Yet to start IVF, advice?

[Smp25]

Good afternoon lovely ladies,

I have to say coming here and reading all of your posts gives me hope and comfort.

A little back story, We have been trying for 2 years to conceive.

We conceived pretty quickly after deciding that we wanted a family, unfortunately it was not meant to be and we lost him to an ectopic pregnancy (convinced he was a boy even though he was only 6 weeks I always refer to the pregnancy as 'him')

I lost my right tube during that emergency surgery but we decided to try again, fast forward a year and we haven't managed to conceive, I'm surrounded my consistent pain in my stomach, I throw up every month just before aunt flow makes an appearance and my periods are so heavy that they almost look black (sorry, TMI)

I knew something was going wrong, so then it takes 12 whole months to perform 2 tests ( don't we all love the NHS) a very evasive and somewhat mortifying internal where, what can only be described as a curling wand was nicely placed in my area to check for PCOS and other things, and then an ultrasound scan (bit ironic considering I'm struggling to conceive). After this, it was decided that the best course of action was to have a diagnostic laparoscopy (lush, can't wait to have painful IV in my hand) which to my surprise, they found that my ovary was stuck to my womb (ouch) and the endometriosis was spread all around my reproductive organs. On top of that, my remaining tube wasn't playing ball and they removed half of it which was blocked. Wicked - now we know what the problem was, baby bump, morning sickness, potential divorce due to my raging hormones here we come.

Appointment with my gynecologist, she confirmed that the endometriosis fairy's had been removed (at this point I may as well move into this hospital) and I confirmed that we were in-fact still not conceiving and she referred us to an IVF clinic in Dec 2019. Since then, I have also had a second abnormal result from my cervical screening - nothing to worry about after the colposcopy, borderline abnormal cells and discharged back to GP for 3 years - phew!

I guess I have a few questions:

Without wanting to sound like an impatient toddler and out of fear of just saying 'screw it, let's adopt cats' I just need your advice

- how long from being referred did you wait for your initial consultations?

- have any of you been in the same situation with your cervical screenings and were you still accepted for IVF?

- are the injections as easy to administrate as the NHS website claims?

- what on earth are blastocysts?

Sorry for the essay

SMP x

[LCharlton]

Sorry you've had such a nightmare! I haven't had anything similar (we're male factor) and I can't remember how long it took now before I got to see the NHS consultant (who first refused to treat me because of my BMI, then when I managed to get that in range refused to treat me because it was "too close to my 40th birthday because of the waiting list", then we had to remortgage the house to get treated. SIGH.) Anyway on the bits I can help with:

- yes the injections are easy. I didn't think so the first two times when I found it super-fiddly, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy to do and mostly not that bad. This whole process has basically cured my fear of needles, what with the injections and constant blood tests you just have to get over it.

- a blastocyst is an embryo that has developed to day 5 after fertilisation, so the fertilised egg has started to develop an inner section that will become the baby and an outer section that will become the placenta etc.