I had mine inserted on about cycle day 30, but I had to have a pregnancy blood test done to make sure I wasn't pregnant. (Definitely tell the truth about what cycle day you are on though: you really don't want to have to deal with having to decide what to do about a pregnancy with it in.) I think they were pretty sceptical of me: my cycles are normally shorter than that. But I wasn't pregnant.

With regard to the appointments, I only had one with the gyno and then one checkup. My GP did a Pap smear, wrote the referral and did an STD test. (It's also not a great thing to have it put in if you have certain STDs.) Then I went to the gyno at the hospital and they did the pregnancy test there and had me wait for the results, although they did consider having me go home and ring them when my period came instead. But a fast test is easier at a hospital because they can do the test in an hour if they have to. And then 4 weeks later I had a checkup and the gyno said it was well placed and to go to the GP as a first step if there are any problems or I want it removed.