Ever wonder what it is like working at an (international) IVF clinic? No? Neither did I. Until we started battling infertility that is! If you’re a frequent reader of the blog, you know that we traveled all the way from the US to Europe (Prague in the Czech Republic) for our IVF treatment back in December of 2017. We spent less than $4,000, including medication, so around 20% to 25% of what we would have paid if we went to a local clinic in the States. IVF “tourism” isn’t for…
Plot Twists and Change of Plans Part II: Pregnancy, Beta hCG’s and Keeping it Together
Here we go again! Another “change of plans” post, hopefully with a better outcome. We had it all figured out. I was supposed to start birth control pills last week so that we could time our trip to Prague for the frozen embryo transfer just right. We looked at flight availability with our miles, hotels etc., all was set up just right. That all changed when, at 10 days past ovulation (DPO), I got a faint line on a pregnancy test. We were shocked and excited, but mostly scared. I…
IVF Superstitions: Eating (McDonald’s) French Fries After Transfer?
If you’re anything like me, you’ve looked up ways to improve the chance of IVF success. You take to the internet and start Googling away. It won’t take long before you come across seemingly millions of people all offering their words of wisdom. Some suggest you wear your lucky socks during embryo transfer, while others point out that they’d better be green socks otherwise it won’t help! These things may sound pretty crazy to some, but remember, IVF is scary. Not being in control is scary! No matter how prepared you are,…
In The News: 2,000 frozen eggs and embryos potentially “compromised”
Cleveland’s University Hospitals just notified more than 700 patients that their frozen eggs and/or embryos might be damaged. Apparently, the temperature of their cryo tank rose to unacceptable high levels overnight last weekend. There was nobody present at the time to stop it, or fix it, or do something, anything. It wasn’t until the next morning someone came into the office and heard the alarm go off. What a massive screw up… They don’t know if it was a mechanical failure of the cryo tank or if it was due to a human…
The Tale of the Red Progesterone Pill
lThere’s a pill that does a lot of good, only the color is not as it should. A capsule that goes right inside your lady parts, leaves many screaming for their sweethearts. Why oh why must this be, a pill that leaves no one carefree. For when the capsule gets absorbed, it’s destined to strike a chord, with all those who hate to see, the color red, in their undie. Mimicking blood just for fun, is sure to please no one. I have wondered, I must admit, who came up…
IVF Success Rates: Is IVF Treatment Getting Better?
The very first IVF baby was born in 1978 in England. Not that long ago, if you think about it. The use of assisted reproductive technology has blown up ever since, and thousands of IVF babies are born each year. ha Medical technology has improved tremendously throughout the past few decades. In 1990, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) was introduced, which helped parents screen for sex-linked diseases. And ICSI didn’t even exist before 1991! And way back in 1980, one of the first scientific studies reported a whopping 6% success rate per…
How You Can Save Big on IVF Medication
Anyone who has shopped for drugs and had to pay for them out of pocket knows that in the US, medication can get very expensive, very quickly. Same goes for IVF meds. They are very expensive. The sad truth for most of us when it comes to IVF medication is that no insurance company will pick up the tab. That is… unless you’re one of the lucky few with amazing insurance coverage. Are you? Drug prices can be exorbitantly expensive. For some reason, we seem to think it’s a good idea that pharmaceutical companies…
Are Lab Tests Ordered Online Cheaper?
Did you know you could order most blood lab tests online? Until recently, neither did I. But you can, and you don’t even need a prescription from your physician. You know how when you get that bill from that recent visit to the doctor and there are all these different amounts on there? The “billed” amount and the “negotiated” amount? That’s basically your health insurance company doing some work to lower the bill. You see, for some reason, medical bills in this country start off grossly inflated. First, the healthcare provider…
Review: One More Shot
Lately, we’ve been trying to find documentaries on IVF but there’s not a whole lot of media out there on infertility. What? Doesn’t Hollywood think infertility is sexy? A few weeks ago I heard about a new documentary called One More Shot. There’s not even an IMDb page, but the trailer looked great. We have a ton of Google Play credit saved up from the Google Opinion Rewards app, but it wasn’t available there. You can find it on both iTunes and Amazon, just not on Google Play. Well, after a really…
The 2017 Annual Spending Report
Phewww, I just managed to get our 2017 annual spending report out on the last day of January. A bit overdue, but at least I can say I posted this just after New Years! Financially, the year 2017 was good to us. We spent little but lived well. We took two vacations overseas (well.. one vacation and one IVF trip), DIY’ed some things in and around the house that I’m sure we’ll share in upcoming posts, ate plenty of good food, and went on fun outdoor adventures. We even managed to…