r/IVF

https://rx.costco.com/fertility

Just want to share a tip for something I'm so glad we did. While I originally wanted my husband to freeze sperm just in case he got stage fright, I'm glad we have his healthy sperm now. Because he just came down with something (flu?) last night, the same day I started priming. It's a relief to know that even if he gets a fever, we have some good sperm in the bank!

After reading so many posts, and starting my first ever IVF cycle, I have come to the conclusion that the right clinic/team is everything.

I was told right off the bat that my insurance would not cover PGT testing the embryos. My doctor let me know that since I am only 34F, my partner is 31M, this would likely be fine since the chances of me putting out genetically compromised eggs are low. We had our first ever retrieval Sat and were told Sunday we had 26 eggs retrieved, 19 mature, and 18 fertilized. We were thrilled with the results. I am a pretty anxious person and it was knawing at me that we couldn't test the embryos so on Monday I decided to reach out to my insurance company(Wellpoint). Turns out my plan does cover testing!

I was livid to say the least. I immediately reached out to the financial coordinator who told me he could not confirm coverage/ costs without a new plan of action to submit for prior authorization. He instructed me to reach out to the nurses to see if this was even a possibility still. I did not get a response back until the next day and it was a nurse telling me it was too late to test now.. I am hormonal as you can imagine, and left messages for the nurses, my doctor, and her admin assistant. My doctor called me back right away, she apologized for the miscommunication and reassured me that she would do her best to figure out what happened and would call me back.

Turns out, when the initial plan of action was created and all docs were initially submitted for prior authorization, they were submitted through the wrong plan. I have 2 health insurance plans, and only 1 covers infertility services. This was caught when I was ordering the medications and all paperwork had to be re-submitted but that was after the conversation with my doctor.

My doctor immediately went to action contacting the lab and nursing team to work towards testing since it was already day 3 and we were on a deadline. In the end, we were not able to test since Wellpoint only covers testing if you fit very specific criteria--which I did not-- and the cost was more than we could afford right now.

I still count this as a positive experience. During a complicated situation, I felt like the whole team went to bat for me, and I felt very supported. Yeah, in the end I did not get what I wanted...and my FET is tomorrow so I have no control over whether or not it will take...but I saw the effort the clinic made to get it done for me and that alone made all the difference.

For anyone curious this is Dr.Thornton at Boston IVF in Waltham. Love her and her team so far!

Just wanted to make a little defense of CNY, at least CNY Buffalo. They have their problems, but I have read so many horror stories here about other clinics, and it’s made me appreciate CNY.

Cons:

- you’ll have to wait for an appointment. It fluctuates, but 2-6 months seems pretty common.

- they’re busy. I did two egg retrievals at a very expensive, up scale clinic in NYC, and of COURSE they were more available and held my hand through everything more than CNY (CNY hasn’t treated me badly, but I’ll put that in the pros)

- “factory” I’ve seen people say they feel like it’s an IVF factory, and while I have never felt that way, they are doing a huge number of appointments every day

- communication; getting someone on the phone is TOUGH. You are not getting an answer after hours. They answer the portal messages pretty fast

- one of the people who works in billing is rude. Not too much to say about it, but everyone else is pretty nice

- lots of different providers; you don’t know who you’ll be seeing for your appointment until they come in. All of the providers at the Buffalo office are women, except one male doctor who performs retrievals + transfers, and the nurse anesthesiologist is male.

- children are allowed in the waiting room. It’s rare, but certainly happens

- the room for partners to collect semen sample is, by all accounts, pretty bleak

Pros:

- cost, almost goes without saying, but they’re SO much cheaper than everywhere else. Cost considerations extends to being very helpful if you’re looking for cheaper options for meds, including working with compounding pharmacies. And there’s just a general attitude of trying to save you money, which can’t be said everywhere

- they don’t care if you’re a little late. I completely missed an appointment around the holidays, just truly thought it was on a different day. They called me and had me just come in later that day, no fee, no criticism, nothing.

- they give patients a huge amount of freedom. This is really big for me, I realize other people might prefer more guidance or stronger suggestions. But if you want additional testing, they’ll just do it. Want to add or subtract a med? Sure, they’ll advise but if it’s safe, they’ll let you. I’m shocked by how often I read about people having their provider flatly refuse what patients want, nothing like that has ever happened to me at CNY

- NO “batch” retrieval or transfer nonsense. No putting everyone on birth control so everyone starts meds at the same time. They just go with your body’s timing, unless you want to time it differently

- I have never had a difficult time getting an appointment at the right time. I have had 6 or 7 baseline appointments with them, every single one was within 2-3 days of my period starting

- for communication, you can schedule a phone consult or longer appointment to discuss things in more detail. They don’t rush you too too bad at regular monitoring, but I’ve done this twice when I wanted to discuss results/questions in detail.

- for transfers, they do a “halfway” appointment where they do a blood test and check levels. Mine caught a problem, that they addressed. A lot of clinics make you just wait until the beta.

- they take anyone. BMI too high? They work with you. Too old? Let’s see what happens. Too poor? Payment plan.

- they will freeze/transfer any embryo you want to keep. I am VERY disturbed by clinics that refuse to freeze or transfer mosaic embryos and low graded embryos, or refuse to freeze or transfer day 3s. This goes back to letting you make your own decisions - you want to transfer an aneuploid embryo? That’s YOUR CHOICE. I’m not saying they won’t give you guidance or encourage you to make choices to minimize risk of miscarriage, but you are allowed to choose to accept the higher risk.

- small, and tough to replicate every time, but I feel like they have followed my emotional lead. I’m not big on being overly positive, and even if they default to “well sometimes it works out!” I felt like they’ve generally mirrored my tone in a way I appreciate. I think I would struggle at a clinic that forced an excessively positive attitude

For moms who fought really hard through IVF and now have children—at any stage—do you ever have moments of regret? And what are some of the unexpected changes motherhood brought into your life, both positive and challenging?

Please please don’t judge — IVF + gender disappointment 🙏🧿

Hi everyone. I’m honestly a little nervous to post this because I know how sensitive this space is, and I want to start by saying I come from a place of deep gratitude. I know how hard this journey is, and I don’t take for granted what we’ve been fortunate to have so far.

My husband and I have been trying for about 2.5 years. After going back and forth between doing IVF in India vs. the US, we chose the US since my insurance covers about 75%, and we felt more comfortable with the clinics here.

We just completed our first egg retrieval and ended up with 2 PGT-A tested euploid embryos 🧿🧿 (both male). I truly am grateful we got two healthy embryos. I know that’s not something everyone gets. At the same time, I’ve been feeling a lot of unexpected sadness because I had really hoped that at least one would be a girl.

I also want to acknowledge that we don’t even know if these embryos will result in a successful pregnancy yet so I realize I may be getting ahead of myself. But these feelings have still been heavy, and I’m trying to process them honestly.

We’ve always thought we wanted two kids, but we’ve also talked about possibly being one-and-done depending on how things go. Financially and emotionally, we sometimes wonder if giving one child the best of everything might be the better choice for us vs. stretching ourselves thinner with two.

Here’s where I’m really struggling:

Our doctor suggested doing another retrieval now (I’m 34) to bank embryos rather than waiting until 36. But insurance denied a second cycle, so it would be about $20k out of pocket.

While we are fortunate to be in a stable financial position, $20k is still a meaningful expense for us and not a decision we would take lightly.

Part of me knows this is a practical decision about fertility preservation. But if I’m being completely honest, a big part of my motivation is the hope of having a girl. And that’s what’s making me feel conflicted and even a bit guilty.

- What if we spend the money and still only get male embryos?

- What if we decide later we only want one child — then was it worth it?

- What if we don’t do it now, and I regret not giving myself the chance?

- Will I come to terms with this, or will this always feel like something I missed?

I also feel conflicted because one of the reasons we chose IVF in the US was the option of gender selection — and now that I’m here, I feel bad that I’m not feeling equally excited about my male embryos.

I want to be clear that I don’t see boys as “less than” in any way — I think this is more about an emotional picture I had in my head that I’m struggling to let go of.

I guess I’m just looking for perspective from people who may have been in a similar place:

- Did you go ahead with another retrieval for “what if” reasons?

- Did you regret waiting or not doing it sooner?

- And for those who experienced gender disappointment — did those feelings ease over time?

I’d especially appreciate perspectives from those who had to make a similar decision where finances weren’t the only limiting factor.

Please be kind. I truly respect how hard this journey is for everyone here, and I don’t mean to come across as ungrateful. I’m just trying to sort through a lot of complicated emotions and make the best decision for my future family.

Thank you for reading 🤍

First ever FET bright & early tmr morning. Praying for twins🤞🏼🤞🏼 Send me all your prayers and good juju!

How soon did you guys test positive? Any twin stories to share? I am 34 so they are only implanting 1

I am seeing mixed information about which one is better. We have a 5AA and a few 4AAs, which I am grateful for those grades, but wondering which one has better odds? And if one is better than the other, by how much? These are both day 6 embryos. We also have a day 5 embryo that is 3AA. I've also seen day 5 is better than day 6, so which of these gives us maximum odds at success during transfer?

I did PGT testing, and these are all euploid. My doctor is on vacation so I am still waiting to discuss the strategy with her before finalizing our transfer plan, but want to come prepared with knowledge/questions.

My first ER resulted in two blasts, one euploid and another that would need to be retested. Neither of them had good grading (4cc and 5cc) but we were advised that euploid is more important than grading. We have decided to go through with transferring our one euploid around the end of the month.

Emotionally, I've been between tentative optimism due to my age, euploid statistics, and great saline sonogram, and complete despair. I was already planning to go fully underground and offline during Mother's day, but the added stress of the outcome of my ET has cast another shadow on the day. After this transfer, our benefits for IVF completely run out until next year when I can switch to my health insurance from my husbands.

Sometimes it feels hopeless. How does anyone survive this stress?

5 x unopened boxes of Ganirelix 0.25mg/0.5ml, exp 12/27

1 x unopened box of norethisterone 5mg (30 tabs), exp 04/30 + one open strip of 9 tabs, same exp

6 unopened boxes of syringes (came with meriofert multi dose kits - used the meds but not the needles)

Unused sharps bin

Having a clear out now I'm done with retrievals. If no one wants them I'll return to my clinic but I'd rather they were used if they can help someone. Willing to post / cover cost of postage anywhere inside mainland UK. Free to a good home.

The doctor told me I could continue exercising and just listen to my body during IVF. I’ve read that it’s not good to do any vigorous exercises like running. Running is my therapy. I felt I’ve lost so much of myself going through the first round not exercising and only walking. Was wondering what kind of workouts are safe during IVF (besides walking and yoga) and what you have been doing to help with the stress.

My husband and I will be starting our IVF journey in May and feel like we are going in educated but also blind.

What was your reasoning behind PGT-A testing or not? Any side effects you didn't expect or prepare for?

Recent ER update:

40 DOR.

5 days clomid + 10 days of 300 gonalF and 150 menupor, 10 days of provera. And dual trigger. Last monitoring appointment before trigger saw 12 follicles.

Retrieved 13, 9 mature, 6 fertilized , 3 blast.

Waiting for genetic testing results 🙏🏻

Last two ERs had much higher dose and yielded 6->4->2–>1->1.

Waiting games ….

Depending on how many euploids , would you transfer.

Is there anything to keep myself awake at work besides coffee? I don’t know how I can do this for the next week, or repeatedly if my transfer doesn’t work. I’m sitting here alternating between crying and panic attacks and I’m probably not allowed to take my anxiety medicine and if I even ask, my clinic will just cancel me again. How do I get through this? Maybe I should give up.

Hi all, I just wanted to get some Infos.

This cycle (currently on CD22), I started to test for LH from CD11 onwards, however didn't detect any surge at all.

Could it be that it's just again super delayed? Did anybody else had cycles without ovulation (or very delayed ovulation) after ER? How long did it take for everybody in general to get back to normal cycles?

This was my third ER and it was never that bad.

We had our ER at the end of January (no fresh transfer). I got my first period 3 days after the ER. The next cycle was 42 days (usually my cycle is 31 days).

For the ER, we triggered with Decapeptyl double trigger due to super high estrogen after stimulation with Meriofert.

I’ve been with my current clinic since early 2023 still no live birth. I understand everyone is different and it takes time. My problem is i have PCOS, and discovered i have had thyroid antibodies. My thyroid labs are usually considered normal range.

I’ve had 4 FET. 2 ER. Those resulted in 2 early miscarriages one at 5weeks and 5 days and one at 6 weeks (heart beat detected in the morning miscarried by night). & 2 Implantation failure. I recently received my meds for my 3rd ER but i’ve been feeling like i don’t want to move forward with my current doctor anymore.

The doctor recommended this time for my 3rd ER that i stim long enough to get a lot of eggs and create embryos with ICSI and send them off to get pgta testing. I would have to cover both pgt and icsi out of pocket.. i was quoted 7K! (New England) I mentioned COQ10 to my doctor and he said it’s just a vitamin and doesn’t think it’ll be beneficial. After doing so much research i feel like it might benefit me as someone who has pcos. i don’t want to be rushed into another ER and waste 7k just to end up with no viable embryos. My insurance only covers 5 rounds of ivf. I feel like im wasting all my rounds with someone who won’t change my protocol or consider coQ10. My question is..since i received my ER meds already for my 3rd ER… is it too risky to switch clinics? Is it possible? Also my insurance already approved the 3rd ER and i have the meds here. I’m torn. I don’t want to waste money or covered rounds of ivf when i feel like PCOS has me producing crappy eggs!

Am i wrong?

Hello, I am in this difficult situation where my ovarian reserve has been declining very fast. I am 40, stage IV endo. In May '25 my AFC was 11, in Dec '25 my AFC was 5. I was supposed to start IVF cycle in January (missed the December one due to Christmas), but the cycle was with long priming so actual stims started in Feb, and then the cycle failed. Then the clinic asked me to wait until my next cycle (March 20) to re-start treatment, but when I called on CD1 they dropped me out (they told me they are booked until September and I won't be able to re-start treatment with them)–so a 3rd month in the trash.

I rushed to find a new clinic but obviously nobody can take me the same day, my CD1. I found a clinic that can take me for my next cycle (this Friday).

Now, my HMO plan has no in-network IVF providers. So they send you to an out-of-network clinic via referral, and the plan must authorize OON treatment due to deficiency in their own network. All referrals though need to be authorized by the plan.

My doctor placed a referral last week as STAT, but the insurance medical group has been having it on "pending review". I called several times and they keep telling me that they are "still negotiating" with the OON clinic. They are unable to answer to my question: "what if you don't finalize your negotiations by Friday when my treatment is supposed to start?". They say: "ask your doctor", which makes no sense.

I am in California. I had the impression that STAT orders are supposed to be processed in 72hrs but we are way past that.

I cannot miss another cycle. I talked to the OON clinic that I am going to pay out of pocket if I have to, if the insurance is slowing the ball, because I am so desperate. But this is so unfair because this was supposed to be covered by the insurance.

I am going to be doing a transfer soon, but am worried abou the PIO. I had to take progesterone before each stim cycle for priming and it negatively impacts my mood causing severe depression. Since PIO is also progesterone, I'm worried I'll feel awful on it. For anyone who has mood changes with oral progesterone, how did PIO effect you? Did you do better since its a different form or was it the same?

When I had my first transfer failure, I had mistakenly hoped that I would “get used to it” and future failures (if they came) would be less painful because I would know what to expect.

Well, it turns out i was disastrously wrong. Every setback has slammed into me harder and harder. I can’t acclimate to this cycle of putting myself through the challenges and discomforts of every step to be hit with disappointment. My heart hopes without my permission, it refuses to be guarded no matter what I do. I am desperate to be freed from hope, to have the desire for a child taken from me. I don’t want to want this.

Is it getting easier for anyone? I have 2 more transfers left until we give up. Im just scared because if I get more bad news I don’t know how I’m going to get up off the floor. God forbid another miscarriage.

Hi everyone, this is a lengthy post, but I wanted to share my experience for anyone feeling discouraged by low follicle counts or a slow response—especially those with PCOS. I’m 32 (turning 33), and after a long road of five failed Letrozole attempts and a "Secondary Unexplained Infertility" diagnosis, we decided to start IVF at the beginning of this year. My AMH in early 2025 was 8.65, but it shifted to 2.45 by the start of this year. I’ve been taking Metformin to help with egg quality, insulin resistance, and weight loss, and since my husband’s results were normal, we skipped IUI and jumped straight into an IVF protocol.

Because of my age and PCOS, my doctor was very concerned about OHSS and put me on a conservative protocol including birth control priming, 150 IU Menopur, oral Medroxyprogesterone, and a dual Lupron/Pregnyl trigger. Midway through, my estradiol levels shot up, so he decreased my Menopur to 112.5 IU to stay safe. Unfortunately, my levels then plateaued. My left ovary never "woke up," and two days before the retrieval, ultrasound showed only a few follicles growing on the right side. My doctor admitted we may have been too conservative with the dose, but the priority was avoiding OHSS at all costs.

On retrieval day, they only got 3 mature eggs. I was devastated. We’re often told that PCOS means high egg counts, and I was certain we wouldn’t have a single embryo make it to the blast stage. However, I am so happy to say that all 3 eggs fertilized and all 3 made it to blasts (graded 5AA, 5AB, and 6BC). We also did PGT-A testing, and all 3 are euploid.

We really thought we would be lucky to get even 1 euploid from such a small starting number. We aren’t "out of the woods" yet, and we’re meeting with our doctor in a few days to discuss transfer steps, but we are cautiously happy. I'm aware higher grade embryos don't necessarily mean a pregnancy will be successful, but at least there's a little more hope. I wanted to share this because my experience felt so different from the typical PCOS story. If you are facing a low retrieval count, please don’t lose hope. Sometimes, quality truly does win over quantity.