Stimulus=IVF Fund

Today, our stimulus check was deposited, or as the young folk are calling the “stimmy”. Yay! I can’t remember if I have written about our pipes bursting last month. Oklahoma had some crazy weather, and extremely low temps. Our washer and dryer are in the garage with the water heater. Long story short, pipes burst, water went everywhere, wall had to be opened, blah blah. Luckily, we have great home insurance, unfortunately, we have a $1000 deductible. I thought we had paid that, but we still had some to pay. Of the stimulus, we were able to move $2320 into our “IVF fund”. As of now, we have $11,125.20 saved. I’ve never been able to say that in my LIFE! It’s so very frustrating that we have to save so much to hopefully, maybe get a child.

Right now, the thing I’m struggling with is whether or not to and when to apply for a loan for the remaining. Because there’s no set number for our total cost, it’s hard to say. My approximate estimation on the high end is $19,313, with paying around $7,883 this month and approximately $11,430 next month. My last calculation had us needing $8,507.77. So with the stimulus check, we are down to needing around $6,187.77 total.

While a loan seems wonderful, I’m concerned about us being approved and the interest rate. Then thinking about the monthly payments, how long we will have to make them, and what that means going forward. Whether that’s a successful cycle, meaning preparing for a baby, added costs to our regular budget, etc or a failed cycle, meaning possibly more treatments with more expenses. This is the part that makes me most concerned about a loan.

Our only other option is the generosity of our friends and family, and possibly strangers.

So, the decision about the loan still rattles in my head as our IVF start date gets closer and closer, faster and faster.