IVF people- did anyone not freeze embryos?

[Bernadine]

By choice?

Our insurance covers fresh IVF cycles, but no frozen.  It would be about $1300 to freeze, or we could do another fresh cycle that would by completely covered by insurance if the first IVF doesn't work.  Fresh and frozen cycles have the same pg rate at my center.

H is pretty set that he does not want another if I do get pg.  I'm mostly ok with that, so we're not worried about freezing to get pg again in the future.

We're a little tight financially at the moment.  So it makes sense not to freeze, right?  Idk I can't decide on this.

[ninjabridemom]

Total curiosity question -- do you get a say in what happens to unused embryos if you don't freeze (donate, research, toss, etc)? Or if you don't freeze, do they try to fertilize fewer than if you were freezing?

I actually didn't realize freezing was optional -- I thought using frozen ones were optional.

[Jalapeñomel]

It doesn't seem like there is much benefit to freezing them in your case, but I have not been in this situation.

[Muddled]

I don't know. A frozen cycle is so much easier on you. I would not want to do another fresh cycle if a frozen cycle was an option. Of course, this is not taking finances into consideration, but I would price it out.

ninjabridemom- Yes. You sign a consent form saying what you would like to happen to your fresh and frozen embryos if you don't use them or if you die or divorce.
They would not try to fertilize fewer because they want to give you the best and strongest of all of your options to transfer.
Freezing is optional.

[Bernadine]

Sept 3, 2015 11:53:24 GMT -5 ninjabridemom said:

Total curiosity question -- do you get a say in what happens to unused embryos if you don't freeze (donate, research, toss, etc)? Or if you don't freeze, do they try to fertilize fewer than if you were freezing?

I actually didn't realize freezing was optional -- I thought using frozen ones were optional.

Yes, we do get to decide.  We will be donating ours to research.  We both have to sign off on consent forms.

[Bernadine]

Sept 3, 2015 12:07:40 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I would shop around to see if other labs/offices will freeze for cheaper. That is a lot. Our clinic/lab in HCOL is $400 freeze fee a year.

I'd try to freeze if possible because your response to the first IVF might be much better than a 2nd fresh IVF. I'd rather pay OOP to do a FET with great frozen embryos than go through another fresh IVF cycle that might produce worse embryos for transfer. I don't know, I guess I'm big on the what ifs, but I understand it's a huge OOP cost.

Wow, that's a huge difference.  I didn't even consider looking elsewhere.

We're having issues with our rental/tenants right now.  I'm hesitant to spend $1300 if we don't have to.

[floridakat]

Can you clarify your benefits through your insurance company? That seems like an odd policy for them, since frozen cycles are so much cheaper.

We didn't have any to freeze, but we were OOP either way, so we would have frozen if we could have. We got extremely lucky and our first IVF worked. X2

[Elsa]

$1300 is really high. I think ours was $600 if paid separately, though a year of freezing was included in our IVF costs.

Honestly, I'm really glad not to put my body through that again. That alone would be worth the $1300 to me I think. From my understanding the FET cycles are much easier- med wise and monitoring wise.

[Muddled]

Sept 3, 2015 12:07:40 GMT -5 farmvillelover said:

I would shop around to see if other labs/offices will freeze for cheaper. That is a lot. Our clinic/lab in HCOL is $400 freeze fee a year.

I'd try to freeze if possible because your response to the first IVF might be much better than a 2nd fresh IVF. I'd rather pay OOP to do a FET with great frozen embryos than go through another fresh IVF cycle that might produce worse embryos for transfer. I don't know, I guess I'm big on the what ifs, but I understand it's a huge OOP cost.

This is a really good point. If you have good quality embryos, it would be really hard to toss them and start over with the unknown. There are too many x factors there.

[ninjabridemom]

Thanks guys and sorry for the derailment.

If it's an option to shop around it sounds like it'll help cover you guys for the future.

Good luck Rak!!!

[karmasabiotch]

I'd freeze. Then you know that you have a back up if for some reason your body isn't able to do another fresh cycle.

[Bernadine]

Damn it. I was all ready to not freeze, and now you all have me rethinking it, lol.

[njohnson1972]

I am also surprised by your insurance not wanting to do a FET since they are much cheaper than doing fresh cycles. And like someone else said, many clinics are now freezing all embryos and then doing transfers the following month. There have been studies that show better success rates for FET since your body has time to go back to a normal versus transferring embryos 3 or 5 days after a retrieval. Good luck.

[linz]

I would go ahead and freeze and then decide.I would not want to do another fresh cycle if I could afford to do an FET.

[frannyr]

Have you talked to the financial/insurance coordinator at the clinic? Since insurance covers fresh but not frozen and you'd be OOP, will they cut you a deal or work with you on the frozen costs?

[dellabear]

My insurance pays for 3 fresh IVF cycles and not for freezing or storing embryos or frozen transfer. I'm paying OOP to freeze and will be paying OOP to do FETs if necessary. It's ridiculous but that's what the coverage is, for whatever reason. I'd rather avoid the process of a second fresh cycle even if I have to pay for it myself.

[Shreddingbetty]

we did preimplantation genetic screening and didn't have the option of freezing embryos because we only had one good embryo each time. I wouldve frozen them though if we had had the chance. Much easier to go that route. But we also didn't have insurance that covered anything beyond the initial work up. I think they paid for that and then $1000 worth of meds. Everything else was out of pocket

[fluffydamn]

I would freeze if for whatever reason the first go doesn't work/ or ends up in a m.c (this happened to me in February) it is less stress on your body to do a FET. also I would have money put back just in case the doctor won't let you transfer. Having a bad case of OHSS can delay a cycle.

Im sending good thoughts and prayers that the first time works. ((Hugs))

[Deleted]

If you have good embryos - freeze them. Sometimes FET is more successful than a fresh cycle simply because you haven't put your body through SO much with all the hormones of a fresh cycle.

Also, there is no guarantee another fresh cycle will produce good quality eggs...so if you have good eggs/embryos "extra" it makes sense to freeze them.

[jewel]

Will your clinic freeze and hold embryos for any amount of time? Mine did, for 6 months, and anything after that was our responsibility.

Personally though, if you have at least a few good embryos, I would freeze and pay OOP in order to avoid the full fresh cycle again.

I also wanted to point out, that if you are OOP to freeze and for a frozen transfer, your costs are going to be the costs to freeze, and then the costs for a frozen cycle at the RE. At my clinic, a frozen transfer is $3-$4k. The IVF nurse did say this...hypothetically...because we did have coverage for IUIs, if we were to get started with an IUI cycle, get all of our meds (covered), and then decide to cancel the IUI for personal reasons, we'd have all of those meds. So, if you freeze, but then decide you might want to try a fresh cycle, you might be able to change your mind still after you get your meds. You know.

[sequins]

I echo PPs. Shop around for a better deal for storage and absolutely freeze any and all you can. Some clinics have no fees for the first few months.

[calmcosmo]

Definitely freeze. And this is coming from someone who did freeze two embryos and then donated them later.

You have no idea how you'll feel about more kids until you are in that position. Don't discard awesome embryos and the opportunity for you to have choices for $1,300. Money comes and goes. Yes, it's stressful, but you'll be more stressed if in 5 years you desperately want #2 and all of a sudden your body doesn't respond. I was DOR at 28 so I speak from experience. Fertility drugs don't always work. When they do - freeze!