Featured in the RNE Magazine, 2022 Volume 3
By: Nicole Leite
I’ll never forget my OBGYN doctor stating, “I’m not saying you can’t get pregnant, but…” The rest was a blur. The delivery of her message cut deep.
As I lay on the exam table, it was the first time a doctor acknowledged that there was something wrong. Something wrong with my body and something preventing me from experiencing what seemingly “happens” to so many women.
I felt my body had failed me.
A hysterosalpingogram (try saying that five times fast) was the first of many invasive tests that I would learn to understand and endure.
Leaving the appointment, I had no answers but simply a referral to a fertility doctor. I had hoped that the hysterosalpingogram would yield a “quick fix,” but it left me feeling defeated and confused.
Fast forward to sitting in the fertility clinic for our initial consultation.
The doctor was wonderful, confident and experienced. He concluded that our best chance for having a child would be IVF.
On our fertility journey, both my husband and I wanted to consider every possible way to get pregnant. I had always known IVF to be an option, and at this moment it felt like our best one.
As we started to wrap our heads around the process, we were given the cost. We were told our insurance would cover nothing and that the total cost, not including medication, would be close to $20,000.
As we drove home that afternoon, we talked about all the ways we could make this work: We could take out a high-interest medical loan, we could take time to save more, we could look for support from family, or perhaps one of us could get a job in Massachusetts, where coverage is provided…all of this with no guarantees.