We moved onto the next stage of the Fertility journey with an initial appointment at Bourn Hall. There is a clinic in Wymondham which is near to us. Prior to going to the first appointment, we had to fill in an extensive questionnaire which felt like a lot. It wanted to know what felt like everything about us. Obviously we had the normal questions about height, weight and all of those things. It also went into previous surgeries we had, whether we had any other children, any medication that we took. We answered all of this prior to the appointment and then we went to the first appointment together.
When we got to Bourn Hall, it was a very welcoming place with a comfy waiting room and the people on reception seemed lovely. We went to have an initial consultation with a nurse. She ran through our questionnaire and completely put us at ease. She reviewed the results of the sperm tests and the blood tests and this is where we learned about the dangers of googling. She explained that Jordan’s next result was absolutely fine and also that it could be different in 3 months time anyway as this is the amount of time it takes for sperm to change. She asked him to do another test as they like to have another one done anyway but reassured us it was not an issue. My test results by this point were all normal and so she asked for another set of tests of an internal ultrasound and a blood test to look at how many eggs I had left. We booked this in for a few weeks time.
There was one other conversation that had to be had and it mainly revolved around the possibility of needing IVF and this was where it all gets a bit more complicated for us. As Jordan has a little boy, we are not eligible for IVF on the NHS. While I get it a little bit, it is quite disheartening to know that we are not eligible for it. I have never had a child or been pregnant and so to know that because Jordan has a child with another person, although he does not live with us full time, we are still not eligible for help in having children of own. This means that if we need to have IVF then we will need to work out a way of affording this ourselves and it is certainly not a cheap endeavour. As I have been told by a number of people over the years though, cross that bridge when you come to it. So Jordan and I have talked about it a lot and we will see where the journey takes us.
I had to have the ultrasound and the blood tests and Jordan has to do another test. I also need to lose a significant amount of weight so that will form another part of the journey as we look to be able to have our own little family.