Covid procedures during IVF

[MissZJB]

Morning! I’m in the UK and today is day 32 of Buserelin and day 3 of gonal F. Friday is my FIRST scan and egg collection is booked for 7th Oct. this is my 4th Cycle but last 2 recent cycles with the same clinic were short protocol. I’m very concerned with the lack of monitoring but the clinic say this is down to Covid procedures. Is anyone else I. The UK have such few scans? They are also not performing ANY blood tests to check hormone levels, although this is normal for them.

I feel like I’m being left on my own to just keep my fingers crossed. Is this the same in all UK clinic at the moment or am I paying the same price for half the service?

Thanks everyone x

[Hidden]

Hi. I do think clinics differ in the UK. I did my fresh round prior to covid and my frozen during covid and amount of scans was the same and no blood tests. So i dont think its solely due to covid. Others do write here that they have blood tests so i think it is up to clinics. X

[Ivfgotadream]

It doesn’t sound right to me.....I was one of the first to go for egg collection at my clinic when they reopened mid lockdown and I still had the same blood tests and scans I had in my previous cycles

I wouldn’t be happy with such little monitoring.......

[AndRelax]

I had a lot of blood tests in July during my short protocol fresh round. And still had the number of scans expected including on my frozen round this month. The only things that were different were some consultations were done on Zoom and I had to fight to get my husband into the clinic with me on transfer day. They eventually let him in though but it was a bit of a struggle.

Speak to someone at your clinic to ask for an explanation. Might be their normal procedure but getting them to explain why they're doing something could put your mind a bit more at ease.

[ttcemmie in reply to AndRelax]

How did you manage to convince them to let your husband in for transfer day? I am currently hoping to convince them to let my husband in for my first scan. x

[AndRelax in reply to ttcemmie]

They wouldn't let him into the room for the transfer like they did pre-covid. He was just allowed to sit in my bay and wait for me. They didn't want him to come into the clinic at all but hadn't told us that until we got there!

I started panicking and saying that I couldn't go ahead if he wasn't at least allowed to wait for me and after a lot of talks, they let him in. I was pretty annoyed to get in and find lots of other partners already in there. But they were all waiting in the bays too. It was reassuring to know that he was right there but I would have preferred him to be in the room with me xx

[Cinderella5]

I had treatment long before covid and the only scans I had were a baseline to check my lining was thin enough. Then another around day 7 of stims and rescanned a few days later just before telling me when to trigger. No bloods were done. This was on the NHS so may be why such a lack of scans and bloods though. Good luck.xx

[ttcemmie]

I think it varies between clinics (even before Covid). My clinic doesn't do blood tests generally, and then with Covid they are only doing one scan right before transfer (not even a baseline or anything!). It does feel like a "let's hope for the best" approach when it should be a bit more scientific than that.... especially as the prices haven't decreased! But then I'm always very much aware that I need them more than they need me, sadly. All the clinics seem to have waiting lists and we're just one of many to them.....