IVF

[Beth191087]

Hi, wondering if anyone can help, me and my husband are about to start our IVF journey through the NHS, and i was wondering if anyone had any rough timelines with how long it takes etc or knew of any blogs/vlogs with anyone's journey on it. I'd prefer if it could be an NHS journey as that is what we are going through.
Thanks very much!

Hi, I noticed you had no responses so thought I’d stop by to recommend a couple of podcasts. One is called Fertility Podcast and the other is called BFN, they both have a lot of informative episodes and they aren’t really one story but lots of stories with episodes sometimes focussing on a particular couple. All the nhs wait times differ quite a bit depending on area/CCG, but if you know who you’ll be with they can probably tell you the wait roughly. Good luck!

Things moved very quickly here at West Berkshire. I had to be trying for two years before I could be referred and once two years came around (January 2022), I was given an appointment for a few weeks later (mid January) to discuss next steps and then DH and I had to go in to sign the funding paperwork and choose our IVF clinic (mid February) and then the clinic got back to me (March) and I started with my next cycle. Now I'm in the middle of stims with egg collection next week.

Good luck!!

Hi, West London here, for us our GP longed out thr process more than they needed to! They kept sending us for scans and semen tests, I have had spotting between periods for most my life and she prioritised finding a reason for that. I've previously had a fibroid removed, but was told we were both healthy but things didn't work out for us. Start of 2021 I spoke to another GP and told her the spotting investigations are clear and that the consultant who dealt with that asked me to tell the GP to refer us to a fertility clinic. So again more ultrasounds and scans, bloods, semen analysis. We are in April 2022 and have been referred and took my first IVF injection last night!

Also we didn't get to chose the clinic, kinda got given what was available, more so I wanted one with a shorter waitlist but not sure what that counts for as they would prioritise the private health patients who are paying for their treatment!

I have recently been through an IVF cycle- from referral to first consultation it was 8 months.

Then after that appointment it was 8 weeks to the stim starting ( there were a few appointments in between for bloods for both of us, re-screening tests and showing us how to do the meds and explain the protocol it could be a few weeks less or more depending on your natural menstruation.
I was given all the meds and kit ( instructions, sharps box, needles etc)
Then I had to call the clinic on day 1 of my AF ( this was typically on the weekend) so I called the Monday went in on the Tuesday and started my injections that day.

I had short protocol and Stimmed for 6 days then had a scan then a scan was arranged on day 8 and day 10 however I was ready at day 8 and triggered that day for EC on day 10- I had ET 5 days later.

Happy to answer any other questions.

Good luck with you cycle.