Sweet! I got all three of the referrals that I wanted AND it wasn’t even the slightest problem for any of them. I barely had to plead my case. I went in armed with statistics from the CDC for both the RE’s in Tucson and knew exactly which one I wanted to go to. Here are some stats based on IVF success rates in 2006:

National averages from 80,313 IVF transfers: 35% pregnancy rate; 32% live birth rate

RE #1 (going by web site appearance and feel, I liked this one): out of 56 cycles they had a 25% pregnancy rate and a 23.2% live birth rate

RE #2: out of 124 cycles, they had a 53% pregnancy rate and a 46% live birth rate

Gee, which one would YOU choose? My RE in Idaho had a little better live birth rate than RE #2 but Kansas was worse. I had no problem getting a referral for the second one (and surprisingly they are in my insurance network) but it has not yet been approved by my insurance. The other two referrals WERE approved and I already made appointments for them. The first available appt for rheumatology was NOV 30! That is just ridiculous in my opinion so I opted to see someone other than an attending. By doing so, I got an appt for Oct 12. Nephrology however, is completely opposite. I got an appt one week from today. Go figure.

Here is something else I found very interesting from the CDC report:

“In 2006, 70,428 ART cycles were performed among women who had not previously given birth. However, about 27% of those cycles were reported by women with one or more previous pregnancies that had ended in miscarriage — we do not have information on whether these pregnancies ending in miscarriage were the result of ART or were conceived naturally. In all age groups, women who had a previous miscarriage were as likely to have a live birth as women who had never been pregnant. Thus, a history of unsuccessful pregnancy does not appear to be associated with lower chances for success during ART.”

(ART stands for Assisted Reproductive Technology)

I’m obviously a little more at ease about the fact that even with my two miscarriages, I’m just as likely to have a live birth just as someone who hasn’t had a miscarriage can through IVF. Amen to that!