First Fertility Clinic Appointment Tomorrow

[dogmam]

Me and my partner have our first appointment with our fertility clinic tomorrow!

We went to the GP after a year of TTC and after 21 day bloods and partners SA, we were referred straight away to the fertility clinic. GP tests were in October/November so it's moved along quite quickly so far.

Feeling slightly nervous but also excited to hopefully get some help! My partners SA showed low motility and morphology so I assume that will be discussed..
What else should i expect from this first appointment? Is there anything I should be asking?

Thanks in advance! I'll update this after the appointment tomorrow as I know there are a few others on here who are in a similar position and might find it useful.

@Kitekat81 what they've given me is really easy. Its like a pen? You attach a new needle and turn the dial for the amount, and just press the end. The needle is short and thin and you just push it all the way in. So it's much easier than I thought it would be. I can put it in my leg or stomach. The first one I put in my leg but I could feel it all day. So the rest I've put in my stomach. I can feel it (not painful, just weird) but its less noticeable. Doing it isn't really an issue, remembering is the hard part! I did have a migraine Friday (not sure if it was related) and I've had bloating but no other side effects. I'm less looking forwards to the progesterone to be honest! That did make me feel crap as the time went on, when I tried it the other month.

@paintfairy interesting! Glad you are finding it ok. Wishing you lots of luck for the rest of the week!

Update from me- cd9 and I've over stimulated and already have 2 dominant follicles the right size. So they've given me a trigger shot and I've got to go for the insemination tomorrow! 🙈 Only downside is- we dtd last night (they told us to) so the sperm won't even be 2 days old.

@flutterby8 wow huge congratulations! And what are the chances of finding out just when you're about to have a clinic appointment! You've waited long enough for this to happen so try to enjoy as best you can. It gives me hope that it will happen for the rest of us so thanks and congratulations again x

@paintfairy how are you feeling? Can't believe it's happening tomorrow!

Hi All, can anyone recommend a good OPK.

I've seen these new digital thingys. Not sure if they are any good.

Thanks

@dogmam a bit bewildered! Obviously I was expecting it to be Friday or maybe Thursday. But not yet! Its a bit surreal.
@PurpleUnicorn01 I've always used ICs. But one month I did run the purple clear blue ones alongside them, to check if they said the same thing. They did. So I just used the ICs after that. Because they are cheap and I can pee on them as much as I like. 🤣 Usually the digital you use fmu bit the ICs you don't. And are best done in the afternoon. But you can do a few a day over peak days. One step are the ones I got, from ebay.

@paintfairy i think I'd be feeling the same, I bet you don't know what to do with yourself. Hope yoy can have a nice chilled day and you aren't at work! Do you get put to sleep tomorrow?

@paintfairy i hope it goes well.

Has anyone tried a cycle if clomid? I saw it on another thread and was considering it before ivf.

@dogmam no you are awake. Its a bit like having a hsg? Should be ok. I'm working from home, so not too bad.
@PurpleUnicorn01 I've been having gonal-f injections which works in a similar way, only it gives you the hormone rather than clomid trying to make your body produce more. I'm hoping that alone gives me more of a chance!

Yes @paintfairy. Thought it might be worth a shot!

IUI was done this morning! It was pretty quick- like the hsg but less painful. And faster. Then you just have to lie there 10 minutes after. The nurse i saw yesterday did it (they come down, as its in a different place- where the sperm samples go).
So I have still not yet seen a consultant @Iloveoreos and clearly I never will. 🤣 I think the fertility nurses are all just trained to deal with it. Which is how they manage to have little wait time i guess? If everyone was trying to see one consultant it would take forever. Maybe most hospitals are like that? They've all been nice though who i have seen so far and friendly.

@paintfairy how exciting for you!

Plenty of rest and tlc from your OH i think! I hope it works out for you

@paintfairy very exciting and have everything crossed. I hope this is it for you.

Update from me.. we had out follow up appointment with the consultant and his student (first time we've spoken with the consultant, all tests/investigations so far have been done by nurses/specialists). The purpose was to go over the scan results, blood results and repeat SA results.
Scan fine, lots of follicles (32) but not concerned about PCOS.
Bloods all fine and normal, didn't go into detail of each result but I specifically asked about AMH which is 34.1 which he said is fine (?).
SA, sadly results weren't good, even less so than the first SA. 2% motility and 2% morphology.
IVF with ICSI is our treatment plan. Waiting for a letter to confirm everything was discussed and also a date for an appointment with the nurse to go over the treatment plan in more detail. This appointment should be in June or July with a view to start treatment at the end of the summer.

He said it's very unlikely that we concieve naturally but not impossible. (Feel like he has to say that). He said not to bother with any supplements other than a multi vitiman as nothing is proven to help sperm and they are very expensive.
I asked if there was anything we could do to try and improve the sperm analysis and he said other than not smoking then not really. I got the impression he just thinks cracking on with ICSI is our best best so not to stress about trying to improve anything as we are getting treatment anyway.

@dogmam how did OH take it? Some men get very upset knowing they're the reason for the infertility - it's like they don't even consider it to be an option whereas women immediately think it's them! Your AMH is a great level, you should be happy with that!

How do you feel about having to wait until the end of summer to start treatment btw?

Had my pre op assessment today but other than that I'm just twiddling my thumbs until the lap next Tuesday.

@dogmam, at least you have a plan of action moving forward. I can imagine you're OH must have been gutted. I have my appointment next week to find out what our plan is so we should be at the same stage again more or less.

Ermm yeah I think he feels shit which probably doesn't help that I have struggled emotionally since the appointment (not with the SA results necessarily, just the fact we are having to go through this in general) I have explained though that it is not 'his' problem it's 'our' problem, which is genuinely how I feel. Regardless of who's 'fault' it is, is not important to me, it's just equally as shitty for us both. But yes, I will be trying to be as supportive as possible because appreciate he may feel like that, but at the moment, this is probably the lowest I have felt about the whole thing. It just makes me think the past year and a half of stressing, staring at opks, tests, eating right, not drinking, timing dtd etc has all been for nothing, when ultimately our chance of getting pregnant has always been down to the success of ICSI working.

Sorry, I am a right Debbie Downer today as it's all very fresh. Not that it is a surprise, even with the last SA we would most likely of had to go down this route anyway, it's just the confirmation and a professional saying it out loud that is a lot to deal with. And all I can concentrate on is the fact he said very clearly that there is a 25% success rate which in my mind reads as a 75% chance of failure.

The waiting is going to be really hard but not a lot I can do about that. We do get 3 rounds on the nhs which I know we are extremely lucky to get, but I need help interpreting that so I will find the info and post on here as you may know what it means.

Learn anything new at the pre-op? Anything you weren't expecting?

@dogmam ah no focus more on the stat nearly everyone gets to take a baby home after 3 rounds of ivf! Takes the stats right up to 85%!

Pre op call was good for clarifying some of the practical stuff. E.g. she said def leave OH at home as even though my appointment is at 7am it's unlikely I'd be allowed to leave until 4-5pm and even then it's best to pack an overnight bag just in case. She told me to bring lots of books lol. The nurse asked me my height, weight, how long my cycles are, what my period is usually like, if I've ever been pregnant or had a miscarriage etc. In a way she was more thorough than the consultant has been so far lol!

The only other thing that was new is that they expect me to have a blood sample taken before this Saturday - not short notice at all!

@PurpleUnicorn01 well so far I've hoovered and walked the dog. So maybe not. 🤣
@dogmam well that's pretty crap. I understand why you feel down. Interesting what they said about the supplements though. I have a friend (issue is him) who had private icsi this year. It failed. And they've now told him to take proxeed for 3 months before they try again. Although they aren't proven to work- people do seem to get improved SAs with them sometimes. I suppose its hit and miss, like with everything else! 3 rounds on the nhs is good! Its only 1 where I am. I'm not sure we can afford private so after the 1, that might be it for us.

@Juno231 got to love things being dropped on you! What's the blood sample for?

@paintfairy god knows - I didn't even think to ask and they sure didn't say a peep!

@dogmam is it worth trying proxeed in the meantime if you have to wait potentially 4-5 months to get started?

@Juno231 🤣 mystery blood test.

@Juno231 where did you get that stat about 85% success after three rounds? I need that reassurance!!

Thank you @juno231 that is a good way of looking at it!
To be honest I don't know what to think about the supplements. You read so much about things working for some and not for others you just don't know what to think.

So my question about how cycles and rounds on the nhs works is.. my clinic offers 3 cycles and the definition of a cycle is 'one fresh cycle and all viable frozen transfers'. What does this mean? Say on the first egg collection it leads to 5 embryos, one is used on a fresh cycle, then the remaining 4 could be used on 4 FETs? (So potentially 5 lots of stims, 5 transfers, 5 two week waits?)
Then if they were unsuccessful another cycle would be starting again with egg collection, potentially another 5 embryos and the same again with 1 fresh cycle and 4 FETs (assuming all good with the embryos). Then potentially same again for the 3rd cycle. Have I understood that correctly?

@paintfairy how you feeling? Hope you've got your feet up and are relaxing with the dog!

@dogmam it sounds like an awful lot but yes my understanding is that subsequent FETs belong to the first full cycle of IVF.

@Kitekat81 it's per the NICE guidelines! It's why they recommend NHS trusts to provide 3 rounds of IVF.

@dogmam we're having really similar motility and AMH experiences it seems. Sorry to hear his motility is even lower, ours went down too.

I understand the straight to ICSI argument and it's fine if it's NHS but if we have to pay (which I think we will) I'm keen to look into DH's motility issue to try to get it to the best quality we can if we get as far as private ICSI, I think. Rather than do a few rounds and then investigate, I guess. Someone on here who works in the industry has sent me advice I need to read through properly on this motility/sperm quality issue.

I know exactly how you feel. I wish I'd got us both tested on day 1 of ttc and saved a lot of time and energy, we've got motility + low progesterone working against us and the odds are not great.

What area are you in to get three rounds? I really wish it was the same here, one feels so unfair but at least it's not none. I don't understand why the IVF postcode lottery is acceptable in 2021 really. We're going to have to spend all our savings on this, I suspect.