I did single embryo transfer because my insurance covers 50%, but nothing on medication or ICSI, etc. We calculated the cost and also we don't see ourselves trying more than 2-3 times, we figured it's cheaper. Shared Risk does not cover meds and the package with ICSI was more too.

I was too old for shared risk (39) but I did the two cycle option for 16K. I think it makes sense to give yourself more than one chance. We had unexplained as well, and they never figured out what it was, beyond my age. Worst case, if you get pregnant on your first cycle, you may have spent a little extra, but that will not matter at that point I think!

Sometimes they learn from your first cycle and can adjust your meds to improve it for the second cycle. My first cycle we got 5 eggs and it was a BFN, and on the second cycle we got 15 eggs and 6 embryos. They put two back for a fresh transfer but that was BFN also, and then we did an FET were we got a BFP for twins. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:I am in a similar situation of being unexplained and am not sure which to choose. I like to think that since we are unexplained IVF will work on the first try. To those who were unexplained, did you discover what the issue was during your first IVF?

I'm the 05/06/2015 10:54 PP. My chart at SG still says unexplained, even though my FSH varies from 9-11 and both IVFs I've had 2 or less blasts. My doctor doesn't think I'm DOR, but to me it seems like I'm at least on the cusp. Anyway, both my IVFs worked on the first try, but my 2nd IVF is the one that ended in a termination.

13:56 again--Many Unexplained never found out. I have a friend that they suspected was due to age and male factor. So they used DE and Donor Sperm. Could only afford one cycle. It failed and the 2 FET after. Still don't know what the issue is.

Almost everyone I know that was unexplained did not have success on the first try. Most of the people that were successful on the first try were MFI and used ICSI.

I am in a similar situation of being unexplained and am not sure which to choose. I like to think that since we are unexplained IVF will work on the first try. To those who were unexplained, did you discover what the issue was during your first IVF?

OP here. Thanks for all of the responses. I did not expect the recommendations to be so overwhelmingly pro shared risk! We are definitely re-evaluating if that is the better way to go, since as most pointed out it will reduce our stress level. Thanks again!

Anonymous wrote:Not OP, but in a similar situation. Do many people end up with frozen embryos? Of course we are hoping that we do, and that would influence the decision since it is included in the cost of shared risk.

It really depends on your individual situation - what's the primary cause of your infertility, how well do you respond to your protocol, how many eggs of those retrieved fertilize, how high-quality are the resultant embryos, etc. In my case (age 41, DH 39, unexplained infertility) we got 22 eggs. 17 of those fertilized and we ended up with 12 5-day blasts that looked (we didn't do PGD, although in retrospect I would) high-quality enough that we implanted 2 and currently have 10 frozen. And I'm awfully grateful we have those, and that our package includes unlimited FETs, since although both embies took and developed into perfectly healthy male fetuses, we lost them at 20 weeks due to a stupid incompetent cervix.

Insurance would only authorize 3 IVF attempts, so that made the decision easy for us at the time. However, I would probably go for shared risk if we had to do it over again.

We were successful on IVF #2, but worrying about paying our share for each cycle, and no coverage for FET was stressful.

We did the Shared Risk DE program (due to age). We transferred 1 and had 2 frosties on our first cycle. We got a BFP--yay!--from that first transfer.

Never regretted spending the extra money. We previously did the Multi-cycle OE IVF. The stress was so overwhelming. So just the lack of stress from the Shared Risk was well worth the price.

Then we had a freak accident mid-pregnancy and lost the baby. We are grieving, but so relieved that we are in the Shared Risk program.