How did you choose your clinic? Anyone go abroad?

[Ellsiedodah]

Hi all, I'm 38, ovarian egg reserve 1.1, husband's sperm, average to poor on various sperm counts. I have a toddler conceived through IUI. Just had a consultation at Kings College where we conceived my son through IUI almost 3 years ago, but didn't much like the consultant and wondered if we should shop around.

So, in beginning to look at clinics online, a ton of questions have come up for me which I'd be super grateful to hear from anyone about:

-Why is the national average for live births per treatment cycle so low (6%)??? Is IVF really a much higher risk pregnancy and why?
-Why are rates better for frozen embryos?
-How much is learned during your first cycle, to the extent that perhaps we should be considering the need to do it twice? (and work out our budget accordingly?)
-Did anyone find a clinic where they didn't feel on a conveyor belt? One pal says Lister and CRGH both made her feel like that, then another pal really rated Lister. Don't think we can afford either but is this a false economy?
-Is it more likely with my egg reserve that I will be doing a natural cycle or not possible to say?
-How long would I have to be abroad for if I did either a long or short protocol and is it feasible to do with a toddler and husband working full time (from, presumably, our airb&b)
-anyone know about what happens if you book your treatment and we go into another lockdown?! Is there insurance we can take out?

THANKS SO MUCH for any answers xxx

Hi there so I'll try and answer your questions one by one

• not sure where you've got that statistic? That might be specific to your age and ovarian reserve because actually below 40 years old success rates can be as high as 30% depending on circumstances. Which is why they say to do a 3 cycle package to maximise your chances

• frozen transfer success rates are often higher because there is evidence that all the drugs that are pumped into your body to produce the eggs actually makes the uterus less hospitable so it's better to freeze and give the body time to recover. Also if your embryos don't make it blastocyst until day 6 then it's better to freeze and transfer day 5

• I'm with Create and they've been amazing with me but I've heard not so great reviews from others. But it's very subjective

• difficult to say - I don't really understand the 1:1 - usually AMH is expressed as a single figure so are you saying your AMH is 1.1? You may find not many clinics will agree to treat you depending on your level? create specialise in treating with women with low egg reserve

• can't answer the foreign clinic one

• not sure on the lockdown - most clinics were amazing first time round and didn't charge anyone extra. When they reopened most said that we restarted treatment at our own risk so if they were forced to close (unlikely) then you'd have to pay abandoned cycle charges

I'm looking to go abroad as I'm 42 and don't have much time to play with. I looking through sites of the clinics to evaluate their embryologists and docs.