IVF as a teacher - how to manage dates

[hopelesslydevotedtottc]

Hi all. I’ve been ttc baby number 1 for 16 months now, never had a bfp and had all tests (semen analysis, bloods, ultrasound, Hycosy) and so am ‘unexplained.’

It’s early days but I am starting to wonder if / when we might need IVF, and how to manage this around my job. I currently work as a secondary school teacher at a very academic, fast-paced school which is pretty full on and demanding. The thought of doing IVF whilst teaching a full timetable, especially during the Autumn Term, seems too much.

I’m thinking therefore that the best time to do IVF would be the summer holidays, or maybe June time because my GCSE and A-level classes would be gone then and so I would be on a much lighter timetable.

Does this sound sensible, or is this too early to consider IVF? Also, how much notice do you have to give a clinic that you want to start IVF? I have no idea how quickly or not the process can start.

I should say I would be doing this privately as I’m not eligible to even get on an NHS waiting list until we have been trying for two years…

I think its really up to you and your partner if its "too early" or not. If you've already had all the tests and are coming under unexplained its for you two to decide how long do you want to wait in the least ideal case scenario where say one year from now still have not been able to conceive. IVF is a big financial, mental and physical commitment and process, and you'll want to consider do you have other factors on your side such as your age and ovarian reserve. If you're under 35 with a good ovarian reserve it would probably be considered more favourable to wait, but I think its a personal choice.

In terms of timeframe our experience was you can generally get an appointment privately to meet with a doctor within a week (We went to two clinics in London and both had appointments same week), they will want all the testing you've already done if the test results are not within past 3 months, after that if its a general case you should be able to start once your next period starts. The injections can be 9-14 days starting day 2 of your cycle, day 1 is the first full bleed of your period before noon. Then depending on your clinic some will want you to come in for 2-3 scans during your 9-14 days of injections to monitor if you need to adjust medication or reduce/increase days of injections. You have your trigger injection final day and egg collection is 32-35 hours later. If you're going for a fresh transfer its 5 days (egg collection is day 0) and day 5 if you have a suitable embryo will go in for transfer, then 10 days later have scan to see if embryo successfully implanted. So from starting your period to fresh transfer your IVF cycle could be looking at 17-24 days.

If you were planning on starting IVF summer holidays, would be ideal as it would give you time to attend appointments and rest as much as possible, the medication can make you very tired as well as hormonal, and if you were to do a fresh transfer you wouldn't have to worry about going to work and adding to your stress levels.

If you choose to wait, its worth getting appointments with your GP once you hit the 2 years, but its a lottery how quickly you can get seen. We went to the GP as soon as we hit 2 years, and it was a 5 month wait for the first appointment, so we ended up going private.

Hope everything goes well and it happens for you naturally! Feel free to drop me a message if you want anymore info on IVF/timeframes, good luck :)

In my opinion it’s not too soon, I’d contact some private clinics now to see which one you like.
There can be delays with treatment if you don’t respond to the medication, or over respond and have to freeze all, so I’d start in June. Or sooner and take sick leave as necessary. I’m not a teacher but looking back I prioritised my job far too much. I had quite a few rounds of IVF over a few years before it worked. Not saying that would happen to you but I wouldn’t hang about.