IVF (ICSI) at Birmingham Women's Hospital

[chundercatsarego]

Is anyone else due to start soon or got any experience here? We have our info evening in mid June and I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has any comments/hints/tips and wants some mutual support.

[chundercatsarego]

Bump

[Shoegal30]

Hello

I had my first ivf cycle there in December but unfortunately it didn't work for us. However, I know other people who have had treatment there and it worked for them so don't take my experience to heart.

The reason I am writing is to give you a timeline. We went in for our session in June and started treatment at the end of October/beginning of November with egg collection/transfer in December.

Also a big tip is that they have loads of cancellations so if you get sent an appointment date and you would like it sooner, ring in every morning as they would usually have cancellations.

Good luck x

[keepitgoing]

hi, I'm going to be doing a privately funded fet there in the next few months, I have 3 frosties following a successful first cycle, DD is 18m. though my first cycle was abroad, I did give birth there

good luck!!

[chundercatsarego]

Thanks for the replies both...how did you find you were treated? I went for an internal scan a few weeks ago and was very unimpressed- the nurse was very abrupt, gave us very little info except to say she had noticed a cyst and we'd need to come back for a re-scan...no explanation of what a cyst is, what the outcome could be, if it was urgent etc. Poor DH was in bits thinking it meant I had cancer! (slight overreaction, but still some minimal info might be useful!)

[keepitgoing]

well so far I've had 2 scans and an appointment with the consultant. all fine really. and they have been great at helping arrange the shipping of the frosties. I'm sorry you had a poor experience. have you seen the drs yet?

[chundercatsarego]

Yes, saw one doctor at initial appointment who wanted to send DH for yet another SA despite having two results showing him having less than 10x the normal lower limit, and also recommended and hsg, despite the treatment for any issues diagnosed by that (invasive and painful) test being the same (IVF/ICSI) as for Mfi which was clearly established . Needless to say I completely disagreed with this. Luckily the nurse chaperone present agreed with me and asked the senior consultant to intervene which she did, and we were referred directly for ICSI. So the decision we wanted but overall a frustrating experience. And the correct decision would not have been made had I not researched thoroughly beforehand and argued our case on the day....

[chundercatsarego]

Glad you are having a better experience though...hopefully we have just been unlucky!

[keepitgoing]

oh dear. maybe it was delay tactics .. but well done you! fwiw my hsg wasn't painful, just a little uncomfortable. have your Dh's tests had some time between them? mine had low morphology but it did improve over time as we had ivf in the end not icsi

[keepitgoing]

so we ended up unexplained, rather than MF. not used any contraception since birth of DD, though admittedly things are rather less frequent now how are you feeling about it all? I was horrendously stressed. how long have you been trying ?

[chundercatsarego]

Yes, there were 3 months between tests, he gave up alcohol and went from less than 1mil/ml to less than 4mil/ml so an improvement, but still 10 times lower than the normal limit

I go through real ups and downs, I feel like we are making progress which is good, but also worry about the emotional and financial strain and that's before you even start thinking about the physical effects. I always wanted a large(ish) family so I am slowly working through accepting that that probably won't happen. We have been trying about 18 months now...I am pretty driven so we went to the doctors on the dot of a year trying and have gone from there. The thing I find difficult is some people be really bloody insensitive a out the whole thing...and also people assuming its my 'fault', not that its anyone's fault....but the blanket assumption that there must be something 'wrong' with me pisses me off no end

[keepitgoing]

yes, the 'fault' thing is difficult. there's definitely a chance with those numbers, how are the others figures, morphology and motility? I have been quite open about our ivf since it worked but couldn't bear talking about it all in real life at the time. 18 months is a long time. I have to say that for me the physical side of ivf was fine. emotionally it was hard though and I found my ivf thread on here really really helpful. also, I think as it worked I suppose the physical side seemed easy and worth it, I know if it hadnt I would have been devastated. I was very nervous for the first half of my pregnancy.

it's frustrating how long it all takes, when you just want a baby. if you knew it'd take say 2 years and you'd be pregnant it'd be one thing, but not knowing drive me crazy. my dh kept the faith. we had our cycle on month 21 of trying, had 3x failed iuis first

[chundercatsarego]

Morphology and motility were under normal parameters too bad times!

Can I ask where in Brum you are? Did you consider using any other clinics once you need to pay?

[keepitgoing]

I'm in south Birmingham. we considered the priory in edgbaston. but as we are self pay rather than private it's best to go to bwh as basically everything but the fet is coveted by the nhs. scans, appointments etc. are you considering going private?

[chundercatsarego]

Not considering going private yet. We get two fresh rounds on the NHS so will use those at BWH first. After that it will depend on the rest of our experience there, which so far has been not great. The priory and Midlands fertility clinic both look good, and I've read good things about them too so those are possibilities, and of course once you're paying you can go anywhere- the idea of an IVF 'holiday' appeals a bit as my job is quite stressful so getting away might help. That's a bit in the future though, and hopefully we won't need it. Did you decide how many trys you'd have before you started?

[keepitgoing]

no I didn't, though we had 3 covered on our insurance while we lived abroad so at least 3. o wasn't working at the time so had too much time to stress about it all.

I have friends who have gone abroad too. but 2 fresh rounds is great, would they also cover FETs in between if you get any?

I think for now I will use my 3 frosties. (1 by 1!) but if they don't take I think I will try naturally for a while longer, I'm 32, before doing another fresh round. I like to have a plan!

[IVFjourney2016]

Hi ladies, I am about to start treatment for IVF with birmingham womens hospital. There doesn't seem to be a lot of success stories about them. Is there anybody who has had any success with them or having treatment for IVF there?

[backonthewagon]

I have started a West Midlands Infertility Support Group on Facebook. Would anyone like to join?

[long16]

Hi im due to see a fertility doc at bham womens hospital im down for icsi what will happen and what should i expect thanks

[JustHappy3]

They were pretty fabulous with me and DH. The staff were very professional and caring. The boffins in the back with the petri dishes are publishing high quality research. Plus we got unlimited counselling which tbh probably saved our sanity and our marriage.
We had 2 failed cycles, one live birth (DS now 8) another failed cycle then 2 more cycles both ending in early miscarriage.
I can't rate them enough - i always felt the prioritised what was right for me rather than making a profit/their success rate.

[Waitingpatiently1]

Just had my first failed icsi treatment there. I will have to wait at leaSt 6 months to start new cycle. Looking into other places now as I turn 40 in November.

[Waitingpatiently1]

Thank you for your response. As we have only saved £3000 so far, I don't know whether to use this on the women's and then go for a loan to fund any other private treatment. 6 months seems like too long to wait.

[Waitingpatiently1]

Thank you for your thoughts and advice. I think you are right. I know these clinics do gave open nights coming up in September. I think I will attend both and make a decision who to use from then on. At leaSt if I get another go in before Christmas, I would not feel like I was wasting my time. I have already wasted so much time waiting at the women's hospital. Could I ask what treatment you had at CARE? XXX