Congratulations on your appointment!! It's a big step isn't it!
In answer to your question, personally I would not start the pill for a couple of reasons.
1. Your cycle (25 days) seems pretty short. You may have a short luteal phase. A FS may try you on clomiphene (Clomid) to lengthen it before IUI or similar.
2. I am in Melbourne so not with Westmead but I have done two IVF cycles and neither involved taking BCP. There are a number of different protocols so yours may not even involve taking BCP.
3. I am not sure what tests you have had done but a lot of FS will do full blood work (even if you have had it done before) to check FSH, AMH, thyroid function, etc. A lot will also do a HSG (A test which injects dye into your fallopian tubes to check for blockage) and ultrasounds.
4. When it comes to checking hormones, au naturale is best!
It depends on the severity of your DH's issues, but my understanding is that most FS will only look at IVF as a last resort. Not as a first port of call.
there are lots of things they can do with the pill to manipulate your timing to work with you (and the clinic) - it's part of the reason they use the pill at all - your cycle may not work for the clinic (timing wise) so they can guesstimate when they want to put you in for EPU and countback as to when they need to start. the pill is (generally speaking) used so that you have a bleed when they need you to. like N2L i never used the OCP (actually, we tried it once - the side effecs put me in hospital with a painless migraine - they thought i was having a stroke - so it was definitely a one off!)
your first cycle will be very much an experiment to see how you respond to the medications. depending on the severity of your partners MFI, they may go straight to IVF, but if they believe IUI is a possibility, you may only be put on the clomid tablets (which you would take on a natural cycle more than likely). if you do go to full IVF, you may or may not need the pill depending on whether your normal AF dates "fit" - you may also need to have "down regulation" via nasal spray or injections - to essentially put your body into drug-induced menopausal state for a short time and give them complete hormonal control.
it is very hard to say what may or may not happen - but at this point, my suggestion is to keep everything as it is with your cycle - if it needs manipulating, let the FS do that side of things if it becomes necessary
good luck! and yes, patience is the name of the game here unfortunately
The one thing I've noticed with fertility specialists - you may think you have done all the right tests and had all the investigations done under the sun, but there's always more. You can bet that they will want to do their own semen analysis (the way IVF clinics do it is very different to the way pathology centres do it) and a bunch more tests on you. They need you to not be on the pill for those tests.
The other thing, westmead fertility centre is a public clinic. It's cheaper, has a lot more patients and has much longer waiting times. I know this is somewhat bubble-bursting and not what you want to hear, but definitely do not expect to just walk in and be able to start straight away. It's pretty much impossible even in the private clinics anyway.
I have had a Day 21 BT which shows everything is normal. I've had a lap done with the tubal patency thingo (dye test) and I have absolutely nothing wrong with me. Tubes are clear, no PCOS, no endo. DH had his spermies tested through IVF Australia so that test should be cool unless they want him to repeat it.
I believe that we will DH will have to get a BT done prob. As for the waiting list - I'm not trying to get my hopes up too high but if I don't have some hope then I would prob just fall in a heap. I just have to keep on believing that it will happen soon otherwise - it's just too depressing!
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