Police officer/ivf leave?

[Ella85]

Hi, I’m a police officer working shifts on response. We will be going for ivf after our referral and I’ve been looking at force policy which states 5days leave for ivf (in one year) and anything else is at the discretion of the line manager. The issue we have is I live 1 1/2 hours away from the nearest clinic where we may be able to get scans/bloods done but due to costs we will be going abroad for ivf so those 5 days will be used up in one go. We have a leave list where only 2 can be off at any one time which is a nightmare! Have any ladies out there had any experience of time off within the Police for IVF? xx

[baby2016]

Hi Ella, I was in the force, and am currently on a career break due to my hubbys health and numerous miscarriages which really effected me. I have had a mate go through ivf whilst still in the force and she was able to get more of a desk job than response. I know that's prob hard now, and can understand your predicament. If it's medical appointments they will have to give you the time off, and tbh if your on response I'd be requesting restricted duties or would be getting a fit/sick note from my doc. It's quite an emotionally tough process to go through and match that with response work and prob not ideal. Think of yourself and good luck xx

[Ella85 in reply to baby2016]

Hi baby2016, so sorry your going through such a tough time. Thank you for your advice I’m thinking a note from the Drs would be very useful! We are struggling with staffing issues so a note may pull some weight with the bosses. Good luck to you too xx

[Hidden]

Hi Ella, I’m in the job too and we’re on round 2 now. We live 3 hours from the hospital in Aberdeen so I have to take a whole day off for every trip thru. We get the 5 days off for IVF and then my DI has been great and said I can get whatever time off I need on top of that as he’s bn thru IVF too. So that’s what I did first round, but this time is our last attempt and so the Dr has signed me off on stress (4 weeks). I work in sexual offences so it can be tough going at times and although it’s not great for the rest of the shift- I have to put our (potential) family and my health first. 2moro we find out how our 8 embies got on over the weekend if it’s a 3 or 5 day transfer. 🤞

I wish u the very best of luck on your journey, and remember what’s important in all of this x

[Ella85 in reply to Hidden]

Hi feewares, I would be in a similar position it’s a 2 hour journey to the nearest ivf clinic for us so that would be the whole shift gone! Your DI sounds great! Having a good boss makes work like a lot easier doesn’t it. I totally agree you have to put yourself first before the job. Hope you had great news with your embies! Good luck xx

[Jellybeenz]

Hi Ella. I’m job too and am currently on maternity leave looking after my little boy who arrived here courtesy of IVF (ICSI). It was a long road to get him here. I spoke to our occupational health department and they were surprisingly helpful and understanding. They actually encouraged me to go to the GP and get signed off for the 2WW as they felt the extra stress and shifts wouldn’t help my chances. I also switched to a desk role for a while in custody. My line manager was pretty supportive and allowed me all the time I needed to go to appointments, regardless of the SOP. G

[Jellybeenz in reply to Jellybeenz]

Oops! My little boy just flailed his hands and sent that before I’d finished (he’s six months), sorry!

For me, I needed to be away from uniform while I was in the stimulation phase as I became really bloated to the point where I couldn’t do my uniform up properly and my utility belt was sitting right on the area where I inject and was bloated. I know this isn’t the case for everyone but that’s what happened to me. OH were great though and recommend to my line manager that I needed a non uniform role for a while. They also recommended that I didn’t do nightshifts for a while and that I was taken off level 2 aid and training.

I felt I had to tell my new team what I was doing as I was coming in late and had to go off to inject etc. And doing pessaries at work - not fun! But not impossible. And then I did as OH suggested and went to my GP who signed me off for a few weeks - and after the embryo transfer you are legally classed as pregnant for the next two week regardless of the final outcome. Therefore that sickness can’t be counted (sickness is taken pretty seriously where I am, not sure about yourself).

Good luck. Took me a while to adjust and not feel guilty as I had to put IVF as my priority and do whatever it took to give myself the best chance possible. And I was incredibly lucky that it worked and my boy is here. Now I don’t want maternity leave to ever end xx

[Ella85 in reply to Jellybeenz]

Hi jellybeenz, thank you for all of that advice it’s very useful! I think contacting OH will be a must theres not many girls down my end that have been through ivf so it’s murkey waters at the mo! I really don’t want to tell everyone in work about ivf but like you say coming in late and being on resitricted they will only go and think I’m pregnant!🙈 that’s a good point about being off for the 2WW I can’t imagine going to jobs after going through all that! Congratulations on your baby enjoy every second of maternity leave it goes too fast xx

[Jellybeenz in reply to Ella85]

No worries, best of luck! Feel free to send me a message if you ever want to chat about it x

[Ella85 in reply to Jellybeenz]

Thank you xx

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Ella85. Hopefully you will be able to get scans etc done to suit your rota, as often clinics provide facilities a little out of hours. just hoping your line manager will be co-operative too. Good luck! Diane

[Ella85 in reply to DianeArnold]

Thank you Diane x