Got the letter....

Well our letter referring us to Fertility Associates arrived in the mail on Saturday, telling us to call in the next 10 days to make an appointment in the next six months...well have been ringing every day this week and all I get is an answering machine......Guess we'll just play the waiting game or phone tag till I actually get to speak to the right person.

Kind of not too stressed out about it at the moment as at least we are a step closer to more investigations/answers about our fertility.

Well that's all I have to say and that I am now at 7DPO.

Thats awesome that you have had a letter from them!

It is great to have a time frame for the next step instead of just waiting and waiting...
Hope you get through to them soon!

That's really good news Melly - about the letter, not the not being able to make contact! Who are you to be seeing there?

Good luck! Fingers and toes crossed that things keep moving for you!!

Ok, so have finally managed to contact the lady in charge of Publicly funded appointments, it wasn't nearly as easy as it should have been - nevermind...

I have managed to get in to see Dr Fisher on 14 May, so now less than three weeks away. Feel really good now that the ball is definitely rolling. Will find out at that appointment what treatment options we have and also whether we're eligible for public funding.

That is great news Melly, nice to finally get the ball rolling. Good that you don't have to wait too long for any appt as well.

wow how cool! must be a sign for you guys then!!! Best of luck!!!

Oookay ...from having been there very recently, I can tell you this:

The public waiting list is about 12 months in Auckland. Apparently it's growing exponentially month to month. A year ago, the wait was 6 months. 12 months on, it's doubled.

A private IVF cycle with ICSI is $10K, but run of the mill IVF (where the sperm and egg do their own thing in a test tube, which is probably what you'd do) is only $8K (only!! ). FETs (frozen embryo transfers) are around the $900 mark.

Do you want my two cents worth on the loan ...?

Take the offered money, and go private. Think of all the extra income you've had in the last 3 years waiting ...you'll pay it back and you'll have your baby on the way. More than likely, your DH's parents would feel the greatest joy to be able to give you a gift that they couldn't have for themselves, and as you say ...they understand what you're going through, and my guess is that like most parents, they want to save you some of your pain and anguish.

If any of our families offered us the money (even loaned) for that first cycle, I'd be in the specialist's office tomorrow. (I've never bought lotto tickets or scratchies before ...but I've had a few recently. I know it's a con, but as stupid as it sounds, a scratchie is potentially an IVF cycle)

Maybe, if you haven't already, you could pass the time today while waiting for your appointment, by doing a budget and seeing how easily you can pay DH's parents back if you did borrow the money? It might just help you make a decision.

Having said that, I absolutely understand where you're coming from, wanting to save the money for yourselves. When DH and I decided to bring IVF forward, the only stipulation was that we paid cash on the spot. We could easily stick a cycle on one of our credit cards, but the plan is to save the cash.

The other thing is that if you do a cycle through FA, if you would otherwise have been assigned to F+ (from what I've heard, FA is definitely the way to go!), then you get to stay with FA and do all your subsequent publicly-funded stuff through them. Yay! Though hopefulyl you'd need never have to worry about it! Plus of course, you still get to go on the waiting list for publicly funded cycles too.

Keep me posted melly - I'm always thinking of you!

I'm so excited for you! That's great news!!

All the very best for tomorrow

As for us - yes, we've made the decision and set the date! Now we just have to wait ... some more

ooh mellybelly! good luck!!!!

That's good news, and with luck you'll get a +ve result from the clomid. I'd feel so much better myself if I could do something like that in the meantime instead of just sitting around with IVF our only option. I hope it makes the next few months easier for you ...if you end up having to wait the next few months that is!

Who did you see at FA?