Let me count the ways...

I found this information today and thought it was interesting. I’m not sure if it gives me hope (knowing there a million things that could go wrong, so maybe there really isn’t anything wrong with me,) or makes me feel worse that there are so MANY things that have to fall perfectly in place before a pregnancy can even happen!

There are probably hundreds of "causes" of infertility. What this means is that there are a lot of things that have to happen perfectly in order to conceive and have a baby.
As an overly simplified example of the science involved:


The hormones that stimulate egg development must be made in the brain and pituitary and be released properly
The egg must be of sufficient quality and be chromosomally normal
The egg must develop to maturity
The brain must release a sufficient surge of the LH hormone to stimulate final maturation of the egg
The follicle (eggs develop in structures called follicles in the ovaries) must rupture and release the follicular fluid and the egg
The tube must "pick up" the egg
The sperm must survive their brief visit in the vagina, enter the cervical mucous, swim to the fallopian tube and "find" the egg
The sperm must be able to get through the cumulus cells around the egg and bind the shell (zona pellucida) of the egg
The sperm must undergo a biochemical reaction and release their DNA package (23 chromosomes) into the egg
The fertilized egg must be able to divide
The early embryo must continue to divide and develop normally
After 3 days, the tube should have transported the embryo down into the uterus
The embryo must continue to develop and expand into a blastocyst
The blastocyst must hatch out of its shell
The endometrial lining of the uterus must be properly developed and receptive
The hatched blastocyst must attach to the endometrial lining and "implant"
Many more miracles in early embryonic and fetal development must then follow...


A weak link anywhere in this chain will cause failure to conceive

AND that doesn't even take into account the process of "doing it" on the right day, and making sure the sperm is in the fallopian tube during those 12 hours of the egg being released!!

"It takes longer"

"It costs more to have someone born than to have someone killed!" Tina Fey in Baby Mama

From what I have learned in talking with the infertility nurses and reading stories from different folks there are few people who have a copay or don't have to pay anything out of pocket for infertility treatments. The majority of couples have to pay 50% or 100% of the cost for their infertility treatments.

50% at Kaiser is as follows...

Preliminary lab tests $134.00

Initial visit w/ infertility doctor $140.50

Nurse visit w/sonogram (multiple times a month) $130.00

Follow up visit w/ IUI (once a month) $204.50

Follow up visit w/infertility doctor $95.50

Nurse visit $40.00

Hysterosalpingogram w/inj $351.50

hCG prescription (per month) $ 24.02

Clomid prescription (per month) $14.67

This takes you through first visits, 3 months of treatment on Clomid, and a look inside to make sure nothing is blocked. If one was to move on to the next step it would get insanely more expensive. The injectible drugs which would be used cost between $300-600 a month, and that is just one of the medications and assumes you can get by on the lowest dosage!

I am just sharing because it blows my mind how much those who cannot conceive and want to so badly pay for even a small chance at it.

2010 edit - I wish we could pay these prices now.... it is a marble in a bowl, now we need a whole bowl full of marbles.

Consultation

Today I met with the wonderful nurses I normally deal with, seeing the Doc is a rare occurrence.

We were to discuss what the next course of action will be, the cost, procedures, medications.

I am not looking forward to the procedures or medications. But I do not care about the pain I will endure, it will be worth it in the end. I have to go forward because even the chance of conceiving is worth it.

The cost is what gets us. It will be over 3x what we have had to pay per month so far.

We are weighing our options for dealing with the costs right now. That means that no treatments will happen this month. The earliest would be mid-November if we can get all the answers we need and everything in order. Otherwise we will have to wait till February.