Inconceivable: Exploring a new, cheaper IVF option

This month, I started living again.

I started running again, making plans that don't involve shots and fertility medications and breathing again.

After our fourth failed IUI, we had a choice - IVF, a medicated cycle without and IUI or just a break from the infertility roller coaster.

Since IUIs haven't worked so far, we are not going to do them anymore. We were fine to try them when insurance covered them, but why waste the money on something that hasn't worked?

I wasn't ready to take a break. I turned 37 this month and despite my doctor saying that I have a great egg reserve, I'm still worried I'm running out of time to conceive.

So, we decided to do a medicated cycle without an IUI. I'm taking Femara and doing Gonal-F shots and hoping to conceive naturally. The break from having to schedule an IUI really made me feel free. One less thing to worry about this cycle. Suddenly I was starting to make plans for the summer and hitting the gym more. I felt like some of the weight that I was carrying around was lifted.

I think part of this is because I have a plan for our next two cycles. And I have a little hope.

If this cycle doesn't work, we are going to try a new IVF treatment - INVOcell. Basically it is a plastic device that allows me to incubate my own eggs! Just like a chicken.

Doctors put the eggs and sperm together in the INVOcell device then insert it back into the patient to incubate it herself. Basically, the woman does the work that the lab technicians would be doing in traditional IVF, which helps cut the cost down significantly.

After three to five days, the doctor removes the device (which is held in with a diaphragm). Then, a maximum of two embryos will be transferred back into the uterus to hopefully implant.

The medications for INVOcell are cheaper than traditional IVF and the success rates are about the same.

Has anyone done INVOcell? I'd love to hear from someone who has tried it.

Kathy is a mom of one and Out & About editor for WRAL.com. She writes for Go Ask Mom about her experience with secondary infertility.