Hi Alisha and Frances,

Welcome I'm pretty sure you'll find everything you need on here (I certainly did!).

I'm so sorry that you have had bad experiences with people lately, but I'm glad you found this site as BellyBelly members are very respectful and friendly. We've had nothing but support and encouragment through our conception and pregnancy, and now parenting journey

I have posted in a few threads on this board about where to go for gay and lesbian friendly medical support. I'm not entirely sure where Cornida is, I tried to do a search but it came up with nothing, so I'll just give you some general Brisbane resources.

First of all, try the Gay and Lesbian Health Service in Highgate Hill. If thats a bit far to travel then just call they should be able to put you in touch with some people. Also you could try contacting QAHC I say they definately have some names and numbers, or the Gay and Lesbian Welfare Association. Any of these organisations will be able to put you in touch with GLBTI friendly GPs, as you will need a referral to see a fertility specialist. If its near you, Stonewall Medical Centre in Windsor is GLBTI friendly and has at least some gay and lesbian doctors (I *think* its all G/L drs but I can't be totally sure).

I have heard that QFG is very lesbian friendly, so you could give them a call? When I was searching for clinics, I found a few weren't as friendly as they could have been. I did a search and rang a few and talked to them, you can get a good feel about what kind of attitudes they hold when you talk to them. Don't assume that they all believe lesbians shouldn't have kids, its a minority that think that. And don't think because they are reserved with you that its because you are a lesbian couple my clinic was very reserved with us until a few months in.

Prices, thats a hard one. It depends on who you go with. Each cycle it cost us $1000 ($200 for donor sperm, and $800 for the scans, IUI and to prepare the sperm). I got 80% back as I have PCOS, so each cycle cost $200 once I hit my medicare safety net threshold. Also, the sperm was only $200 as it was an Australian donor, and they didn't have to bring it in from an overseas bank. If you choose an unknown donor, and get sperm from overseas, that isnt covered under Medicare either. Though its very rare to find a clinic who actually has Australian donors because of the law changes, they have to be contactable and they don't get any payment so not a whole lot of incentive to donate unless you're donating to a known couple. Before we started I had a lot of fertility investigations, which were a bit expensive. Laparoscopy, HSG, scans, a psychology session and also being on the pill to keep the PCOS under control before TTC. But then again, some clinics don't require you to go through all of that. My opinion is that its better to have the fertility investigations done that way if theres any problems they can be dealt with before you start TTC, so you can start with the most approriate procedures, and so you don't waste any money and time trying to conceive if you have fertility issues. But a lot of people disagree, and consider it a waste of time and money to do the investigations. But its up to the clinic as to what they do.

We had our first appointment with the clinic in February last year, started trying to conceive in August last year, and got pregnant on our 4th cycle (November last year), and now we have a 7 week old princess. So from start to finish it was 10 months, or almost 20 months if you include pregnancy. We were lucky that it only took us 4 cycles. For some people it can take a lot more.

HTH, its early and I can't think of anything else, though if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask. And have a read of the other posts, they should give you some more good information too.