[Bella]

Name:Bella
Age: 40
How long TTC: 1 year, 3 months
Diagnosis or any known issues: Low sperm count (less than 500,000), low sperm motility, poor sperm morphology, mild PCOS, obesity.
Treatments you tried before IVF: 0
How many IVF did you do before success: None
Are you using donor eggs or sperm: NO
Protocol (meds taken): Lupron daily, Follistim daily, HCG 48 hours before retrieval, HCG day after retrieval, IVF with ICSI.
How many follicles at ER: 17
How many eggs retrieved: 11
How many eggs fertilized: 5
How many days between ER and ET: 2
How many and quality/rating of embryos/blasts transferred: 3 perfect four-cell embryos
Symptoms or issues during 2WW: Exhaustion, Bloated, no spotting.
What day you got your BFP: 3/1/07
HPT before blood test: Yes. I could not test until 12 days after transfer given the massive doses of HCG I took.
Number of first beta: 105
Number of babies: 1

Anything else you would have wanted to know before you started this process!

I would have asked about the issue of pain control during ER. I felt like there was not enough painkillers during ER.

Also, I would also ask about the clinic's thaw rate of frozen embryos. I think that a clinic should have a thaw rate of 75 to 80% where that percentage of embryos survive the thaw process. This is a consideration if IVF does not work and you need to try FET.

Additionally, clinics are developing methods for a single embryo transfer, thereby reducing the number of multiple pregnancies. I think the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine in Englewood has been experimenting with that. I hope that this technology will be readily available to all who undergo IVF.

Consider the financial costs. There are clinics that offer packages where you pay so much money, and for that amount, you get so many tries at getting pregnant with treatments. After so many tries, if you are not pregnant, you get your money back. It is kind of a pooled risk package.

Also, some states mandate insurance coverage for fertility treatments. For example, New Jersey requires insurance coverage of four egg retrieval procedures for employer-based insurance policies. I know of one couple who did look for a job in New Jersey and relocate because of this policy.