Now, we wait.

The outcome of my visit to the Dr...

He is going to write to my specialist and request a referral to Fertility Associates. She told me at my post-op follow up that if we weren't pregnant by the new year, she would refer me, so I don't see that there will be any problems with getting the referral. We're doing it this way because she has already done my and DH's testing re ovulation (for me) and fertility (for him), and she has all my info re endo and PCOS, as well as having seen my ultrasounds and having my history etc.

From there, we go on the waiting list for an appointment with the specialist who will do whatever specialists do at this stage, and our wait for that is a minimum of 3-4 months. Maximum? Sky's the limit by the sounds of it ...depends on how chocks the waiting list is.

From there, they will assess our elegibility for IVF (which my Dr believes is spot on, and that this won't be a problem), and we then go on the waiting list for that.

Sooo.... realistically, we're looking at sitting on our hands for about a year.

Ever so quietly, I'm going ....ANOTHER YEAR????!!!!! AAARRRRGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Last night I felt a bit ....rocked, I guess. But I've been able to think about it overnight, and it'll be ok. I said to DH that there are positives to think about ...

It means that I will be at work for a full year, and therefore will get my bonus next year (this is a good couple of thousand - but I have to be employed by the company at the end of the financial year, which for us is December, to receive the bonus), which will be very helpful for starting off with a baby.

DH is working on his engineers licence (a qualification over and above his tradesman qualification, which also means a higher pay rate) at the moment, so he'll have more time to get that finished.

My brother is getting married in February, so we won't be risking missing the wedding because we're due for a baby.

We'll have more time to get things done on the house.

I've got a big family Christmas planned, at our house, (combined with DH's 30th), so we won't be worrying about juggling a new baby or an almost-here baby with that.

It means we can save more before a baby arrives or becomes a possibility.

I can pull the plug at any time if the wait gets too much and pay for an IVF cycle.

So, basically, we're focussing on the positives, and we are *thinking* positively that we may wait a year, but we *will* have our baby at the end of it.

Exactly! We *are* in the system. Or about to be anyway!

And yes, miracles happen, and one may happen to us while we're waiting

My friends are going through IVF at the moment and apaperntly they are entitled to two freebies, and one half price. the first time the odds are pretty low (20%) i heard, but the second time that sky-rockets to 70% - apparetnly as I said.

Hopefully the time will fly!

Ginger I don't really understand why there is all that waiting? When we had fertility issues my GP just wrote fertility associates ph number on a piece of paper, I rang them, made an appointment (think I had to wait a couple of weeks) and went from there. The consultation with Fert Assoc cost about $115 and at the appointment he assessed my public funding eligibility on our test results, time TTC, etc and that was it. Oh and he ordered another test for my DH which we got done straight away, the results of which determined male infertility. We were applicable to go on the public waiting list for IVF a couple of months after that in Oct 2006, but in Auckland the waiting list was 12 months so we went private.
So what I am wondering is why you can't go see fertility associates directly now? Why do you have to wait for a paper referral and then wait for 3-4 months to see a specialist? I just told Fert Assoc that my GP had given a verbal referral, and they didn't really seem to care either way. If you can cut this time down, then the things that you can't control, like the IVF waiting list, you will get to sooner...?

Lizzle I think those percentages seem really low, unless your friends are over 40 or have severe issues that have been individually assessed. For us, doing ICSI IVF and with me being under 35 the success rate percentage was 60% for first IVF.

Ginger, I hope this helps, as I'm sure there must be a way to speed things up.

I agree with Lulu, when I needed to go to Fertility Associates I just rang them up myself to make the appointment, although seeing Mary Birdsall *is* a longer wait than seeing Neil Buddicom - but both are equally as good (she is just a little more popular I guess?).

I would double check on that, just in case you can get things moving a teeny tiny bit more quickly...

YAY ginger i am totally cheering for you !!!!

Im so excited for you!! I cant think of anyone else more who deserves to get that BFP!!!!

Oh and I saw Neil Buddicom as he was the first appointment I could get, and I was more than happy with him. I had the same attitude as you Ginger - I didn't really care as long as someone could see me quickly!

I feel much better knowing that I have an appointment coming up and the good thing is that it will be able mid cycle for me, so if I have to have blood tests to recheck for ovulation, I'll be able to get those done quite soon after the appointment.

Now I'm trying to talk myself out of thinking that IVF is our only option. I'm hoping there are other things that I can just forked out for privately that don't cost as much as IVF (DH is still swallowing his tongue at the $10,000 price tag on that one! ) which I can just do straight away.

Anyway ...thanks for waiting with me everyone

Oh, and I'm seeing Freddie Graham. He looks like he'll be nice ...and he is one of the co-founders of FA so he's been around a fair while.

Yay Ginger, that is fantastic news. I'm so glad to hear things are happening for you.

Emile you can come visit my nappy pile if that's what will do it for ya j/k

Ginger great to hear the "much sooner" news, hope things keep going just as swiftly and smoothly as possible from here too.