Single Newbies Welcome Thread - post here to get started! - Part 2

[MrsKeats]

Don't worry - so did I  . But some people got told NO! Probably depends how you speak to. It'll work out xx

[Delight]

Thanks A-Mx and OneStep for the advice and info so far.

I have the HFEA in the UK and the FREYA in the Netherlands to check up.....as well as the other international websites - i discovered those Monday or Tuesday.   As you say, when I have looked at these and have more info then i am sure to have more questions!!!

thanks much and will keep in touch
Delight

[Lou-Ann]

Manbey and Delight, just wanted to wish you luck with your respective journeys 

Lou-Ann x

[wishingforanangel]

Don't worry - so did I  . But some people got told NO! Probably depends how you speak to. It'll work out xx

yes it will 

[HAPPYDAZE]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement ladies 
I'm still really in 2 minds as to whether I should give up on the Homerton and go to the much more expensive Lister. Would it be silly to think of the Homerton as a trial run? Or am I wasting precious time? I've no idea. All I know is that the Homerton don't really make me feel like they have any treatment plan for me at the moment. 
I'm still waiting to hear back from them with regards to ordering sperm.....
I'm very confused at the moment 
Manbey

[wishingforanangel]

manbey1

I think that you may be better off at Lister if you feel that they suit you better. If things work out at Homerton it may not be a waste of time but if they have no plan for you...

The fertility specialist I was working with...I was never completely at easy with her because I was never really clear as to what her plan was. One minute she is helping me next minute she is not. I am left with feeling stress and frustration because I am not in control of my own treatment.

I don't regret having gone through with my fertility treatments with the chance of having my child but I do regret going through it with the doctor I had. I feel that I have wasted sooo much time, energy, money, and emotional effort working with her…especially since I found out today that she didn’t do as much testing as other fertility specialists do in terms of finding out the causes of one’s infertility issues. If she did further testing I may have had better results. I guess it was a good decision to get a second opinion from a different fertility specialist.

Go with your instincts manbey1…..

[Minnie35]

Hi everybody, I'm new to this, so HELLOOOOO!

I was so relieved to find you all on this site, and I'm at the stage where I've got a couple of questions I wonder if you can help with...

After a year and a half's intensive soul searching (what a journey!) I am finally ready to go it alone, and am (among other emotions!) really excited about it.  I live in Leeds and have booked into Manchester Fertility Service for a consultation and tests etc... I had understood that it was the nearest clinic that treats single women, but have since found that Sheffield Care do too (distance from me, and price, is much of a muchness between the two). Looking on all the threads here on the forum I've not seen any reference to either of these places... I'm just wondering if anyone's had any experience of either of them, and whether there's an obvious one I should choose.  I'm also a bit concerned that I've not heard anyone mention them becuase people have chosen to go elsewhere because of bad experiences...? And if not, what things would you look out for when choosing between them?

The other question is... are there any other teachers out there? I'm a teacher and so I can't book days off work. By the time I finish work and get to Manchester or Sheffield the clinics'd be closed.  If there are any teachers out there, I'm wondering how you got to zoom off for treatment when it was time, and whether you told the school what was going on, and how it was received....?

I really hope I've posted in the right place... if it's better to start a thread with these questions it'd b fab if someone could let me know....

Hello to you all again and thanks!

M xxxxxxx

[wishingforanangel]

Hi Minnie35.

I wish I could help you with your search in regards to clinics in your area but unfortunately if I use a Clinic in the UK, I would have to use one in London...Hopefully one of the other ladies will be able to help you with some information.

Just wondering if you have family and medical leave in regards to your teaching job....maybe you would be able to use that time to obtain your fertility treatment....of course more often than not you really won't need to take the whole day off unless you are doing an egg retrieval and embryo transfer from what I have read. Are you able to time your treatment to a certain extent around Spring or Summer breaks (or vacations from school)?

Sorry if I am no help to you but I am glad you here.

[GIAToo]

Hi Minnie   - welcome!

I can't help re: the two clinics you mention, but I did a search on teachers and found a couple of threads, one of which is below;

http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=131520.0

If you do a search and look for threads with "teacher" in subject headings only, you'll get more threads from teachers and info about how they get round attending appointments etc. Hope that helps

GIA Too xx

[HAPPYDAZE]

Thanks for the advice, wishingforanangel 
I think you may be right I think I should go with my instinct........  the Homerton never got back to me with the info I needed to buy the sperm and today was the last day I could order it (need it before my apt on 11/02/10 or they cancel apt). I called last Friday 29/01/10 and no call back. Emailed monday and wednesday and called again today. No response from embyology guys!! I called Lister today to sort out a consultation. Does anyone have a consultant that they were happy with at the Lister? Is it normal at clinics to find it hard to speak to people? Am I expecting too much?
I'm going to email the consultant at the Homerton and explain what's happened. He's really nice, but I'm just not getting anywhere 
Good luck GIAToo.  Hope everything goes well  .  Really good news
Manbey

[indekiwi]

Hi Manbey, I think you've been treated poorly and should consider moving.  The Lister has great stats but is reasonably expensive from all accounts.  I haven't been to LWC, which is somewhat cheaper, but plenty of the ladies posting on here have - might this be another option for you?  I am currently at CRM London and very pleased with their services (above and beyond the growing bump  ) but they may also be a bit pricey in comparison to CRM.  Hopefully someone else will be along with some ideas for you.   

Welcome Minnie.     I think the reason that you haven't read so many references to either Sheffield Care or MFS on the singles boards is simply a result of geography - relatively few of us live in your direction.  I think Muddypaws bought her sperm from the latter (which I think has a good sperm bank) but was treated in Bath.  You might want to check the regional threads for Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield as there will be plenty of ladies posting there about their tx in those particular clinics.  Regarding teachers and tx, we have a number posting on the Singles board (Upsy Daisy, Kylecat, GoingitAlone spring to mind) - all three post on the bumps and babes board and may not read the welcome thread, so you might want to seek them out and send them a PM (personal message).

A-Mx

[upsydaisy]

Hi Minnie, fellow teacher here  off too bed in a sec as totally done in 

I didn't tell anyone at work about TTC.  It was all a bit of a crazy juggling act involving little white lies, whopping big fibs, running off to train stations during lunch hours and dubious use of a PGCE student to cover the class!  But hey ho it all worked out in the end and I still have the same job in the same school (part time now).  It shocked the socks off a few people when they found out but everyone has been amazingly supportive since.

Best of luck, feel free to PM me if you want details of whopping big fibs and how to tell them 
Upsy
xxx

[some1]

Hello to all the newbies and welcome to our threads!

Minnie - please don't worry about the fact that none of us seem to have used MFS or Sheffield.  As Inde says, it really is just down to geography, for some reason there are hardly of us posting here who live in the northwest.  I do remember a couple of people posting on here (and several on the LGBT (Lesbian) board who have used MFS, and I've not heard anything bad about them at all.  In fact MFS certainly had (possibly still has) an excellent reputation for sperm availability due to their proactive approach to recruiting donors.  I am not a teacher, but was working in a school when I was TTC (trying to conceive).  I was truthful, but not explicit, about what I was doing, simply saying that I had a series of gynaecological appointments.  Nobody asked any questions about this (it was helped, I suppose, by the fact that my treatment was at my local women's hospital, so my leave of absence requests just said 'appointment at women's hospital/clinic').  Are you a primary or secondary teacher?  I think it is probably more difficult to go out for appointments at a primary without everyone noticing and asking where you have gone!  PS If you want to start your own thread so that everyone on the boards sees it (and not just those of us who check the welcome thread) go for it - we're a very friendly bunch and you are likely to get lots of replies!

Some1

xx

[blueytoo]

Manbey - I have used the LWC for 3 cycles and the Lister for 5 cycles and the Lister wins hands down. They are lovely. My consultant was Jaya Parikh and she is the best! I've never known anyone to say they didn't like her. She is very open to trying new things and she actually listens to what you want/feel/think as well. I've seen all the consultants there at one time or another for various appointments but Jaya rocks. The thing I love about the Lister is that you can request your own consultant to do EC and ET if they are available even if it's not their rostered day for doing EC's or ET's.

Claire xx

[wishingforanangel]

manbey1 and minnie good luck with finding a clinic for yourselves.