advice for an IVF newbie?

[justawaiting- brisbane]

I completely agree !! You really need to read, read, read and if there are books available grab one and read it tonight. At my fertility clinic there is a library you can borrow books. It would take too long to explain every test and every probability and every outcome. It is your body and you need to get to a position where you are telling the doctors what YOU want because you've done your research. There are lots and lots of websites on IUIs and IVF start there. Do you have PCOS ?

H

[butterfly_warrior]

Maybe it's just a sign of stress - but no matter how much I read, I don't seem to be able to take in any information.

Yes, I do have PCOS, and my husband has poor motility, morphology and a low count, so we are doing ICSI. Which brings to mind another question... my FS said that with my PCOS they would do ICSI anyway as it gives a better result. However I've not been able to find any information to confirm/disprove this statement. I guess it's not too much of an issue as my clinic doesn't charge extra for ICSI.

Any books that people can suggest? I have a couple here, but they are more about dealing with the emotional aspects of infertility and IVF, not so much in helping me to understand the process. And one is very, very American - talks about putting back 3-4 embies each time, when my clinic is adamant that they will only do one.

I think I'm slowly making progress here, though. I've come to the conclusion that I need to start questioning the nurses - asking what hormones the blood test will be checking, and then asking for the actual numbers, etc. Even if it doesn't mean much to me at the time, I'm sure there are people here who can help me figure it out, and I'm sort of hoping that it will get the nurses used to the idea that I like to have lots of information so they may as well tell me anyway.

I guess that this is the same as all things that are big, and difficult to understand - if you look at the whole thing and try to understand it all at once, things get overwhelming. But if you take small bits and work on them, you can eventually start to put the pieces together and form an understanding of what's happening and that after a while I'll start to know what the questions are that I need to ask.

It's amusing in some ways... Everyone here is advising me to educate myself, while on another dedicated IVF forum, I've basically been told to be a good little girl and trust the doctors and nurses and not question because I can't hope to understand it all. I know which one appeals to me more! But I guess that's what's at the heart of bellybelly - women educating and informing themselves rather than blindly trusting the medical professionals.

BW

[kim.b]

Hi there guys!

Im so glad Sushee that you told me this as Im a very direct person, and I say it how I see it! But, when I go to the FS Im not like this at all! I was speaking to DH the other day about this.The last two FS that we had were male and I was the one that did ALL the research, prepared ALL the questions etc etc, but they looked at me like I was a brainless idiot- BUT on the other hand if my DH was to ask the same question, it would be taken as something very intelligent! I have a female FS now so Ill see how this goes...

Sushee Im going to be much more MYSELF from now on...Even a few weeks ago when the nurse upset me I didnt say anything because my DH didnt want us to be seen as the nutjob couple! And he didnt want me to call the nurse a third time because of my spotting because of the same reason...but were paying a lot of money for this and if asking them a damn question is going to cause problems then there in the wrong proffesion!