Belfast Fertility Clinics

[Sunshine180]

does anyone here have any experience with fertility clinics in Belfast. For background my husband and I have been TTC for 2 years now and my dr has referred me to gynae but the waitlist is currently 3 years. My husband has booked for his semen analysis and if it comes back ok I assume the nhs will just tell us we have to wait on my gynae appointment so I was going to look into going private.

I have seen In Ovo do an IVF package for £5k has anyone with experience of them experienced are there many hidden costs on top of this please?

@StillTTC7 yeah sometimes there’s just so much information and figures it’s hard to keep track of everything.

aw the pessaries really don’t sound too pleasant, the things we do! Lol. Will all be worth it in the end!

Good luck for tomorrow!

Haha I know! Hopefully one day will feel extra special knowing all we’ve done! Will let you know how it goes, thank you!

@StillTTC7 how did you get on today? Hope it went well!

Hi @Sunshine180, I was going to update you tomorrow re fertilised egg numbers but we got 10 today! Not expecting anywhere near that tomorrow though but we can hope!

@StillTTC7 aw that’s a great number!! Hope you’re feeling ok after the procedure

@Sunshine180 we have 7 fertilised eggs now! Update on Saturday so not expecting that number. They said one (the 8th) had fertilised incorrectly whatever that means.

Definitely feeling tender, but just happy another step is done!

@StillTTC7 thats a really great number at this stage! I’m sure you’re cautiously excited lol.

Yes just good to be onto the next stage I’m sure. Have you taken today off work?

@Sunshine180 yeah very pleased but as you say very cautious with my excitement levels lol. Yes I’m off today, and said I’d go in if I felt okay but just not up to it. I had a wee op a couple of months ago for this treatment so maybe it’s just affecting me a wee bit more than it should have.

@StillTTC7 aw hope you feel better after a good days rest. How did you find the actual procedure at the time? Were you asleep?

@Sunshine180 its not full sedation as it’s not in an actual hospital, but I don’t remember most of it. I came to at the end and it was quite uncomfortable, but not everyone does rouse! I was just unfortunate lol.
But again I think I found it uncomfortable as I’d already had a procedure quite recently, so nothing to worry about 😀

@StillTTC7 yeah I get what you mean about the sedation, that was unlucky to come to at the end. Does it take long? Did they tell you how many eggs they collected straight afyer?

sorry for the 101 questions!!

@Sunshine180 no it literally takes 30mins! Was super fast and the whole day very efficient. Nurses couldn’t have been more attentive.

Yes they came in to our room about 30mins after I’d been taken back I think, and told us how many eggs we got! So was lovely to be updated there and then, and then a short wait until this morning.

Don't worry, I wish I had someone to ask questions to beforehand so only happy to help! Ask away anytime 😀

@StillTTC7 thats great, sounds like you had a really good experience apart from being a bit uncomfortable.

Thank you! It really is great to be able to hear people’s first hand experiences. I’m just so impatient I want everything to happen right now lol. But I will be starting northisterone this time next week so not too long to go now.

@Sunshine180 yeah TFP seem to get a bad rep on the internet, but I honestly can’t fault them. I’m sure if you went somewhere fancy like London it would be different but I’m very happy with how our whole treatment has been thus far. I think people expect the world when they type it on a keyboard!

Ha I’m the same! That will come round super fast! What is northisterone? I love learning about other protocols!

@StillTTC7 i was happy with my experience with them too. I think with all appointments you just have to be firm and make sure to get your questions in too, I think it’s easy to just get overwhelmed with all the info and come away and think oh I should have asked this etc. I think it’s really great they all have a portal for that as well.

I think northisterone basically just stops your period from coming, some people use it to down regulate on long protocol but I’m on short and only taking it for a week so I think it’s just to make sure my period comes at the right time to make it easier for planning. I’ll take it for a week, then break for a week and start my period in this time, then start injections

@Sunshine180 yeah I agree. I’ve forgotten to ask things and then had to use the portal! Though they’re really fast at getting back to you to be fair.

Ah okay that’s interesting. So a different set of injections for the second set?

@StillTTC7 yeah I’ve been impressed with the communication on my portal too.

no sorry northisterone is just a tablet. It’s the same one you can buy from the pharmacist to delay a period for holidays and things so I think it’s just to make sure all the timings are correct with their plan

Hi ladies, hope you’re both holding up well through everything.
I have EC last week with RFC. I’ve had a great experience so far- it hasn’t worked out ideally but in terms of the care and the people I’ve seen, I couldn’t fault it.

Hi @Anna531 I’m sorry to hear it hasn’t worked out for you, did you get to do a transfer? It’s good to hear you had a good experience with the team at RFC, can I ask who your consultant was?

@Anna531 thats great you had a good experience with the staff. Sorry I hear about your appendicitis m, hope you’re feeling better now.

that’s frustrating about the freeze all if you weren’t expecting it but 39 is an amazing number of eggs. How many embryos did you end up with? Do you have to wait long now to do the transfer?

@Sunshine180 I am so clueless I haven’t even heard of that tablet before!
Hi @Anna531, glad to have you here and sorry to hear about your appendicitis and delayed treatment! Brilliant result re egg collection though, and thankfully you’re being kept safe from OHSS with a frozen transfer. Must be frustrating to be delayed again but time will fly in until the next step again!

I’m so happy to hear both of you have had positive experiences with RFC, I haven’t heard anything negative about them. We have our appointment with them soon just in case 🤞🏻

A little update on our 7 eggs today. We have all 7 maturing still on day 3 😀

That’s amazing @StillTTC7 such good news! And a great number. So many say a smaller original number is better quality and for recovery. Fingers crossed for day 5!!

yes it’s been disappointing but I’m putting it down to wrong timing and hopefully our FET will be the one. Despite all the setbacks we’ve had I found RFC to be really good. The setbacks were unavoidable but they’ve worked around them, appointments when needed, changing meds, taking calls. You’ll be in good hands.
are you doing a fresh transfer?

@StillTTC7 that’s amazing news 7 are still going strong!! Such a good sign!

@Anna531 fingers crossed for you having a successful FET! Do you know when you are due to have it?

@Anna531 @Sunshine180 yeah super chuffed to even still be in the fight at this stage, and all we need is one as they say! Yes fresh transfer for us and this is our first try.

Look forward to hearing more about FET as well, if we’re ever lucky enough to have any to freeze!