October IVF

[Dinky06]

Hi ladies, I’ve been through all of my fertility screening tests etc and am due to start my first and hopefully only round of IVF (positive vibes ) soon. I’m looking to share my hopes, experiences and tips and provide support to anyone else expecting to start a cycle soon. The more the merrier!

Hi guys, can I join? Just booked in our nurses consultation for end of September and then our consultant said we will start meds as soon as I start my next period after that which as long as my cycles don’t go completely crazy will be around the middle of October. We’ll be on the short protocol and it’s our first fresh cycle so I’m guessing that means egg collection end of October. Is this correct? We’re having ICSI as well due to OHs sperm being a bit slow and low morphology. Very new to this all but excited things seem to be moving quickly.

Exactly the same for me @Banoffeepie91 but I might be a couple of weeks after you. We were hoping to start meds beginning of October but due to covid they need us to self isolate for 2 weeks before starting, which we can't do in September due to a holiday already booked.

@MF1981 we’ve got a holiday in September as well and could have actually started that cycle to if we’d cancelled the holiday. To be honest we both need a break so I think it will be great to get away and relax for a bit. We’re also moving house at the end of September so October will fit in much better with everything. Covid has forced us to cram all our plans for 2020 into a few months so it’s all going to be a bit crazy but it’s really exciting!
Have you told work about everything? I can’t really work from home so spoke to my manager yesterday about what I’ll need to do and she was really supportive. May have to use some annual leave but hoping not too much!

@Banoffeepie91 I'm working from home at the moment and was shielding so won't be going back to the office any time soon. I'm thinking I will need to tell my boss once the appointments start to ramp up but I only started this job in January so want to wait a while. He's really nice though so I know he will be supportive and understanding.

Hi everyone is it ok if I join this thread. We’re due to sign Our consents tomorrow and I came on my period yesterday. I was hoping they might say that I can start this cycle, but just reading a few of the comments it seems that I’ll need to self isolate for two weeks before starting the short cycle, is that right? I’ve been working from home anyhow as I’m in an at risk category for Covid, but I guess we’ll see. I’m 41 on 4th Sept and we have 1 NHS funded cycle. They told me I only have 9% chance of it working :( so not feeling all that hopeful. I think what makes it worse is that my next door neighbour and neighbour but one have both just had babies and my brother just announced they are expecting unexpectedly a couple of days ago. I haven’t told family. I have told my three closest friends that I am aiming to do IVF but told no one about dates.. I guess I just don’t want to have the conversations if it doesn’t work. Anyway, fingers crossed for us all x

@Sian7919 welcome! You may not have to self isolate - it might just be the policy at my clinic and it might just be because I was high risk and shielding so you'll need to check with your clinic. Did they say why your chances of it working are so low? I'm 39 but have good AMH and normal hormone levels but some level of polycystic ovaries and my clinic were really positive about our chances, although they didn't give me a % because they said that's impossible to say. Age affects quality of eggs more than anything else so do what you can now to help your egg quality.

Our clinic says we need to self isolate for around 8-9 days from day 9. Information is on their website about this so you might be able to check the website for yours. We also have to have covid tests before we go in.

Hello all! Hoping to do our first cycle in Oct.

We've just been for our blood tests this morning - and a surprise urine test for me (always fun!). It was our first time back at the clinic in person since before covid. Felt really odd but perfectly safe/efficient. Fairly lucky the NHS clinic we've been assigned is quite nice. I guess in a few days we'll find out if we have HIV, chlamydia, any of the hepatitis alphabet etc. Next week I've got the baseline scan so fingers crossed for that, I'm a touch worried about the potential for cyst to throw a spanner in the works but what will be will be I suppose.

Hi ladies and welcome new joiners! Hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend. Such a shame about the weather! AF arrived for me today so we're confirmed now on being on the IVF track, I'd kept everything crossed for a last minute reprieve but hey ho... I'm due to get a call from my clinic on Tuesday to confirm next steps and then I start a course of Norethisterone. Or I will once I sort my prescription. I'm still trying to work out the cheapest place to source everything from! Going to try Stork Fertility and get a quote for my prescription. Will keep you all posted for reference. Sending positive vibes to all xxx

How is everyone doing waiting to start treatment? I spend a good 5-10 minutes each morning looking at the calendar re-counting the days

@ThePurpleFairy same! I'm on day two of my cycle now and keep recounting now how many days until I think egg transfer will be in early/mid October. I'm hoping once we start it will be easier than my constant speculation of what it will be like. I've been working from home and have a degree of flexibility re my hours but am not sure whether I should just plan for time off. I'm quite certain I don't want to tell my boss - he's lovely but I just don't feel comfortable opening up. I also have a few family birthdays and things coming up where I don't quite know how to explain I'm not drinking and I dread people thinking it's because I'm pregnant! Sadly I don't think there's the understanding of IVF and a fertility journey amongst my family and friends so it a just me and my partner. Fingers crossed. Do you know when you're going to start? Xx

Hi Ladies, boing this thread in the hope of starting ivf in October. Clinic said should hopefully have our treatment planning appointment in a few weeks and then we will start on cd21 of my cycle after that.
Although I'm a bit confused as most of what I've read on these forums indicate women start ivf on cd1 rather than cd21? Does anyone have any knowledge/experience on that?

@Dinky06 I’m on the pill at the moment, been instructed to take it until 20 September. On 17 September I go to the hospital to have a covid swab and some up to date bloods and injection teach, then on 26 September I start injecting for egg collection w/c 5 October sometime. Do you know when you’ll start injecting?

I’ve been working at home since March, I’m really fortunate that it will likely stay that way for a good while yet. A select few people at my work do know, it was easier to explain to a few because we have to travel so far for our appointments it’s not like I can just be there and back within a couple of hours. Leeds is a 1.5 hour trip one way factoring in some traffic, so one appointment blocks out the entire day, I figured I wouldn’t be able to hide it when we need to go for progress scans and I didn’t want to just waste all my annual leave when I’m entitled to some of it as medical. For your family birthdays, I stopped drinking around Christmas and if I have thought people might think I wasn’t drinking strange, when offered a drink I’ve just asked for a soft drink and said I’m on antibiotics so I can’t have alcohol right now, usually keeps people satisfied with no further questions asked!

@ThePurpleFairy after I wrote my last, my clinic called! I will take Norethisterone between 12-23 Sept. They're going to call me again on Tuesday to confirm Covid details and baseline stuff. It feels positive to be moving forward. Our dates sound similar so I'll keep you posted.

I'm glad to hear you're being supported by colleagues. I saw an excuse about explaining the time off which I'm going to draw on: saying I'm starting a new medication and will require some close monitoring and potentially time off to deal with side effects while I adjust to it. It alls seems contrived to even be worrying out this but I have a patchy medical history so sadly think I can pull it off!! I'll also use the antibiotics excuse on family too. Luckily I cut my alcohol intake down to near zero during lockdown and have been making a point of saying I don't miss alcohol.

If you need any podcast recommendations for the Leeds drive down then let me know :)

@Kiza welcome and wishing you lots of luck! I'm afraid I'm not sure about CD21 but have to admit that I am easily confused by the whole process. Do you know what type of treatment you will be having? I think I'm on a short protocol so NET from cycle days 14 to 25 before having a period and then starting stims with egg collection and transfer in October all being well.

I think I'm going to end up having treatment in November now - we have to self isolate for 2 weeks before starting treatment and have a prep month so October will be prep and treatment will begin first week of November. Feel free to kick me off and tell me to start my own November thread!!!

Hi all can I join please? Not sure when I’m starting. Got a few things going on at the minute and debating whether to push it back a few months plus I wanted to have a good 3 month abstain from alcohol as we have had lots of events on recently and we keep saying this is our last go so want to give it the best shot. On top of that I’m at risk of redundancy in my job but I think I may have secured a redeployment role so I think I’m gonna wait till I’m a bit more settled in the role! Nothings ever straightforward is it ha xx

Just had the baseline scan today... there was a little blood in the spot that had held the egg which I ovulated last week (it had a medical name which I can't remember but they said it was super normal so I'm definitely not going to worry too much) but they are asking me to get another scan on CD1 to make sure its okay.

At the same appointment they are going to really go through everything I do with the medication in lots of detail, so feeling really reassured on that front. Just need to wait a week or two for my period now. After that if everything goes well (HUGE fingers crossed) we should be looking at egg collection early October and transfer soon after.

Got to put DHs question about sperm collection to the doctor. He wanted to know how long he should abstain for before. She said that he should ejaculate the same day I do my trigger shot and abstain for 2/3 days... until he comes in and I do egg collection.

They also weighed me so they have my BMI for anaesthetist. It was 26, which isn't a surprise but I wonder if it should be lower? The nurse said between 25 and 30 was fine and even up to 35 was okay, if more of a grey area. Again they said not to worry, so I guess I wont. Maybe just cut down on sugary/fatty stuff and be sensible.

It's exciting to be able to join one of these threads at last. My period started today, so have baseline scan booked in for the end of the month and then starting meds at the start of October period. Our clinic hasn't said anything about self isolating so I'm assuming it's not required... I feel like most of what I've learned about IVF I've learned from the internet rather than my clinic though! This is our first ICSI cycle, NHS funded. I've got pretty horrific medical phobia (rather dramatic fainting resulting in ironic injuries in the past) but all the blood tests so far seem to be helping with that at least! Hoping injections are okay.

So in my quest to appeal for NHS funding, I think I may have fallen at the first hurdle. The CCG have asked for a timeline of my appointments and the delay caused by Covid. However, my scans weren't booked in until April and their rules state that I have to have started treatment before my 39th birthday, which was on 23rd March. So whilst I couldn't have started treatment before my birthday, I was in the system. And the CCG is particularly harsh in my area and goes against advice from NICE and HFEA. What should I do?

Trying to keep track of who is where at this stage but all blurring a little! We have our drugs delivery tomorrow and likely to begin down reg next weekend... seems ages and like last week we were at that stage last time! They confirmed in nurses consult last week they are increasing the oestrogen tablets and putting me on the pill for the first week to avoid cysts but still have this nagging feeling whether everything is back to normal after miscarriage as they haven't scanned since they confirmed it and not quite what I expected happened! Hopefully it will drop into place soon!

@Dinky06 and @ThePurpleFairy I think I have similar dates to you. I start Norethisterone on Tuesday 8th September and then egg collection around 9th October. Feels really weird that it's actually happening now. Luckily I am working from home still but I'm think I'm might book the week off leading upto collection as there's scans and blood tests booked in for every other day!
@mayihavesomecakeplease I'm glad I'm not the only one who is relying on our good friend Google! I'm also a bit apprehensive about injections, only as I'm worried I'll do it wrong but husband assures me he will help. I think he is looking forward to jabbing me!

@Tara8 welcome to the party. It is getting a bit close now isn’t it! I go to Leeds to have our COVID swab, injection teach and some up to date bloods on 17th so I’m just counting down until then now.

I am also dreading the injections but I’ve bought EMLA cream in the hope that it will help. I got 2 tubes to start with to see how I get on.

Hi can I join?had my prostap injection yesterday...back in two weeks for a scan.

Welcome @Mrsmch123

Is anybody getting concerned about the Covid spike? I’ve already had my egg collection cancelled once