in more detail.  She gave us lots of handouts to help us remember!  They also gave me the prescriptions and told me they called them into a specialty pharmacy.

Lastly, we met with a financial counselor to go over the estimated finances.

I refused to do bloodwork at this visit because I wanted to wait for insurance so it would go towards that deductible etc.  This didn't put me back any time because I'd had bloodwork in the past.  Again, know you can tell your provider you want to wait for certain tests if you want the Starbucks insurance to cover it, but it's possible it could push back your timeline.  Discuss all of this with your clinic to find the best solution for you!