I wrote to the Senator and State Representative of Tennessee back in December regarding mandatory Infertility Insurance in the State of Tennessee. There are currently 15 states that have some form of mandatory Fertility Insurance.
I actually received a letter today from Senator Bo Watson thanking me for writing and bringing this situation to his attention. He said although he wasn't a reproductive medicine expert this is something he would investigate. I had included a cover letter with my letters just giving a background of my fertility history. I thought I'm sure they get a ton of these legislative letters and pass them up farely easy; so I wanted to personalize my letter and let him know how hard it is to get pregnant and the stress you go thru when you have fertility problems. He actually Wished me Best Wishes on my upcoming Marriage. I was really shocked to know someone actually read my letter.
If this is passed in the State of Tennessee, this would mean that insurance companies have to offer infertility insurance to their members. It has to be a covered expense under your policy. Yes, there are loopholes to where some things wouldn't be covered. For example here is what the State of Illinois covers:
DEFINITION OF FERTILITY/PATIENT REQUIREMENTS
Infertility means the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected sexual intercourse or the inability to sustain a successful pregnancy.
COVERAGE
Group insurers and HMOs that provide pregnancy related coverage must provide infertility treatment including, but not limited to:
diagnosis of infertility;
IVF;
uterine embryo lavage;
embryo transfer;
artificial insemination;
GIFT;
ZIFT;
low tubal ovum transfer
Coverage for IVF, GIFT and ZIFT is provided if the patient has been unable to attain or sustain a successful pregnancy through reasonable, less costly, infertility treatments covered by insurance;
Each patient is covered for up to 4 egg retrievals. However, if a live birth occurs, 2 additional egg retrievals will be covered, with a lifetime maximum of 6 retrievals covered.
The procedures must be performed at facilities that conform with ACOG and ASRM guidelines.
EXCEPTIONS
Employers with fewer than 25 employees do not have to provide coverage.
Does not require religious employers to cover infertility treatment.
Employers who self-insure are exempt from the requirements of the law.
Of course, I think my coverage at work is a self-insured policy; however, I'm still going to push for the coverage if Tennessee ever passes this Act.
You can click here to print out a letter and mail to the Senator and State Representative of Tennessee. I know I would appreciate any help I could receive in this matter and I know there are a lot of women out there in the same situation as me.
Shane's ex-wife had a baby today. A little boy, 8 lbs. 8 oz. Awwwww, I love babies and it makes me really want to start trying again.
I went thru fertility for a year and even though I didn't have an IVF; I did go thru a artifical insemenation. Come to think of it; if I hadn't had my miscarriage, my baby would be due in about 3-4 weeks. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have thought about that.....
Trying to have the best thing in the world shouldn't be so much pain, nor so stressful.
IVF is the process of a woman taking fertility drugs to process mature eggs; then the implant 1 sperm into each egg in hopes of fertilization. I'm not quite sure IVF is something I would want to do; well, let me rephrase that, something I could afford. Unfortunately, my insurance company doesn't pay for fertility treatment.
I'm definitely ready to have a baby this year; I just turned 39 and if I'm really serious about having a baby, now is the time to have one. I know that if it's God's will for me to get pregnant and have a baby; then that's what will happen.
Hopefully, we will have a baby by Christmas time. Prayer for me and Shane please and that God will bless us with this joy.
this is a sponsored post
When I started this blog, I was trying to get pregnant and wanted to keep an online journal of the process. That was about 2 years ago and I never got pregnant even with fertility treatment.
I had really given up worrying about getting pregnant and had finally accepted that if it happened, it happened; if not, I was fine with that too.
Last week, I had this weird feeling that I was pregnant. I felt different and different meaning, just there was something different about me. Also, my breasts were extremely sore.
I didn't want to tell anyone about this because I didn't want to jinx myself. Well, Saturday night, I decided to share this with Shane. I wanted to buy a pregnancy test, but I was supposed to start my period on Tuesday and thought, "I can wait 3 days". So, I didn't buy one.
Sunday morning around 5:00 am, I woke up in excruciating pain. I felt like I needed to vomit, but I couldn't. I got real dizzy and keep falling. I fell in Ashley's bedroom and hit my head on her dresser and then hit the floor. I sat there for about an hour before I called my mom to tell her what was going on. I kept breaking out in a sweat and hurt really bad in my lower abdominal area. I finally got up to tell Shane it was time to go to the ER and when I walked in our bedroom, I got dizzy again and hit the wall in our bathroom and ended up breaking my pinky toe.
We went to the ER around 7:45 am...I suffered at home for 2 1/2 hours. When we got there, we waited about 20 mins. From then on, everything happened so fast.
They took my blood pressure and it was 65/33. I got scared then and my mom was really scared she was losing me. I was so bad off.
They took blood and we found out that I was pregnant. You can imagine the shock. However, the doctor stated that seeing all the symptoms and signs, it pointed towards an ectopic pregnancy. They called my OB/GYN and she immediately did surgery.
The fetus was right at the end of my left fallopian tube right at my uterus and had ruptured. They had to remove my left tube. I lost 2 pints of blood and came thru the surgery just fine.
I'm doing 110% better now and am home. I still have my right tube and should be able to get pregnant again.
At least now we know that I can.
I decided that Shane and I would try for a baby again. This time, I won't go thru Fertility; but just try naturally. If it doesn't happen within 3 months, then I'll take it that it's meant for us not to have a baby. So pray for us, please.
I'm hoping it will happen and we'll have a baby by Christmas!!!
Friday night, my 2 nieces, Ashley(8) and Skylar(5), spent the night with me. We were in the living room watching TV and Shane was in the bedroom playing a video game.
Ashley and Skylar were looking at photos of Logan (Shane's son) and Skylar asked if the people in this one picture were Logan's brothers? Ashley said no, Logan doesn't have any brothers or sisters. I said, "Those are Logan's cousins. Shane won't give me a brother or sister for Logan". Skylar said, "Well, sometimes you just have to sneak one". I thought Shane and I would roll in the floor laughing. We laughed so hard.
After I composed myself, I said, "Well maybe I'll sneak one tomorrow night". Then, out of the blue, Ashley said, "No, sneak one tonight; we'll stay in the bedroom". I thought I would die laughing again.
I mean, where do kids come up with these things? So, maybe one day; all my sneaking will pay off. HAHAHAHAHA
To give you a little history, I've been trying to have a baby for the past 2 years and having no success. Actually the reason I started this blog was because I was 11 days late this month and thought I was pregnant. I wanted to start a blog to keep track of my pregnancy.
Anyway, needless to say; I'm not pregnant. So, today, I'm off to the doctor. I'm 37 and wondering now if maybe I'm going thru Menopause. I've read a little about Menopause, but not sure I fully understand it. Guess I'll find out more this afternoon.
I've heard a lot of women get pregnant when they go thru Menopause, maybe I'll be that lucky!!