February 2013-When our doctor came into his office to see us yesterday he
immediately led with the fact that he recommended we use the frozen embryo we
had in storage and wanted to know why we had decided not to use it. We let him
know that we have a maximum on our fertility benefit with our insurance (again,
we're so blessed to even have insurance covering this) and we were very
nervous about the low (30%) chance of successfully conceiving using a frozen
embryo versus the slightly higher (50%) chance of conceiving with a fresh
cycle. He explained to us that for couples who have no infertility issues and
who attempt to conceive at the exact right moment in a woman's cycle, the
natural chances, best case scenario, for conception are only 15%. Using the
frozen embryo provides a 30% chance of success, which is twice the rate that it
is in nature. Those are actually really good odds for someone in my case who is
young (25) and who has no fertility issues. While the fresh cycle does provide
a 50% chance of success, the cost is more than double what it is for a frozen
cycle. After considering all of this, Matt and I decided to proceed with the
frozen embryo transplant. By doing this, we will still have enough left on our
benefit for another attempt at a fresh cycle if this one doesn't take, and it's
likely that we will produce excess embryos during that fresh cycle and will be
able to attempt another frozen cycle if it comes down to it.
Our doctor did not explain why he had hesitated allowing us to
proceed, but I think that he wanted to talk with us about the potential of
using our frozen embryo. The frozen transfer is much less invasive, is much
easier on my body, requires fewer medications and is less expensive. The
drawback is that there is a lower chance of success with the cycle. Luckily, the
office had not done anything with our frozen embryo yet (we signed the release
papers a couple of weeks ago) since our doctor had asked them to hold off on
processing it until our consultation. They confirmed that our embryo is safe
and sound.
He did tell us that he has not spoken with all of his partners
in the practice yet but that he did speak to his most conservative partner who
told him that he has no reservations about allowing us to proceed with the
frozen (or fresh) cycle. He let us know that it is policy for patients
to undergo a psychiatric consult prior to starting a cycle using a third party
transfer (this is still weird to me, but whatever). His nurse (one that I had
previously worked with on my last cycle who is awesome! yay!) gave us the number
for the psychiatrist that their office refers to and we have an appointment
with her schedule for the end of March.
Essentially, we have begun our cycle! In about a week and a half
I will begin one medication for the cycle and we'll be off! We plan to do our
embryo transplant around May 15th! Our nurse said that as long as we are
cleared by the psychiatrist before they thaw our embryo we are good to proceed.
I have no doubt that we'll pass that with flying colors!
Little
Baby Sewell, we're ready for you!
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