TTC - Your First Child 6+ Months

I am in need of opinions.....

Here's my situation. I am using my last cycle under my HMO plan up in Nov. My fallback plan was that my husband would have further coverage under his new job. Just found out yesterday that he has none. So I am gonna go back to my old insurance which is a PPO and has maybe $3500 to $5000 in coverage.

My next cycle will be a donor cycle. I am thinking about using my sister as a donor but I can not put all my eggs in that basket. My sister is gonna be 39, she is a lot healthier then I am, and has 2 kids but still she is 39 and the cycle might not have the best outcome. So if I wanted to go with my sister, I want to have an option of doing 2 cycles, one with my sister and if that didn't work, one with and anonymous donor.

This is where it gets tricky. I have been to two clinics. I like my 2nd one the best. I left the first one because it was a baby clinic, never saw the DR, and thought I needed my individualized care. I think my old clinic is great, as long as you have a typical cycle, if you are a poor responder or have other issues, they are lost. My new clinic deals with a lot of poor responders, i always get to see my Dr. and they are a lot easier to communicate with. The thing is both of the clinics bill my insurance differently. When I had ER with my old clinic they billed my insurance in 2 separate bills. One for the Dr. and one for the hospital. My first cycle they only deducted the Dr stuff from my infertility coverage. So only $1250 was taken out of my $5000 lifetime benefit. My new RE does everything in his clinic so I believe everything is billed as one so I would think that my whole $5000 lifetime benefit will be used up in 1 cycle, plus out of pocket money. If I went back to my old RE, then I would have at least 2 cycles paid for.

In your opinion, would you switch back to the old RE to get more bang for your buck and just hope and pray that it will work? If I did this then I could use my sis and if that didn't work then use and anonymous donor. If I stayed with RE #2 then I would only have 1 cycle and I would use that solely for a anonymous proven donor.

I know I am so so lucky that I have insurance and I commend everyone that pays out of pocket. I would be no where without insurance. My DH is against paying a large sum of money for the gamble of IVF so once my insurance is done, I am done.

Thanks Everyone!!!

Chris

Hi Chris!  This is a tough one! 

Would you be able to do a "typical" DE cycle with your sister at your old RE's clinic? If yes and this is what they are good at, then I would say go for it and try it out there.  However, if your cycle will not be typical even with DE's due to other circumstances and you feel you will not get the attention or the knowledge that you should, I would not go back to your old RE.  I know that $ is definitely a consideration but I would also think about you will feel if you go back to the old RE and it does not work (does that make sense?!?).  

I am not sure if that helps.  I wish you the best with your decision making!!  I will think about this a little more and if anything else comes to mind, I will let you know!!   Thinking of you and hoping that your next cycle with your own eggies works so you do not have to worry about DE!!

(How did the aspiration go?)

 

*** PRAYING FOR A STICKY BFP ***

Me (37) and DH (37)

IVF #1: Feb/Mar 2009 BFN.

FET #1: May 2009 Chemical Pregnancy. 

IUI/Injectables #1: Jul/Aug 2009 Chemical Pregnancy.

IUI/Injectables #2: Oct 2009 Follistim, Ovidrel and Prometrium. 

Leslie,
how are you? When do you start drugs again? i am thinking that I will have to go back to the old RE. yes, I don't like them as much but I could get more then 1 cycle. I know my DH would rather have my sister as donor then an anonymous donor. I will just see what happens. I have to get through this next cycle first. Maybe I will get luck and it will actually work. :-) Oh on a side note, AF finally arrived. YEY!! Of course it was the day I went to do the aspiration and hydroscopy so the procedure was a little messy. I know TMI. Guess the RE is used stuff like that by now.

Hi Chris,

How are you today?  I am pretty good!  I am finally getting over feeling under the weather the past week so I am happy about that = )  I started the follistim on Tuesday night and go back on Saturday morning for my 1st follie check!  I pray that I have more than one in there this time!

I think that is a great plan to go back to your old RE so that you could have more than one try.  Although I hope/pray that this cycle does work with your own eggies so you do not have to worry.

I am so happy that AF finally showed (albeit not the greatest timing.. which I am sorry about.)  I am sure that our RE's have seen it all with what they look at / see all day.  Have you gotten the results back from your tests?  When do you get to start -- early November?  I will be cheering you!!!

Hope you are well!

 

*** PRAYING FOR A STICKY BFP ***

Me (37) and DH (37)

IVF #1: Feb/Mar 2009 BFN.

FET #1: May 2009 Chemical Pregnancy. 

IUI/Injectables #1: Jul/Aug 2009 Chemical Pregnancy.

IUI/Injectables #2: Oct 2009 Follistim, Ovidrel and Prometrium. 

Hope you get more then one follicle and this will be your lucky cycle. I know you don't want to go back to IVF. Who would? I just got my calender today and I start stim shots on Oct 26, I don't have my first u/s till Nov 2. If the cycle is like the last I will probably have Er around the 5th or 6th. I am kind of getting excited, sort of, still not getting my hopes up.

Keeping my Fx'd for BfP for you. You have been such great support for all the ladies on this board and the IVF board and defiantly deserve to have a sticky PG this time.

Good Luck!!!