Anyone waiting to start IVF/FET in 2020?

[Lemongrass1]

As it says on the title really! Wondering if anyone else twiddling their thumbs and wanted to keep each other company?
Me- 40, was TTC for 4 years (unexplained infertility)- short protocol in 2018- fresh transfer resulted in an ectopic pregnancy followed by a successful FET later in the year. We have 8 frosties which we hope to use in another FET starting Feb/March 2020. First consultation next month. Feels so daunting to be starting the process again! X

Hi again @theartfulscreamer1. Looks like we're in the same boat as I have to wait until may/June due to having had an EMCS too. It's very nerve wracking thinking about putting yourself through it again isn't it?

@TheArtfulScreamer1 hi! A holiday just before you start treatment sounds perfect.

Hi ladies,

I've recently been referred to St. Mary's in Manchester for our two NHS rounds of IVF. We're expecting a long wait, perhaps March 2020 for our initial consultations and we'll know more then about what our chances are and what to expect.

I have PCOS, which I've always known, but since fertility testing we've also discovered problems with my tubes, and that DH has sub-optimal sperm too. So this is the most likely way we will conceive our first, and probably only, baby.

We're generally feeling positive, but just want to get on with it now! I'm taking some Comid in the meantime - recognise some names from the thread! - but more to regulate me than anything else.

It's lovely to hear from you all. xx

We have been told that money for Welsh patients is very low at the moment . ( welsh patient in English hospital). Am expecting April but could be 12 months from now.

Hi thought i would drop in here just passing time. In this what seems like for ever waiting game. Me and partner been trying for 2 half years . We were put on Clomid but reacted too senstive. In june we were put on ivf waiting list nhs. We have an info meeting on the 12th of december has any one eles done this and if so what do we expected . Then christmas eve we have our first meeting with conslutant does anyone know what happens in first meeting. Does any one know when we will start ivf many thank xxxx

@Hoping1 hi. It feels like such a long time ago that we had our first consultation. But I think they discuss the treatment plan with you (if you’re short/ long protocol for example), they will also give you quite a few forms to fill in. You need to give them permission for things, such as removing and storing eggs/ sperm/ embryos. When you are due to start your treatment, they ask that you phone in when your period starts the month before. Then at some point you go in for a scan and a mock transfer.

It feels like it’s still a while away for us all just now. I have been taking my folic acid, but that’s it for now. 3 months until I need to phone the clinic to start.

We have a meeting before conslution that we have to attend it on for 2 hours in meeting room did you have this and what happened if you did. Everything feels so long doesnt it think this has been the toughst thing i have ever done and it hasnt really begun yet. How have you found your jonury lets hope 2020 our year xxx

@Hoping1 no, we didn’t have that discussion, sorry. Let us know how you get on, when it comes.
Yeah, it’s so hard. There is so much waiting, and not knowing how things will turn out. Try take it a step at a time.
Good luck

Are any of you ladies having FET after a successful fresh cycle still breastfeeding by any chance? I need to stop breastfeeding in order to get my cycles back and regular for the FET but I'm struggling to give it up. Firstly now that I'm actually trying to stop (the twins are 6 and a half months old) I feel massively guilty, and secondly I can't get rid of the milk and am terrified of getting mastitis again. I've reduced it down to 3 feeds per day but it's not been enough to kick start ovulation so I'm going to have to stop entirely and just don't know how. It's anyone else going through this?

How long did you wait from first conslution till treatment lv i have spoken to alot of people and they didnt do it either . Letters say we must attend and it to improve our understanding of the procedure. I let you know it 12th we go and ivf conslutions christmas eve xxxxx

@CritterTamer sorry that you have to make that decision. I combi fed my DD from 3 days old, and it was only when I completely stopped BF that my periods came back 4 weeks later. My supply won’t have been as well established as your’s, but I have heard about dropping a feed a day, and replacing it with formula. Now that my DD is on solids at 8 months old, she is drinking a lot less formula. So, maybe when your twins are on solids, it will be easier to drop the feeds?

@Hoping1 I can’t say for sure, as it was a few years ago. Possibly a couple of months...

This time round we had our consultation in October and start FET in feb/ March. But we managed to get a cancellation. Consultation should have been January. Could you phone the hospital and ask?

Hello! I'm a bit late to the party here but can I join? We are about to start first ivf cycle in Jan finally. I'm thinking my first task is to get up to speed on the acronyms!

@Hoping1 I think it varies drastically depending on which PCT you are in. I had my first appt in March this year, then we investigated some male issues (which were qui cool y and easily resolved, grrr why do men get off so easily with this stuff?!?), then the NHS lost our application, twice(!), and then we had our first ivf meeting mid November.

Oh and I should add that the clinic don't start any new cycles from Nov onwards so we have to wait until Jan to start.

None of that will happen to you hopefully but it might be useful to know a timeline. Also, if they go suspiciously quiet then defo chase them up!

Btw good luck to you all. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻I've already found this process extremely difficult at times so well done to everyone for getting this far. Fingers crossed for lots of babies for us all in 2020!

I actually logged on to mn this evening trying to find advice on when you have a low follicle count. Does that apply to any of you? I was told I have three on each side (last year it was double that so I am really tearing up worrying that I will blame us if we aren't lucky in ivf). If we don't get many to fertilise have any of you done multiple egg collections (ie delayed the transfer stage) to try to build up a bank of frosties? I'm 39 and since my follicle count has halved in the last year I think we might need to act now to improve our chances. Has anyone else done that? @BeHereNowx32 and @CritterTamer you sound like you know a lot about the process in general, was it something you considered? And I'm sorry to hear you've had some difficult times along the way but glad to hear you got good results.

@BanjoBanana there's a special place in hell for exes that fuck with Fallopian tubes. Glad to hear you are rid of him. 👍🏻

Aaaaaaand another thing...@BanjoBanana you are quite right that extreme swearing is warranted. What the mother of fuck fake news is the whole "ttc is fun" bollocks?!? My wobbly ass is it fun. It SUCKS. I have never felt so blindsided and despairing about anything in my entire adult life. It's like the fricking adulting version of finding out Father Christmas isn't real - all a heartbreaking let down (but without the presents and comforting food). All whilst through gritted teeth pretending to relatives, friends and some particularly beaky and smug colleagues that everything is fine and that you're "waiting for the right time". It SUCKS ASS and I really appreciate being able to say that to some ladies who know exactly where I'm coming from.

@ferretyface - welcome, and I understand exactly where you are coming from. Even now I still struggle with the smug colleagues, or anyone really who can just simply decide on a whim that they want a baby, and 3 months later are announcing their pregnancy - it's so unfair that it can't be that way for all of us.
What you suggested about banking frosties isn't something I considered, partly because I didn't get any on our first round, and partly because the clinic wouldnt have don't that on the multicycle package we chose. I would say that each cycle is different though and you could well get more follicles next time if you did another one. At my pretreatment AFC scan I had 12 follicles, but when it came to cycles I only got 8 first time round (6 eggs collected from them), but second time around I had 12 follicles again with 12 eggs collected. In the three months between I did lots of things to boost fertility, and tweaks to my medication made by the clinic may have helped, but they did tell me that it naturally varies a bit every month anyway.

@Ferretyface you’re right. It’s such a horrible process to have to go through. It consumed my life since I started ttc. 4 years later I met my daughter. But it’s still not fair how stressful it can be. I wish you all the luck. Be kind to yourself and do what you need to get through it.

We didn’t have freeze all as an option for us. Our second round we got got 7 eggs, but only 2 fertilised, and one made it to day 3 transfer. It was a mess imo. The doctor said it was probably because I had poor egg quality... but the next round we tried different stimulation drugs (and I ate a lot of protein!). Then I had 8 eggs collected, 6 fertilised and 1 transferred (Successful) with 2 frozen. So, it can all change. I think it’s trial and error to start with to see how your body reacts. Maybe they can let you see how you react to the stimulation drugs first?

@CritterTamer and @BeHereNowx32 thanks so much for that. It really helps to hear that follicle numbers vary and that I can do stuff to try to keep the numbers up. The doctors are great but all I have got so far is (when they say the scan/test results aren't great) "we are where we are". It's so vague it does my head in!

@ferretyface - they really do play their cards close to their chests!

@Hoping1- we might have had something similar. Appt has us sat in a room with several other couples having IVF for first time. They showed a video discussing how IVF worked and then we had a talk from an embryologist. Ours was combined with the coordination appointment though, so we had to take our passports and sign hundreds of forms witnessed by the nurse. They gave us our protocol and we started the cycle on my next period

Have our first consultation for FET this Thursday and I feel so stressed out. Not sleeping as am worrying about chances of success, one embryo versus two, how many times to try before drawing a line under it etc etc. Won’t even be starting for a few months yet so I really need to relax a bit 😢 Just thinking about it is bringing back memories of how stressful I found the process.

@Lemongrass1 - I feel exactly the same - we're not even to start until around may and im already getting stressed!

Please could I join in here? I'm really hoping to start IVF for the first time in 2020, although I have been warned it could take another year to get to that stage. We filled in the first form to start the process in May.

I feel like a bit of a fraud here as we haven't gone through infertility. I have a neurological condition, which has a 50% chance of being passed on to any children I have, although I am the first in my family to have it. It's too high a chance to risk conceiving naturally, so we're going down the route of IVF with PGD.

So far we've had genetic counselling, baseline fertility testing, and a meeting with the consultant. My husband is absolutely fine, but we will have to have ICSI anyway to make the genetic testing results clearer. I have one 'excellent' ovary and one which is covered with so much scar tissue the consultant asked me if I'd ever had major abdominal surgery . It's shrunken and twisted around behind my uterus. I don't know why this is. I'm terrified I've had an infection somehow and not known about it and it will have halved our chances. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes and there's nothing I can do about it now. The damage, whatever it is, is done. I just hope the 'excellent' one can make up for it!

I have a preconceptual appointment on the 11th December. I assume this will be to discuss the implications of pregnancy with my condition, and maybe diet and general health? I'm not really sure what to expect.

I've already changed my medication to something which is compatible with pregnancy, but somewhat less effective for my condition, so I've been suffering from hideous (but thankfully abating) withdrawal symptoms as well as the symptoms of my condition coming back. The migraines and dizziness are not much fun, and I know my husband is worried about my increased chances of having a stroke during this process, as that is the key risk with my condition. I'm trying to concentrate on a good diet and exercise, because I have to concentrate on something beyond obsessively checking the postbox for letters from the fertility clinic!

@The3rdWatermelon hi! That all still sounds stressful. Good idea for concentrating on diet and exercise. I felt like it gave me some control while going through treatment. And it must help!

I didn’t think I was feeling stressed about going through ivf again, until I heard of a friend faking pregnant. It all messes with your head a bit. So grateful for my DD though, of course!

Wooo, got a consultation for early January! Fingers crossed the process doesn't take too long to get started from then.

Has anyone else got any updates or news re. starting dates? x