.insurance for infertility petition.

hey y'all.

i don't know if any of you have seen this, but i put a button on my blog and emailed a bunch of people. it is a petition to get insurance companies to cover infertility. since money should NOT stand in the way of having a family.

it would be awesome to get tons of people to sign it. it may not help us, but hopefully it can help others in the future to not have to bear such a financial burden..as if the heart-wrenching pain of infertility is not enough. love you all.

here is the link.

www.petitiononline.com/FI200507/petition.html

Dr. Richards

Dr. Richards was Dr. Andrew's Endochronesiologist (i don't know how to spell it, but that means he is the man in the lab. VERY IMPORTANT POSITION. As they are really the ones who make embroys fertilize and mature appropriately.) before Dr. Andrews got in trouble. Now Dr. Richards has a new partner from LA who travels to Utah every other month to perform IVF procedures. Other than the retrieval and implantation, Dr. Richards does everything else.

Dr. Richards is in American Fork at Center for Advanced Reproductive Medicine Inc. 801-756-4313. His success rate with the last group was 8 out of 11 got pregnant and 2 of the 3 had frozen embryo they were going to try again with. My neighbor Dustin and Valerie Zwanitzer used him a couple years ago and really enjoyed their experience and it was successful.

His new partners is Dr. Richard Marrs. You can read about him online at ww.lainfertility.com - there is a ton of info on him and he quite a reputation. America's leading Reproductive Specialist. 1st IVF baby. Founded the National Reproductive Society.

If you are interested, call Dr. Richards first b/c Dr. Marrs offers clients Dr. Richards recommends special pricing. His Utah pricing of IVF is $7k and my friends say they spent less than $10k on the whole procedure including drugs - so I am assuming the drugs will add a couple thousand at the most. And some insurances are covering all medication cost. In fact, my friends insurance paid 30% of their entire IVF. Anyone needing ICSI would have to travel to LA, b/c Dr. Richards does not have the appropirate technology here in Utah. He quoted me $8800 for IVF in LA (not including cost of drugs, or ICSI, or travel - but keep in mind Dr. Heiner just quoted me $1300 for IVF, $1500 for ICSI, $1500 for retrieval of sperm - a special procedure we have to do to get my husbands's guys out, + cost of drugs).

Hope this helps. This is an option, I am and would definitely consider! Good luck to you all!!

Lots of love - addie

IVF and Adoptive Mom

Hi, my name is Michele and this is my first time posting here. I am a mom to 2 kids. My son was conceived through IVF and will be 2 in January. My daughter was adopted through Heart to Heart Adoptions and will turn 1 in February.

We did our IVF at the U of U with Dr. Mark Gibson. We were very lucky that we had a successful outcome, because when it came to transfer, we only had one embryo left, and that led to our sons pregnancy. The reason I am posting here is because we are considering doing IVF again in 2010 to try and achieve one more pregnancy. I always assumed we would just go back to the U, but after reading about some of your stories on this blog, I am wondering if we should be considering more options. I have heard a little about Dr. Richards, and know he has good success rates. We have female and male factor infertility though and ICSI will be necessary, so does that mean Dr. Richards is not an option for us? I read that he doesn't perform the ICSI procedure? What about mini IVF programs? Programs in Vegas and LA? I just wanted someone to give me a list of places to check out. I would GREATLY appreciate it. I had no idea that things could change so quickly, but it seems they have. We were told when we had to do IVF, that there are only 2 places in Utah to do it, U of U and St. Marks. Apparently that is not the case and I want a comprehensive list before I jump in, ya know? Any info would be nice! Thanks ladies. Best of luck to you all. Infertility is really, really hard, but the rewards in the end can be that much better because of our struggles.

our miracles.

www.johnandmichele.blogspot.com

.need help.

hey girls.

i know most of you don't really post much on this sight, but i'm hoping that you're still checking it a little. we just found out our 2nd attempt at ivf failed like the 1st one did. we are officially done with ivf for now and are moving to adoption. we would LOVE some tips, pointers, and advice as to where and how to begin the process. i think we're set on lds family services...but are open to stories about other agencies. thanks so much.

ash

Just a Head Up

I haven't shared a ton about my story because by the time this blog started I had two newborns and infertility was the last thing on my mind! I would like to let you guys know about my doctor.

I went to Dr. Larry Andrew in Springville, Utah. We had some friends that recommended him and we were moving to Payson so we thought we'd give him a try. We had previously tried for four years and had done 6 IUIs. From the minute we went into his office he diagnosed me and my husband more quickly and correctly than any other doctor. He was very organized, clear, and was straight about our options. He had a great course of action and explained things very clearly. He had everything he needed in his office to do IVF and ICSI. His embryologist was great. The only thing they didn't offer at the time was the ability to freeze and store eggs, but he had a colleague that would do that for you.

We decided to do IVF with him because of his knowledge and his price was so great. It was $10,000. Our first cycle went well and we got pregnant only to find it was ectopic. Sadly, we had to miscarry. We moved onto adoption because our first boy was adopted and it was cheaper. Because we had met our deductible that year we decided to do a laparoscopy to see how severe my endometriosis was. It was something I hadn't wanted to do in the past because I hated the thought of spending the money, going into surgery, and then them saying, "You are just fine!"

A month after my surgery we heard from a friend that Dr. Andrew was doing a cheaper procedure where instead of using all the injections, blood draws, and ultra sounds which make the IVF so expensive he was doing a clomid IVF. It was only $3000. We asked him if we were good candidates and he said yes. So you basically go on clomid like you would for an IUI. When it was time you get an ultra sound and if all looks good you do an egg retrieval, 3-5 days for the egg, then the transfer. If it doesn't look good you are only out the cost of the clomid. It worked for us and we now have our Brynn. We paid an extra for $500 for ICSI both times. Although I have several factors in my infertility our main thing was we need the joining of the egg and sperm. Doing this clomid IVF was just what we needed.

While going through this procedure we found out Dr. Andrew was going through some legal battles. He was charged with forcible sex abuse from 8 patients. We had a struggle trying to decide if we wanted to continue with him. After a lot of praying we just made sure someone was always in the room with me, as well as a nurse, and figured he would not do anything while going to trial soon. We also had a really hard time believing he would do anything like that. He ended up going to jail for a year and was released and was able to practice family medicine. We just found out starting December he will be able to practice infertility again.

His new prices are $4,500 for clomid IVF (I'm not sure what he calls it) and $6,500 for IVF. ICSI is still an additional $500. The reason I tell you guys all this is he may be right for you. I know it sounds crazy to go to someone after hearing all that but I just wanted you to know about this option. I truly think he has a gift for treating infertile patients. I also know the desperation that you feel when you want children so badly. I just know that he is competent and that if we want another child we will go to him. His office number is 801-794-3670. Feel free to ask me any questions or if you look him up on google you can read some articles on ksl about his trial. I get that this could sound crazy to you but I just wanted everyone to have another option available. Good luck!

.reproductive care center vs. SIRM.

hey ladies.

i need to know if any of you have done ivf cycles with dr. blaur or heiner at reproductive care center.? and what your experience was like.

and, has anyone looked into SIRM in Las Vegas.. i've heard such good things about them and they have money back guarantees with all ivf cycles (even if you're just doing one).



thanks

ash

.i guess i'm the only one here.

well, i guess i'll just keep getting up on this soap box... and everyone can listen.. today was, by far, the worst day of my life. (sort of an exaggeration) but my dr. just called and told me that ZERO of our eggs fertilized. they believe it is an enzyme/receptor problem in which we will need icsi for. if that even works at all. dr richards doesn't have icsi here because they like to keep the costs down and not purchase the big equiptment.

anyway, this $9500 is down the toilet, and if we want to try again we'll have to travel to LA to have icsi done.

i'm just sad.

well, not such fabulous news here. i had my scan last monday and they said i only had like 4 follicles that would be ready in time for ER. they upped my dose of meds and i had another scan today. only 5. for my age, they say that i may be someone that has diminished ovarian reserve.. not what i wanted to hear, but at LEAST that's some sort of diagnosis, and i'm not crazy for trying ivf. we are still on for monday ER, but we will not have NEARLY as many eggies as we had planned. i'd love for one or two to be great...but i'm cautiously hopeful. going to the temple to pray about it tomorrow, but just wanted to say thanks again.

anyone have problems with ovarian response or reserve??

.we're doin' it.

IVF that is.

my hubby and i have prayed and prayed about it, and we finally decided to do it. it's been a scary realization that this may not work even after the money is gone. but that's the least of my worries. i'm happy that we're almost to our retreival date. it's been a long haul with all sorts of emotions involved. i LOVE the drs we're seeing, they are one in a million...and brilliant.

anyway, just wanted to say thanks for all the support. our retrieval date is going to probably be next monday the 21st. but we'll see. i have been on bcps, lupron, bravelle, and menopur. i go in for a follicle scan and bw tomorrow. best of luck to everyone on thier journey. if this doesn't work, we're moving onto adoption. thanks again.

ash

The Story Of Lia....

So I am finally getting around to telling the story of Lia. As most of you know we have two boys that we have been blessed with through adoption. We put papers in for the first time after years of fertility and in Jan. of 2003 we received our first miracle (Cade) in August of 2003. We were so happy we didn’t have to wait forever like we thought we would. We decided to put our papers back in Dec. 2004 knowing that it could take a long time to get a second. We were chosen Nov. 2005 and received our second miracle (Jake) Feb. 2006. We felt so blessed to have two boys only 2 ½ years apart and knew it was truly a miracle to have our family. Jon and I always felt that we should adopt two and then maybe look into doing IVF. So that is what we did. In Dec. 2007 we made the huge decision to do IVF. It was NOT easy to open that door again but we met with our Dr. in Feb. 2008 and did our IVF April-June 2008. It was the hardest thing I have ever done and the result was heartbreaking for us and our families. It was not easy to open our hearts to fertility again and to fail once again was almost more than I could bare. I remember sitting on the couch the day we found out it didn’t work feeling sad and confused but at the same time an incredible amount of peace. I felt in my heart that the Lord had a reason for our IVF not working. Over the next year we tried to move on but a piece of me felt lost. No matter what I did I could not fill the void I felt in my life. I felt so alone and betrayed and wondered why I had to endure another heartbreaking experience with infertility. All I ever wanted was a family and it did not feel fare that I could not have what others seemed to have so easily. Although I was EXTREMELY grateful to have my boys my family felt incomplete. As hard as I tried to have faith and move forward my heart ached. It really took me a long time to pull myself together. I couldn't understand Heavenly Fathers plan and wondered why he had promised me another child if it wasn't really meant to be. I tried to tell myself "maybe in the next life"? But I wasn't asking about the next life I was asking about now!!! Finally after LOTS of soul searching, prayer, family support and faith in Heavenly Father I was able to be content with the void I felt. I came to accept Heavenly Fathers plan for me and believed in him again. I knew that somehow some way Heavenly Father would fulfill his promise of another child. I had put myself out there and had done all I could do the rest was up to him. We had put our papers in for adoption through LDS family services in Nov. 2008 but felt that it would take years if it ever happened at all. I really never thought in a million years we would be chosen again. We told everyone we knew we were hoping to adopt. We put together an adoption blog and had all our friends and family put the link on their blog hoping that somehow some way the right person would find us. We planned on waiting a long time and just felt blessed to have our boys. One afternoon I got a phone call from our case worker telling us there was a Birth Mother in the hospital with pre-term labor at 27 weeks. She asked if we were okay with them showing our file to her. Of course we said YES. I couldn’t get the situation off of my mind. They had told us it was a girl and that was really exciting to think we could have a little girl. I tried not to think about it too much realizing we were only one of the couples being shown to her. I was in Target and couldn’t help but take a look at all the cute girl stuff. Before I knew it my whole cart was full. I hurried and bought it all before I could talk myself out of it. When I got home I couldn’t believe what I had done and quickly put it away in the closet and told myself I would take it back. Well a week later we heard from our case worker again and this time she had GREAT news. She told us that the Birth Mother had looked through all the files and wanted to meet with only us. She felt a strong connection with us but wanted to meet with us in person before she announced she had chosen us. So we met with them that Sat. The meeting we had with her and Lia’s Birth Father was amazing!!!! From the second we walked into the room we felt the spirit so strong and knew without a doubt this was right. We knew her and the Birth Father felt it too. The next day was Mothers Day and when we got home from church we got an email from them asking us to call. So I called Amanda wondering and hoping for the best. She first told me Happy Mother’s Day and then went on to tell me that she had prayed about us again after our meeting and that her and Jason both knew without a doubt this baby was ours. She expressed how she had always known that the baby was meant for someone else but didn’t know how on earth she could place her. She said she knew the second she found us that this was Heavenly Fathers plan. All I could do was cry and give Jon thumbs up. We talked for just a minute and then hung up the phone. Jon and I just kind of sat there in disbelief knowing how wonderful this news was and what it meant for our little family. We quickly called our families and told them all the good news. Everyone was so excited for us and I couldn’t have received a more wonderful Mothers Day gift. So many of my Mothers Days in the past were filled with sorrow and to have such wonderful news on that day meant the world to me. Amanda was able to go home from the hospital on bead rest for the next several weeks. Over that time we developed and very sweet relationship. She has three children of her own so we had a different connection both being mothers. The weeks following were not easy and there were lots of ups and downs but Amanda was so strong through it all. How she did it being on bed rest with three children I will never know, but she did it. She was scheduled to have a C-section on the 10th of July. Her plan was to have us there for the birth and then spend four days in the hospital and take her home for two days making placement July 17th. So we were counting down the weeks and doing all we could do to support her. Wed. June 24th we got a phone call telling us that our little Lia was born. Amanda had gone in for a check up and was sent right to the hospital for an emergency C-section. So we were not able to be at the birth which was sad, but all that mattered is that Amanda and Lia were okay. That Sunday they were discharged and she called to tell us that because she was not able to spend time with her she was going to take her home for a week. We did the only thing we could do and told her that sounded great and that we supported her. We really did support her decision because we love her but it was NOT easy for us. Amanda was so sweet and called us several times to reassure us she was not going to change her mind. I don't know how she was able to give us so much love and support durring that week but she was so good to us. She is truley such an amazing, sweet, courageous person. We met that next Monday and she placed her sweet baby girl in our arms. It was the most amazing day of our lives knowing she was the missing peace and that now our family was complete!!! I know it was the hardest thing Amanda will ever do and through it all she had such a peace about her. She is truly the most courageous woman I have ever known. She knows what it means to be Mother and knew what she was giving up. It was an emotional day but a spiritual day. I can’t describe the peace we all felt knowing without a doubt this was the Lords plan all along. I realized why our IVF didn’t work and WHY we had to endure such heart break, it was to bring Lia into our family. It all made perfect sense!!!! Since that day I have not stopped smiling or thanking my Heavenly Father for this amazing miracle. Most of all I feel humbled and honored to be a part of such an amazing process. Never did we think it was possible to adopt three children all through LDS family services, but here we are. I know there are so many asking how in the world are they so lucky? I really don’t know the answere, but I can say Jon and I have done EVERYTHING in our power to have a family. It has not been easy and we have had to do things we didn’t want to do and have had to put ourselves out there in every possible way. It has been a hard long road but the blessings have been amazing. I wouldn’t trade what we have been through. It has not only brought us our family but it has taught us so much, made our faith grow and shaped us into the people we are today. My hope and prayer is that the same can happen for each of you. The peace and happiness I feel right now is indescribable. Our family is complete and my heart is full. I know you all can imagine how good that feels. I know that I have many more lessons to learn and that my trials are not over, but my sweet babies are here and right now that is all that matters. I hope more than anything that all of you realize and know that it can happen to you too and to never give up on that. Have faith and know your miracle will come. The Lord has a plan for each of us and all he asks of us is to do our part and trust in him!!!!

On another note I have been so busy with my sweet baby that I have totally neglected the SOS!!! I still want this to be a sounding board for all of those who need to be heard and Validated. I think we have all been busy with summer and other things but I hope we can pick back up and make this blog GREAT. So many need our love and support and I hope that they can find it here. I have chosen not to go private hoping to reach out to as many people as possible. I need your help, PLEASE help me keep this going. I would love an update on all of you and what you have been up to. Thanks for all the support you have given me durring a time I needed it most. LOVE YOU ALL!!!


Thanks for reading my story I hope it might help some of you and give you the hope and strength to move forward.
Lots of Love, Kim

first digital scrap!!!!

.ivf - sooner or later.

well ladies. how've ya been? well my hubby and i had talked about waiting til january to start ivf, but we have recently felt that maybe sooner is better than later. i believe that we will be starting our first ivf cycle in november with the American Fork MD. i wrote about him and his fab success rates a few months ago. well i just had my cousin finish her first cycle with him, and they found out tonight that she is pregnant, with very high hcg levels (maybe twins?)! their success rate this group is 14 of the 15 ladies got pregnant! it just makes waiting that much harder. i'm looking forward to doing it. it is, at least, our best chance of getting pregnant, so the hope is nice for a change. i have had nothing but good things to say about these drs and if anyone would like more info, let me know. plus, they keep the costs very reasonable compared to their competitors. thanks for listening.

GOING PRIVATE

Okay girls here is the deal,

We have had some crazy people looking at this blog and it is making me feel very uncomfortable. We all have very personal information on here and it make me nervous to think anyone could read it. So I have made it so only we as authors can view this blog. It makes me sad because I would love for more people to be able to view it. In today's world we can not be too trusting. Besides I want this to be a place that we can share our feelings with out having to defend our selves. Please keep spreading the word and if someone would like an invite have them contact me at kim.jon@hotmail.com.

On another note I wanted to let you all know that we have had the AMAZING opportunity of adopting a baby girl. For those of you who don't know we adopted our two boys, did IVF last June that did not work, put our papers in realizing it would take years and hear we are 6 months after approval with a sweet baby girl. When I have more time I will post the whole story. As of right now I am sleep deprived, busy with three kids, still adjusting and LOVING every minute of it. Love you all and hope you know you are all in my thoughts and prayers.

INTRODUCING OUR SWEET Lia Diane

Again thanks to all those who make this blog so wonderful. I started it but you keep it going and for that I am sooooo grateful. Let me know what you all think about going private. I really do think it will be better for us all!

Lots of Love, Kim

.joy.

hello ladies.
these past few months have been the months of confusion for my hubby and i. we have been dealing with the infamous decision of ivf vs. adoption vs. just waiting. needless to say, it has been torture. it's such a hard choice because it involves so much emotion and obviously money. we have had a hard time feeling like there is ONE right choice and we are lost as to what heavenly father wants us to do. as we fast and pray for answers, we are empowered by the fact that heavenly father doesn't want us to be sad. i had a eye-opening lesson in RS today, it was on joy. the lesson focused on having joy despite our trials and tribulations. as it seems SO hard to find joy in anything when you've been faced with the ugliness of infertility, i'm stregthened by the fact that i have so much to be thankful for, such as, my husband (he is my rock), the best family, great friends, and most importantly my heavenly father, who truly has a plan of happiness tailored just for me. i may find it hard to feel happy every day, but i know that i am so blessed to have what i do have. i know i will be a mother. i just don't know how or when. but i will. thanks so much for this awesome support group. love you. ashley owens

Progesterone

Hey I am starting progesterone this week -- I have heard from my doc and the home health pharmacist that they are horrible! Is this true? Any suggestions on how to make them less so?