What to Expect When You Take Fertility Medications
Key takeaways:
Kirsten Kozak had seven miscarriages before attempting in vitro fertilization (IVF).
GoodRx coupons helped with the expensive fertility medications she needed for IVF, saving her $7,000.
After IVF, she gave birth to a healthy, red-headed baby boy.
Kirsten Kozak and her husband started trying to have a baby when Kristen was 30. But it wasn’t easy: Kristen miscarried seven times. She calls the whole effort an “absolute nightmare.”
She was 35 when her doctor suggested they consider in vitro fertilization (IVF). Kristen says it was an easy decision because they really wanted a child, “but it was hard emotionally to have hope.”
It was also challenging to figure out how they would pay for the expensive fertility treatments. While their health insurance paid for the IVF process itself, it only covered about 10% of the costly medications that IVF requires. Kirsten says the specialty fertility medications, which are prepared at compounding pharmacies, can cost $15,000 to $20,000.
GoodRx coupons helped make fertility medications affordable
Kirsten had a myomectomy to remove uterine fibroids before starting IVF.
“The doctor did not believe that fibroids played a part at all in the loss of my child in my last miscarriage. But I said I wasn’t going to do IVF without getting rid of those uterine fibroids,” she says, referring to the doctor at her fertility clinic.
Kristen’s doctor also found her thyroid levels were low and prescribed her medication, which she was able to afford with the help of GoodRx coupons. Then, she had all the necessary blood tests and other procedures to make sure everything looked fine for IVF, which it did, and she started a treatment cycle.
When Kristen started the cycle, her fertility clinic told her that GoodRx coupons could also help with some of the expensive IVF medications.
“GoodRx saved me close to $7,000,” she says. Between those savings and her insurance coverage, she ended up paying less than $5,000 for the medications.
During her IVF cycle, Kristen also had to get a lot of painful injections, including progesterone and estrogen. For Christmas that year, Kirsten’s husband even got her an ornament decorated with the image of a needle.
“Oh my gosh, the shots,” Kirsten says. “It was so uncomfortable. I couldn’t even sit down without being in pain.”
But the ovary stimulation phase of her IVF cycle was a success.
“We had 20-some good eggs, which was an extremely high number to have, and they were really happy with their quality,” Kristen says. “When the eggs fertilized, we had 18. After doing ICSI [intracytoplasmic sperm injection], I think we had nine that were considered truly good embryos. There were no issues with them.”
Kristen thought of it as having a “softball team of embryos”: There would be other embryos to go “up to bat” if the first one didn't take.
“What was in my head was, ‘I have enough chances that I won’t have to do this again, hopefully.’ And if it didn’t work with the amount of embryos I had, then we knew it just wasn’t going to happen,” she says.
Kristen, her husband, and her fertility doctor agreed that it was best to implant just one embryo at a time.
“I had fears of being the next sextuplet mother. That was my nightmare,” she says.
The concern was about staying pregnant
Kirsten says she felt both excitement and worry when she learned she was pregnant. After all, getting pregnant hadn’t been her problem. The problem was staying pregnant.
“I was absolutely fearful. I was excited, but I was terrified,” she says.
At 8 weeks, Kristen had some bleeding that turned out to be placental abruption.
“That was the scariest thing for me,” she says. “I remember how terrified I was. I went to the doctor, and she said it wasn’t that bad, fortunately. But I did get stuck on bed rest for a while.”
Kristen also developed gestational diabetes and had to be prescribed blood pressure medication while she was pregnant. She says it was tough, emotionally, going through the pregnancy. But she kept telling herself it would be all right.
“It was a challenge every day,” she says. “All I could think about was that this pregnancy was going to work. There's not going to be an issue. There's not going to be a problem. I couldn't think of anything else.”
Kirsten says every decision she made during her pregnancy was about her and her husband’s unborn baby.
Success in the delivery room
At 39 weeks, Kristen and her husband’s healthy son, Dominic, was born by C-section. Although it was May 2021, during the middle of the pandemic, Kristen’s husband was able to be with her when she gave birth. When their son — whom Kirsten describes as sweet and perfect — came out with red hair, they were both surprised.
“Dominic is a feisty ginger who came out screaming. He had this low, masculine scream that was ear piercing,” Kristen says, adding that he’s the most incredible gift she’s ever received. “He’s so happy, so joyful, so loving and kind — laughs all the time and smiles and wants to play. He’s incredible.”
The Kozaks, who live in Helotes, Texas, continue to use GoodRx coupons, including for the medication Dominic needs for his diaper rashes, which frequently turn into yeast infections. Their insurance doesn’t cover the medication multiple times, so they’ve had to pay out of pocket for it. With a GoodRx coupon, they pay $4 instead of $40 for the medication.
Kirsten, who’s now 37, says that, without GoodRx, they might not have their “rainbow baby” (born after baby loss).
“I don’t know how we would have financially been able to do it, otherwise. I think we would have ended up taking out a massive loan like some people do,” she says. “When things went sideways, we had the money to get the extra medications he needs, the different formulas he needs and all of that. We really owe our happiness to GoodRx.”
Kristen says it was “absolute hell” to get to this point, but she wouldn’t trade any of it because their son brings so much to their lives.
“He is the sunshine on a cloudy, rainy day. He is the joy that lights your heart when he laughs and smiles. Even when he throws his temper tantrums, you can’t help but laugh as he stomps his little feet on the ground,” she says
He’s a source of joy, love, and “hope that you can overcome anything,” she adds. “We walked away with the most beautiful child of our lives.”
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