For the 1 out of 8 couples struggling with family building, the costs associated with fertility treatments can be staggering. However, if you live in one of the nineteen states that mandate fertility coverage, the costs can become much more manageable. Even if you live in a state that doesn’t provide extended coverage, many insurance policies will cover some testing or medications if you have met your annual deductible. If you’re paying out-of-pocket, it’s important to understand the investment you might have to make in order to complete your treatment and the many grants, scholarships, and loans that are available to you. When pursuing fertility assistance, it is very difficult to pinpoint a precise cost for your particular treatment until you and your partner, if applicable, have both undergone a complete assessment. This includes confirmation of ovulation, a sperm analysis, and an examination of reproductive organs. At that point, your fertility specialist, or Reproductive Endocrinologist (REI), can determine a treatment path according to your diagnosis, narrowing the scope of your estimated costs. Let's break down some of the most common infertility treatments, and talk about the average associated costs of each.

As I sit here assembling my daughter’s scrapbook with Mother’s Day in the air, the onslaught of picture-driven memories reminds me what a wild year it has been. My daughter, Emily, we’ll call her, is just one year old now, and I think back to last Mother’s Day when I held my teeny, tiny newborn for the first time. A true gift after miscarriage, fertility struggles, and ultimately, IVF. Let’s be clear, here - I am NOT a scrapbooker. This is hard work for me, and I don’t really enjoy the act of it. Do I enjoy seeing the progression of my daughter’s first year of life, from squishy newborn to stumbling almost-toddler? Sure! But I don’t enjoy the stickers and the exclamation points and the glue…in fact, I’ve decided to go the old school route of scrapbooking. I bought the same style of scrapbook that my mother used for all of our scrapbooks. She had four of us, and she managed to create multiple volumes for each child. My mother was the original anti-scrapbooker who mastered scrapbooking. With four kids and a full-time job, she didn’t have time for 3D stickers and fru-frus. She swore by the good ol’ cellophane peel-back style photo books where you slap down a photo and voila, it sticks. You can write a caption...or not. You can add some flare…or not. You can smooth out the wrinkles in the cellophane…or not. She figured it out, so the pressure is on. I only have one child right now, after all.

Over the past few years, fertility treatment has gained some much-needed visibility. As public figures and celebrities share their stories of IVF treatment, surrogacy, PCOS struggles, and more, we see that willingness to share mirrored in our own community. Not only do patients seem to be more willing to open up to friends, family, and social media about their fertility or family-building journeys, but they are sharing the physical, mental, and emotional toll that may accompany these reproductive challenges.

Like so many things in life, our expectations of what family building is going to look like may differ greatly from our reality. For our patient Angela, even though she knew that fertility treatment was going to be part of her story from the start, there were still some surprises along the way. We are so grateful to Angela for openly sharing her journey and for demonstrating the power of perseverance and believing in yourself. Read the full story in her own words below.

When journalist Amy Klein got married and started trying to get pregnant, it was 2011. She was 41, and she was met with a distinct lack of fertility support. While patients struggling with fertility today have the benefit of online communities on Facebook and Instagram, the best that Amy could find were “mommy boards” - chat forums where women would talk about fertility treatment secretly, using initials rather than names.

It’s the IVF outcome you don’t ever want to think about.

It's true! Laser Acupuncture can increase implantation success rates by up to 15% when administered just before and immediately after an embryo transfer. Jump down in the article for acupuncture FAQs and all the study details straight from Illume Fertility's expert acupuncturists.

You're waiting - counting the days until you can share your pregnancy news. We're taught that sharing pregnancy news is safe at 12 or 13 weeks but that telling anyone before that milestone is iffy, at best. Where did we learn this? And what are the facts behind miscarriage, pregnancy, and silence?