One hopeful Warwick mother shares her 'trying to conceive' story...

"SIXTEEN months, three different specialists, three different GPs, five ultrasounds, 18 blood tests, dozens of ovulation tests and hundreds of negative pregnancy tests.

"Welcome to the cruel world of infertility!

"Even when I was little I knew I wanted to become a mum, and when the time came where my husband and I decided to start trying, I thought it would be as simple as throwing out the birth control pills. How wrong I was.

"Month after month of negative pregnancy tests the stress and constant disappointment began to take its toll. My husband and I were fighting all the time; blaming each other for our failure to get pregnant and stressing about the constant stream of doctors' and pathology bills which seemed never-ending.

"Family and friends were supportive, and still are. But there's only so many times you can hear "stop stressing and it will happen" or "it will happen when the time is right" before you feel like crying. And I've done plenty of that too.

"The most frustrating part of all this is that after 16 months of seeing different doctors and specialists, I have only last week been diagnosed with PCOS - or polycystic ovarian syndrome - something that should have taken a lot less time than over a year to diagnose.

"Specialists were so quick to put me onto pricey fertility medication which did nothing for me. It's only been through the help of a local female GP that I've finally been given the correct diagnosis and I can start managing it. But it's taken this long to finally get somewhere, and I'm already thousands of dollars out of pocket with not much help from Medicare along the way.

"When I heard about a new bulk-billing IVF practice I thought it was amazing for the couples who, like me, had tried for a baby for months or even years without success.

"While I have a long road ahead of me, the possibility of needing IVF is still on the table as women with PCOS often have to resort to some form of IVF to finally fall pregnant.

"I believe a bulk-billing IVF clinic still needs to be means tested and only through a doctors' referral with proof of couples having tried for over a year, otherwise it risks getting overcrowded and the whole idea will buckle.

"I just hope our politicians can fight for Queensland to join NSW on the bulk-billing bandwagon, and giving more fertility medications and treatments Medicare item numbers to help would-be mums and dads get that bundle of joy affordably so they can still lead a happy life without the financial stress IVF costs can leave on families."