Hey folks!

I know I haven’t been talking much about TTC on here lately, but since we’ve been in MN for the past couple of weeks, my updates have pretty much been from my phone. I just got my computer back (added a ton of RAM and space – THANK GOODNESS, it’s so much faster)… so I figured it was time for a quick update.

After quite a bit of research on other Colorado TTCers blogs, I think I’ve come to a decision about the RE.

(1) Last week I called the University of Colorado and moved the initial consult with them from the 7th to the 13th to give us more time here in MN. At this point, I think we’re going to head back to CO early next week (for those of you counting, yes, that means we were gone for almost 3 weeks – crazy!). In the meantime, I’ve been contacting both UofC and CCRM to get some quotes on costs of things (since this is all out of pocket). CCRM has been great about sending cost breakdowns – UofC, not so much. ALSO, when I talked to a physician at UofC, she told me the initial consult was going to cost me $500-700, just to talk to the RE. Ugh. On the upside, they have discounts of 30-50% of OOP payers, BUT they won’t give me the cost of things until I’m there at the consult, so I can’t put a number how much that would save us. *sigh*

(2) After researching, I’m realizing that CCRM is one of the very best clinics in the country for ART. Across the board, people on message boards say it was worth slightly higher costs because their results are so great. That’s huge – hopefully we can just do IUI and get a BFP that way, but even that will cost us thousands OOP…and if it progresses to IVF, I don’t see us financially being able to try more than once. At this point, money is a huge issues thanks to unemployment (UGH), but we’ll find a way to do IVF once if that’s what it takes.

Anyway, CCRM gets such great reviews and their initial consults are only $235-$255, so at this point, I’ve pretty much decided to only do a phone consult with CCRM on the 26th, and then hopefully in that next week after that we can go in to get all of our initial testing done (CCRM does a full day of testings/workups – even if you had tests done at your old office). DH is most likely leaving for ND on the 1st of February to work in the oil rigs for awhile, so time is of the utmost importance right now. He’ll be working 28 days on, 14 days off. It’s going to drive me nuts to be apart from him for so long, plus the chances of me ovulating while he’s out of town are pretty much guaranteed based on where I’m at right now (CD27 – probably 2dpo)…so that blows, but we’re doing what we need to do to pay the bills during this shitty economy.

Phew, sorry, didn’t mean to turn Debbie Downer there.

So yeah, on Sunday I think we’ll drive the first couple of hours to Sioux Falls, SD and spend the night with some friends there. Then Monday we’ll drive about 11 hrs to Denver and stay with my cousin and her husband there for a couple of days (Natalie – we need to meet up! Maybe lunch on Tuesday?). Wednesday we’ll drive another 5-6 hours to home. Home sweet home. We’ll have been gone exactly three weeks on Wednesday – craziness! Exactly two weeks after that is our phone consult on the 26th, and six days after that C will leave for ND.

I can’t wait to see what the next couple of months bring us. It will be hard to have C gone, but I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Thanks for all of your recommendations for choosing an RE – this is a crazy new land we’re stepping into, but after 18 months of TTC and zero evidence that I can even get pregnant, it’s time.
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For those who are interested, here is what CCRM sent me as a breakdown of costs…