I always see people here curious about fertility appointments and what happens, so I decided to post my experience.

A bit of history: I’ll be 31 this month. Been TTC 10 mo. No know problems. Regular periods. I get positive OPKs. I don’t temp. Occasional spotting several days leading up to period that’s likely due to a known unproblematic small polyp. I live in the US in SC. I called on a Thursday and got my appointment the very next Monday at PREG. My current insurance does NOT cover fertility treatments. It only covers diagnostics. *Which is absolute bullshit!* MD said at their office around 70% conceive within the first 3 months of seeing them. We will see!

First appt: I paid 200$ for the consultation. The $ for the labs will be billed later but I’ll only be responsible for 20% of that. The MD sat down and got a detailed history for myself and my hubs. The labs they draw and the tests they schedule will be based on your history and where you are in your cycle. For me (11DPO at the time) they drew DHEAS, Testosterone, AMH, and prenatal panel (includes: HIV, Hep B & C, RPR, Rubella, ABO/RH, antibody screen, CBC. They also gave my husband a sperm analysis kit. He can collect the specimen at home after 2-3 days (no more than 5) abstinence and bring it to the office within an hour. I recently had a PAP and pelvic exam so those were not done again. I also already had Prolactin and TSH, but they would have tested that too. We also opted out of carrier screening for genetic disorders because we have no family history. Otherwise, they would have drawn those too on day 1.

They said they’ll only call back for abnormals.

Next, I’m supposed to call on the first day of my next period. Within 3-4 days of starting I’ll need to have these labs: FSH, LH, and Estradiol. Also, I’ll have a baseline vaginal ultrasound to look at ovaries at resting state and uterus to check for any cysts, fibroids, etc.

If nothing new is found, the plan is to have HSG (they inject dye to make sure the pathway for sperm is open) on CD 5-11.

So from here I just wait.

Below is a pic of the potential testing. The highlighted tests were done on first visit. The circled/checked is the plan going forward at this point. At the bottom you’ll find their recommendations while TTC (Consult your own doc before taking any supplements). I’m

Below is info about fertility testing the MD office gave me yesterday. She said they start by ruling out the larger pieces of the pie chart below.

****UPDATE #1********************

All of my previous lab work came back normal.

I started my period on a Friday so I came back in to do the additional lab work and follicle scam on cycle day 4 (yesterday) I paid 280$. They drew more labs:FSH, LH, ESTRADIOL,DHEAS, and TESTOSTERONE. They said my follicle scan looked fine. Still waiting on lab results.

My husband’s sperm analysis came back abnormal:

He has no know reason why this would be the case.

I’m scheduled for an HSG today that I will pay $211 for. My insurance covers 80% of this one. So, the out of pocket price would be $1058 where I live (SC).

After today we will schedule a follow up with MD to develop “the plan” and discuss results further. The only reason I know my lab results is because I set up an account with the lab that did the testing. The office itself has not called with any results. I asked for the sperm analysis yesterday at my ultrasound appt. Seems like they tend to wait until everything has resulted to notify you and discuss it, but I’m too anxious to wait.

****FINAL UPDATE****

My HSG results came back just fine. All of my labs are great. Husband has issues with motility and progression. Our final appt was $90. We discussed our plan.

On our next cycle we’re going to try Femara + trigger shot (to increase chances. I ovulate normally) and do <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IUI</a>. We hope that will give his sperm a boost and give us our BFP. The <a href="https://glowing.com/glow-fertility-program">IUI</a> + meds + appointment cost will be around $1,000 self pay.

Best of luck to everyone!!!!