Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Heating pad
I do use ice before and after the injection. The injection itself doesn't hurt that much at all as far as when it's happening especially if I am lying down when Paul gives it to me although I do bleed a fair amount after most of them. It's just my butt hurts 24 hours a day now. I'm always aware of it (which is a weird thing as usually I am not aware of or thinking about that part of my body). It just feels very sore and tender. Like maybe someone has used me as a punching bag or like I pulled a muscle or something. It's hard to describe. Anyhow I am thankful that the chair in my office at work does not bother me, and I am fairly comfortable on our living room couch especially when I have a heating pad turned on under me. Certain chairs hurt worse than others. Metal folding chairs are definitely torture devices. A friend of mine went with me last night to a Broadway show being performed at my university, and although I usually find those seats very comfortable (padded) it was almost unbearable. I stood the whole intermission and contemplated standing the whole performance as I was in a lot of pain. Driving hurts a lot too. I am concerned about the trip to Chicago a week from today - first we drive to Baltimore to get to the airport (about 2 1/2 hours w/o traffic) and then fly to Chicago. Not sure what I'll think of sitting on the airplane. I guess I'll find out soon enough!
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3 comments:
I am unable to meet at the church to pray tomorrow morning. I wish I had known some people were meeting tonight! Anyway, I prayed "extra hard" for you today and plan to do the same tomorrow!
I'm glad to see that you applied to be presented to Ann. It sounds like a great situation. I will pray about that for you as well.
As far as the surrogacy goes, I understand that it may not address the reasons you've not been able to conceive a child yet and may not be what you and Paul feel comfortable with. However, I guess I was a bit surprised to see you nix the idea for (at least partly) financial reasons. Have you looked into it? I can't imagine that whoever offered to do that for you (from Tuesday Bible study!), would really do it for financial gain. What costs would be involved other than the hospital/medical fees associated with the pregnancy which you will pay if all goes well with the FET? Is it more than the cost invovled if the situation with Ann is a yes? (I realize this may be a naive question. I really know nothing about surrogacy, although I have briefly considered it before!)
Allison,
I guess a big part of the reason we have done IVF is that I really want to experience pgcy and childbirth and nursing and such. I know there are some "unpleasant" things about all of that, but I also would love to feel a baby move within me, etc. Now for Paul the main reason to want to do IVF is that he really wants a bio child and yes surrogacy would provide that even if I didn't experience pgcy.
As for the costs first of all we'd pay at least $7K for the medical fees - the surrogate would need bloodwork and ultrasounds and would go through what I have been going through for the FET (about 70 shots up until the pgcy test and more if it worked) and the transfer fees = $2,250. Then I'd need the bloodwork, ultrasounds, and egg retrieval = $4,600. Plus the costs of medicine for both of us as well as the surrogate would need some initial testing that can cost up to $1,200 if the ins doesn't pay. If we had more embryos than the ones being transferred we'd have the cryo fee ($600), storage fees ($29 a month) and then another FET in the future either to me or the surrogate ($2,250).
Then the legal fees are I think at least $3K. Also, some insurance companies will not pay for the expenses if a woman is a surrogate. If I get pg with the FET our costs for pgcy and delivery will be almost nill as the ins will cover (my copay is $10 for a dr visit and hospital stuff is free). If the surrogate's ins won't pay then we either pay cash or pay an ins premium so her pgcy and delivery will be covered.
Most surrogacy pgcies cost $40-60K BUT a big part of that is usually for the agency to find the match (which would be not necessary) and for the surrogate (which again I agree I am not thinking she's trying to make $20K off of this but on the other hand we'd probably want to pay her SOMETHING especially if she's carrying twins or triplets!!). Plus I know just how painful it is to have all of these awful PIO shots and it's one thing for me to endure them for my child but to ask someone to endure 200 shots (most of which are in the butt and very painful) for someone else's baby? I'd feel the need to some how compensate or show our gratitude for all that!!!
So anyhow I think the total cost would be probably about the same as if "Ann" picks us but the key difference is with "Ann" there's an $11,390 tax credit involved so adopting is definitely cheaper than surrogacy as in the end adopting Ann's baby boy would cost about $4K (after tax credit). Plus with surrogacy there's no guarantee of pgcy. If the RE had ever said anything was wrong with my uterus - that would be a different story. But I've had several tests of my uterus and fallopian tubes and always passed with flying colors. The only issues with me have been #1 having somewhat irregular cycles (such as maybe 32-38 days long instead of 28) and #2 with the ivf saying this round my eggs seemed "soft." The ovulation issue is not an issue at all with fertility meds. With fertility meds of any kind (from simple Clomid pills to IVF) I respond beautifully - stimulate easily and am ready to ovulate right when I "should" my hormone levels are good, lining is thick, etc. As for the "soft" eggs - no clue. The RE said he wasn't concerned in light of having 4 good embryos and 3 excellent embryos. He said he did NOT recommend donor eggs and often does for women 35 or older. If they don't see my uterus as having any problem, if we are going to the expense of IVF again, I'd rather just have the embryos transferred back to me as I'd REALLY like to be pg and also it would cost more to transfer them to a surrogate. Now if the FET didn't work and we did another fresh transfer and that transfer also didn't work and there were frozen embies, MAYBE I'd consider doing a surrogacy with a FET as that would cost a lot less than a surrogacy with a fresh transfer.
Thanks for your prayers! Sorry you didn't know about the group that was mtg after AWANA last night. I really appreciate everyone's prayers so very much!!!
Wow! Thanks for the detailed explanation! That makes a lot of sense. I'm so glad to hear that the thawing and transfer went well. I will keep praying for you and Baby!
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