July/August IUIs

[Ltruns33]

Hey ladies! I have to just update real quick- had my cd 11 monitoring. After 10 days of femara 2.5mg low dose I managed to produce the two biggest most perfect follicles. Ones 22, the other is 23. Last IUI June 29th was two 17-18ers. My uterine lining was 10 and they oooh'd and ahhh'd over the trilaminar (sp?)? So wow. Overwhelmed. Couldn't have been a better appointment. My doctor teaches at a research hospital so there was a med student there too. We talked more about her study on the no dairy, no high GI grains no corn no legumes no potatoes, high lean proteins fruits nuts healthy fats and veggies "diet" (diet meaning food intake not restriction) and it has been accepted for a research journal. It will be published in November. They feel confident enough in it's effects on PCOS to recommend modifying your eating habits according to this study for IUI and ivf treatments. (I have not been diagnosed, but have symptoms so Dr. Phy has been treating me sort of as such this cycle to see how I respond) she said in the study the women saw improved fertility almost immediately so it's not totally unrealistic to say that may have played a part. I ate healthy before, but are black beans, corn and dairy a lot. Like cut those completely out.

I triggered tonight, we DTD. Then we do IUI Saturday at 8:00am, BEFORE school starts like we wanted. I believe that is not an accident or coincidence. I am celebrating this small but huge victory today regardless the outcome. I feel what I haven't felt in a long time- hope. This is our Hail Mary cycle, and I'm praying!

I am praying for you all. Don't lose heart!

 

[SAKS]

Beautiful, LTRuns!!! I too feel that "hope" I haven't felt in a long time. Happy BDing and here's to a successful IUI!!! And, congrats on the perfect follicles!

-God bless us all.

 

[raelynn]

Ltruns - I am so excited for you! Those follicle sizes are great! Mine was at 23 too and I know we pushed it as far as it could go because I ovulated the next day so it is so great you got 2 really mature ones. I'm so glad your hail mary seems to be working out. Hopefully this is your BFP too!

 

[tommyg]

Ladies do you mind if I join you?

I'm about to start IUI for baby 2 (fingers crossed) I've no more spanners in the works. I was all set to start about 3 months ago and they decide that a cyst was an issue and were concerned about it getting bigger on the injectables. They tried to reduce it with drugs but failed so lap 2 weeks ago and AF has showed up this morning. Got an appointment at the clinic on Monday so CD 4.

Anybody know how many days you do the injections?
Nervously excited and just 2 weeks into my new job.

 

[HisSweetheart]

Hey Ladies,

Can I too join ur thread??
I had my 2nd IUI this month.. and everything turned out a flop very soon!.. AF arrived 2 days back though I was supposed to do the HPT today...

Everything was going great... the follie, the timing, the count.. but didnt work.. Doc has asked me to take a month off and come back for the 3rd IUI next cycle (September)... Would be glad to hear some success from this group!

-Mel

 

[Babywhisperer]

FBG - clomid effects everyone differently. So you may end up with an earlier O. Another good thing about IUI is they only use the best sperm. So maybe the issue has been some of the not so great ones were fertilizing the egg.

Babywhisperer - my mom also does not know. She worries a lot & I really don't know her opinion on assisted conception. Never has been an issue in our family...we are full of "accidents". Me & my husband not so lucky.

My Mom hovers too much and gives "constructive criticism" which is really a euphemism for negativity and judgment. I have learned the hard way to keep her at arms length with this stuff for her opinion is often barbed.

 

[Babywhisperer]

Ltruns that's awesome!! Slow and steady wins the race. So happy your spirits are lifted, what a great way to go into this. Diet is huge for our overall well-being. I am thankful that thru this I learned what is not healthy for me.

Afm, the other Dr I saw on Wed was wrong. I have 2 follies on each side, the right is 19 and 17 with no stimming last night, and the left is 16 and 13. I have a few smaller ones not viable. I will find out blood results later, but the RE was very happy with how I responded this time. He said they will continue to grow as the half life of injectibles is a few days. I will likely trigger tonight and have iui Sun. I am praying this works. I don't know how many more times I can do this without it becoming a problem at work. I have to be here around 7:30 and appts start at 7:15.

Welcome new ladies. Happy to have you here!

 

[beaglemom]

FBG - clomid effects everyone differently. So you may end up with an earlier O. Another good thing about IUI is they only use the best sperm. So maybe the issue has been some of the not so great ones were fertilizing the egg.

Babywhisperer - my mom also does not know. She worries a lot & I really don't know her opinion on assisted conception. Never has been an issue in our family...we are full of "accidents". Me & my husband not so lucky.

My Mom hovers too much and gives "constructive criticism" which is really a euphemism for negativity and judgment. I have learned the hard way to keep her at arms length with this stuff for her opinion is often barbed.

My mom's criticism stems from fear & worry. I know if I told her I was pregnant she would be happy, but worried. She always worries. If I told her about all this, she would worry & therefore want me to not do it. I think overall with my wedding & if children come in to the world, she worries because she got married because she was pregnant. She obviously does not regret us, but I know we were not the life she planned. So she often worries about us when marriage & children are involved. But she loves my husband & loves my nephews. She just needs the rainbow at the end...not the rain that causes it...you know?

 

[Babywhisperer]

FBG - clomid effects everyone differently. So you may end up with an earlier O. Another good thing about IUI is they only use the best sperm. So maybe the issue has been some of the not so great ones were fertilizing the egg.

Babywhisperer - my mom also does not know. She worries a lot & I really don't know her opinion on assisted conception. Never has been an issue in our family...we are full of "accidents". Me & my husband not so lucky.

My Mom hovers too much and gives "constructive criticism" which is really a euphemism for negativity and judgment. I have learned the hard way to keep her at arms length with this stuff for her opinion is often barbed.

My mom's criticism stems from fear & worry. I know if I told her I was pregnant she would be happy, but worried. She always worries. If I told her about all this, she would worry & therefore want me to not do it. I think overall with my wedding & if children come in to the world, she worries because she got married because she was pregnant. She obviously does not regret us, but I know we were not the life she planned. So she often worries about us when marriage & children are involved. But she loves my husband & loves my nephews. She just needs the rainbow at the end...not the rain that causes it...you know?

My Mom is a control freak. If you do something in a way that is not how she would do it, forget it...you'll never hear the end of it. She extrapolates, she gets absurd sometimes. If dh has 3 glasses of wine in a night she thinks he has a drinking problem. I just can't take her sometimes...and don't even get me started with the baby weight issue. I was 3 weeks out from my cs and she told me "you're a wife first, shower, get dressed, and get back into shape". I could barely walk up the stairs and she wanted me back into pre baby shape. She is hyper-critical. She can deflate me quicker than anyone.

 

[floridasian]

Hi all,

I'm joining you guys here if you don't mind. I've been with Beaglemom and a few others in another thread for at least 8 months now and had my first IUI this cycle. I tested this morning with a BFN so it's looking like I might be moving to a second IUI next cycle (or whatever my RE has in store for me).

A little intro on myself:

I am 36 years old and DH is 35. We started the journey late July of last year (wow - it's been almost a year!) We got pregnant right after my HSG (which revealed uterine scarring) late November. The baby's heartbeat was slow to start at 6W and then finally stopped close to 9 weeks. I had a D&C the following week. Following the miscarriage, my HCG was dropped very slowly. It took almost three months to get back down to 0 and my RE was starting to suspect cancer and wanted to give me chemo. After it finally went down below 0, we found out that my uterine scarring was still there - the D&C did not remove it so I needed a hysteroscopy to remove the uterine scarring. During the surgery we also found scarring near the cervix.

After the surgery my RE wanted me to try naturally for three cycles but he wanted me to take progesterone supplements from 3 DPO to 14 DPO, even though he never tested my progesterone levels and I don't have any symptoms of low progesterone. If I don't become pregnant on my own after three cycles I'd go back for a different plan. However, the progesterone made me ovulate early the cycles after that so I stopped it after two cycles. We ended up trying naturally for four cycles because my RE was on vacation and I couldn't get any meds or tests done in time for the forth cycle.

So this cycle my RE wanted me to go in on CD3 for labs and follicle count. Everything came back normal. He put me on Letrozole (2.5 mg) from CD3-7. He asked me if we wanted to do IUI and I said I wanted to wait for the results of the labs then decide. We went back on CD11 for a follicle check to see how my follies responded to Letrozole. He saw a 19mm follie with a 9.5mm lining. He also made me do a OPK at the office and said it was positive (it wasn't exactly positive when I took it at home myself less than an hour before that). He asked me if I wanted to do the IUI since I was surging. We figured since there was no other costs involved (I wasn't on any other meds or shots) and we were already there so why not. So there I had an impromptu IUI.

Since I wasn't really planning on doing an IUI this cycle I didn't do a lot of research beforehand and I later found out that most clinics don't do IUI's the same day of the surge. I don't normally ovulate until around 36 hours after the first positive so I kept doubting about the timing.

How many rounds of IUI's have most of you done? How many are you planning on having before moving on to IVF?

 

[beaglemom]

Floridasian - I think you have time for a positive still. But also this IUI was sort of out of the blue. I think if you go into it full force next time, you will feel more in control. u/s & a trigger. When we O on our own, it can be anywhere from 12-36+ hours from a pos opk. The trigger makes it very exact. I have been in the waiting room for my IUI & started feeling O happening. I would say this IUI (if turns out neg) is more of an experiment. Next time maybe go all in & I would do 3-4 depending on your budget & drs orders.

So I posted this on another thread & now I will ask you ladies' advice. Don't worry about hurting my feelings or bursting my bubble.

Okay, so I am finding myself very restless these past few days. Is it possible I have become addicted to fertility treatment & don't know how to take a break? Last night I was saying to my husband that a tiny part of me wants to do one more IUI while we wait. But I think it is NUTS! But in the back of my head I say well 1 IUI we had only 1 egg...the other IUI we had a horrible count. So I rationalize it & think to myself I only had 1 really well timed IUI with good eggs & okay sperm count. But I think it is crazy. But then I think well I stil have some follistim at home left over. And it will probably go to wait.

Do you guys think it would be nuts to try again while I wait on the IVF grant? I know I have to do what is right for me...but I am just wondering if anyone else thinks I am completely nuts.

 

[raelynn]

Welcome newcomers!

Floridasian - I agree with beaglemom, since this was so impromptu, you can think of it more like a practice IUI. You still have a chance though! My IUIs I tend to ovulate naturally and we always do the IUI the day after I surge. But both sperm and egg hang around for a while though so you could still be successful.

Beaglemom - I often feel like you. I hate just waiting around when I feel like we could be trying something to get pregnant. That is why the cycle we missed ovulation was such torture to me. If you already have the meds and it won't really be much extra cost, I say why not? But again, I have a similar feeling of why are we just waiting around when we can at least try something. So, I might be a bit biased.

Babywhisperer - Your follicles sound great! So happy everything is going so well for you.

Beaglemom and Babywhisperer - I'm so sorry you don't feel like you can go to your mom's with this and have to keep everything secret. It is so tough! Since we had so much trouble and then hubby got diagnosed with azoo and had to have surgery, both our parents know about what is going on. My mom is very supportive and always asks how things are going and what she can do to help. She ended up watching my daughter when we went in for IUI so I don't know what I'd do without having someone to talk to and support me through this. I feel for you both!

 

[floridasian]

Thanks Beaglemom - I'll definitely be going in with a lot more knowledge next time. I've started to write down a list of questions for my RE when I go in my next cycle. And yes this IUI sort of caught me off guard and I was totally unprepared for it but now I'm definitely ready.

I think you are like me, I can't just sit still and wait for things to happen. I need to take a more proactive approach and make sure I'm on top of things. So during your waiting period before IVF starts, it's natural to feel uneasy - you feel like you're just wasting time without doing anything. It's not that you're "addicted" to the fertility treatment so much but rather that you want to continue doing things to make it happen. I totally understand that.

As far as one more IUI - it's totally up to you. After my IUI I did a lot of research and I did come across success stories with 7th or 8th IUI. However, I do have to warn you that stats are not on your side. Most say that after the 4th success rates drop significantly. If I were you I would save the money for IVF. A compromise would be still taking fertility drugs but not the IUI. That way you get the feeling that you are still "doing something" but it won't cost as much.

Ultimately the decision is yours.

 

[beaglemom]

Thanks Beaglemom - I'll definitely be going in with a lot more knowledge next time. I've started to write down a list of questions for my RE when I go in my next cycle. And yes this IUI sort of caught me off guard and I was totally unprepared for it but now I'm definitely ready.

I think you are like me, I can't just sit still and wait for things to happen. I need to take a more proactive approach and make sure I'm on top of things. So during your waiting period before IVF starts, it's natural to feel uneasy - you feel like you're just wasting time without doing anything. It's not that you're "addicted" to the fertility treatment so much but rather that you want to continue doing things to make it happen. I totally understand that.

As far as one more IUI - it's totally up to you. After my IUI I did a lot of research and I did come across success stories with 7th or 8th IUI. However, I do have to warn you that stats are not on your side. Most say that after the 4th success rates drop significantly. If I were you I would save the money for IVF. A compromise would be still taking fertility drugs but not the IUI. That way you get the feeling that you are still "doing something" but it won't cost as much.

Ultimately the decision is yours.

Oh my gosh!!! I am so glad you said that Floridasian. I totally forgot that my insurance covers the u/s if I do a "natural cycle". Which means I can pay a $40 copay for each u/s (vs $250). As long as I do NOT do an IUI, the insurance will cover it. So I think next cycle, that is what I will do. I will still get monitored but spend way less money. So I can get my trigger & go through a cycle like this for $160 vs $1,000.

Anyone else see the stupidity in my insurance covering my cycle as long as I do not do the one thing that has a better success rate??? So stupid. I could charge them over & over for u/s & they would pay it...but if they would just cover the IUI, they would probably be out way less money.

 

[floridasian]

Sounds like a plan, beaglemom!!

 

[raelynn]

That sounds like a great plan beaglemom! I too think it is sort of silly that you insurance covers everything except the procedure that helps the most. But hey, take advantage of it!

For those of you that have use progesterone, did you cramp with it? I know it is way too early for symptoms and I don't think it would be residual from the IUI anymore so I'm guessing the progesterone is causing it. I'm having really dull AF like cramps off and on through the day so just wondering if this is normal.

 

[beaglemom]

That sounds like a great plan beaglemom! I too think it is sort of silly that you insurance covers everything except the procedure that helps the most. But hey, take advantage of it!

For those of you that have use progesterone, did you cramp with it? I know it is way too early for symptoms and I don't think it would be residual from the IUI anymore so I'm guessing the progesterone is causing it. I'm having really dull AF like cramps off and on through the day so just wondering if this is normal.

I don't I had that. Any cramping I had I related to the IUI. But it could be possible. I don't know how I would know what was causing it specifically...just assumed IUI was doing it.

 

[SAKS]

Welcome to all of the new ladies!!!

@Floridasian: I had 2 unsuccessful IUIs. I didn't do much research until after.

@beaglemom: I too have leftover Stim meds in the frig... I'm saving them until after my surgery. Glad you found a good way to use your batch before they expire.

@Tommyg: Congrats on the new job & follow your doctor's orders!

@Hissweetheart (Mel): May God give you peace during this time/wait.

@Babywhisperer: I can't talk to my mom about much either. As a teen, she would tell me to share things with her, but when I did, she didn't handle it very well. I just loved her through it. Believe it or not, it's because they love us TOO MUCH...and they will always see us as little girls they must direct at each step. Enjoy her while you have her, pray for her, and love her through it.

@Raelynn: I didn't notice any cramping from the progesterone. Maybe that's a good sign for you!

-God bless us all.

 

[floridasian]

raelynn - I've been a little crampy since 7 or 8 DPO and I never thought it could be related to progesterone supplement but I guess it is possible since I'm also on it.

 

[MomOf3Girls]

Thank you so much for the welcome a few weeks ago. I haven't had a chance to spend much time on here recently, and so haven't posted as much as I'd like. Between being busy, and not having a reliable device to post from . . . .it gets frustrating! Natural cycle last month ended up not working out, just like I figured. So, we're onto our first IUI cycle this month. Took Femara CD 3-7, and today on CD 11 I had my follicle scan. CD 12 fell on a Sunday, so they scheduled it for today. Lining was 12 (is it mm? Well, 12 whatever it's measured in.), and he said they like to see at least 8. Right side had six - 10 mm's; and left side had one - 18 mm, and one - 11 mm, and I think he said there were a few other small ones, not sure. He was focusing more on the big one. I was kinda hoping for the chance of twins, but with only one mature, I guess it won't be likely. But, I'll be happy with even one. I trigger on Sunday night at 10 pm, then go in to drop off DH's boys at 9 am Tuesday, IUI at 10 am.