Is there a thread about Katie Price's IVF attempts?

[OracleInaCoracle]

just read about this and tbh am a little shocked. they have reportedly had tests which show no obvious problem but because they werent falling pg quickly enough they decided on IVF. and have already had two failed attempts.

Is it just me that thinks its a bit shitty that the rules re waiting to see if you conceive naturally dont apply if you have enough cash? and this pretty much wraps up everything that is wrong in our "must have now" society? and also proves that many people think that IVF=instant baby, when in fact its a horrendous process that shouldnt be undertaken just because you dont have any patience?

disclaimer: am feeling a tad under the weather at the mo. so dont flame me too much!

My sis had IVF; there were no fertility problems, but in a nutshell she couldn't be bothered to "put in the hours" shagging her dh and, approaching 40, she wanted to get a move on and have children.

Luckily she has money, and she had twins at the first attempt.

I was that she considered IVF an easier option than a bit of enforced nookie, but there you go.....

"Perhaps if, like her, you'd been able to fall pregnant as easily as falling off a log with men other than your current partner, you too might also feel that there was something definitely wrong this time around and wouldn't want to delay seeking expert help to investigate the problem. If it were really important to you and you had the means at your disposal to get it sorted of course you'd do the same thing."

actually, I have 1 ds with my dh and have had 12 miscarriages and an ectopic pg. there is something wrong, but i still wouldnt consider IVF after a year.

thenextmrsdepp, thats exactly what i mean. it seems wrong that people with more cash than patience can leapfrog the system and the guidelines put in place by the now defunct HFEA. the regulations are there for a reason.

havent you heard about professional couples going the ivf route in their early thirties because they dont want to waste time trying to conceive? sadly, it happens alot. Even Robbie Williams was quoted recently as saying they will go straight for ivf to save messing about (to cover up for his other tendancies, I cynically suspect!!)

Couples with loads of dosh do this kind of thing every time. Its not a huge deal to them. Sad but, true.

People say a LOT of things about ivf because they know fuck-all about it, so I wouldn't take what Robbie WIlliams says too seriously.

I've had a lot of ivf, and I've heard a lot of crap about it too, from people who have some really quite strange ideas.

Remember this woman is a media construct and you are reading reports about her in magazines and newspapers that hawk shite to great effect. I wouldn't give any of it a second thought tbh.

I just can't understand why people are even bothered if she is spending her money on IVF. I can't fathom why it would/should bother anyone.

I'd actually be prepared to get far more exercised over the subject of scare NHS resources being wasted assisting people who already have children to have more.

If you haven't got a child at all then fair enough, allow everyone one attempt to have a child free (and that would apply to couples where only one of them has a child) but after that I think everyone should pay for their own fertility trratment.

If Katie Price is funding all her own fertility treatment, good on her I say. Personally it wouldn't bother me if she didn't bother trying to conceive naturally for any more than a week before opting for IVF!

Why on earth shouldn't she? She is paying for it with her own earned money. Whatever you think of her life choices she shouldn't me made to wait just for the sake of it.

She is not "leapfrogging" any "system"

I agree with grapeandlemon.

Also, she hasn't had 3 sections. She had her first child vaginally. And you are 'allowed' as many sections as the surgeon thinks is safe. Some prefer to stop at three, some four, some five.

my problem is the lack of patience. its very frustrating when you are ttc and it is taking a long time, but a year is not a lobng time, the average couple can take up to 18 months ttc. I have an issue with people seeing ivf as a "shortcut" to having a baby, just as some people think that a cs is a "shortcut" to childbirth. its almost as if its the "easy option", and thats wrong whether its katie price or my next door neighbour.

You don't have a clue how long she has been trying for a baby

she has been very open about it and its just over a year.

scrap that, its closer to 18 months now. she had the first cycle after a year.

'It seems terribly unfair that by having enough money to jump over all the hoops that everyone else jumps through to be accepted for ivf cycles you arent subject to the rules which are there for a reason.'

I thought the rules were set out by the NHS? If you were paying privately they wouldn't apply surely? Money talks as they say. It's how it is for almost everything - money affords more choices in every aspect of life.

electra, the guidelines for IVF were set out by the HFEA, which (as an "unnecessary" quango) has now been closed by the goverment. every IVF cycle cost includes a HFEA fee which then goes towards further research etc (dont know if thats still the case) but the same rules were supposed to apply to private and NHS patients.

I find it very difficult to get upset about what two people spend their own time and money on.

Presumably we have no idea why she is not getting pregnant and if her husband has fertility issues then it may well be the case that "waiting" wouldn't make the slightest difference.

well with some luck she won't be able to fall pregnant and won't subject any more poor unfortunate children to having her as a mother and all the exploitation that that involves.

Ultimately, if there are rules surrounding IVF that have to do with the process rather than the ability to pay for it, then those rules should apply regardless of whether or not you have money.

And I agree with lisie that people are far too quick to jump on the "we've been ttc for ages" bandwagon when they fail to fall pregnant straight away. There could be any number of reasons why kp could not fall pregnant. Given she'd also had miscarriages it is not a given that she should be able to fall pg straight away just because she has done so previously.

If she wants to shell out money on ivf then fine, but she should have to go through the same processes as everyone else imho. but I for one hope that it doesn't work.

I dont care for the women but, I dont see why she should have to go through the same processes as everyone else. Its not an adoption panel. If she has the money surely shes freeing a space on the NHS.

I do think that if she put abit of weight on she might be more successful.

Alex has never covered up the fact that he has a low sperm count. His last partner said it as well.

i think wannabe hit the nail on the head, too many people moan about ttc got such a long time, when in reality its only a couple of months. people assume that they will get pg straight away and have no patience. they dont WANT to wait two weeks to test when companies like first response are saying that they can test 4 days early (which is inaccurate, the stats re getting an accurate result are much lower than you'd think)

they dont WANT to wait a 18m-2y and try to get up the pole naturally when they can just pop to a clinic and have IVF.

i just think its wrong and its the clinic im really blaming. unfortunately now the HFEA has gone there will be more couples with more money than patience taking this route.

Actually, I find that quite offensive, lissie. Sorry, and all that, but having done ivf and having known people who have had the treatment, I don't recognise that stereotype at all.
I don't care what's written in the papers. We all know it's mainly crap.

As far as I can see from the link that LissieLou posted about the HEFA guidelines all it says is that 95% of couples will fall pregnant naturally within 2 years - it doesn't say that you have to wait for 2 years to see and many people clearly aren't prepared to and don't, which is presumably why only 25% of IVF treatment is funded by the NHS (according to info on that link)

Anyway, the HEFA is a regulator and its functions are to license and monitor UK fertility clinics and all UK research involving human embryos, and provide impartial and authoritative information to the public.

The NHS clearly has it's own rules and regulations about the criteria for how long people are expected to wait before they can go for IVF treatment so as to carefully ration access to the service but as far as I'm concerned no such rules like that apply if you opt out of the NHS system and pay for your fertility treatment privately.

The HFEA is a regulator so it regularly inspects UK fertility clinics to ensure they adhere to standard safety and ethical rules set out by the UK government.

Private fertility clinics are there to make money so are highly unlikely to have rules in place to actively discourage the uptake of the services they offer. All they (and the HEFA) will be intersted in is making sure they do what is necessary to keep their licence.

So on this basis there is just no argument that Katie Price can afford to "jump the queue". She is not being treated on the NHS so this doesn't apply to her as the rules about how long you have to wait only appear to apply if you're being treated on the NHS.

If you think that's unfair then you'd better get over it because life is unfair generally. There are literlly hundreds of examples of people who have money being able to pay for whatever they want when they want it.

Look, you don't just walk into a private ivf clinic and say 'We've been shagging for 3 months but would like to speed things up a bit, here's the dosh, make us a baby.'

You do need a referral from a highly-trained professional. You're all making it seem like a baby shopping trip. You have totally bought into a media construct used to denigrate celebs and dingbats.

"Ultimately, if there are rules surrounding IVF that have to do with the process rather than the ability to pay for it, then those rules should apply regardless of whether or not you have money" really?
So if the average age where people are not allowed IVF on the NHS is 38 and a half, you think even private patients shouldn't be allowed to have IVF past that age? I find that quite an odd restriction to want to have in place!

I agree with Unprune and GenevieveHawkings. Why does it really bother people so much?

Another thing: how completely open and honest do you think people are, when they are talking about their ivf treatment? It's not an open book, you know, just for the papers to dissect, or for your friends to talk about behind your back.

People give a very concise story of their treatment, generally. They don't want to tell near strangers or even close friends or family about the invasive tests and the waiting around for the gp to agree to having this or that blood test done on the NHS to save them a bit of money. People lie about their reasons for having ivf. A LOT of men don't want their dodgy sperm discussed, or their erectile dysfunction, or the needle-into-the-testis job to salvage some sperm. 'Unexplained infertility' is a useful term for dissembling, but it means that twatty Daily Mail readers think they have some kind of direct line of knowledge into how long people were at it before 'they lost patience'

As an example, DH and I started trying for a baby, A few months later, for horrible medical reasons, we knew we'd have to have ivf. We got to it pretty quickly, since we were trying anyway. Gap between starting trying, and initiating ivf: one year. If you (a general 'you') heard the bare bones of that, you'd undoubtedly be thinking 'god, could they not have tried a bit harder?' When obviously you just know shit all about the reality of how we got to that point.

It's so arrogant to assume you have anything like a full story (or are somehow entitled to it).

I agree. Like I said earlier Alex has been very open about his low sperm count. I think he even said it on CBB.

Its nobodies business quite frankly. Celebrities so much wackier things when it comes to fertility. SJP paying someone to have her twins after her husband had been unfaithfull, your one out of Desperate Housewives having twins at nearly 50 and lets not forget Kelly Preston, getting pregnant within weeks of her son dying, well into middle aged.

I think, leave Katie alone. And I dont even like the woman.

Ps, whoever said earlier about needing a referral from a doctor you are dead right, but, if you have Harley Street money you can get a referral for anything there and then.