Can anyone share your experiences of the cost of IVF? Im sure I will end up in that position later this year and I dont have a clue what to expect. Do you pay all up front? Do you have to take out loans or can you make payments? I am scared to spend so much money but want to know it is a realistic option. Also how is egg retrieval? is it painful? Thanks!

My costs are only relevant re: my situation.

I think the meds were around $2000. 2 were only a few pills and they were covered by my insurance as they are used for other things besides IVF. One was 4 pills to take prior to egg retrieval (ER) for pain, like prescription Advil. The other were antibiotics to take after the ER. I *think* one of the injectibles was covered (Lupron) because it's also used for menopause - even though my use was not for that reason, it was covered. The other injectible meds were not covered. I also had to do injectble progesterone for 14 weeks after ER, I think this was partially covered. I also had to take benadryl as I was allergic to the Lupron, and then developed an allergy to the liquid progesterone and had to get suppositories about halfway through the 14 weeks and do those twice a day. So the Follistim (follicle stimulator med) was the main one that wasn't covered, I'm pretty sure. It's expensive. I remember all the drugs came in a big bag from the specialty pharmacy (where I live, you can't get them at a regular pharmacy, they aren't able to procure them, it says they are out of stock, so you have go to a pharm that specializes in fertility meds) and it was over $2000 for the whole package.

The rest of the costs were inclusive of everything you have to get done - all the bloodwork, all the ultrasounds, the doc appointments and of course the ER, the sperm washing, the fertilization, the incubation and then the implantation. It was an additional $12,000 for this.

At my clinic, as I understand it is at most clinics, you had to pay all costs up front 100% before you could start IVF. There are no loans. You could get an external loan and bring them a check if you have collateral to do so; we did not. We paid with a credit card check that offered 3% APR for the life of the balance until you pay it off because that was the only way we could pay.

Prior to doing IVF, we probably spent a couple grand on the four IUI procedures we did. I think IUI is a waste for people with problems related to scar tissue and such, and I wish we wouldn't have spent that money and would have gone straight to IVF.

The ER was a piece of cake. They put you into twilight sleep for it and when you wake up, it's over. Frankly, if anything, the implantation was slightly more unpleasant because you're awake for it, and they place a catheter first. The mild discomfort from the catheter was totally no big deal though.

At the beginning the whole process was very intimidating. When they laid out our schedule and had us come in for the demonstration of how to administer the shots, we both were like OMG, we will never be able to do this. But we did. Once you do the first one, it's really a piece of cake. I would do it over and over again if i could afford it, to try to have another baby. The biggest pain was being home the same time every night to do the shot, or having it with me in a refridgerated container so I could do it if we were away from home. Let me know if you have any other questions about it.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It is a little depressing they did not offer you a payment plan. I cant think of many people who have 12000 dollars just lying around. Nor can i imagine putting that much on a credit card. I guess it is a matter of figuring out the way that you can do it without ruining your finances and causing that stress on top of everything else. However, you have put my mind at ease about the procedure. I am a nurse and am not scared of the shots or anything. THank you!

I couldn't imagine putting that much on a credit card either, but I was 39 when we did this, and I talked with my DH about this and we agreed that if we looked back a few years from now when it was definitely too late to have children, would we be able to live with the decision we had made? That we hadn't tried absolutely everything we could to have a baby? In the end, it's just money, and we'll never be rich, and the fixed 3% checks made it feel like a loan to us. We both worked 2nd jobs for a full year to try to pay back as much of the balance as possible before the baby was born - I finally had to quit in my 7th month as I was too uncomfortable to work a standing/retail job, but we got about 70% of it paid off and should have it all paid off this year, so I don't regret it one bit, as it resulted in our beautiful baby boy.

We had to make peace with the fact that spending all that money could mean nothing, that we wouldn't be successful, as the odds were not in our favor (less than 40% chance at my age), so we tried to make some longer range goals of things we could do that would be fun to work towards if we ended up not being parents - trips we planned to take, working 2 jobs to save up for a camper so we could spend summers at the lake, etc. Now we won't have those trips or that camper, but we have a baby so we don't mind.

In a few other states, IVF is covered, or at least partially covered, in certain circumstances (such as if you go through 3 or 4 rounds of IUI beforehand), but not mine, and not most states. It's really too bad.

My husband and I are currently going through the IVF process. I am fortunate that my health insurance covers 90% of the cost once my deductible is met. The catch is that I have a lifetime maximum of $10,000, so after or 1st attempt (which hopefully is all we need) we'll have to pay 100% out of pocket. It's definitely worth while to check with your insurance provider on what your plan covers.

The other blessing for me is that my company offers "specialty drug" assistance. This means that if i am prescribed certain specialty meds (they provide a list of covered drugs) i am only required to pay a maximum of $250 out of pocket- regardless of how many diff. meds i'm prescribed. Lucky for me 3 of the 4 i will be taking are on their covered list!

Finally, my doctor's office requires a deposit before they'll even get the process started. For me it was the 10% coinsurance my ins. wont cover.

It's quite a lot to think about, that's for sure!

I just went through IVF and am currently just over 14 weeks pregnant!

Luckily our insurance policy covered most of the IVF. From the bills I have seen, the retrieval and ICSI process was around $8,000... ICSI was I think an additional 3K (that is where the sperm is inserted into the egg... if your partner is OK you probably won't have to do this).

I'm not sure how much some of the other portions of the process cost since most of the claims are still in process.

I found the egg retrieval very easy... my hubby said I was out for less than 15 minutes and they collected 30 eggs! Because I had so many eggs I was sore after but it wasn't bad. The shots weren't bad either, except we were a bit scared about the big final HCG shot 36 hours before retrieval... even if you are ok with shots, if your partner isn't as comfortable, ask the nurse to walk you through a water shot... this calmed our nerves totally!

The number one piece of advice I have to share though is to watch your fluids very carefully! I thought the risk of OHSS (Ovarian Hyper Stimulation Symdrome) was lessened after the eggs are removed, but I was wrong - that's when it will start. Ever since my j-pouch I have to drink water like crazy and am constantly dehydrated. OHSS causes dehydration and I started having the symptoms right after retrieval. Day of my initially scheduled transfer they tested me for OHSS and it ended up they post-poned the transfer, froze my embryos, and sent me to the hospital for the night to get IV fluids. The day before the transfer I drank ridiculous amounts of gatorade, but still the blood work showed I was very dehydrated. Luckily after one more cycle they were able to perform the transfer - the frozen cycles are much easier to handle and super simple.

I have read a full frozen cycle costs about 3K but that seems low - our plan for future kids is to save up 5 and pay out of pocket... luckily we had additional embryos we could freeze for additional tries later.

I was also concerned about the number of embryos they transferred since I thought multiples with all the scarring, etc. would be tough. They transfered 2 and only one took, but that was just my experience.

Good luck with everything and I hope it all works out!