February IUI

Drove2u

Looks like I'm officially joining this group. 13dpiui and bfn. Waiting for AF now to start my sixth and final IUI before moving on to Ivf. 

emgem819

@MorganL925 and @chicandbubbly I can totally relate as well.  I'm part of a town chorus and tonight is our practice.  I texted one of the girls to let her know I wasn't feeling good so wouldn't be making practice tonight.  She totally knows what I'm going through with TTC.  She texted back..."are you pregnant?"  I was like umm no, I'm sick!  Just not a question I wanted to hear.  Some ppl just don't get it!

chicandbubbly

@PCOSat25sorry about the BFN. Waiting at the end of the TWW for news one way or the other is soooo tough.

Sorry about the bfn for you as well @drove2u. I hope this month is your month

@emgem819 Sorry hun! Some people just do not think. I don't think people understand that simply asking "when are you going to have kids" or anything along that nature is so devastating to any of us with IF problems.

bosslady925

Thanks, ladies! Having support here is really what has helped save my sanity. It's not that people in our lives aren't supportive, it's just not supportive for what I need...if that makes sense. I try to remind myself that people aren't trying to be insensitive they just don't get it. I used to get a lot of the "when are you going to start having babies?" soon after we were married, and back then we knew we were waiting a few years. We don't really get it anymore, so either word has gotten out or people are assuming something's amiss. 

Those of you who know specifically what your insurance covers (i.e. 3 IUIs) was that listed in your explanation of coverage or did you call and talk to your insurance company to find out? Mine says something about "$10K for diagnostic/treatment including IVF" but doesn't say anything about IUI and it says it doesn't cover medications, but my recent meds where covered at least partially. Even the trigger shot was covered about 50%, which I've heard is unusual. Just wondering if I should call and talk with them or just keep moving forward with my head in the sand until something gets kicked back or it comes time for IVF and we figure it out then. 

emgem819

@MorganL925 my re's front desk had to call my insurance for me and it took them about a month to get through.  I was pretty sure IUI's were covered but not ivf (says "artificial insemination is covered but not ivf.") but my re's office was able to connect with insurance and make sure.  You can probably call your insurance directly yourself, but my re's office called for other patients so they offered to do so for me.  

NurseTMD85

@MorganL925 I called my insurance company myself. They broke down my infertility benefits piece by piece and it was really easy to understand (I have a 20,000 lifetime max, 3 iui/3 ivf max - each with a copay but otherwise covered at 100%, tests/labs 80%, medications 100%) This was before I even went to the doctor because I wanted to know what kind of bills I would be getting. But, your REs office should have also verified benefits and obtained authorization if you needed it (mine did this automatically). Hope that helps!

NurseTMD85

Sorry for stalking! Just wanted to see how everyone is doing! I'm not ready to accept that my last round didn't work. Feeling hopeful that I won't need another round of IUI. Fx for all of you ladies!

erica0901

Hello everyone! I am 99.9% sure I will be joining this board since I am 14dpiui and got a BFN on a HPT. I should hear back this afternoon from the beta. This will be my 5th and final medicated IUI before turning to IVF.

PCOSat25

@emgem819 the insensitive questions are the worst!!! I am sorry you have to deal with that. I hate that you can't really even be mad at people as they likely mean well. Ugh 

@MorganL925 I also called my insurance for a breakdown in coverage. My benefits specify artificially insemination but not IVF. That means our IUIs have been 50% covered but IVF is on our own. We will only be doing 3 IUIs though. Even with the coverage the monitoring, medication and procedure are costing us over $1000 a cycle. I figure if it hasn't worked by number three it is more fiscally responsible to just start saving for IVF. If IUIs were less expensive for us we might try more but they way it is it just seems like a waste when the success rates are so dismal...

emgem819

@PCOSat25 thanks for the understanding!  You're right people do mean well usually so those questions strike a nerve for us but they probably think nothing of it.  Also looks like we're in the same boat right now in terms of doing 3 IUI's and then moving to IVF.  I'm trying to stay hopeful that this IUI or the next (I've only done one) will give us our BFP but the success rates are not looking good.

I went in today for my US, I'm at cd 10 and have done femara and follistim injects.  It appears my follies are super slow growing this time around as the biggest was 8mm.  Doing two more days of injects (150iu's of follistim) and I go back on Sunday for another US.  They upped my inject dosage this cycle so I thought for sure the follies would grow faster, but looks like they aren't!  So frustrating. 

PCOSat25

@emgem819 I am curious to hear more about your current and past cycles since you are experiencing slow growth. Are you doing them same cycle plan this time as last time? My RE made me do the same cycle plan for my first and second IUI and I responded completely differently the second time. I did leteozole and follistim. The first cycle I had one mature foli and was ready to trigger at my first cycle monitoring us on cd11. Then second cycle I had to continue to follistim for 5 ADDITIONAL days to have the same result of the first cycle (one foli). I feel like my body is clearly acclimating to the medications and not responding as well!!! The same thing happened to me on clomid. I responded once and then never responded again!!! 

Has as anyone else experienced this?

ultratomato

Looks like I'm back here for my 6th and last iui. Just got the call BFN.

emgem819

@PCOSat25 I am also all over the map in terms of follicle size depending on the cycle.

• My first cycle I responded well to letrozole and bravelle and had 2 mature follies above 21mm at cd 10.
• Next cycle I took letrozole and bravelle and took until cd 12 to get 1 follie at 19mm
• The next cycle I took letrozole and gonal-f and took until cd 10 to get 1 follie at 17mm (but they still had me do the trigger the next day)
• This past cycle I even upped my dosage of follistim (stayed the same with letrozole)and am still not getting a follicle even close to mature at cd 10. 

I first thought maybe it's because I switched early on from bravelle to gonal-f (because of the recall of bravelle), but someone else said it doesn't matter what brand you take, it's basically the same thing.  I don't really know as there isn't really a reason it's slow-growing this time around, except like you said maybe my body is getting used to the medicine and therefore responding slower.  I'd be curious to see what others think?

arbasham

Getting on the February IUI train. Got AF 8DPO. 

MarlyHC

I just finished my last day of clomid...Monday I go for US and follicle check. Today is day 8.

@ultratomato so sorry for your BFN. FX this time will work out!

chicandbubbly

Sorry ladies that got bfn .

I go in tomorrow for my ultrasound! I am hoping it will be like last month and they will say I am ready and give me the trigger shot right then with the IUI sat but we know these things don't always work out I go out of town mid-next week so I am praying it will be done before then otherwise I won't be able to do the IUI this month.

Thinking of all of you ladies!

NurseTMD85

@chicandbubbly Good luck tomorrow! 

wifeinraleigh28

Good luck tomorrow @chicandbubbly!!  Keep us posted!

I'm officially doing my second IUI this month.  It has been recommended by both our RE and urologist.  The urologist today told my husband that we may still see improvements in sperm count but it's unlikely that the clomid will help with his motility and that's the one number that is still low at 35%.  So I'm going in tomorrow (which will be CD3) for my baseline ultrasound.  RE wants to keep my meds the same because I had a good response.  Will be taking follistim 125iu injections and an ovidrel trigger.

FX everyone!

bosslady925

Good luck, chic!

@wifeinraleigh28 is that his motility post-wash? I don't think that's too terrible either way. Did you comment what his sperm count was? I may have missed it. I'm so happy for you that the Clomid is working for him. 

wifeinraleigh28

@MorganL925 That was for his most recent SA so there was no washing involved... he had 43 million total count, 35% motility, 4.5% morphology.  His T level after a month of clomid is only at around 200 but the urologist thinks it will continue to go up (his baseline T level is 150).  Does your husband take anything to help with low T?

Drove2u

Still waiting for AF to come. My beta should've been Wednesday so I'm a couple of days late. I tested this morning just in case and bfn. Mostly since I have a bachelorette party this weekend and wanted to know if I could drink. I guess it's just a matter of time for it to arrive. 

wifeinraleigh28

@Drove2u I hope AF comes quickly for you.

I just had my baseline and will be starting injections tonight for the next 4 days until next ultrasound.  I'm really looking forward to having to excuse myself during our Super Bowl party to give myself an injection on Sunday night. (end sarcasm)  But I'm glad to be able to do an IUI this cycle!

chicandbubbly

@wifeinraleigh28yikes... you have to do injections? You can do it! That is what scares me most if we have to do ivf in the future. I don't mind getting shots at the dr but giving it to myself.... eek. I didn't realize people do them for IUI!

@Drove2uso sorry about bfn/af not arriving. I hope you have a fun time at the bachelorette party, you deserve it!

Happy Friday everyone!! Hope this weekend is a good one for you all.

ultratomato

@chicandbubbly u get use to giving yourself the injections at this point they don't even hurt. If you get to that point you will be fine or you can have your DH give them to you 

wifeinraleigh28

@chicandbubbly I did injections for our last IUI as well... they are pretty easy and I don't even feel it.  DH has given me all my injections but during our Super Bowl party I know I'll have to do it since we'll be entertaining guests, haha.  It might be weird if we both disappear like that.  It's really not so bad.  I had asked my RE why he prescribed injections instead of oral meds for our IUI and he said they are twice as effective with MFI issues, but I know a lot of REs start with oral meds first since they aren't as strong on your body.  I didn't have any side effects from the follistim, but I did from the ovidrel trigger!  I think I had all the symptoms... sore boobs, nausea, headaches, basically all the regular pregnancy/HCG symptoms.

bosslady925

@wifeinraleigh28That's great! I bet your DH has no sperm issues at all and it was just the synthetic T that was suppressing his production. I hope it continues to increase his T levels. DH's T level was around 300 pre-Clomid and then after 2 months on the Clomid it was over 1100! So it definitely helped with that but his SA after Clomid was much worse, so the urologist was worried it was negatively affecting that. It could have been a fluke, but he wanted him to stop. We know DH hasn't always had low-T but has had a lot of the symptoms of it for the past 4 years or so, but no real reason to check it. He didn't notice any difference in the way he felt (energy, mood wise) while on the Clomid and his levels were higher, which is unfortunate. I'm really hoping we get KO and maybe he can try other options to increase his T level because I think he'd feel better in general.

erica0901

CD 1 here. Set up my baseline for Sunday. I have the same plan as the last two cycles, letrozole, ovidrel and IUI. I have mixed feelings about this cycle, I'm hoping it works because if not we will start IVF, but at the same time, if the previous 4 IUIs have failed, why would this one work? Anxious just to get this cycle over with!

ultratomato

@erica0901 I feel the same way I'm waiting for AF to arrive so I can just get this cycle done. I guess I have to try to stay positive but it's hard cause it hasn't worked for the last 5 why would it now.

babylonghorn16

Officially joining this group! AF came right before my beta, so my baseline will be Monday.

Expecting IUI to be done last week of Feb... and then 2ww during March. Good news is my husband and I are taking a west coast road trip from Mar 2 - 11th, so that will make the 2ww that much more bearable!!

This will be my 3rd IUI. Considering IVF if the 3rd doesn't work, but i'm absolutely terrified to move on to IVF. Dx with PCOS (healthy husband along for the ride), so I'm thinking of doing more IUIs... all up in the air at this point.

Praying very hard that all of us will see success in Feb/Mar!

wifeinraleigh28

@MorganL925 Wow that's amazing that clomid increased his T levels so much!  Such a bummer that the sperm wasn't improved though.  It's so strange to me how T and sperm are related but also not at the same time in many cases  My husband has only been taking clomid for a month but we were still hoping for more improvements in T level than he's had.  He's going back in March for more testing to see where it falls.  Obviously the biggest issue for us with the low T is low libido and that he isn't able to get full erections... all that was taken care of with the androgel.  The androgel makes it impossible for us to get pregnant because it makes his sperm count so low, and being off it makes it impossible for us to get pregnant because it affects our ability to BD, lol.  We can't win.  He's still able to do SAs though so I'm hopeful for our IUI.  I'm REALLY hoping that clomid continues to make his levels rise so we can go back to normal.

@erica0901 I've heard that as you do more IUIs your chances go up.  FX this month will give you your BFP!

erica0901

@wifeinraleigh28 I hope that's true!!

PCOSat25

Ok ladies AF started today. Going into baseline tomorrow. Please think cyst free thoughts!!! I have not had success in the past with doing back to back cycles due to cysts. I really need for this one to be ok due to pending insurance changes that mean loss in infertility benefit

wifeinraleigh28

Thinking cyst-free thoughts for you @PCOSat25!  Please keep us posted

chicandbubbly

@PCOSat25hope you have a successful appointment!

I had my ultrasound this morning, everything looked good so I got the trigger shot and I will be going in tomorrow for our 2nd IUI!!

@babylonghorn16- sorry to hear your last IUI didn't work. A road trip sounds like fun though and a great distraction during the TWW!

wifeinraleigh28

GL tomorrow @chicandbubbly!!  How many follies did you have?  I'll be thinking high sperm numbers for you!

chicandbubbly

@wifeinraleigh28
I had three... the largest was 26 and I can't remember the others but they weren't super big i think like 14 and 16. Thank you for your kind words!

arbasham

Does Letrazole give anyone else a bangin' headache?

wifeinraleigh28

@chicandbubbly 26 is a good one!!  The others will continue to grow over night until you ovulate so you could have more than 1.  Hope all goes well tomorrow!

chicandbubbly

@arbasham
I was just thinking how after the trigger shot today my headache is hurting a lot worse. I have chronic daily headaches though so I am not a good one to ask lol  (Headaches 24/7 for 12 years!)
Sorry it is hurting you . It is possibly the changing hormones. Feel better!

PCOSat25

Thanks ladies!!! Good luck tomorrow @chicandbubbly. Fx