We had our consent consultation with the satellite unit in Swindon last week (Swindon is in partnership with the Oxford Fertility Unit, which allows some of our treatment to be completed locally).
So it is now all systems go!...
The appointment lasted around 90 mins and involved a baseline scan of my ovaries together with blood tests on us both. We then sat down with the nurse to go through all of the red tape/compliance forms.... all three billion of them!
Most of the forms covered generic information and consenting to the IVF procedures, including accepting the risks and understanding it is not guaranteed to work. But there were also lots of forms regarding our wishes for any embryos should one of us die, which was rather morbid, and whether we were happy to donate eggs/sperm/embryos that aren't suitable for IVF to be used for research. We both agreed we were happy with this, after all, without the research having been put into IVF in the past we wouldn't have had any chance of getting our dream.
We got to see the nasal spray I will use twice a day for the first part of the process, which is called down regging. We also got to see the needle I will use for the second stage stim injections, which to my relief, is in a pen format making it easier to inject. I will get full training for that part once I go back to check I have down regged completely after the nasal spray.
I now need to wait for my next cycle, I estimate by early June but who knows with my cycles, to call Oxford and book in. At this point I will be sent a schedule of when I need to take each drug and go for scans/blood tests etc. The drug company will also then send me everything I need for my first cycle.
They also confirmed we will be having ICSI instead of standard IVF. This means they inject the sperm directly into the egg so it's more complex, but hopefully more successful.
It is still a daunting process, but I am excited that this could make our dream a reality. I am also so lucky to have so much support, so thank you xx
I will update again once I have more information.
As always, baby dust to all and keep those fingers crossed! Xxx
