IVF Consultation.......

Well, today was our first consulation appointment at the Hewitt Centre at Liverpool Womens Hospital.

We weren't sure what the appointment was going to be like, or even who it was with, as the letter didn't give a consultants name.

As it was, our appointment was with the nursing Sister. (Hewitt Centre is very much a nursing led unit).

She did weigh us both, but it wasn't so important for DH bc the husband/partner's BMI only matters if you are under a Welsh PCT.
For us girls that are not under a Welsh PCT we have to have a BMI of between 18% and 29% to get NHS funding. NOT under 30% as I was told at Preston hospital, so thank goodness I'd lost enough weight. I got weighed fully clothed in my jeans, boots and a thick heavy cardigan and was still 28% BMI.
For Welsh rules both people need to be under 30% BMI, so the woman can be slightly heavier.
This is the only time they will weigh me (us). But if it doesn't work with fresh embryo's they do weigh you again for a frozen embryo transfer.
They didn't measure our height.

She checked the mountains of paperwork that we'd filled in for the HFEA, and checked our photo's against our passport photos.

Sister then went through our test results. My CD2 blood test results are all fine, DH's SA is all fine, the HIV and Hep blood tests (which the HFEA insists that couples have in order to be able to freeze embryos) came back negative (which we knew they would).

So pretty much the only issue is the adhesions at the end of my tubes.

No one seems bothered too much about the spotting that i have in my LP, so maybe i shouldn't be either :-)

We discussed medical histories, mainly mine, bc Steven hasn't got any health issues and never has had.

We discussed number of embryo's. HFEA guideslines for women under 37 are 1 embryo. But, this is not 'law' you can have 2, i think they just try and persuade you to stick with 1.

In my case, bc of my bowel surgeries, my j-pouch, internal scarring and the position of my womb (pushed over to one side), the Sister is going to speak to the clinical director, who has vast experience in gynea and obsetrics and ask his opinion on whether a possible twin pregnancy would cause a risk to my health. So for now, we have said 2, to be discussed....If it's unsafe for me to risk carrying twins, then we will go with 1 embryo.

In the event of them not being able to access my right ovary (which is behind my womb), it is possible to do Egg Collection via Laperoscopy under a general anasthetic if necessary. And if for any reason there's a problem such as OHSS or not a thick enough womb lining, they usually do the EC, freeze the embryo's and then do a frozen embryo transfer on another occasion.

So, we will board this rollercoaster next cycle, we'd better secure all loose objects and keep our arms in the carriage :-)

It's condoms from CD1 of next cycle, and we have an appointment on 12th Feb to collect my drugs, and have injection training, and then I begin Down Regulation injections on CD 21, which should be 2 or 3 days later.

Next step after that is a baseline trans vaginal scan, where they not only get a good look at my squished over lady parts, but they'll see if I'm down regged ok, if not, then they may add another 5 days or so of down reg before beginning stimulation injections.

Then it's another tv scan to check how my follicles are growing, how my womb lining is growing etc, and then they should have an idea of the date for EC. (Maybe another scan will be needed).

Then, they grow any fertilised eggs for 3 - 5 days and then its the transfer......job done.

I'll get progesterone pesseries for 2 weeks and then do a HPT.

So, we may be looking at a transfer date of around April Fools day :-)