# New journey - complete fertility southampton



## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

Hi all,

I am just getting ready to start my egg sharing journey and wondered if anyone had experience with complete fertility in Southampton?

I am 33 and have a lovely little boy who I adopted a few years ago. I have always known I wanted more than one child and suddenly feel like time is running out so going to give egg sharing a whirl.

I'm a bit nervous as the more research I do, the more excited I get and the more disappointed I'll be if it doesn't work out.


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## Larniegh (Jun 7, 2016)

Hi Rainy! 

I'm not with complete fertility but other people on here might be! As for egg sharing Ive been matched and have an appoinment next week to start treatment planning. You're right that it's exciting and scary in equal measures! How far into your journey are you? 

Come join us on the Egg Share Friends thread too x


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

Very early in the journey. Got to make an appointment with the GP and get my referral sorted.

I was intending to wait a few months to try and save a bit more money but as I'm already 33 (and a half!) I decided that I need to get my act together. I'm nervous I'll fall at the first hurdle (AMH result) but at least I'll know - right?!


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## Larniegh (Jun 7, 2016)

Absolutely you will!! Do GPs do referrals for egg share? Thought that was mostly self funded where funding was needed Maybe I'm wrong there but either way. 

Do you have any reason to suspect your Amh would be low? X


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

The clinic said I could self refer (and pay) or go through the GP for free. Free sounded good for me.

To be honest I'm tempted to self refer to speed it up (GP referrals take 8 weeks apparently) but it'll give me the chance to talk to my GP about other stuff. A while ago I had an ultrasound due to random bleeding. All was fine but the GP briefly mentioned that I had a bicorunate uterus and want to know whether they think that may cause problems.

No reason to suspect low AMH except it'd be just my luck. My sister pops out children at the drop of a hat though - are these things genetic?!


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## Larniegh (Jun 7, 2016)

Fertility tends to run in families but some people have bad luck. Shocked to hear that you can get referred and not pay for it! What are their costs if you egg share privately??


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

If I get referred it'll only be the initial consultation that I get for free, not the whole treatment.
They do 2 packages. A basic one is £500 (plus £300 for donor sperm) and then a full package for £1500 (plus sperm).


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## Larniegh (Jun 7, 2016)

What do you get with each? My clinic is £580 for the tests and £495 for the donor sperm. It includes stuff like the embryoscope and embryoglue that not everywhere has. 

It's amazing how many of us single ladies have ended up here. Xx


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

I know that neither includes embryoscope (what is that?) they both include ICSI, drugs, HFEA

The full package includes blastocyst, freezing embryos and frozen embryo transfer which is why I think I'll go for that. I wouldn't want the regret of only having one attempt and it failing and wishing I'd frozen embryos.

the danger is you don't get any frozen embryos and the extra money is for nothing . Tough decisions


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## Larniegh (Jun 7, 2016)

Hmm. When do yoy have to commit to one package or the other? You could hedge your bets once the amh is in. These places know how to make money. What I would say is a healthy woman with no known fertility issues should get pregnant, so would that mean you don't need the FET and therefore you still lose the money? What's the cost if you pay for the lower one and then need to freeze? Seems strange how they all differ. I have 1 year of storage built into my costs but would have to pay for an FET.  

Embryoscope is how they look after the embryos as they develop.  It basically means they go into the scope and don't leave till they're ready to be implanted. It's better because you don't change the temperature all the time. Xx


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

Still waiting on the info pack at the moment to find out all these details. Need to start writing down the questions too.

Where are you having your treatment? What does it include etc?


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## Larniegh (Jun 7, 2016)

So I'm with CRGW in Wales and I get :

Egg-share Donor Free
Medication package
All ultrasound assessments during treatment Sedation for egg collection procedure
Ultrasound-guided egg collection
Blastocyst culture (if possible)
Assisted Hatching (where applicable)
'EmbryoScope' timelapse embryo development monitoring EmbryoGlue                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  One Fresh Embryo transfer
Embryo vitrification/freezing and one year’s storage (if applicable)
One counselling session
2 pregnancy scans or follow up appointment
HFEA licence fee


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

Wow that sounds like a good deal. Wish I was closer to Wales. Is there anything it doesn't cover that you might have to pay on top?


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## Larniegh (Jun 7, 2016)

Not with a donor. Any unexpected medication you have to buy but other than that it's all in. A few people travel from London to where I am. Sometimes you're better finding a clinic you like. But it's a pain.
The other consideration is how long you wait to be matched. So ice been matched after 5 weeks but if o got to 12 Weeks without a match I'd have been given the treatment and ha s half the eggs frozen. Some clinics differ in thay.


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

Sounds like you've got a very good deal there. Where exactly are you in the process? How long has it taken?

I looked at finances yesterday and decided it was JUST viable (I need to move house too). Was a bit deflated and then got a chunk of money from tax credits (I assume they unpaid me last year). That was a lovely bonus and I'm feeling very cheery today.


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## Amsybabes (Aug 25, 2016)

Hello, I'm new to all this so just wanted to say hi and introduce myself. I'm Amy and we are being seen by Dr Brooks at Complete Fertility Centre Southampton. I'm awaiting my bloods etc and hopefully we will be accepted to be egg sharers. I'm hoping to find someone who is going through it all at the same time as me. I'm so nervous about injecting myself and egg collection etc. So hopefully we can support each other.


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## Rainy123 (Aug 24, 2016)

Hi amsy! 
So excited to find someone else with the same clinic. I think you're a little ahead of me though. How are you finding it all so far? Which package are you going with?

I've got an appointment booked to see my GP to see if they'll refer me (did you do this?) and to chat through some other issues which may (or hopefully may not) cause problems in pregnancy


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