So Saturday the 3rd I got all of my meds in the mail... All $3K+ worth of them...normally one would shop around to try to get better prices from different pharmacies and you really do save ...and I know I could of gotten them cheaper...(note*: you don't want to go too cheap..cause the quality of the meds becomes questionable..and you don't want to wonder if the IVF procedure didn't work because of bad meds.. you have to think, of course for your safety first, then you are putting a lot of money towards this process..so you wanna go with reputable IVF clinics, pharmacies and have the best quality products so you don't have to wonder)...well in our case we were not able to buy the meds on our own (even though I shopped around they were still too high to pay for them ourselves) and had to add the cost of the meds to the financing.. so the finance ppl picked out the pharmacy... that brought the financed total to around $16K..for the IVF procedure and the meds.... wow IVF is expensive no doubt and that doesn't include all the preliminary testing that both my husband and I had to get...anyways that weekend I got the meds, we had my sister visiting and her delicious triplet boys...ahhh they are soo adorable words cannot describe! I am a proud Auntie :)...just had to add that in ;).., and I hadn't had the time to check out all the stuff... I opened the box immediately that day of course because I knew that some meds you have to refrigerate right away...I went back to the box several days later and was freaked out by all the meds & needles! ack! ..(For those of you who do not know me well I am notorious for freakin out a lot..lol ).....I thought how funny & ironic that I have always tried my best to avoid needles cause I am such a chicken when it comes to them and now I have an abundance of needles I will have to use and possibly have to give myself the injections....ahhhh crazy! Ok enough about the needles already!
Just for fun :) I listed my prescription below..and also listed what it will be used for and the cost of each..
>Leuprolide Acetate: (need one 2 week kit, its one vial and 14 syringes) cost: $129 ea
>Follistim AQ Cartridge: (need one 300IU) cost: $277.98ea (need two 900IU) cost: $834.97ea (this medicine comes with a fancy pen where you just dial your dose and give yourself the medicine..like an epi pen)
>Menopur: (need 10) cost: $72.98ea
>HCG: (need 1) cost: $79.98ea
>Progesterone: (need 2) cost: $39.87ea
<Syringes: (60 total) cost: $.29ea (yeah couldn't they have thrown these in for free?)
What they will be used for:
*BIRTH CONTROL PILL: of course we know what this one does ;)
*LEUPROLIDE ACETATE: Supression of the Petuitary to prevent ovulation
*FOLLISTIM AQ: Help ovaries to develop more mature eggs
*MENOPUR: Stimulates ovaries to grow mature follicles(eggs) (I believe this will be used in conjunction with the Follistim)
*HCG: This is called the "trigger", it helps complete the maturing of the eggs when its time to collect them in the egg retrieval.
*PROGESTERONE IN SESAME OIL: Supports implantation of the embryo, helps maintain a pregnancy.
Okay so I'm still waiting for my period..ugh! Funny for the past 7 years every month I found myself running to the bathroom hoping that my period wouldn't come ha ha and this month its the opposite..thanks Jonalyn for pointing that out...lol funny :)... My PMS symptoms are more intense than ever this month..maybe cause im getting old and my cycles are changing? .don't know why...maybe my anxiety is high cause I'm stressing over it not coming..I have been feeling discomfort in my abdomen that is familiar from when I had my first ectopic pregnancy.....not as intense as then ...but ugh oh God please not another ectopic pregnancy!..It also could just be my digestive system when its out of whack the symptoms are very similar to what It felt with the ruptured ectopic without the bleeding and intense abdominal pain...I'm freakin out a bit cause its still possible since I still have a long enough piece of my right tube left in there...I checked to see if I was pregnant.. I had one more pregnancy test left from the bulk purchase I made from a Canadian store online http://www.early-pregnancy-tests.com/ that my OBGYN recommended... they have good prices on TTC (trying to conceive) products...pregnancy tests that are like $.50cents each...its crazy how much one stinking pregnancy test costs at the stores here or an ovulation kit...I still used the pregnancy test anyway that I had left, which expired Jan 2011.....hmm can it still be good even though it expired 9 months ago? hmm maybe not maybe yes...but it was nicely sealed?....it showed I wasn't pregnant ..so I doubt im pregnant ..and in regards to it being an ectopic pregnancy I also doubt it cause I don't have the bleeding or intense abdominal pain..... but we still shall see ..its not over till my "normal" aunt flo comes to visit ;)
As we get closer to actually starting the process I am feeling increasingly scared and nervous...there are soo many things that we need to decide on and many scary possible risks that we were informed about and made aware of....one thing we are really struggling with is what to do with our left over embryos... Say we are successful the first time and we have a baby or two..I know that we will want to use two more to get pregnant again to complete our family...and if we are successful then again...whichever ones are left we have to decide to either destroy them, donate them to research or give them up for adoption... hmm hard decision..to destroy them hurts because its a potential baby that I am destroying and I will/had gone through soo much trying to create these precious potential beings I just don't know if I could do it...same feeling to donate to research..not sure about that either...and as for adopting them out I feel like I would always wonder and be tormented of the possibility of one of our children being out there not knowing how they are doing...hmm...my sister sent me a link to a couple's blog who they successfully gave birth to a baby boy with an adopted embryo I assume that since it was an open adoption the donors of the embryo(s) are able to keep in touch and know how the baby is doing/growing...I didn't know that an open adoption would be an option with embryo adoption...that is probably the only way I/we could possibly consider donating our embryo(s) for adoption...I think I personally would need to know whether any of the embryos became babies...and who had them and how they were growing/doing. I don't think I could just give them up and forget about them. Well enough rambling on for today :) lots to think about.. Till next time, Aracely
