Since I am stuck in the SMC Planning stage I figure I might as well continue to plan for when I do make it to the TTC stage. So, with that in mind there are two things about my home state I want to talk about.......
1. REs - So far as I can find, there is only one official RE in my state and he is not located in my town. He is located in a city about 220 miles away from me. That's about 3 1/2 hours of interstate driving when the roads are nice and clear. But it would be a rather difficult drive in the winter (October - March/April) with snow and ice, that is if the road isn't closed due to blizzards.
It would possibly be doable if I were doing IVF, but it would be ludicrous to drive that far for an IUI when my cycles are so completely unpredictable.
I'm not sure if any of the in-town doctors do IUIs and whether they would do them with frozen swimmers or not. Anyone have experience with a regular OB/Gyn being able to work with frozen sperm? Right now I'm leaning toward at-home inseminations when the time comes. Unless I move somewhere that has a local RE.
2. Cost of Living - Ali brought up a good point on my last
post - the numbers I quoted likely belong to areas with a higher cost of
living. Areas where you really do need that much money to get by,
especially as a single parent. Of course, I would love to make as much money as possible to be more secure in providing for my family (who wouldn't?). But I will also keep in mind that it is important for my mental health that I am comfortable in my job.
Anyway, my state has a fairly
low cost of living, with one exception - house prices. I looked up some
statistics the other day and while my state ranks somewhere from 35th to
38th for median annual income per person; it also happens to rank 11th
for median house price. I've looked at house prices in the Sunday paper
over the last couple years and I believe it.
We have
lots of vacations homes, homes with huge tracts of land, and for some
reason a gluttony of high-end retirement condos which have all kept our
home prices high. During the recession prices went down a little but we
never really had many foreclosures, at least not in my city. And now that
the recession is winding down prices have only gotten higher. I guess that's the
downside of living in such a beautiful state.
We also don't have much in the way of nice apartments that don't cost as much as a mortgage. Ugh, still working on this dilemma.
All three of my IUIs were done in my OBGYN's office. I was at my normal annual check up, and asked if they would refer me to a RE so I could find out about the whole process. The nurse practitioner said they would be able to do the procedure, and gave me some information and even recommended a sperm bank (where I found the donor I used). It saved a lot of money by going this way, but it also was a very minimal process. I never had any blood tests or ultrasounds, and just went by what the home OPKs said. But it worked, and it was pretty cool that my OBGYN not only knocked me up, but also delivered my baby!!
ReplyDeleteI immediately went to an RE because I was using my work clinic for annual exams and did have my own doc to ask. I can't imagine it being much different with an OBGYN. All of my IUIs were done by nurse
ReplyDeleteThere's no RE in my city (the closest is 2.5 hours away from me), so my IUIs were done by an OBGYN. I also got around the unpredictable cycle problem by opting for fertility meds. I'm not sure if you're comfortable with that, but it's something to consider.
ReplyDeleteYou really never know what's possible in healthcare unless you ask. The week I spoke to my family doctor about persuing single motherhood was the same week the only doctor in town who did any fertility work died unexpectedly.
ReplyDeleteBy the time I was ready to get started (delayed a year and a half for unforseen reasons) there was another doctor in town who was quite organized. He does inseminations but my reproductive system was to messed up for that so he monitored all of my IVF cycles. I'm not sure it's really that much more difficult to use frozen sperm. Having a doctor locally did save me money because I didn't have to miss weeks of work and travel to Toronto for all my monitoring and treatments. To doctor in town actually works with pretty much any clinic too which is working out well for me.
I'm sure some of the doctors in your home town will be willing to work with a clinic out of town (if they aren't already). Also, if your cycle is messed up they would likely put you on some meds so the timing might not be as up in the air as you think.
Regardless, travelling for fertility treatments is not ideal and it is an added expense to treatments but it is doable and requires a little more preparation and organization.
Actually, I went to an RE office first. I had a horrible experience. I wrote about it this past February. Actually, I found my niche at an OB/GYN which has a fertility practice. The doctor and NP I work with have been practicing fertility medicine for about 20 years each. I am VERY comfortable working with them.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is that it doesn't matter so much WHO treats you. It's more important to educate yourself about where you are at medically and how your needs will fit in with whichever practice you go with. I had to ask for the lab work which confirmed my diagnosis multiple times. I knew what was happening, and I was correct it seems. I knew I had found the right doctor when he was completely fine with checking out my labs and was supportive of my chosen protocol. He saw himself as more of a guide through the process, but not the only one running the show.
If you do decide to do your own inseminations, I would caution you against doing ICIs at home; esp. with donor sperm. It's expensive, and it seems people don't have much luck with it. You can buy all the supplies you need for an at home IUI; catheters, speculum, etc. Just be sure you order "washed" sperm from the bank. However, you will need someone to help you do it who is comfortable doing so. I suggest maybe looking for a midwife or other healthcare provider who will do it in your home.
However, I would also caution you against doing anything on your own until you have had a full fertility work-up with an RE or OB/GYN. You want to have a thorough picture of what you are dealing with before you jump in the pond so to speak. I'm not sure what your medical history is like, but you want to be as informed as possible before you TTC under any circumstances. If you need ovulation induction, you will need to be treated by a doctor, but there are minimally invasive ways to do this as well.
Good luck, and feel free to reach out to me with questions as they come up. I am on to my 2nd IUI cycle, so I'm fairly new to the "Planning/Trying" transition myself. I'll help in any way I can.
Cheers!