Hubby and myself decided to go abroad this year for donor egg IVF as I was told in 2015 after my last two rounds of IVF that I don't produce enough eggs.
I am 33 next month and only produced 5 eggs during both of my last rounds of own egg IVF.
Now my work isn't flexible with me being off work for doctors appointments and 3 years ago my old boss let me go a day before embryo transfer.
I had to get legal help to get a redundancy pay out as what she did was illegal.
Anyway I'd really like to find out if donor egg IVF is so involved with scans and blood tests as it is with own eggs? Does anyone have any experience with this?
If it is as involved then I'd rather take two weeks off work and tell them that I am going on a holiday.
Actually would 2 weeks cover the whole process from scans to Embryo transfer?
Hi, I’m currently on my first donor egg cycle. In terms of time frame, I had prostap down reg injection and Endo scratch on the 28th Dec. I bled on the 4th Jan and had baseline scan on the 8th. Started progynova on the 9th Jan. Had scan to check how lining was progressing on 17th Jan. Eggs are being thawed and husband providing his sample now next Tuesday, 23rd Jan and our ET is scheduled for Friday 26th. Hope this helps you reach some decisions about planning for your own donor egg treatment. Wishing you lots of luck with that xx
It still is quite involved with a couple of hospital visits for scans and injection and of course the ET then. So all together around 5 hospital visits.
And the process takes 4 weeks to get ready for ET plus around 2 weeks until test day. So basically the same time frame as a regular cycle if I am right?
That's really good to know thank you!! I am currently trying my best to go self employed as I couldn't go to the hospital 4-5 times before ET. My boss would be raging. Can't face being made redundant again due to needing IVF. I've worked in the job for over 2 years but I am never allowed a sick day or time off for treatment. I am the only person doing the job, so no one can cover for me.
It's too much pressure.
Thank you again and I really hope your cycle will be successful xx
You’re welcome, yes similar time frame. It sounds like you have been put under a lot of pressure at work. I hope you manage to get something sorted with regards to going self employed. You could do definitely do without that additional stress since you’ve enough to deal with in relation to your fertility treatment. Best of luck to you xx
Thank you hubby just said don't worry about your job. Just quit and go self employed and if not then you'll find something else. In the meantime we will manage on his income. So glad he's so supportive. He said to just focus on the treatment and be positive that it will work out. The most important thing is to be stress free. so I'll leave the job as soon as we are ready to go for the treatment this year. Thanks again xx
Aw that’s fantastic you’ve such a lovely supportive hubby 😊 As you say, focus on yourself and being in the best health possible for your treatment. All the best x
I had a donor egg cycle abroad and only had 2 scans at a private london clinic. ( I can pm you their details if you like? ) It was really easy to get an appointment.
I intitially had a consultation at the clinic abroad where they checked that all our blood tests etc were in date and an internal exam to check my ovaries and womb.
Then about 2 months later we went out again for transfer and spent around 10 days there but also done a bit of traveling whilst waiting for the embryos to develop.
We arrived in the Country about 2 days before donor egg collection and my oh gave his sample . Transfer was 6 days later. We came home the day after.
Hi, thanks so much for your reply. That does help. We live in Scotland so I think we might not have that many clinics up here for private scans. I'll try Edinburgh and Glasgow.
We are thinking of going to Greece for our DE cycle. I'll write a few clinics and see what they say. Thanks again x
Hey, Im also in Scotland and doing DE in Greece. The time lines that everyone has given as pretty spot on but I see you asking about scans. I used a few clinics (I'll PM you) for endometrial thickness scans, there are lots of clinics and the good thing is if you dont mind travelling you can find ones that do scans in the evenings or weekends! If you want to ask anything else then give me a shout!xx
Hi. I am also doing egg donation ivf abroad, and so did two friends of mine (all in different countries). So I can tell you based on these experiences. In short: it is possible to go only 2 times.
I describe one possible scenario with FET (which is what I am doing).
Visit (1): You go abroad for the first consultation and visit. If everything is ok, they will tell you what drugs to take for the endometrium preparation, and you can get the drugs directly from them on your first visit, or later (my clinic sent them to me), or buy them in the UK following their instructions. Your partner may be asked to provide a sperm sample on this occasion, which will be frozen. They will then use it to fertilize the donor's eggs, but none of you need to be around for that process.
Back in UK: Once the donor has been chosen, the eggs collected and fertilized, and the embryos frozen, you will start preparing your endometrium. You will have to do an ultrasound scan to check it in days 10-12 of the cycle. You can do the scan in the UK (in my city there is a private clinic that does it in a very flexible way, for less money than in a private hospital). If the lining is thick enough, then the clinic abroad will book an embryo transfer - around day 23-28 of your cycle.
Visit (2): At that point you can go to the clinic the day just before the transfer. They (my clinic, at least) recommend you do not travel back the same day or even the day after, though, but rather take it easy for a couple of days before flying back.
If you get pregnant.. that's it, all done in 2 visits.
One of my friends also went through this process, but she had a fresh transfer (she was synchronized with the donor).
In my case, I have had problems with the lining so I had two FET cancelled, thus I have not gone back to the clinic since the first visit. Given my complications, now I think it would be better to have a clinic much closer, to be able to be checked by them if needed rather than having to find someone private here (I had to do a progesterone test once, which I could do easily though, in a private hospital).
When I was looking for clinics abroad I noted that many clinics in Spain were proudly advertising "only 2 visits needed". Some even say you could do one visit only - initial consultation by skype (if you can do scan and other blood tests in the UK, or already have recent results), then visit only when ready for the transfer.
Generally I think it would be better if you could take some time off work rather than stressing out about that too (as if there were not enough other things to think about!).
Best wishes with your choice!
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Hi, thanks so much for your detailed reply!! Hubby and myself are thinking of going to Greece for our cycle later this year. But I was wondering how it works with the medications and everything else. I have uterine high natural killer cells and need prednisolone before the embryo transfer!
So I was wondering how I get all my medication.
That's great though that I can buy them here through AsDa etc.
Yes I thought that it is the best case scenario if you really only need 2 scans and 1 visit to the clinic abroad but we all know that complications can happen with IVF and not all bodies always work perfectly.
I really stressed like crazy the last two rounds as my bosses at the time asked me literally every single day when I needed time off again to go to the clinic for scans and when egg collection/& embryo transfer would be and I couldn't tell them the exact days as the clinic didn't know until the last moment.
So I'll take around 2 months out of work to focus on the treatment and we will travel around Greece for a bit too and hopefully return with a Baby on the way
I am doing double donor abroad on a refund guarantee program. My experience is the same as above. I get fresh transfer first then the rest that have been frozen.
First round I visited the clinic for initial consultation and to have all preliminary tests done. This could have been zoom consultation and tests done in England but I wanted to see the clinic and it was an excuse for a few days in the sun!
For the transfers it’s always been the same. I only go over the day before for blood test and fly back the day after transfer.
I have scans done in the uk and my meds dispensed in uk. Only issue with that is I have to pay for scans that would be free at the clinic and some pharmacies will only accept an original script not a printed copy or email.
Access fertility partner with clinics abroad so you can have scans in uk. Can’t remember why I went direct to the clinic and not that route. But I looked at the cost of the programs and the guarantee of a live birth as some only offer to get you pregnant.
Hope that’s useful x
Ok good luck then! It sounds like a good plan. And I would just ask the clinic about how to get the medications...
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