Truth: Infertility is not an exact science. Unless I walk around trailing a vagcam and ultrasound machine, I cannot and will not know exactly what is happening. Even though I want to.
Truth: Infertility is hard. We all know this. I totally freaked out last Friday when my body didn’t do what I thought it was going to do, what it had been doing consistently for a long time; that is, produce a nice thermal shift. My temperature this morning was at 98.6. That is a high temperature. A thermal shift, per se. I did not exercise patience or trust.
Truth: My internet support group is awesome. The comments, the suggestions, the combined wisdom and experience called me back from the edge. Thanks ladies. You all rock.
Truth: Infertility is expensive. We have lived in Orange County for 18 months now, largely on one income. It is not a six figure income. Not even close, and, with this cycle, we have now ventured past diagnostics and into the world of infertility treatment. It is entirely out of pocket. So far this cycle can be broken down as follows:
Metformin – $10
Ultrasound #1 – $110
Bloodwork (FSH & E2) – $140
Clomid – $38.50
Ultrasound #2 – $110
Ultrasound #3 – $110
Bloodwork (Progesterone) – $70
Total (thus far) – $585.50
Part of the aforementioned overreaction was based upon the costs we have incurred on this cycle. This is not a sustainable plan.
Truth: Big Guy works in the desert and is living out of a hotel room. Big Guy’s client will pay for our rent if we move to the Coachella Valley. We are moving to the Coachella Valley in order to save an unseemly amount of money each month on rent. This will allow us to save money for future infertility treatments.
Truth: The desert is really fucking hot in the summer.
There are so many weird and wonderful truths about infertility… hopefully our greatest ‘truth’ will arrive after it all
xoxo
I wish we could “like” comments on WordPress!
Another truth: environmental consequences be damned, the Coachella Valley is abundantly supplied with swimming pools, air conditioning, and date milkshakes. So as a lady of leisure, you should be quite comfortable.
I’m glad your temperature (finally) cooperated and that you feel better.
PCOS be damned, I’m excited about the date palm milkshakes.
I’m jealous! I love the desert! I LOVE the heat – but then again I grew up in Arizona. Any good RE’s in the desert? Or will you be sticking with your current one and driving out here?
If it makes you feel any better, or maybe it will make you feel worse, we have some infertility coverage and my cycle cost us more than that :’( Meds are covered (thank you God for Ovidrel costing me $18 and not $103), blood work is covered, but not u/s. We aren’t going to be able to keep this up much longer and it is so so scary.
Also, everything I told you about temping the other day may have been a lie. I’m now waking up insanely early due to temping anxiety/insomnia, thus giving myself lower temps. I’m quitting temping for the time being (hard!). Glad yours is now cooperating!
Sharing my mantra of the next 10 days:
I set my intention, I hold my vision, then I release myself to a wiser plan.
NO. Not driving into OC. I’m excited to leave the driving largely behind me. I did find one RE at Rancho Mirage Fertility Center. It really is the only one I can find, or the only one with a website. All I know is that he has a really cool ultrasound machine, and he markets his practice for both locals and for medical tourism. Appointment set for the second week of June.
Why is temping such a bitch? As an example, the other day I woke up early around 4 am, and my temperature was 97.7. I then woke up again at 7 am and my temperature was 98.6. The next morning I woke up early again, and my temp was 98.5. I woke up several hours later and it was 98.6. Who knows?
I like your intention.
I love your truths.
How do you feel about the move? I hope it will be an easy one for you. Good luck!
Super excited! We haven’t ever felt at home in Orange County, so this is a good thing.
And yet another truth: I gave you the One Lovely Blog Award. Come and see why, if you would like:
http://bebesuisse.blogspot.com/2012/05/loveliness-all-around.html
I live in Orange County too so I feel your pain with the expenses. I spent over $2000 with my RE on a CLOMID cycle one month. I about died, time to switch RE’s!
I hope the move is a positive one for you, although it is bloody hot out there.
Seriously. Price inflation in the OC is terrible. I’ve cross-referenced with a good friend doing treatments for PCOS/infertility in Denver. Things are much cheaper there. I found my second RE had much more reasonable prices than my first. I liked her, too. If you are interested in contact info feel free to email me.
Weird to me that those prices seem expensive compared to other places. I live in Houston, which has a very low COL generally, and I paid WAY more than that for ultrasounds – $275 a piece for my monitoring ultrasounds, since my insurance didn’t cover them, either. Apparently I was being a sucker and didn’t even know it.
But I’m excited about your move – I would love not to have to pay rent every month! I’ve spent a few months in this past year paying rent for a place we weren’t even living in due to dh’s work travel. But I bet my rent is a lot cheaper than California rent. I hope you don’t need to see that new RE at all.
That is really interesting. Prices are so variable. $275 for an ultrasound is bananas! Especially since they last for all of 30 seconds. My first RE charged $190 and that is part of the reason I left him. I about died when I got the bill. I think I wrote about it on the MDC forum!
I hope all is going well with the baby, and thanks for stopping by!