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.

@myfavouritefudgecake hello and welcome! I say don't worry about it - my fertility doc didn't even have ANY of our results when we went in for our appointment and I'm pretty sure as you've been confirmed with PCOS you'd qualify for a referral without them. And yes the referral is for you but they expect your OH to be present for the first appointment.

In terms of first appointment - def check the OPs posts in here as she detailed it well. Normally they go through (or ask you to fill out a form in advance) all the details of your TTC story so far. E.g. how long you have been trying, how often you DTD, how long/irregular your cycles are etc. They'll ask about medical histories as well. But really they lay out what the next steps will be based on what's happened so far. So in your case I imagine they'll still want you to do some of the blood tests, probably another ultrasound and they'll ask your OH to do an SA.

@Juno231 that is great thank you. I have just gone back and seen the OPs second post and that is super helpful. Not sure how I missed it first time.

The clinic rang me this morning to say that the first consultation will be over the phone so sounds like I’ll have a similar experience to the OP.

What a road TTC is. You never think it’ll be you that will need fertility treatment and then suddenly it is.

Good luck with the apptmt! Am new here and am not sure of the abbreviations etc. Am curious about whether your partner has been tested for sperm motility etc as fertility is about both of you being physically capable. It's not just up to us but this always seems to be forgotten about.
My partner had a very low sperm count/motility etc (approx 9000 and 20,000 is the average!) so it was up to him to sort himself out which he did via diet/behaviour.
Good luck!

@flutterby8 your appointment letter/info sounds exactly like what I got, forms to fill in with nowhere to send them (I rang and they gave me an email addeess), an appointment slot with a 2 hour window either side. Just make sure you write any key questions down so you don't forget to ask them! Keep us updated but have a look at my origional post or two as I think I mentioned everything they asked and felt it was very thorough.

@paintfairy ahh now you mention, I think that's the same for me to, the reason why I'm not getting the Hycosy done on the 1st. I think she said I'm to have the internal scan and partner gets repeat SA done first and see what the results of those are as no point in getting Hycosy if either of those come back with poor results as we would go straight for treatment anyway. I can kind of see the pros and cons of doing it this way. Did you say you are ovulating around the time of your scan and SA? Same here, well I think I'm due to ovulate like 2 days before so now I'm worrying it will be a missed chance because of the no DTD before the SA, although the guidance isn't clear, think it's 3-5 days.. but which is it, 3, 4 or 5?!

@thislittlebird welcome! Sounds like you've had an equally crappy time and sorry you're in this position to begin with! Me and my other half were also told his SA results were 'fine' by the GP and just by chance I asked the receptionist to send me a copy of them only to find they are not fine! Low motility and morphology. My 21 day bloods were fine but I've never actually been offered 3 day bloods, it's never been mentioned by my GP or the clinic.. I get spotting for a good 3 days before AF too, my fertility consultant didn't seem concerned about this when I mentioned it during our first call and she specifically asked me about my periods.

@chestnutshell welcome! I felt exactly the same as you are describing, worrying about the referral being in my name only, no 3 day bloods prior to referral etc. Easier said than done but try not to worry too much about these things, just get your first appointment done with and ask all questions you've mentioned to the clinic. They probably prefer to do their own tests anyway, even if you did already have them done by your GP. I'm getting repeat bloods done and repeat SA for other half as ordered by the clinic on the back of our first phone appointment in Jan. I think the first appointment is all about fact finding for the clinic, making sure your eligible I.e have been trying for a year, have regular sex, BMI etc then it's just about them arranging the tests.. then the waiting begins! Good luck x

@dogmam AF arrived slightly early so I'll be ovulating just before my scan now, I reckon. The SA is tomorrow. So it's not a problem with dtd right now.
She told us to do 2 days. You can do 2 to 5 but she said if they use it for IUI they use it at 2 days. And they are doing a test wash. So therefore it makes sense to take a sample in at 2 days because that's a direct comparison to what they'll be using.

Interestingly our last one she said was tested at the end of the time window too, and that's not ideal. It was an hour old. Obviously now you can't do it there which is annoying. But we only live 20 minutes from the hospital. So they didn't bother doing it straight away obviously.

@paintfairy ooh interesting about the hour window. One of the clinics I have as an option locally had lots of scathing reviews here on MN and one of the things said about was how the ladies' embryo fail rate was so high - but no wonder when they gave the clinic the eggs at reception and the receptionist just put them on the floor and carried on with a private conversation over the phone - so god knows how long before they made it to the lab?

So one of my friends who's been waiting for a referral since Dec got a letter through the post today for a hycosy at the same hospital I'll be doing my HSG. They also got instructed that her OH needs to redo his SA. But they've had no appointment with the clinic yet?? How weird how differently it works. Also I wonder why she got a hycosy and I an HSG? Must be a doctor preference.

@Juno231 I think the window is 1 hour 15 and it was done on the hour. But why wasn't it done ASAP? Who knows! But yes, ridiculous these places!
Interesting about your friend. I can't believe it is all so different. I'm not sure which my hospital favour- she didn't say. Just said we'll need to check your tubes but I'm sure it'll become clearer when I go, which it is. I was just looking up assisted iui. Risk of multiple babies? God. DH will have a fit if I tell him that. 🤣

Interestingly (google) higher fsh is linked to low egg reserve and menopause? So they better hurry up! Before I'm out the threshold.

@paintfairy hopefully your FSH was just high for that test and it was still clearly within the limit so nothing to worry about just yet fx. Maybe don't tell OH about the multiple births though lol!

So ladies I got a letter through for my next appointment with the fertility clinic - 8th of July!! I'm hoping that will change though, I really don't see why it would be so late...

Went to the hospital this morning to have my day 3 blood taken - they took four vials so it'll be interesting to see what else is being looked at (all I know is that they added an AMH test).

@Juno231 Jesus they don’t rush, do they? This was rescheduled from this month?

@Juno231 I actually had a day 2 in 2019 so it would be interesting to know what that was back then.
DH took his SA in today. That's traumatic on a time limit!
July cannot be right. You'll see them soon though, so you can maybe work out then what's going on?

@paintfairy wow already! That's good! We haven't received any SA info yet. Did he make it on time I take it? As for me seeing them soon enough - god knows, this july appt is the only one I have.

@thislittlebird so I had my first appointment last week and they mentioned scheduling in a follow up. I'm therefore assuming this is the follow up one but hoping I'm wrong!

Oh ok, better than I thought but not ideal for a follow up nonetheless. Did they just agree to do more tests at the last one? @Juno231

SA test is annoying because we live too far from the hospital for him to take it in really so he has to do it there.

@thislittlebird yes at the last one she just listed some tests and sent us on our merry way. I'll be done with my side of things next Friday already so I do hope we don't actually have to wait all that long for a follow up.

@Juno231 that's a bit odd when you are having all your stuff done now? Then wait 6 months to tell you about it? Surely not?! Yes he made it on time. The issue is more the doing it like @thislittlebird says. You can't do it there and it's in a built up area too. God knows how blokes that can't perform under pressure do it. 🙄 It's pretty awkward!

@juno231 July? That's ridiculous! Is that for the results of your scan and to discuss next steps? My follow up is April and I thought that was bad!

My partners first SA was done at home and a race to the hospital to drop it off with me constantly saying 'keep it warm' in the car journey on the way! The next one is in the actual clinic so no mad dash to deliver the goods!

I double checked and I'm due to ovulate on the Friday and then SA is the Monday so think the Thursday will be the last time we can try for this cycle.

@dogmam :cough: he did it in the car....🤣 They just won't let you do it there?

Me and my other half were also told his SA results were 'fine' by the GP and just by chance I asked the receptionist to send me a copy of them only to find they are not fine! Low motility and morphology. My 21 day bloods were fine but I've never actually been offered 3 day bloods, it's never been mentioned by my GP or the clinic.. I get spotting for a good 3 days before AF too, my fertility consultant didn't seem concerned about this when I mentioned it during our first call and she specifically asked me about my periods.<
forgot to reply to this @dogmam. Your experience sounds so much like ours. No day 3, much confusion and the receptionist dishing out incorrect results is so infuriating, they really need to start booking appointments for results right away. I asked for our results a few months later after being suspicious of no bfp and oh look! they were not in fact fine.

...in the car? Why won’t they let the guys do it in there?

@thislittlebird covid rules apparently

Interesting @paintfairy. My husband said they were allowed no porn mags because of covid.

@thislittlebird 🤣
Pre covid you could do it there. Just not now. It's a pain.

Ew, not sure you'd want to use those magazines anyway!

@thislittlebird it's so bad that they can get it wrong! Imagine if it was something more serious and they dismissed the results as 'fine'!

The first SA they sent out a pot in the post to don't at home.. that one was through the GP and the local hospital.. this one he has to go to the fertility clinic and do it there whilst I get my scan done, we got a double appointment so that was good x

Got my HSG this Friday which I'm starting to feel a bit nervous about.

OH still hasn't received anything about his SA so I'll make him call (somewhere?) for an update. Spoke to my friend whose OH will be having his SA redone at the same hospital and apparently their services are closed until 29th of March due to covid with a big backlog so it doesn't look good timewise...

Yeah it’s really frustrating @dogmam. I just don’t trust them anymore because of it, and feel I need to second guess everything.

We had to use (what I assume is) a private clinic for his SA. On the Rhod Gilbert show he had a handy hatch to put his pot in in the room he did it in, and my husband had to take his for a walk around the London Bridge area to another building lol. He has to do another one in early March, so hopefully there’s no delay.

I chased my referral this morning and they claim it’s been done. Let’s see if a letter arrives. I don’t have high hopes based on my experiences to date, unfortunately.

Fingers crossed it’s as comfortable as these things can be @Juno231

@Juno231 I don't know about the hsg but I had the hycosy and it was absolutely fine. It wasn't any more uncomfortable than the previous internal scan I had, and I didn't have any cramping afterwards. It was all over in less than 10 minutes!