First Fertility Clinic Appointment Tomorrow

Hi ladies. I heard about this thread on another one. I’m so glad I found it!

I’m finding it really useful from what I’ve read so far.

So we have been ttc since October 2020. I turned 40 in January and I don’t have children but my partner who is older has 3.

I have been pregnant before 8 years ago unplanned but MC and went back on the pill.

I’ve been having regular periods since coming off the pill and ovulating every month so far and have been using OPKs which have worked for me.

I spoke to my GP and because of my age, she referred me to the fertility clinic and I got a letter within a week! My appointment is next month which I have to attend with my OH

I was hoping something might happen before my appointment but AF is coming today or tomorrow!

@thislittlebird my DHs first SA was low motility at 25%. Everything else OK. The second was 35%. Nothing really changed. It would be interesting to see what a further one was. But although 35% is considered normal- it's only just. And not exactly great? But they (NHS) haven't advised on him doing anything at all to Improve it.

Who here has male factor issues and what have they recommended for you so far? I’m concerned no one is going to talk to us about this at our one hour different appointment.

I would settle for any month baby at this point, I’m not confident we can produce a real human baby at all lmao

@Juno231 on god yes. Don't want July or August either! 😆 I'm not sure how we are still picky? But.....

@paintfairy I'm banking on my post lap cycle to be the one lol. February baby would be nice :) I'm getting annoyed at the thought of ending up with IVF to produce summer babies - as silly as it sounds!

@Juno231 I'm secretly hoping it doesn't work! 🤣 January baby indeed.
I think I've concluded the iui won't work and we'll have to do ivf. Therefore it'll be a pleasant surprise if it does! (Less pleasant if it'll be born January).

@paintfairy ah brilliant! I've got all my fingers crossed for you. January baby lol!

@thislittlebird 🤣 ridiculous. But at least it's not being delayed.

I've got my first scan tomorrow with the hope of doing IUI this month. (NHS).

Just for the purposes of updating you all, I got the new appointment letter today and it was just moved by an hour on the same day

Anyway.....going to carry on researching private options because I don’t think I’m confident putting all my eggs (!) in the nhs basket after my experiences to date.

@Juno231 that would be the dream! But I don't have much hope. I wonder how good they are at joining the dots like with things like this.

@thislittlebird I do hope it's for a positive reason! Or because of the SA they're changing it to a funding application meeting rather than just a catch up?

@Juno231 Weird both our May 17s have been cancelled. I feel like I can’t possibly believe they’ll get anything right and move it forward, they’ve been so terrible for us to date.

I keep thinking maybe someone added my husband’s next SA to the file and they moved it because of that????? But that also seems very optimistic lol

@thislittlebird my original appointment was for May 17th and then I got a letter through the post to say it had been cancelled. I also got another letter through the post to say I had been given a new appointment for early Feb. So I'm really hoping you'll get another letter with good news in it!

And they’ve cancelled my May 17 appointment. Sigh. I’m so tired of this, at a loss for what to do right now really.

Definitely considering it @PurpleUnicorn01

I’ve booked onto a Create webinar. Thought it would be worth doing some research in the meantime while I wait for this appointment. Hope you’re all well x

@thislittlebird yea a private cycle seems like a good idea

I trust you all more than my own eyes when reading this stuff. Based on the attached (from my CCG assisted conception policy) I could go ahead and up to 2 private cycles of IVF before my NHS one, is that right?

I'm just thinking if I have to wait months, maybe I could do the Create option or a 1 cycle option elsewhere in the meantime while I wait. Rather than lose all the time it might take waiting for the NHS. But I will raise this when I go to my appointment.

@paintfairy I felt like it was too big a discount to be the real price 😂

I suspect they’re quite transparent because private area of nhs hospital or something??? Not sure. I’m probably going to consider them as an option though, I like price transparency.

@thislittlebird the price in the far right is the package price. The column to the left of that shows what everything costs separately. Then the total of what it adds up to/the saving you are making by buying the package.
It's useful they list medication prices on that too. So you've an idea. I've not seen one do that before.

What do you guys make of this doc? www.kingsfertility.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Full-Price-List-V2.2.pdf

There’s a weird format where they list “TOTAL COST” and then another column with a price (often £9,500) but I don’t understand what the second column is?

Yeah exactly @paintfairy. It’s very annoying the drugs aren’t accounted for in the packages.

@Juno231 yeah it is a concern because it quickly adds up and you don’t know how much of the money you’ve saved it’s going to take. My issue is I suspect I would be very, very stressed by going abroad. I was looking at Kings and Guys just now which are more reasonable than the others I was looking at before. I think at least at first I’d need to stay local, I find new things in life very anxiety inducing and any additional thing (travel etc) on top of the already stressful process would be another worry.

@thislittlebird if money is a concern I would genuinely have a look at eg Prague or Copenhagen for ivf. Their stats are just as good for a fraction of the price. I think Copenhagen is at least a third cheaper a d Prague 2/3s. You can send your results over, do virtual consultations and they send the meds over. If it's short protocol it's very doable from what I gather.

@dogmam yeah so it checks for endo or scarring. Apparently a third of unexplained infertility cases are due to endometriosis? So I'm glad they're checking tbh. If they find anything whilst in there they'll excise it on the spot.

@thislittlebird I've not looked into private heavily. But I've found it quite confusing. Because the ivf cost doesn't always include drugs. And then there's loads of add ons you have to have that aren't really obvious- all at extra cost. I suppose if you contact them and go through it properly you'd get a clearer idea on cost. But it makes it difficult to compare clinics on glance i think. Reminds me of budget airlines. 🤣 Looks cheaper but by the time you have paid for your luggage, seat, and then got stung for something else you didn't know about, it wasn't cheaper at all and you'd have been better having a more decent experience elsewhere.