Hammersmith or Create?

[cantsleep]

Does anybody have any experience of either of these clinics?

Do they offer the same treatments? I am a little confused what the different protocols mean ? Do they both do 'mild' ivf?

TIA

I'm at Create. I've had two cycles so far.

#1 was natural. I got one mature egg, one fertilised embryo and a BFP, although I sadly miscarried at 8 weeks.

#2 was what they call natural modified (low dose drugs from day 6) as it looked like my funky post-mc hormones were trying to grow more than one egg, so the clinic suggested giving it a helping hand. They got 4 eggs, 2 fertilised and I had a chem preg (faint BFP one day, BFN the next).

We're going for cycle 3 in August.

I am pretty happy with Create. I like the low pressure environment and the low drug approach. The staff are generally really nice. The only really black mark I would give then relates to egg collection. The environment is pretty rubbish (one tiny room with four tiny curtained cubicles where you can hear everything said to everyone else - a real issue for my husband when his contribution for the first IVF wasn't great). Also at our first egg collection, while I was still groggy from the drugs and my husband was worrying about me as I don't react well to being knocked out they tried to sell us in vitro maturation (they had collected one immature egg, which I wasn't expecting) and ICSI, neither of which had been brought up before and which would have added many hundreds of pounds to the bill. That made us both a bit . Despite all that, for me, the positives outweigh the negatives, so we keep going back.

I've no experience of Hammersmith, but I am happy to answer any other Qs about Create.

Thankyou eurozammo. For the egg collection is it just sedation or an actual anaesthetic?

Sounds a bit odd just having curtained cubicles (especially for the men-I assumed they would have 'special' rooms for them to make their contribution.

Did you go to the harley st or wimbledon create clinic? I like what I've read on their website, they seem to have a gentler approach to things which I would prefer.

Thanks.

It's sedation, but to me it felt the same as GA - I was totally out of it with no recollection of anything. I didn't feel groggy for days afterwards like I do with GA though.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The curtained cubicles (like ward cubicles, only smaller) are where you go before and after the EC. You then go into the theatre room for the EC while your partner goes off elsewhere (another room, not a curtained cubicle, with the usual porn) to provide his sample. Then you both go back to the curtained room afterwards, where you come round from the sedation and they come to see you to tell you how many eggs they got and what the sperm sample was like. My husband was bothered by the fact that everyone else could hear the drs discussing his sperm count as they were just a few feet away through a thin curtain. He's not particularly shy, but he just didn't think that was the most sensitive set up. And before my first EC, I could cheerfully have killed the person in the next cubicle who had gone in first and was loudly enjoying some biscuits and saying how wonderful they were! She was about a foot away from me through the curtain and I could really have done without it as I tend to feel faint and headachy if I don't have breakfast. I guess in short, there is just a lack of personal space.

All of the ECs and ETs are done at Wimbledon - that is the only place they have a theatre and a lab. For the consultations and scans, you can chose either. I have mine at Harley St, as I work in Central London. If you need a scan or blood test at the weekend, you have to use Wimbledon again.

I am leaning more towards create, it sounds like a calmer place with a less agressive approach iyswim. I much prefer the idea of less drugs/mild ivf as have PCOS.

The small curtained cubicles don't sound great but think I could cope. DH not happy anyway about his part of it all so whether it was a room/cubicle it would probably be equally as difficult for him (nerves about not being able to provide a sample due to being nervous/too much pressure to 'perform' on the day).

Create seems slightly better price wise too as I think we would have a limit of 1 go, possibly 2.

Lots to think about.Didn't ever expect to be in this position really so its difficult (have dcs but need 'help' with having another due to problems with me).

Has he had any "practice" yet? I think most blokes are a bit stressed about it to begin with but by the time they reach IVF they have usually had 2 or 3 SAs along the way so they are fairly used to it. I don't think it's ever easy, but most manage. And frankly, compared to being rendered unconscious and having a knitting needle shoved through your fanjo, having a less than ideal vvank means they get the better end of the deal in my view!

I had IVF recently at Hammersmith for DC2, I found them very supportive and thorough, I felt the approach to my drug dosage was dealt with pragmatically rather than aggressively and always talked through with me. They do have a larger ward for the egg collection etc than Create, I personally felt more comfortable that it was connected to a hospital too. That said, I previously had DC1 with clomid at Create and they were always very nice.

Good luck, I wish you all the best.