# New, thanks and intro



## Gaby (Aug 8, 2008)

Dear all,
Lauri pointed out this forum to me (when she found a message from me on the DCN single parents forum) and kindly invited me to join you on 13th September. I came and had a look at the messages and found plenty of useful and encouraging advice, so thank you for being there (here)!! I'm planning to join you on the 13th Septembe and looking forward to that, even if I'm not a single mother yet and it looks like it's going to take some time to become one!
One of the concerns I expressed in the message Laura replied to was my lack of a local network of support, which is a result of having recently moved to Birmingham and having my family a long way away. But thanks to listening to the experiences of other single mothers I'm much more confident now!
I'm (almost) 37 and have just contacted Midland Fertility Services for a first appointment, was very disappointed to find out that they have a long waiting list so I'm now exploring other possibilities (Leicester, Birmingham Women Hospital and even London!). After a rather unhelpful visit to my GP I am a bit concerned about the attitude to potential single mothers from the medical sector, so any advice you may have about different clinics would be useful. Apparently importing sperm is another option, but I'm concerned that that would mean my child would not have the option to contact the donor in the future. 
All my best wishes to all you mothers and mothers-to-be,
Gaby


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## larkles (Jun 29, 2005)

Hi Gaby 

Just wanted to say Hi and welcome to Fertlity friends, a life saver 

If you go to the index and introduce yourself-the link is here: 
http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?board=10.0

I think you will have a few more responses

Best of luck in your journey

Larkles
xx


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## Elpida (Feb 11, 2008)

Hi Gaby

There are a few of us in the Midlands. I'm in Brum too and have just started looking into treatment. As you will find, the shortage of sperm is a real problem ... I was going to start at the Priory but they currently have no sperm for new single women. I had an appointment at Leicester yesterday and will hopefully be able to start with IUI in about three months. 

I'm sorry that your GP was unhelpful, hopefully the clinics will be better and your contact will mostly be with them rather than the GP, although it can help having a sympathetic GP, especially if they will do the necessary blood tests rather than you having to pay for them. Is there another Dr at the practice that you can see?

I've found this board to be a fantastic source of information and support and everyone is so lovely. Look forward to meeting you on the 13th!

Esperanza


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## some1 (May 13, 2006)

Hello Gaby  

Welcome to our threads!  I had my treatment at B'ham Womens and was successful on my 5th IUI.  I did have to wait over a year for sperm to become available but I know that my donor was one of the first of a new batch (they did a recruitment drive) so the wait may not be so long now.  If you want more details about treatments/costs etc let me know.  I haven't encountered any negativity from the medical field about single motherhood, so hopefully your experience with your GP was just a one off  

Some1

xx


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## Gaby (Aug 8, 2008)

Thank you so much for your welcoming answers! I'll call Birmingham Women's and Leicester tomorrow and see what they say! I'll also post an introduction soon,
See you on the 13th,
Gaby


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## Damelottie (Jul 26, 2005)

Hello Gaby

Welcome - glad you found us  

Don't be too worried about the reaction from your GP  . It seems that some are supportive and some less so - just try a different one. At the end of the day tho - you generally end up paying for everything yourself so I wouldn't worry too much about the GP's. Its very very helpful if you can get blood tests/ prescriptions done from them but a lot of us couldn't. Its more important to have a supportive clinic and thankfully we seem to now know which ones those are   .

I didn't even need a GP referral for my clinics. I used Care in 2005 and just recently had embryo adoption treatment in Czech at a clinic call Reprofit

Love

Emma x


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## Lou-Ann (Apr 20, 2008)

Hi Gaby,

Welcome to the thread   . You will find an abundance of support and help on here! 

I am from just south of Birmingham and have emailed Birmingham Women's for some information, just waiting for their response. Sorry to hear that your GP was unsympathetic   ! 

Look forward to meeting you on the 13th Sept.

Lou-Ann x


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## lulumead (May 29, 2008)

Hi Gaby

Welcome - as the others have said everyone is v v supportive here.  I'm exploring using a known donor but have also been in contact with Leicester who have been super efficient and friendly in my initial enquiries and told me that they have no shortage of sperm at the moment.

good luck...look forward to hearing more about how it goes for you.

Lxx


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## winky77 (Nov 27, 2007)

Hi Gaby!  

Glad you found us.....I am sure you will find this site as invaluable as I have!  And do you know the best thing....when we meet face to face it is so refreshing to realise we are all just normal women but with the bravery and confidence to take matters into our own hands!!  When you don't know anyone else in the same situation it is easy to feel in a minority and discriminated against as a result of that (as you have already unfortunately experienced with your GP) but when you come on here you realise you are most certainly not alone.  I am so glad you can make the meet up too. I've been to 2 this year and have also met up with many of the girls in ones and twos depending where in the country we've happened to be.  In fact whilst down in London/Winchester area for my IVF last week (I'm in Scotland and have had to travel as no sperm here!) I actually met up with 4 of the FFs on 3 different occasions! It was a godsend to be going through the EC/ET and being able to talk it through with so many understanding people on-line and off-line! 

I look forward to meeting you in September.  

..Dinky xxx


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## muddypaws (Apr 10, 2008)

Hi Gaby,

Good that you found us. I went to MFS initially but due to changing goal posts in regards to sperm availability - told me 6 months at first and then it became a year when I was ready to go ahead! - I changed to Manchester FS and eventually closer to home when I needed to move to IVF. I have called Leicester today because they have donor eggs and sperm available so they might be a good bet. Look forward to meeting you on 13th.

Muddylane


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## muddypaws (Apr 10, 2008)

Update on Leicester clinic. In fact they have a 6-12 month wait list for donor eggs...have asked them to change their website as currently says have people waiting to give immediately. Still not a bad wait though. Most of the donors are egg share. They do have donor sperm though so that's good...if you are their patient, and they do treat single women, a shot (!?) will cost an extra £200 to add onto overall IVF/IUI costs.


Muddylane


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## Damelottie (Jul 26, 2005)

How much is the egg share Muddy?


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## muddypaws (Apr 10, 2008)

The costs they quoted to me were £4000 for the egg share with the added extras of 2 consultations (£120 each - have to do both regardless of other clinic treatment), the drugs for you (about £100) and costs if you need up to date blood tests etc...they require all tests to be less than a year old. Cost for swimmers  is £200 per go. Freezing of any embryos is extra (£300 for 2 years, £200 per year after that), taking to blast is more again £250. To be honest, this is a pretty good price compared to some places (except Reprofit of course!) even with some extras. They expect to get 4-6 eggs though, which is quite a small number I think for the money. Forgot to ask about refund policy as by this point I'd realised that my Reprofit date would be sooner and cheaper and thus had lost interest!

Food for thought.

Muddylane


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