First Timers TTC. Safe space for brain dumps, questions, whinges and celebrations. Part 2!

@Nessie2395 thank you for your response. Yes, it would be too long for me to wait given my egg reserve. We actually might start in June as apparently I’ll need to do some forms and get sent medication which will take a while. So starting in June could hopefully mean embryo transfer in July.

How are you doing yourself?

@Feliciacat two months just to even discuss it, that's such a long wait. 😔 When I did speak to my GP about NHS IVF sometime last year, she said it was taking some people 18 months to start which was is mad.

@CatCaretaker congratulations that's wonderful!! All the best going forward, but that's great news 😊

AF is due in about 6 days so not sure how this cycle has gone, not getting my hopes up though as I feel very much the same as usually do this time of the month, so expecting AF bang on time!

@TinyDancer91 that's great that you've started your ICSI cycle. Good luck with it and taking the medication. It will be tough but got my fingers crossed for you. My manager was also lovely about having time off for appointments and it made such a difference. Being busy at work might be good in some ways as a distraction 😊

Congratulations @CatCaretaker! That’s amazing.

@TinyDancer91 that is so exciting about ICSI! We have actually been recommended to have ICSI rather than ivf as DHs sperm is very mutated at 2.5% morphology. We don’t have time to wait for his sperm to possibly not fertilise my eggs. With regard to a referral then we have been scheduled a phone call with our gp to just discuss being referred…and it’s in two months! So if that’s how long it takes just to talk to my gp then we’re giving up on the NHS and going private. I’m going to get my tubes flushed in case there’s any issues there in May or June but we will start ICSI in July.

Thank you 😊. I was starting to think it was impossible!

@Nessie2395 how did cycle 6/7 turn out for you?

@TinyDancer91 yes, currently 6+5, I can't believe it, it doesn't feel real yet. Still very long way to go of course.

Very exciting that you're starting your ICSI, and it means so much to have a supportive boss! Very best of luck!

Red alert about the NHS not testing for AMH as standard: they didn’t test me (but my gp had told me they would). When I was told my results were normal, I naturally assumed AMH was normal.

I got my private results today and my AMH is low and I’ve probably got a couple of years to ttc. I’ve already tried for 18 months! I’ve wasted loads of time and feel devastated but I suppose at least I know now. Always maintain a healthy level of distrust for test results and get second opinions!

Next step is IVF which should be started in next six months. The consultant said to try NHS first but if it’ll be more than six months to go private. So much to process!

Hope you’re all doing well!

Hello, can I please join? I'm 28 and on cycle 6/7 of TTC. I have endo and had a lap last year. I also found out in 2021 that I have very low AMH especially at my age, which has been so worrying for me. It's bumped out TTC timeline up a bit. We did things in a strange order, we actually created and froze 4 embryos before trying to conceive naturally as we weren't ready in any sense but my AMH was already concerning and I was only 25.

So aside from the actual transfer of an embryo, I've done the rest of IVF so if anyone needs reassurance on the process I can help. The worst thing about it was the anxiety of not getting any eggs etc, the actual scans, medication and procedure were not nearly as bad as I expected.

Anyway onto cycle 6 or 7 for me 🙏 good luck everyone ☺️

Oh wow! I’d say that’s a line! See if it gets darker at 14dpo; I bet it will! Tentative congratulations xxx

@CatCaretaker I see a line! And I never see squinters so it must be clear 😂

Sorry, I should add, 12 DPO.

Guys... can I get your take on this please? I've never seen any kind of line before ...

@Feliciacat we've only started the process off eith HSHSEso haven't any results back from them yet, but privately, no, there doesn't seem to be any reason. Unexplained, which is worse I think. If there was a known cause maybe they could do something.

I hope for your sake that your issue can be fixed through surgery, what a relief that would be!

Hi @TinyDancer91! Your appointment is so close, that’s exciting. The clinic suspect I might have a structural issue that could hopefully be treated with surgery. Or I might have low AMH in which case maybe ivf could be a good option. Let us all know how your appointment goes.

@CatCaretaker it sounds like HSE will do you proud. A free cycle is not to be sniffed at either though, like you say, I hope it doesn’t come to that. Do HSE have any theories about why you’re taking a while to conceive? I hope you get some answers and solutions.

@Feliciacat so sorry to hear you've reached cycle 20. It's so hard. I hope the private tests provide some answers.

That sounds poor, that the NHS don't do AMH. I wonder what else they don't do?

I'm in ROI, and went about it the other way, started with private tests (mostly covered by private health insurance) and have now started the process of going through the HSE as they have introduced a free IVF cycle on the public health system (still hoping it won't come to this, but may as well start the process).

The private provider did do AMH, but didn't do day 21 progesterone, as part of standard tests. I had to request it separately. However the HSE will do AMH, day 21 and day 3/4 tests as well (I can't remember what the day 3/4 are going to test for right now). We've only had the initial HSE consultation so far, but they were very thorough and really seem like they're going to tick every box.

Hi all. I’m onto cycle 20 now! I never thought I’d face infertility. I just thought I’d say about my experience of private fertility tests in case it helped anyone.

I had blood tests done on the NHS which I assumed meant they’d done AMH testing because why wouldn’t they? It turns out the NHS don’t typically test for AMH though and they hadn’t tested me. I found this out after sending my results to a private clinic after not conceiving for so long. The NHS just told me my fertility was normal and gave no details. So watch out for that.

I am having a private AMH test and scan to check if I have fibroids or anything. DH is having another semen analysis because his pH was high but he had prostatitis at the time. Hopefully it’ll be better this time. Again, the NHS told him he was normal but when we requested the results to look at; he was not.

I phoned today for an appointment and we are having an appointment for the scan, blood test and analysis in just one week’s time. Then results on 8th May. This is so much faster than I thought it would be. Costs £750 for the three tests and then a consultation. I think it’s really good for peace of mind.

I hope everyone else is doing well xxx

@TinyDancer91 hi, yes thanks for asking. I'm on day 4 of stims, next scan is on Monday and if all is looking good then egg collection should be around Thursday next week. Might need more days of stims of course. The injections have been ok so far (my husband has been brilliant at doing them for me and being really sweet) but tomorrow we add in Cetrotide which is a proper syringe rather than a pen so I'm not looking forward to that! I think I am getting better with needles in general though.

26th April will come around fast! Try and do some fun things in the meantime. I did go on holiday in Feb so can't complain but wish I'd done a few more day trips / fun things whilst waiting, because I feel like everything is on hold now for a while until we know the outcome etc. We can do stuff but it's not so easy to plan ahead or do anything that needs booking in advance, because timings can shift so much.