Another Nuffield Appointment

Last Tuesday was our latest Nuffield appointment, this was partly a follow on appointment from our last one when we received our big pack of consent forms to fill in. It was actually three appointments in one as we also had a counselling appointment and I was getting some blood taken for some genetic testing as well.

All in all it was a very busy day!

We were there a wee bit early for our first appointment with the counsellor, M, so we were able to get checked in at the desk and then have a drink and a rest in the waiting room. We weren't quite as early as we had been for our last appointment so it was just a thirty minute wait this time.

I'll admit, I was a little bit unsure what the counsellor appointment would involve. It's silly because when I saw a counsellor in the past (unrelated to the IVF stuff) I did find it really helpful.

M was lovely. Although she works at the Nuffield, she's sort of separate so whatever you tell her is confidential between you and her (except if there's any serious cause for concern). Mr Click and I saw her together; we talked about how long we'd been trying for a baby, how we felt about the IVF, the egg share programme and some other stuff.

It was a really good session and I think it really helped that M asked us questions that we hadn't necessarily considered ourselves. Her service is free to anyone undergoing IVF treatment throughout the process as well as for period of time afterwards as well. I think it's a great thing and I don't think Mr Click or I would have any worries about arranging another appointment with her in the future.

Then it was back to the waiting room for another little wait for our next nurse consultation. We'd only been there a few minutes when J, the nurse we saw last time, came through for something else. It was lovely the way she acknowledged us and said hi, it wasn't long after that that she called us through (a little bit before our actual appointment time).

This was a much shorter appointment than the last one mainly because it was just going through all the forms we have to fill in. We'd looked through them all beforehand but it was still a bit time consuming because we checked our responses as we went along.

A lot of it was stuff that you wouldn't have really thought about, like what happens to any frozen eggs or embryos if you die. A little morbid perhaps but definitely something that needs to be considered. There were lots of things to sign as well to show you've read documents; I'm glad we'd been able to read over them all before we went because otherwise it would be been a much longer appointment and I doubt whether I would've taken everything in.

We also had our results from our local health centre who kindly did some of our blood tests for us. The hospital requires anyone undergoing IVF to be tested for STIs because of contamination risks during sample storage. Being asked to do a test for HIV and chlamydia wasn't something I took personally because I wasn't worried about having anything, but it was still very nice to get the all clear!

Getting the tests done ourselves did save us a little bit of money, but I should really note it was actually suggested by the nurse at our last appointment that we go this route as our GP had offered to do tests like these. I just love that they aren't pushing us to spend money if we don't need to, it makes you feel really cared for. And as we were able to produce lab copies of the results, it's all good.

I still needed a few more blood tests so I had quite a few vials of blood taken. I knew that they needed to run several genetic tests (for the egg share) but I was still a bit surprised when I realised all the little tubes in J's tray were for me!

I'm not really bothered by getting blood taken, so long as I can watch what's going on. It's probably silly but if you're going yo come near me with a big pointy thing, I like to be able to see what you're doing with it!

Of course I should mention that throughout this appointment J was lovely and we chatted loads again. I liked that we were seeing the same nurse, though it wouldn't have bothered me if we'd seen someone different. It's just been nice having that bit of continuity.

When the forms were filled and the blood taken I asked what happens next and we're pretty much just waiting for a phone call. Once we get that I'll be able to start taking the Metformin I need to take from Day 20 of the cycle before we start. I asked about picking that up and J said that normally you'd just call to arrange to pick it up before Day 20, but go save us a trip she went and got me what I'd need so we'd be ready to go once we got the call. It can take a little while for everything we're having done to fall into place but if it all falls into place quickly I could be taken those pills before the end of the month!

What I loved about the end of our appointment was that after she'd been away to get the pills, J came back in and sat down to chat some more before we wrapped everything up. On the way home Mr Click and I both commented on how nice it is not to feel rushed at any of our appointments. I'm sure we haven't been the only patients on any of our appointment days; but we've kind of felt like we are. As we said to M at our appointment with her, how a place makes you feel definitely plays a huge part in the process and we both definitely feel comfortable at the Nuffield.

So now all we have to do is wait, and we've been doing a lot of that over the last three and a half years, but somehow this wait at the moment isn't feeling so bad.