What will GP ask me tomorrow?

[crazychemist]

DH and I have been trying for some time to conceive #2. No troubles conceiving our first child. I’ve got an appointment for the doctor tomorrow.

What might they ask me? I have a history of getting flustered and embarrassed and not saying everything I should say so I’m a bit stressed today. I have a short LP, so I guess that is likely to be the problem.

Probably being silly worrying about the appointment, he’s a good doctor that’s known me for years, I’m just not sure what to expect/hope for

hopefuly bump anyone have any experience of first appointment with GP when struggling to conceive?

No direct experience OP but I know what you mean about not saying what I need to when I get upset. Can you write key things down and take it in with you? I find it useful if I think I'm going to get flustered. I'm sure your GP will be kind.

We went after trying for a year for baby #1. Be prepared for awkward questions like "do your DH ejaculate" but they're just trying to make sure there's nothing really simple going on.
I remember being asked about stress levels, what we did for jobs, whether my periods were regular etc. Most likely they'll send you for a blood test and your DH for a sperm test to rule anything out

How long have you been trying?
How often are you having sex?
Any previous pregnancies?
How was the conception and delivery of your first?
Any previous STIs?
Do you or your partner smoke?
Are you on folic acid?
What is your cycle like? How many days? How many days bleeding? Any bleeding between periods? Any pain on intercourse?
Any other medical problems?

How do you know about the short luteal phase, are you tracking?

They would usually start with some blood tests, usually day 1-3 of your cycle to see baseline hormones and 7 days before your period would be due to confirm ovulation. They would also check for things like thyroid problems. They might recommend your partner has a semen analysis and arrange some imaging for you - often a pelvic ultrasound and some kind of tube study where they flush through some dye (Hysterosalpingogram or HyCoSy, with ultrasound or xrays).

Thanks ladies, that’s very helpful, especially that list @elphiasdoge! I can manage questions, so I hope he asks lots! I was worrying that he would basically sit there and I wouldn’t know what to say

He probably won’t, but if he does why don’t you prepare a little paragraph with the answer to all those, then you’ve got it just in case. Hope it goes well. And yes grandmasterstitch is right they may ask some detailed mechanical questions, just to make sure the issue isn’t that he isn’t ejaculating inside you/you’re only doing it once a month. You’d be surprised!

Thank you so much for your responses ladies.

Saw my GP this morning. No awkward questions really - DH and I have one DD so I guess he assumed we know the basics!

In case anyone reads this who is in a similar situation, he asked:
Whether my DD was with my current DH
Any changes in my cycle since I had DD (he asked quite a lot about this and made notes, and checked when my last smear test was/results on my medical record)
Any changes in lifestyle/stress levels
How long we had been trying

He was very matter of fact so it wasn’t at all embarrassing. When talking about my cycles I said I did use OPKs and had been temperature charting for the last 6 months. He was a little dismissive of these, not in an unkind way, but he thought they aren’t reliable indicators for anyone who has any fertility issues and that they cause stress.

He’s got me booked for blood tests next week (day 21) and he’s ordered quite a lot of things checked - progesterone, LH, FSH, testosterone and some ones to check for diabetes and thyroid function. He’s also referred me to have a trans-vaginal scan to check for endometriosis or other issues with uterus lining, but he said there might be more of a wait for that and that I should get a letter from them within a few days.

He said if those all come back with no issues then there are a few more tests that can be run and that my DH should have sperm analysis, but that as we already had one child there wasn’t any reason to assume more serious issues or any issues with DH so we should wait for initial results first.

Basically, I’m quite pleased with how it went. I felt like I was taken seriously and that although he said he wasn’t concerned and it was within normal timescales, potential problems are being checked.