One of the biggest frustrations that you may experience in your adult life is trouble with conceiving and carrying a child. When this process that comes so easy to many is a struggle for you, you cannot help but wonder what you can do to make your dreams of parenthood a reality. As such, you may be considering IVF (in vitro fertilization) as an option to help you with your goals. Before you decide if IVF is right for you, get to know some of the costs and benefits of this treatment. Then, you can contact your fertility doctor here in Florida to begin pursuing the next stage of your attempts to conceive and bear children.
Understanding the Costs of IVF
IVF is a process that requires several steps and procedures to be effective. The first step is to harvest your eggs. However, before that can happen you need to take several medications that enhance the ovulation process so that you can harvest several viable eggs. The medications for this process can cost a few thousand dollars.
The rest of the IVF process that involves harvesting the eggs and sperm and fertilizing the eggs, then implanting them costs around $12,000 on average but may cost more or less depending on the physician and any extra steps that are involved. This is for a first-time or “fresh” procedure in which the eggs and sperm are newly harvested. If you have embryos frozen for future use when you do this initial harvest, the future procedures will only cost a few thousand each.
Of course, some IVF procedures require extra steps and testing. This will add costs onto the total. If you are considering IVF, therefore, you need to quickly begin budgeting and determining how you can afford the accumulating costs of IVF if the first implantation is not successful.
Understanding the Benefits of IVF
IVF has numerous benefits to couples who are struggling with fertility issues and conception. If, for example, a woman has a tilted uterus that makes it difficult for sperm to get to the egg, IVF can help rectify that situation as the embryo will already be fertilized when implanted. This is a way to work around the issue.
Additionally, some men have low sperm counts that make natural conception difficult. However, the IVF process can use technology to create concentrated samples of that man’s sperm where more “active” sperm cells are present to increase to potential for fertilization.
And, of course, IVF has benefits if either partner will be undergoing cancer treatments that could render them infertile after the fact. Harvesting sperm samples and eggs that can be fertilized and then kept frozen will keep the option of having biological children alive.
IVF can also help parents to weed out the possibility of passing on a genetic illness. For example, if both parents are Tay-Sachs carriers, IVF can help to ensure that they do not have a child that suffers from this fatal illness. The embryos will be tested prior to implantation. The same can be done for a gene that causes genetic early-onset Alzheimer’s disease as well as other conditions.
Now that you know more about the costs and benefits of IVF, you can determine if this is the right fertility treatment for you and your spouse. Once you make your decision, you can contact a fertility specialist in Florida to help you proceed with the treatment that suits your needs.
