#makeithappen TTC through Donor IUI or Donor IVF or just undecided. All welcome. Thread 9

[kwick]

This thread is for anyone trying to conceive... or thinking about doing so through donor IUI or donor IVF. Nothing TMI - feel free to join, we are a lovely group here to support and help keep the cray-cray away!

Here is the link to the previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/donor_conception/2908645--makeithappen-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-All-welcome-Thread-8
And the one before that: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/donor_conception/2886793--makeithappen-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-All-welcome-Thread-7
And the one before that: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/donor_conception/2863056--makeithappen-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome-Thread-6
Here is the link to the one before that: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2832207--makeithappen-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome
Here is the link to the one before that one: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2769549-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome-makeithappen-loadsofBFPs
Here is the link to the thread before that: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2688511-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome-makeithappen
Here is the link to the one before that one: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2587046-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-or-just-undecided-all-welcome
And the one before that!: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/1877198-Donor-IUI

We also have a weight loss spin off thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/donor_conception/2889818-TTC-through-Donor-IUI-or-Donor-IVF-weight-loss-spin-off-thread

Aww munro i'm sorry it's so hard especially when you been doing constant back to back cycles. Hope you are feeling better and that this one is your cycle. Sounds like you will be tww buddies with pickle 😀

Sorry Munro xx

munro fingers crossed this is your cycle! Xx

Ah Munro I'm so sorry 😐 it is a total head fcuk! I think you are amazing for doing back to back. I've definitely struggled more with this cycle as I know what to look for and acutely aware when things haven't gone quite right
I've got a scan tomorrow and then hopefully iui on Monday (if follicles behaving and cycle isn't cancelled) so we will be tww buddies as bear says 😊 IF goes to plan tomorrow
Yeh af on that kind of adventure don't sound great 😫

pickle how did scan go this morning?

So my follicles are behaving, the 13mm one on the right turned out to be my cyst 🙄who I have named Cyril as he seems to be staying around
Follie on left has gone up to 20mm so Menopur & suprecur tonight then suprecur and trigger tomorrow night.

Iui is booked for 10.30 am on Monday. So happy. Had a long chat with the nurse about my worries along the way, she and all of them are so lovely 😊

Aww great news. Fingers crossed for Monday xx

Munro completely sympathise... such a fricking hard road to travel
Best of luck with IUI
Remember we are here if you need us 😘

Pickle great news on follicle!!! ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO!!!!

Brilliant pickle all set for Monday 😀

How was iui today Munro? I'm looking forward to joining you on the tww on Monday. Injections in 15mins then I am off to bed. I'm exhausted

IUI went well. Probably the least painful one so far. Also had the ginger donor again which im happy about. All in all a good day.
I'm trying mindfulness and meditation as well to keep calm/think positively
🤞🤞🤞

Also mine isn't a tww
Since I've been on Clomid my cycle has shortened. My period will be due end of next weekend. At least I don't have to wait too long

Hi all, I'm Turtle. Great to find this thread. I am 34 and planning to start going down the route of a donor baby on my own. I have an appt with a clinic on Mon for an initial assessment and fertility test, not really sure what to expect from it.

So exciting to see what everyone else is going through. I've read some of the past pages and there's talk of a lot of scans. How on earth do you guys fit this around work if you need several scans a cycle?

turtle hey, welcome! Good luck for your appt! If you have questions before or after, just ask!
Scans? It can be as often as every other day for a week in some situations. For me, I'm able to work at home when I need to, so it's pretty easy, others book the time off, or make the time up. Depends how far away your clinic is from your work, the scans generally only take 15-20mins (for me anyway) so an early appt and you could be in work just a shade late? Depends on your work situation i suppose.

Hi turtle 🐢 welcome :)
Good luck with your appointment on Monday, how exciting.
So yes the scan thing, so my clinic is 25miles away from me but can take 50 mins or 2hours to get to depending on the time of day and traffic so quite stressful
On my first cycle I had microgynon before so they could manipulate my cycle, we were able to pre book the baseline line scan and then a scan day 8 & day 10 and my clinic always gave me the 8 or 8.30am slot so smallest impact on work and then they told me a predicted date for iui. This all worked perfectly, I booked annual leave and some extra days incase of any delays which worked well (all except actually getting a positive)
So 2nd time round (this time) I was on norethisterone to manipulate cycle and I booked off enough time to get to pre booked scans but with being able to get back to work asap, booked the predicted day off for iui but said to work it may need to change but I'll shift patients if needed so not on anyone else to do it ( I work in NHS in a small team and treat high risk patients so not easy to swap things around) unfortunately my body didn't quite play ball this time and required 2 x extra scans and completely different day for iui which freaked me right out and felt a huge burden with work. But thankfully I was able to shift around using my usual day off to come in and not attend meetings etc. You just make it work.
I remember before I started and the girls said you'll make it a priority and shift things around and the uncertainty really concerned me but when you get there you really do just make it work. My manager is aware of what I'm doing and has been very supportive and flexible which has helped but if I do need to do another cycle I would def book more annual leave cos I couldn't cope with the stress of this month again as if I'd not had my day off in this week or had a meeting I could cancel I would have been in much bigger do-do's than I was but thankfully it worked out

I did a medicated cycle so bit easier to predict than none medicated

Sorry that was a very long reply....
How near is your clinic to you/your work? As they often open at 8am(some earlier) or can go in lunch breaks as my actual appointments have only been like half hour. so if had been at the hospital I work at for example it would have been a piece of cake

Good luck for Monday, let us know how you get on :)

Welcome turtle I would echo what the others have said, you just make it work. It largely depends om your clinic location and you work situation. I am able to get scans at a local clinic which is 30 mins walk from my work. If I can get the 7:30 appt it works out great but if not I just pop out for a "meeting". It can be quite stressful especially if you're doing back to back treatments. I try and book leave for when I think my IUI will be because my actual clinic is an hour away. So far I have been fairly accurate although the tome off I have booked in September looks like it will be a bit out so I might need to adjust. Luckily my boss is fairly relaxed about hols. Good Luck on Monday

Hi turtle, you've definitely come to the right place. Everyone is friendly and super helpful! I've just arrived on my journey too so I know how you're feeling. It's all a bit daunting initially!
I found the initial consultation to be really helpful, they go through everything with you, what your options are etc. They also scanned me then too for a bit of a baseline check. They told me which tests I should have, and I was able to book some that day which was helpful for me for work.
My work has been super supportive about appts, which definitely makes it easier. Do your work know what you're doing with regards to fertility? I'm lucky for this upcoming cycle that as I'm a teacher I'll be in summer holidays, which is completely the reason I'm having my first go now! The next cycle, should it happen, will obviously be in school time so less helpful! Good luck, be honest as possible with your management, they will hopefully be supportive and not mind too much about the appts, although I agree with the others, I guess it will depend on your situation.
Welcome again! I'm glad there's another newbie to go through this together! Xx

Thanks for the welcomes guys. Aww pickle can't believe you found a turtle emoji - how do I do that??

Sounds like I will have to tell my manager which I was hoping to avoid, though I'm sure he'll be understanding. My clinic is approx 30-45 mins away (depending on traffic) so there will definitely be some disruption but hopefully can make it work (though surely everyone wants the early scan appts?)

I've ended up going with this clinic for closeness as the next nearest is an hour away and thought that would be harder to make work but now wondering if that was a bad basis on which to choose. Further would only be harder though.

Wish4F I really don't know what the first appt includes - some kind of internal scan and a consultation. I don't feel the clinic have told me a great deal! I think other things like bloods, and HyCoSy which lots of people seem to have done will all be extra later (£££ :( )

It's so good to have this place to share all the gory details with as don't want people close to me to be asking Qs and adding pressure once I get into the treatment (though they are all supportive with the overall plan!)

Just an iPhone emoji rather than on mumsnet 🐢 cute isn't it

Well I thought everyone would want early scans too but I've always managed to get the first one and my clinic is quite small we only have 2 scanning rooms

My first appointment was just a chat with consultant. I'd had AMH test about a month before so he could devise a plan based on that but I know some of the others have had internals on first appointment too to see how many follicles you have but I just had that on my first baseline scan of my cycle

So for last hour I've had heavy/feels like drawing Womble like i get before af so a little scared. I've had a little ewcm today but not as much but surely follicle can't get bigger if af due 😳 can it????
Suprecur due to half hour and 2hours 15 till trigger. I need to distract myself cos now all I can focus on is that

turtle there really isn't any need to be nervous about the initial consult! (Although it's hard not to be and I totally was!) I only had mine a few weeks ago. The Dr talked us (my wife and I) through IUI as that was the route we were hoping for, took bloods and did an internal scan. On the scan be talked us through what he was looking for and explained that my ovaries looked good and didn't have any cysts (thankfully!) He then advised me to have an hsg scan to check my fallopian tubes are clear so that was booked in. That was pretty much it. He really put our minds at rest. I'm sure yours will be fine! You'll feel better after it knowing that you've started your journey! Where are you based? Which treatment will you be having? I've had all my appts now and will be starting stimulated iui on my next cycle. Eek!

I'm hoping to be able to do IUI but need to wait and see what advice is, and if IUI is an option whether medicated or unmedicated. It feels like we need to become doctors to understand it all and make the right decision :S

For example pickle I can't really follow (yet!) what you are explaining above re your own treatment, but looks like we are going to be in clinic at the same time on Mon, will be thinking of you! Can I ask how you got IUI booked a few days in advance? I thought the process was to wee on sticks and ring for an immediate appt when I was ovulating?

Wish I'm in Herts, going to a Create satellite in London Colney. I've read better things about the Herts & Essex clinic but that's quite a bit further, hence my worries earlier. I thought I'd see how my initial goes next week and if I don't get good vibes I can change clinics. So exciting for you to be starting soon!

Where is everyone else based?
Apologies I keep writing such long messages - so much to understand!

There is loads to understand! I certainly don't have my head around it and like you turtle I'm not sure about some of the things the others talk about! I'm based in south Wales and we are at CRGW xx

Don't worry turtle we've all be newbies here and everyone talking about follicles and lining I was like wtf?! But once you've had your first appointment it'll all start to make sense :) and any questions just fling them on here, one of us usually has an explanation or advice.

So I'm on a medicated cycle so I have had meds to stop me ovulating, meds to make the follicles grown bigger and then tonight an injection that would make me ovulate and then I get booked for iui 36hours after
If you do non medicated then it's all about the peeing on the stick thing which with work would have been an absolute nightmare not to be able to pre book things as I have my own patients that I need to move around so need a bit of notice if changes are required. So medicated has been really helpful (& what the clinic suggested for me)

Ooh how exciting, that we'll both be at clinic at same time :)

I'm 33,single and live in Kent using care fertility who I love, all the nurses are so so kind and caring and who along with the lovely ladies on here I would have struggled without

turtle I believe every clinic is different, some have you use opks to identify ovulation and other do scans or scans and bloods and have you take a trigger shot to time ovulation. If you are doing trigger shot the clinic then gives you a date and time for IUI

pickle I wouldn't worry I sometimes get pain like that when I'm nearing ovulation. Sounds like a good sign to me ☺️

TRIGGER IS ALL DONE I am now off to bed zzzz night all x