First IVF appt at Bourn Hall - what to expect/ reviews

[AuntyBee88]

Hello beautiful ladies,

Hope you’re all well :)

Me 33, husband 35, TTC for 3 years

I have recently received my NHS referral for IVF & currently waiting to hear from Bourn Hall, my chosen clinic.
Both me & husband have had all the necessary tests from the fertility unit at our local hospital (took over a year for all tests to be completed - this included multiple SA for husband and blood tests to check for immunity against HIV etc. I have also undergone numerous vaginal ultrasounds as well as the HSG dye test, countless blood tests during different points in my cycle and a recent smear test).

We have been advised it is likely we will be offered IVF with ICSI as husband has low morphology. All other results came back ok.

I’m just wondering what to expect on our first appointment at Bourn Hall if all our tests have been done prior to coming to them (all done within last 3 months). Will they repeat any tests or can we expect to start straight away?

I'd also appreciate any reviews from ladies who have undergone recent treatment at Bourn Hall.

Feeling very excited and super nervous to start treatment.

Best of luck to us all :)

Hi @AuntyBee88,

I'm in the middle of the TWW at my second cycle at BH. Have you had your initial consultation with the doctor at BH yet? This will either be over the phone or via videoconferencing, and it is quite an in-depth call to go over your medical history and to double check the results of all your NHS tests. They then recommend a course of treatment depending on your diagnosis, and will send off to get approval and funding from your CCG (do follow up on this and get your notes from this meeting - it's invaluable to have a record to refer to). This bit didn't take too long when we did it - only about 3 weeks although it can take up to 8. After that has gone through, you will get your treatment plan calendar through from the nurses and medication will be sent to you via a company called Fertility2U.

Full disclosure, my experience with BH for my first cycle this summer was not great: there were a lot of communication and scheduling issues; I was arguably monitored fewer times than I ought to have been (this was due to COVID); and one of these breakdowns in communication led to an unfortunate outcome in that I had a complete fertilisation failure. Like you, our diagnosis was largely unexplained but the only notable problem was poor sperm morphology. What I hadn't realised - and this caveat is buried deep in the consent forms, and I would have been more aware of had they sent the notes of the first doctor's call to me - is that in most cases they only perform ICSI if the sperm parameters are poor on the day of egg collection, otherwise they will perform standard IVF. My husband had given a really good sample on the day of EC so they carried out standard IVF, with unfortunately disastrous results. I put in a complaint about the various aspects where I thought care had been substandard and they sent me back a very fulsome apologetic reply complete with steps they were going to take to improve things for all patients in the future.

HOWEVER, my second cycle has been completely different: everything they said they would implement in the reply to my complaint has taken place; I was monitored more frequently; and I actually got to transfer this time (with ICSI)! I would also stress that their in-person clinical care is really, really good, so I think what happened the first cycle was a perfect storm of various elements, most of all being our specific diagnosis of sperm ignoring egg!

Please bear in mind this is just my experience and I would say overall, our experience with BH has been broadly positive. Good luck!

@TheSnufflet thank you so much for your detailed reply, very helpful :)

Haven't had my first appointment at BH yet, hoping they contact me next week with an appt date. They rang me a couple of days ago to advise they have received my NHS referral but needed more information from my local hospital fertility unit which they have asked for. The nurse at the fertility unit told me they will get the required info to them at some point today.

I thought a lot about which clinic to use and decided to go with BH as its closest to home and I have generally heard good things about it. I have read a lot of reviews mentioning difficulties people have had with getting hold of someone on the phone so really hoping they have managed to resolve these communication issues.

Reassuring to hear of your positive second experience.

Wishing you all the very best and hoping you get a positive outcome at the end of your TWW xx

Hi @AuntyBee88 I am currently at bourn hall I had a failed fresh cycle with them in September and now just waiting to start a frozen.

They are honestly so lovely In person and the clinic itself makes you feel at ease we chose the clinic because of its success rates and didn’t want the rush of the London clinics.

The communication has gotten a lot better although they did mess up the date for my first consultation but they have been really good since so I would recommend them too xxx

@Lotusflower1990000 thank you so much for your reply!

So glad to hear of your positive words for the clinic. They rang me today & have booked me in for my first consultation via video conferencing with a Dr on 1st Dec.

They have also created a profile for me & my husband on their portal. Been navigating through it this evening and it seems very good, all appointment details on there as well important documents and ways to directly contact the clinic. Very useful to have everything online in one place.

Wishing you all the very best for your frozen cycle, hoping it results in good news for you! :)

@AuntyBee88 thank you so much same to you and baby dust ❤️

I absolutely love the portal it is so much easier then to have all the paper in front of you it does take a while to get through but I honestly don’t mind lol xx

I was at the clinic this week as I went in for a endometrial scratch hoping this helps with my frozen transfer xx

Good luck with your consultation it’s so exciting to start we also had icsi if you have any questions here to chat xxx

@Lotusflower1990000 please do keep me updated with how you get on. Its near to hear from someone who is currently at the same clinic.

It is super exciting and very nerve wracking to finally be starting the process! From my husband's previous SA results I think we will also be going down the ICSI route but I guess that will depend on his sample on the day.

I don't like going into anything with a negative mentality so really trying to maintain a positive approach, but at the sane time I don't want to get my hopes up too much either. A mish mash of feelings!

@AuntyBee88 I will you too yes it is really nice to be able to speak to someone at the same clinic.

When I was waiting for transfer there were a few ladies next to me but you just never know who wants to chat and who doesn’t lol and it’s a bit awkward at the same time so it’s great to have this platform

I know it’s so hard even after our failed fresh I’m trying to stay positive my medication has just been ordered to start Wednesday so im really excited but nervous like you.
Xxx

@Lotusflower1990000 can I please ask how you have found juggling work commitments etc with attending the clinic for your appointments? I should be ok with taking time off work as luckily I work flexible hours. My husband will find it more difficult to get time off work, did your partner have to attend all the appointments with you? X

@AuntyBee88 for my fresh I only went in 4 times so I booked these off in advance they emailed me a calendar for 6 weeks with the time and amounts of injections/tablets I needed to take and the days and times of my appointments so it was great. My husband only came into the clinic with me for my transfer but the rest of the time he wasn’t allowed he did drive me tho and booked dates of in advance I had 2 baseline scans one to make sure my down reg medicine was working the 2nd scan was to check my follicles were at the right stage to trigger a shot the 3rd was egg collections and 4th was egg transfer xx

I would recommend taking time off after egg collection as you need time to recover some people are ok but I struggled and ended up calling in sick at work xx

@Lotusflower1990000 how are you getting on?
I have my first consultation with the Dr at the clinic on Weds, feels like it took forever to get to this stage but excited to finally start! Xxx

Hey @AuntyBee88 how are you? How was it Have they sent you your calendar plan? I know it’s crazy it’s starts off so slow and then before you know it you will be in egg collection/Transfer I have started down regging for my frozen transfer and injecting again this is the worst part for me hoping Xmas keeps me distracted lol with all the eating and buying gifts lol xx

@Lotusflower1990000 I'm good thank you, my consultation is this coming Weds in the morning. Not sure what plan they will put in place for me as my periods have always been irregular.
How many times are you currently injecting? I was thinking of purchasing a small fridge for storage of the injections. I live in a large family and the main fridge is always full so concerned I wont have the space in it xxx

@AuntyBee88 aww that’s good to hear sorry I misread your message good luck with you consultation on Wednesday I inject every night for down reg then in 3 weeks I start tablets to thicken my lining 2 weeks of this and then transfer tbh the only thing you really need to store is your stims medicine and trigger medication but u do need a fair bet of space I kept all my stuff in my bottom bit of the fridge where the veg should go lol let me know how Wednesday goes xxx

@Lotusflower1990000 how are you? Just to update you I had my first consultation this morning & Dr has confirmed I will be on the short protocol for ICSI. I have been advised to email to arrange an appointment with the nurses who need to book me in for an ultrasound scan & to perform a blood test to check for thyroid function. I have also been advised I need to start taking Metformin straight away and will also need to take provera to induce a bleed. They will go through all this with me at my nurses appointment. Looking likely that I will be starting stims at some point in Jan.
The Dr did a calculation for us and advised us that our chance of a successful pregnancy in our first attempt given our ages and other factors is around 45% which is good.
So much information to take in but the Dr was absolutely lovely and explained everything in detail really well.
Hope all is ok with you xxx