Newbies!

Hi, my name is Em and my partner is Lou. We are both 25yo and live together in VIC with Lou's 2 children from a previous relationship and our 5 fur babies :D We've made the decision to have a baby together and are planning to start TTC next year. We haven't decided whether we will do a home insemination or AI at a clinic.

we are looking for some information from other couples, preferably in Melbourne, about clinics, home insemination and the general ups and downs of TTC

Looking forward to talking to you all :D

Lou and Em

:hello: Welcome :) I'm not a part of this area of the forum, but welcome to BB in general :)

Welcome Lou & Em!
We had both our boys through Melbourne IVF, if you are looking at a clinic insem, it's probably a good idea to get the ball rolling now, as the waiting list for anonymous donor sperm is quite long. If you have a known donor you would like to use, there is still a wait of around 6 months for the sperm to pass quarantine.
The best place to start is a referral from your GP for a fertility specialist, they can answer all your questions including costs etc. John McBain at Melbourne IVF has helped loads of lesbian couples, he is probably a good person to get a referral for so he can give you more information.
Good luck !!

Thanks for the info Sally2. How long was the whole process for you? I'm assuming you used an anonymous donor (please correct me if Im wrong). Could you tell me a bit about your experience? eg: choosing a donor, how long it took from first meeting at clinic to actually conceiving etc

thanks heaps :D

Lou and Em

Hiya,

We snuck in before the laws changed & every lesbian in Victoria signed up for anonymous donor sperm :lol: so our wait wasn't very long. Yes, anonymous sperm for us & we chose a donor who was open to being contacted before the kids turned 18 & had the physical characteristics that we thought were important.
It's a total lottery though, we chose a dark eyed, dark haired 'donor dad' & both our boys have blonde hair & blue eyes :lol:
We were pregnant within 6 months of the first meeting with our fertility specialist, but don't forget the wait for anonymous sperm is a lot longer now, less donors since they made it compulsory for the sperm donor to go on a register so he can be contacted when the kids turn 18. It means there are both less donors & more couples waiting, cause the same sex parenting law changes meant that single women & lesbians can now access donor sperm & IVF treatment without being infertile.
Good luck girls, looking forward to your pregnancy announcement!

Hi, I'm a new member to this site, I realize this thread is old, but I was hoping Lou and Em would be able to confirm that you were successful! My partner and I are starting the process through Dr Melissa Cameron, hopefully going to be inseminated in January! Any replies would be appreciated!

Hi all,

Sorry for the huge delay in replies. We've had such a busy year since we last posted...so to update you on whats been happening...in April we had our first appointment with Dr Cameron at Melbourne IVF and after going through the process of choosing a sperm donor, counselling and check ups, we did our first cycle of IUI in May. I was taking a low dose of pregnyl injections for this cycle too, which threw my hormones out of whack and I was an emotional wreck for a lot of the time. Unfortunately, this first cycle was unsuccessful. Despite being "so sure" that I was pregnant, I got my period right on time. We decided to go ahead and try a second IUI cycle the following month. We knew that this would be our last chance at IUI as our Dr had explained that after two IUI cycles we would have to move onto IVF. We were both apprehensive and nervous but thought that we may as well keep going while we were on a roll I suppose. Our Dr agreed to increase my dose of pregnyl slightly but unfortunately, this cycle was also unsuccessful.

Needless to say, my partner and I were both devestated that both cycles had been unsuccessful because we knew that the next step would be IVF and that would be a challenge for us financially. So we've taken a few months off trying and focused on other things. I've recently been diagnosed with gallstones and will have to have surgery to remove my gallbladder before continuing with our baby making journey. We're planning on starting IVF early next year and hopefully we're one of the lucky couples that have success first time.

Kayenkay, great to hear that you and your partner are going through the same clinic and Doctor as us! Are you doing IUI or IVF? I'd love to know a bit about you and your partner and your situation. It's always exciting to find another couple in the same situation as us.

Look forward to reading replies soon

EM

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Hi all,

Sorry for the huge delay in replies. We've had such a busy year since we last posted...so to update you on whats been happening...in April we had our first appointment with Dr Cameron at Melbourne IVF and after going through the process of choosing a sperm donor, counselling and check ups, we did our first cycle of IUI in May. I was taking a low dose of pregnyl injections for this cycle too, which threw my hormones out of whack and I was an emotional wreck for a lot of the time. Unfortunately, this first cycle was unsuccessful. Despite being "so sure" that I was pregnant, I got my period right on time. We decided to go ahead and try a second IUI cycle the following month. We knew that this would be our last chance at IUI as our Dr had explained that after two IUI cycles we would have to move onto IVF. We were both apprehensive and nervous but thought that we may as well keep going while we were on a roll I suppose. Our Dr agreed to increase my dose of pregnyl slightly but unfortunately, this cycle was also unsuccessful.

Needless to say, my partner and I were both devestated that both cycles had been unsuccessful because we knew that the next step would be IVF and that would be a challenge for us financially. So we've taken a few months off trying and focused on other things. I've recently been diagnosed with gallstones and will have to have surgery to remove my gallbladder before continuing with our baby making journey. We're planning on starting IVF early next year and hopefully we're one of the lucky couples that have success first time.

Kayenkay, great to hear that you and your partner are going through the same clinic and Doctor as us! Are you doing IUI or IVF? I'd love to know a bit about you and your partner and your situation. It's always exciting to find another couple in the same situation as us.

Look forward to reading replies soon

EM

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Hi Em and Lou! Thank you so much for the welcome and your reply! Sorry to hear that both your iui's failed, hopefully ivf will be successful for you both first time round! Certainly understand the financial factor, this process can be quite costly! We are looking at going down the same path as you both! Starting with the iui's, but unfortunately have a wait for donor sperm before we can begin! Completed all the other meetings and councilling but have to wait up to 8weeks for donor sperm to become available! My partner kaylee and I have been together for ten years, and decided to start a family of our own at the end of 2011! We had a willing donor but after 8 months of trying he got himself checked out and found out he had no swimmers getting through at all! That lead us to opting for help coz finding willing donors is not really all that easy! Hoping to start treatment in late January or early feb, due to the wait, and fingers are crossed we will be successful! It seems less likely though when you read a lot of the stories on the forums and I also have pcos as well with a low ovarian reserve for my age! I am 30 and kaylee is 40 so we are praying we r one of those lucky cases! But I suppose we will just have to wait and see! Dr Cameron is lovely, just not sure about the 48hr wait to inseminate after ovulation is indicated! Is that what you both went through? Research I've been doing sort of suggests to me that, that would be towards the end of you ovulation, what do you think?
Lovely to chat with some girls that are going through the same process, hopefully we can all be successful in January! Keeping our fingers crossed! Chat soon!
Kim and Kaylee

Hi Kayenkay,

i'm trying to remember the process that we went through. From memory, I had daily pregnyl injections for several days then the trigger HcG injection which stimulates ovulation. I'm pretty sure that from memory, I had the trigger injection and had to do ovulation tests prior to that and then go in for IUI around 18hours later. We are also waiting for sperm to become available. We were told it would be an 8 week wait. Whereabouts in Melbourne are you girls from?

Lou and I are both 26 y/o and have been together for 2 years. We have two children from Lou's previous relationship, a 6 y/o son and 4 y/o daughter that live with us full time. We cant wait to complete our family with a much wanted baby of our own.

Hopefully we are all successful in the new year.


Em

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Hi Kayenkay,

i'm trying to remember the process that we went through. From memory, I had daily pregnyl injections for several days then the trigger HcG injection which stimulates ovulation. I'm pretty sure that from memory, I had the trigger injection and had to do ovulation tests prior to that and then go in for IUI around 18hours later. We are also waiting for sperm to become available. We were told it would be an 8 week wait. Whereabouts in Melbourne are you girls from?

Lou and I are both 26 y/o and have been together for 2 years. We have two children from Lou's previous relationship, a 6 y/o son and 4 y/o daughter that live with s full time. We cant wait to complete our family with a much wanted baby of our own.

Hopefully we are all successful in the new year.


Em

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Hey girls, hope your both well! So you are both stuck in the 8 week wait too, hoping it isn't quite that long for us all! What was the date you finally got on the waiting list, ours was the 23 of november, after a long wait to see dr Cameron, then the long process of counciling appointments, blood tests and sperm donor info! Hate playing the waiting game after trying for so long before hand!
It's lovely to hear you have a family started already and are interested in adding to it! Our family is only made up of cats and dogs do far! Lol we are out in diamond creek, how about you girls?
When you got to pick your donor the first time round, how many profiles did you get to look at? They told us anything between 2 and 6! Were you happy with your options, the limited number of profiles tends to make us a bit nervous considering we haven't been through this before! Just hoping time will pass quickly and next year will be successful for us all! Both been working heaps to get extra money behind us, especially with Xmas approaching! Can't wait for the holidays to come, definitely need a break, but was really hoping that we would have been on break when we were trying iui for the first time, just to try to ease stress in that time! Looking like we'll be back at work though! Buggar! What do you girls do? We are both in manufacturing at the moment, but chefs by trade, just got sick of the split shifts! Hope your both enjoying this crazy Melbourne weather and enjoying your weekend! : )

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Hey girls, hope your both well! So you are both stuck in the 8 week wait too, hoping it isn't quite that long for us all! What was the date you finally got on the waiting list, ours was the 23 of november, after a long wait to see dr Cameron, then the long process of counciling appointments, blood tests and sperm donor info! Hate playing the waiting game after trying for so long before hand!
It's lovely to hear you have a family started already and are interested in adding to it! Our family is only made up of cats and dogs do far! Lol we are out in diamond creek, how about you girls?
When you got to pick your donor the first time round, how many profiles did you get to look at? They told us anything between 2 and 6! Were you happy with your options, the limited number of profiles tends to make us a bit nervous considering we haven't been through this before! Just hoping time will pass quickly and next year will be successful for us all! Both been working heaps to get extra money behind us, especially with Xmas approaching! Can't wait for the holidays to come, definitely need a break, but was really hoping that we would have been on break when we were trying iui for the first time, just to try to ease stress in that time! Looking like we'll be back at work though! Buggar! What do you girls do? We are both in manufacturing at the moment, but chefs by trade, just got sick of the split shifts! Hope your both enjoying this crazy Melbourne weather and enjoying your weekend! : )

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Hi girls,

We're in south morang, Not far from you guys and both work in healthcare. I lnow what you mean about working like crazy. We're juggling both our jobs, the kids our five animals, we're both studying and trying to scrape together enough money to start ivf next year. Its tiring to say the least but itll all be worth it in the end. We got the official go ahead from the clinic on 18th April this year and it's been all systems go ever since. We got about 4 donors to chose from I think, a couple were clearly out based on hereditary conditions and personal preference do we had to choose between two.

We're looking forward to a well deserved break over Christmas, spending time as a family instead of rushing around to work and dropping kids at school etc and trying to find a few minutes to see each other here and there too lol.

I really can't wait to start ivf but it looks as though our finances might stand in our way and west have to postpone our first cycle of ivf for a few months.

Nice to hear that theres another baby making same sex couple near us. We don't know any other gay couples with kids and I've been trying to find same sex parenting playgroups or something similar in our area but no such luck unfortunately.

Hope you're well,

Em

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Hi girls,

We're in south morang, Not far from you guys and both work in healthcare. I lnow what you mean about working like crazy. We're juggling both our jobs, the kids our five animals, we're both studying and trying to scrape together enough money to start ivf next year. Its tiring to say the least but itll all be worth it in the end. We got the official go ahead from the clinic on 18th April this year and it's been all systems go ever since. We got about 4 donors to chose from I think, a couple were clearly out based on hereditary conditions and personal preference do we had to choose between two.

We're looking forward to a well deserved break over Christmas, spending time as a family instead of rushing around to work and dropping kids at school etc and trying to find a few minutes to see each other here and there too lol.

I really can't wait to start ivf but it looks as though our finances might stand in our way and west have to postpone our first cycle of ivf for a few months.

Nice to hear that theres another baby making same sex couple near us. We don't know any other gay couples with kids and I've been trying to find same sex parenting playgroups or something similar in our area but no such luck unfortunately.

Hope you're well,

Em

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Hey girls! We are both good, very much looking forward to moving on in this process and picking a donor, but we may be waiting a while! Wow, you are close, nice to know that there another same sex couple close by, looking to fall pregnant around the same time as us! Wasn't sure when I posted that I would get a reply when your post was a while ago! But glad I followed my instincts and did! It's really nice chatting with you both about the process! If your both interested and can find the time, we should meet up for lunch someday! I know that could be hard, especially when you have so much on your plate already! We thought it was a lot just having five animals ourself! Lol adding two littles ones to that would be very demanding, not to mention working full time as well! haven't seen any same sex family groups around just yet but will definitely keep a look out for one, we not quite on that page just yet!
Only a few more weeks to Xmas now, can't wait! We are looking forward to some time together and family too, and of course a break! Bring it on I say! Hope things aren't too hectic for you both and your happy and well! Looking forward to sharing some positive stories in the new year, fingers are crossed for us all!

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Hi girls,

We're in south morang, Not far from you guys and both work in healthcare. I lnow what you mean about working like crazy. We're juggling both our jobs, the kids our five animals, we're both studying and trying to scrape together enough money to start ivf next year. Its tiring to say the least but itll all be worth it in the end. We got the official go ahead from the clinic on 18th April this year and it's been all systems go ever since. We got about 4 donors to chose from I think, a couple were clearly out based on hereditary conditions and personal preference do we had to choose between two.

We're looking forward to a well deserved break over Christmas, spending time as a family instead of rushing around to work and dropping kids at school etc and trying to find a few minutes to see each other here and there too lol.

I really can't wait to start ivf but it looks as though our finances might stand in our way and west have to postpone our first cycle of ivf for a few months.

Nice to hear that theres another baby making same sex couple near us. We don't know any other gay couples with kids and I've been trying to find same sex parenting playgroups or something similar in our area but no such luck unfortunately.

Hope you're well,

Em

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Hey girls! We are both good, very much looking forward to moving on in this process and picking a donor, but we may be waiting a while! Wow, you are close, nice to know that there another same sex couple close by, looking to fall pregnant around the same time as us! Wasn't sure when I posted that I would get a reply when your post was a while ago! But glad I followed my instincts and did! It's really nice chatting with you both about the process! If your both interested and can find the time, we should meet up for lunch someday! I know that could be hard, especially when you have so much on your plate already! We thought it was a lot just having five animals ourself! Lol adding two littles ones to that would be very demanding, not to mention working full time as well! haven't seen any same sex family groups around just yet but will definitely keep a look out for one, we not quite on that page just yet!
Only a few more weeks to Xmas now, can't wait! We are looking forward to some time together and family too, and of course a break! Bring it on I say! Hope things aren't too hectic for you both and your happy and well! Looking forward to sharing some positive stories in the new year, fingers are crossed for us all!
Kim and Kaylee

Hi,

Meeting up for lunch and a chat sometime would be great. It would be great to know some other couples close by in a similar situation to us. We head out to the park/playground in Eltham sometimes when the weather is good so the kids can have a run around, so maybe we could meet you both there some time and exchange stories. It's definetly difficult to find time with our schedules, but only a couple of weeks to go and things will quieten down for us for a little while over new year period.

We're glad you followed your instincts too and replied to our post. Truth is, I'd forgotten my password for this site and changed email address so I couldnt get into the forum for ages until I remembered my password lol.

Let me know when you girls are free and we'd love to meet up with you for a cuppa and lots of baby talk lol.

Take care,

Lou and Em

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Hi,

Meeting up for lunch and a chat sometime would be great. It would be great to know some other couples close by in a similar situation to us. We head out to the park/playground in Eltham sometimes when the weather is good so the kids can have a run around, so maybe we could meet you both there some time and exchange stories. It's definetly difficult to find time with our schedules, but only a couple of weeks to go and things will quieten down for us for a little while over new year period.

We're glad you followed your instincts too and replied to our post. Truth is, I'd forgotten my password for this site and changed email address so I couldnt get into the forum for ages until I remembered my password lol.

Let me know when you girls are free and we'd love to meet up with you for a cuppa and lots of baby talk lol.

Take care,

Lou and Em

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Hey Lou and Em, that sounds like a plan! Seems like we may have to make it after Xmas though, both working till a couple of days before! And I'm sure u know how crazy it gets organising everything just before Xmas gets here! Are you girls on Facebook at all? I'm not but we share kaylees Facebook account! Maybe we could share some info through there if you are! Her Facebook account is Kaylee Meale, the pic is of us both and kaylee has spiky hair if that helps! Don't think there is many in that name, but just in case that little extra info helps! Might be easier to organise catching up on there! Let the countdown begin, only a couple of weeks to go! Hope you both are well! Hope to catch up soon!
Kim and Kaylee