IVF/ICSI @ Liverpool Womens Hospital

[Likklegemz]

Ps bugs glad you've found out what the issue was! Hopefully your next cycle will give you your bfp!

 

[cvaeh]

Hi everyone

Lisa- Congratulations, lovely name, I am sure she is such a cutie. Hope you start to feel better soon so you can get home x x

Africaqueen- fingers crossed for your funding x x

Gemz- Sorry your having a tough time in work. My boss has been good about things. i mentioned about maybe having to go to Belgium for treatment and he said i may have to take it as unpaid leave.

Lovetoeatchocolate- welcome. things move pretty quickly after being referred.

Bugs- glad they have found a solution for you. we went for our follow up with the consultant you recommended. He has suggested i attack my eggs as they develop and they way look mature and may not be. he has suggested a protocol with a month of estrogen, steroids and another drug which i can't remember the name of but think its to block androgens.

Joanne- hope your two week wait is going okay.

Hello to everyone else.

afm- two weeks till we go to Belgium for the sperm activation test. the lady that told me about the test and procedure managed to get two blastocysts to put back but they unfortunately didn't result in pregnancy. There is a clinic in London that do the actual procedure but not the test. I still think its my eggs though as doctor suggested my blood results suggest my hormones are acting against my body and affecting egg quality. I am waiting on full androgen blood results.

Enjoy your weekend everyone x x x

 

[bugs]

I'm glad you've got some options Cveah I think it's just the fact that they give you options I couldn't bear to just be told the same protocol again at least you feel like your doing something xxx

Gemz I think it depends who you work for I work for the public sector and any time off related to or after treatment goes down as pregnancy related. Maybe go over your manager and speak to HR direct managers can be shit and I bet it's a man xxxx

 

[Likklegemz]

That's the thing bugs i work in the nhs!!! Feeling pretty depressed! I've had this arguement both with my female line manager (think they'd be more sympathetic) and with hr! Despite me pointing out the legislation hr turned round and said well your not pregnant so your not covered by that! Was really upset the way she said it!

The guidelines stated that the minute the embryo was inplanted i was considered pregnant and protected for two further weeks following a negative pregnancy result!

 

[bugs]

That's really bad, I work for the tax office and they have been fantastic, I thought it would be the same as you've said technically when pupo you are pregnant and then when it doesn't work it feels like a miscarriage coz of what you've lost.

These people just don't understood how emotionally draining IVF is, maybe get your union onto it, I'm sure you're not the 1st person in the NHS to have treatment. Maybe start a new thread and see what others have experienced xxxx

 

[africaqueen]

Bugs- I am glad you finally have some answers and i am sure you will now have a much better chance with your next cycle, now you have a plan of action x

Gemz- I can't believe work are being so crap with you! imagine how they would feel if they were going through all this!! my work has been off at times but overall for the level of absence i have had due to losing my mum, 2 failed cycles of IVF and my various gyne issues plus on an off depression- they have been pretty supportive i guess. You get all the advice you can and dont allow them to add to your stress and your body needs to relax an get calm for round 2 ;-) x

Cvaeh- Nice to see you! good luck for hubbys test and your next cycle. I pray we get our dream soon, as you, me an bugs seem to of been on this thread a lifetime and we need pregnancy tickers! ;-) x

Hi to all the gang xxx

 

[Del xx]

Good morning ladies! Hope everyone is well? Not been in for a while,have been so busy with the inspection,I'm so glad to have it over with. Lots been going on from all the past posts I've read!
Congrats Lisa,hope ur both well x
Bugs,super news about the tests,when r u starting next round?x
Africa,how r things with u? X
Cvaeh,good luck in Belgium x
Hi to Gemz,Melbram,susie,Lindy,jules and the rest of the gang xx

 

[Lindylou]

Likkle- I work for the nhs and I must say I have been treated totally different in the two places I work. Believe it or not in my practice he has been an absolute horror throughout it and the stress he has put me under has been horrific. Even after what happened with my first cycle he was being a complete ******* in the lead up to my round 2. In the hospital I work I hid what was going on but when I told them although they said the sickness had to stay on my record because I wasn't pregnant enough (???) they were fantastic and so supportive. HR will be fine when you explain why you have been off. They are looking for people trying it on and obviously ivf isn't a walk in the park. I honestly think it depends who you are dealing with. Good luck. Explain it to them and id print off info about the enotional impact- even saying the HC has counsellors to try and help. Xxx

 

[Lindylou]

Bugs- brilliant news! So when do you think you can start your next go?

 

[MrsE75]

Hi ladies - sorry I've not been on here been trying to re-group and work out our next steps! I've got an appt with embryologist at HC next fri cos I want him to tell me how my 2 nd cycle went so horribly wrong. I'm also waiting for appt with Dr K though he's supposed to have been our consultant I've only seen him once! So I want to gather as much info I can. Likely we won't be doin another cycle at HC I've got an appt with Care early nov but already asked and got copies of all my tests and results, mc the lot to send to care. Not sure if we need to have further tests or what but we're busy raising the money for a cycle. We even did a car boot this morning towards the ivf fund!

Emotionally I'm just all over the place - crying at least once a day plus looks like cos we need to raise the £6k for ivf both OH and I will have to give up our dream business to get jobs - time is not on our side with my AMH so we can't wait for the business to take off is we want to do a cycle dec/jan depending in any tests needed.

Bugs - interesting what you say about care getting to the bottom o your issues. Fx they can find out my issues too and I'm not sure if I'm hoping or not that I've just got crap eggs!

Hi to everyone else. AQ fx for your appeal I wish you all the luck with it xx

Welcome to all the newbies too x

 

[Lindylou]

Mrse- so sorry you are in such a tough place. It's hard when you feel a wall infront of you stopping you getting what you want. When do you go to CARE?

 

[Likklegemz]

MrsE - hope everything goes well at your follow up - and that CARE can finally offer you your BFP!! Have you considered appealing for another round of funding? May be worth a shot

I'm still waiting for our follow up. Getting really fed up and disheartened by it. December is ages away! I still cant believe I have to wait this long. Really upsetting. Add in all the crap at work and I'm not at the best place at the moment. I've posted in a new thread to see how other ladies have gotten on with work after a failed IVF cycle so with any luck with those experiences and meeting my union this week hopefully will get it sorted.

Nice to see you Delx hows things with you?

Hope everyone else is well

Gem x x

 

[bugs]

Hi girls we are going to have a break till after Xmas they want my OH to take menevit for 3 months before so I've just ordered it so hopefully start some time in January. We decided to give ourselves Xmas off we've had 5 full cycles in 18 months so we're just going to enjoy Xmas and then a fresh start.

MrsE sorry your having a bad time it's even harder when you feel like your own body is a ticking time bomb but we muddle on. I don't mind the treatment, the injections the fanny cam it's the 2WW that pushes me over the edge. I think if the Hewitt centre can't give you answers then it's best to move on it's too expensive to just keep on paying for cycles and hoping for the best as I now know it would never have worked for us.

I would say to anyone if you've had a couple of miscarriages or fails certainly look into the immunes testing, I always knew it was something to do with implantation as we always had good 8 or 9 cells on day 3 and I've seen women get preggers with much poorer graded embryo's so fingers cxd this is all we need xxxx

 

[MrsE75]

Bugs - yes my worry is that mine is egg quality cos I got 4 eggs on our 1st cycle all mature and 3 fertilised and we got to Blasto and BFP but mc. On our 2nd cycle we got 2 eggs only 1 mature and it didn't fertilise with grade A sperm cos we paid for IMSI machine so we know the sperm was good. So in pretty sure it's my eggs that's the problem but I will see what they say.

I'm thinking of going to Accupuncture once a month u til we start - I don't find it relaxing but my best cycle I did Accupuncture from the beginning of the dr through until transfer. No idea is this helped but don't think it can do any harm!

Gemz - we go to care in 4 weeks so see what they have to say.

Bugs - which consultant are you under at care out of interest? Don't know who we are seeing but be worth knowing you thoughts on them generally xx

 

[bugs]

I think half the battle is knowing what the issue is, I thought that once my tubes were gone it would be plain sailing but that was only half the problem.

It's only since my last cycle failed that I looked at the consultants on the Care website and what they specialised in, I requested an appointment with Mr Patel as he specialises in recurrent fails and he has been fantastic I don't be actually performs any of the cycle as he is an older gentleman but the other consultants I've met have been great. Mr Patel discusses your protocol and prescription and he makes all the decisions about when your ready for EC and stuff.

TBH I had my follow up after my 4th fail and wasn't that impressed she seemed to give me the impression that nothing could be done about my egg quality as I always get a good number of eggs but more than half of them are always immature. Mr Patel is going to try me on a course of HRT for a month before my cycle and then leave me stimming for longer. Even if it gives me just a couple more eggs last time out of 14 only 4 were mature and 3 fertilised.

It seems to me when one person thinks nothing more can be done you'll always find someone else who thinks there's still hope xxxx

 

[cvaeh]

Mrse-we saw the same consultant as bugs and was expecting him to suggest donor eggs but has suggested estrogen primming for egg quality and know he uses it for low responders too x

 

[Melbram]

Hi LIndy : ur union rep is right - once your embie has been implemented you are effectively "preganant" and are covered under the Equality Act 2010 for being dismissed for a pregnancy related reason. Any treatment or time off due to failed IVF is not pregnancy related and will be normal sick leave. Your employer is following the right path - they need all the info so they are better informed and can understand the reasons for your sickness absence to determine whether you require any reasonable adjustments to your working day or whether you are incapable of carrying our your contractual duties. Keep liaising with your union rep but this is all start stuff X

 

[Melbram]

Hi LIndy : ur union rep is right - once your embie has been implemented you are effectively "preganant" and are covered under the Equality Act 2010 for being dismissed for a pregnancy related reason. Any treatment or time off due to failed IVF is not pregnancy related and will be normal sick leave. Your employer is following the right path - they need all the info so they are better informed and can understand the reasons for your sickness absence to determine whether you require any reasonable adjustments to your working day or whether you are incapable of carrying our your contractual duties. Keep liaising with your union rep but this is all start stuff X

Sorry meant for Gems not Lindy x

 

[Likklegemz]

Thanks Melbram! I thought as much! Just annoyed as they have my doctors letter which stayed if gone thru ivf and was essentially pregnant! Poor doctor from occupational health won't know what's hit her/him!!

In case anyone has similar trouble to me here's a copy of the guidelines my union rep has given me

"Employers should therefore be alert to the special protection afforded to women undergoing that particular stage of IVF treatment after the ova have been fertilised but before implantation into the uterus. Following implantation the woman is regarded as being pregnant. If the treatment is successful and the woman remains pregnant she will remain protected until the end of her maternity leave.

If the treatment is unsuccessful, the woman’s protection will end two weeks after the end of the pregnancy. As a pregnancy test is taken two weeks after the implantation of an embryo, the woman will have special protection for those two weeks and, if the pregnancy test is negative, for a further two weeks from that time."

As far as I can tell - under that guideline (the law if anyone needs to know is following ECJ Mayr v Backerei und Konditorei Gerhard Flockner OHG and Sahota v Home office and Pipkin) means that for this sickness episode this should be classed as pregnancy related and therefore shouldnt be held against me.

 

[Lovetoeatcake]

Littlegemz and Melbram thanks for the info – I have been through the Women’s outpatient clinic so it’s a bit weird? One of the questions asks if we have been trying for two years. Technically we have been trying for almost twenty months and our doctor who referred us knows that. I am assuming we qualify for funding because of my AMH and my hubby’s sperm? Was thinking of just ticking yes anyway?

Bugs- It’s good that they could be getting to the bottom of your problems. Fingers crossed you are finally on your way to getting your BFP! I have heard good things about Care.

With regards to work, I'm a civil servant and although i don't think any absences I take for the IVF aren’t treated as pregnancy related, I get two cycles where the absence isn’t recorded. Not sure what would happen after that. I do know I am lucky working for the civil service. Gemz I think it’s terrible that the NHS!! could treat you so terribly! I would defo speak to your union!!

Cvaeh – good luck with your testing in Belgium. I'm still new to all this so I don’t fully understand what you are having done, but I hope it sheds some light on your problems. X

Mrs E75 – I hope you get some answers really soon!