FAQs - Initial IVF Appointment

What happens at the first consultation for IVF?

You meet with a fertility nurse and IVF consultant at the clinic. They explain the process and you ask (hopefully not idiotic) questions.

First you have your identity checked more thoroughly than at passport control and sign forms. Lots more forms. For everything.

Then comes your appointment with the consultant, who explains the IVF process in detail, how they think you’ll respond to the drugs and therefore which protocol (fancy way of saying drugs plan/schedule/regime) you’ll be on. They also cover when the IVF is likely to start and any other tests you may need beforehand. Do not anticipate a life-changing appointment (it isn’t) because you think IVF begins today (it doesn’t) and the wait is over (unfortunately, it’s not). The initial consultation is you boarding the IVF train, whilst the train waits at the station.

What are you expected to bring to your first IVF consultation?

Your IVF clinic will tell you what to bring and it is likely to differ between clinics, but we were asked to provide:

  • Photographic ID (passport or driving license)

  • Passport photos (that were then attached to our notes to remind them who we were)

  • Both partners NHS numbers

  • Copies of all tests results that may have been done at a GP or local hospital

What questions to ask at the initial IVF consultation?

It is always a good plan to plan questions. Otherwise all thoughts will elude you during the meeting to re-emerge only in the car on the way home. Here is what we planned to ask in our initial consultation:

  • How long will it take to start our IVF?

  • What are our chances of success?

  • What can I do to help my chances of success?

  • Is the sperm quality sufficient for straightforward IVF or will we need ICSI?

  • What is your assessment of my fertility issues - do I have PCOS or unexplained infertility?

  • What drugs protocol will I be on? Short or long protocol?

  • Does the clinic have its own pharmacy, or does it provide a prescription for the IVF drugs to be obtained elsewhere?

  • Under what circumstances could my cycle be cancelled?

  • What is the impact on my NHS funding if my cycle is cancelled - does it count towards my NHS funded IVF rounds?

  • Would the plan be to transfer one embryo only?

  • Under what circumstances would more than one embryo be transferred?

What is discussed at the IVF initial consultation?

Due to varying personal circumstances and health issues, the discussion will vary considerable. For us, discussion covered:

  • The IVF process

  • Our medical condition(s)

  • The appropriate drugs protocol, given our test results and medical history

  • The key risks during IVF including potential poor egg quality, potential for overstimulation resulting in a cancelled cycle or requiring all the embryos to be frozen, the potential for no eggs or no embryos of sufficient quality to transfer

  • Our likely success rate of IVF, given our age and personal circumstances.

How long does IVF take from the initial consultation?

The initial IVF consultation may seem like the start of the IVF process, but your actual IVF round is likely to start a few months later. For me, my first IVF injection was 7 weeks after my initial consultation.

I attended my IVF drugs appointment with the fertility nurse 3 weeks after my initial appointment. I then had to wait for my period to begin, which marked the cycle in which my IVF began.

On the short protocol, the IVF cycle begins on day one of a menstrual cycle, meaning that you wait for your period to arrive and you will then start on stimulation drugs during that cycle. This is different to the long protocol, where usually you will take down regulation drugs during the cycle before your IVF begins.