So it’s official… well almost.

So yesterday I met with Kaiser IVF- Dr. Harris.

The building is new to me but the practice is the same one that helped me conceive the boys. It was nice that they had access to those records.

Dr. Harris- I really like him. He is very personable. It’s funny tho, he comes across like he is going to sell you something but yet is NO pressure. I think Rich said it best- he thinks about everything he says before he says it and he is an awesome communicator and speaker. I am not normally impressed by this as it comes across as fake, but he is still able to come across genuine. He also has a lot of confidence without being cocky. It made me feel reassured he knew what he was doing. I like the last IVF Dr we met too so I wondered if they had the same SART ratings and fees who would I pick? I’m not sure as I liked them both… But I think I would go with Kaiser because they worked for me in the past.

So I was raised you don’t talk money and I think many people feel the same. But so often I have wondered how much IVF fees cost others so I am going to be open here. If people take issue with that, they can simply not read ;)

So Fertility Physicians of Northern California is who I met first and they charged $10,500 without meds. Kaiser is $9,300. FPNC had packages through an outside company (http://www.arcfertility.com/) whereas Kaiser doesn’t offer financing or “packages”. I can’t remember what FET was or ICSI fee was but for Kaiser ICSI is $1800 and FET is $2500 (without meds). Both included freezing for 6 months but then Kaiser hooks you up with an outside company if you want long term storage for $400YR.

Basically Kaiser was slightly cheaper and the SART rates were better.  

https://www.sartcorsonline.com/rptCSR_PublicMultYear.aspx?ClinicPKID=2070

vs.

https://www.sartcorsonline.com/rptCSR_PublicMultYear.aspx?ClinicPKID=2178

The bay area rates suck in general but Kaiser appears to have the best and they are aware of this. They also are meeting me at the Santa Clara location for everything but the retrieval and IVF so that will save me time and money.

So dates… August is already booked so I had to go with September. I don’t think I would make the cutoffs for August anyway since they want you on BCP no later than 7-1 and AF is due 7-4.

When AF arrives I will start BCP. I will have the trial transfer in July and my IVF class is 8-21. Then Procedure Week would be Sept 8^th-14^th depending on how I respond.

I’m not sure about anything beyond that as I haven’t gotten the calendar but he showed me it and it’s pretty complete and easy to follow!

So now onto us and his thoughts- He said with our history and stats that he is very optimistic this will work and most likely on the first cycle. He said that he would not recommend assisted hatching for me and said that ICSI was up to us but he doesn’t see a need. He went on to say that 80% of people he does recommend ICSI but because we got pg recently, because I respond so well to meds and because of DH high count, he doesn’t think we will need it.

All of that was good to hear BUT I know enough to know that things don’t necessarily happen how they are supposed to. I was supposed to be PG by now according to the Drs. and REs I spoke with! And I have read enough online to know that IVFs fail- even ones that seem so perfect! So I am not counting my chickens before they hatch! I went in wanting ICSI and I still do. But I did learn that I can decide after the retrieval! He said if I have a large amount of eggs that I might not want to do that. He wants us to have frosties but not a ton so it’s something we should decide after we see how many eggs are taken. That makes sense to me. I also do not want leftovers if I can help it… As it is that is the part I am most torn about. What to do with ‘leftovers’ and it is the only thing that truly makes me hate this process.

I am trying to think if I missed anything…

I was concerned about OHSS but Dr. Harris was very reassuring and feels he can get it done without OHSS happening. He said he monitors very carefully and because of my high response to clomid he would keep an extra close eye on me. I felt so much better about that!

I am not looking forward to two months of BCPs and waiting. But I have no other choice and will have to make the best of it. I am still doing Weight Watchers and I am down 5 pounds. I want to lose 5-10 pounds more and figure I can use those 2 months to get in shape. Like training for a marathon ;) Well not really since that’s not good for your fertility ;)

I have some tests and paperwork to get in order for all this. I have my SIS on Thursday morning and funny enough they would have required me to do it within 3 months anyway so that worked out perfect! I am still waiting on my CD3 bloodwork and I would have had to redo those too, so I am already on the ball! ;)

So I feel good having a plan in place but I so hope this cycle works. I should have been able to do this with IUI but I am sure most people who do IVF think that too :/

I am hoping to get a peak at my follicles on Thursday and I hope we have 4! I am back on clomid so I hope my bpdy still responds well!! PLEASE LET THIS CYCLE DO IT!!!