Getting started again - IVF

We got a letter back in May from the public health reproductive clinic stating that they were restarting the publicly funded IVF program. Of course the program has changed significantly from what it originally was when we were referred to the clinic. It wont cover anyone who requires sperm donation, which is a bit of an issue as that is what we were pursuing. Also, it now only covers one IVF cycle and the replacement of any embryos generated.

It does state that certain patients may proceed to a second IVF cycle at the discretion of the KEMH clinic if they meet relevant clinical criteria. I'm not sure what the criteria is but I'm hoping it's a fail-safe so that if the first cycle is a total bust (no embryos to transfer) that they will let us do a second cycle.

To be referred to the private fertility clinic for our funded cycle, we had to re-do all of the tests that we have done many times beforehand. At first I felt it was a waste but realise it is a necessary evil to at least check where we are up to.

Firstly I still have PCOS - my ovaries still have the usual 'string of pearls' appearance, and my AMH (Anti Mullerian Hormone) level is 48.6 pmol/L which indicates PCOS and the higher risk of OHSS in a stimulated cycle. I had hoped that my sustained weight loss would have helped but apparently not. Also apparently my B12 is quite low, and iron is borderline - both good things to know.

Murray had to do a new semen analysis of course, but we got a huge surprise when the results came back nowhere near as poorly as they have previously! The count and morphology came back normal when they are usually on the low side, but most importantly the motility came back at 30%, 20% of with progressive motility! Considering the cut off is 40% and 32% respectively, it is still low but so much better then the 0-6% he has had every other time! That result has meant that he feels much more comfortable with doing IVF again. It would be good to repeat the DNA fragmentation test as well to see if that has changed at all.

So we are off to our GP on Thursday afternoon to get an updated referral to the fertility clinic, and then we just wait and see when we can get started again. The fertility clinic actually called me today as we still have one embryo in storage that was donated to us - they ring to see if we still want it. I explained that we were keeping it as a back up in case our fresh cycle doesn't work, and she said that was a good idea, and that even if that one didn't survive the thaw, she could probably find one on the day if worst came to worst, which made me feel more confident also.

I don't really want to go down the IVF path again - in fact nothing would make me happier than for the adoption agency to call up and say we have a child, but 20 months in the approved applicant pool  has made me realise that nothing can be taken for granted.