January IUI

funkykey

Hi All, I thought I'd get this month started. I usually post on the T-TTC board, but have been watching this board for the Jan IUI thread, as it looks like we'll do our first IUI on Jan 3/4.  (I've also posted here a bunch.)

Anyone else? FX for all of us!

sugarhead-2

I'm hoping to do an IUI cycle this month. We still have to do 2 more IUI before moving to IVF. I posted in the December thread that I was going to do an IUI that month but our plans were hampered by a cyst. I spent the month writing an appeal letter to my insurance to hopefully skip these IUI cycles since they aren't going to help us.  We're going to go ahead with this IUI cycle while we wait for a response from insurance. I'm waiting for my period to start this weekend, then I'll be able to go in for a sono. FX that the cyst is gone! 

I look forward to sharing this month with this supportive group

amanda_1182

I'm headed to the RE tomorrow for a baseline ultrasound. If all looks good then I'll start clomid and we'll do our first iui in January. We've been trying to 3.5 years. I had a laparoscopy in November and was diagnosed with stage 3 endometriosis. I'm hoping iui with clomid finally does the trick for us.

PoeMasque

We will be doing clomid + IUI in Jan. I expect AF Jan 7, clomid from Jan 10-15, then IUI one day after positive OPK. This will be our first round of clomid since my previous OB refused to let us try it. We have IVF scheduled for March and the odds they gave us for IUI success were only 8%, but they were better than the 1% chance they gave us with trying au naturale so why not give it a go. Haha

mcdonaldk1

Hoping your first IUI is successful!  We  are planning to restart IUI's once we get our new insurance figured out. Hoping for Feb or March!

funkykey

You may have already seen this: it is definitely how I am feeling today.



I woke up before my alarm this morning, I was so bloated. Gah.

I've had a positive OPK, so we'll go in for the IUI shortly. 

funkykey

Nevermind - the earliest they could take us (because people still on holidays) is tomorrow, and because I had a positive LH surge late last night, and cramping today, no IUI - tomorrow is too late.

I guess that leaves us just doing a medicated cycle and whatever BD-ing we did over the weekend. Gah! FX!

I hope the rest of you have better timing this month... If this egg doesn't take, I'm due to ovulate again at the end of this month, so I might come through with a hail mary IUI on Jan 28th or something...

PoeMasque

Yikes! Fx for you @funkykey how annoying that they couldn't get you in!! I think if a clinic offers IUI they should have staff on call!

I found out that even though my clinic is open every day I might have to wait for hours after my SO provides a sperm sample for IUI because they just fit you in at some point in the day. The research says pg rates are much higher if you do the IUI within 90 mins of sperm collection, so now my plan is to BD day of positive OPK and then I won't have to worry as much about "old sperm" haha (research also says that abstinence prior to sperm collection can actually lower sperm quality - which I can attest to! We had our best SA when we had BD the night before!)

sugarhead-2

My ultrasound was fine so I was able to start Clomid yesterday.  So tonight my hot flashes will begin. Joy!
lol @funkykey I love that. I haven't seen I before.  Sorry about your clinic scheduling. My old REI office didn't do IUIs or IUI baseline/monitoring on the weekends. So they would convert those cycles to TI. 

@PoeMasque I'm wondering if my new clinic is like yours with squeezing in IUIs. Last time it took HOURS. I fell asleep in the waiting room. This time my plan is to have DH give his sample, go to brunch nearby, and have them call us. 

Sugar

sugarhead-2

It's winter outside but it's middle of summer in my body with these clomid hot flashes. 
How are you ladies doing?

funkykey

I didn't have any hot flashes with the clomid, but I noticed on the day I ovulated, I was so uncomfortable! I felt extra bloated and crampy.

Crazy that it's so different for different women! 

notamyrtle

Hey guys, I'm also joining in here as I anticipate starting IUI #2 around Jan 14-15. I was benched the last cycle due to cysts from IUI #1 and then had a super-long weird cycle (ovulated around day 35). Kind of eager to get this show on the road. 

@funkykey: That is an awesome depiction of Clomid ovaries ever... Good luck on the IUI!

@PoeMasque: I also find it hard not to be discouraged by the success stats of IUIs... BUT, like you said, it'll be a higher success rate than we'd have otherwise...

liljoy-2

So weird, I didn't get bloated ovaries from just Clomid, and I took it longer than 5 days, no hot flashes either.

brooklyngirl18

hey ladies! I'll jump over here now. Technically I'm still in tww from my first IUI on christmas eve but i had a big temp drop this morning and a bfn yesterday so it's safe to say I'm out. I"m expecting AF tomorrow and will probably head into the dr monday or tuesday for baseline and bloodwork. We'll start up clomid early next week and try iui #2. 

brooklyngirl18

@funkykey that bloated ovary meme made me LOL and holy hot flases!! not looking forward to all that again but we gotta do what we gotta do, right?

cmar1006

Hi all! I started injections on 12/27, IUI done today. DH and I TTC for 14 months. This is our first round of IUI or any other fertility treatments. FX to everyone else this month. 

PoeMasque

Fx @cmar1006 !!

AF arrived this morning, right on schedule, but we now have a diagnosis of "sub-optimal" progesterone - 7.9 on CD21! Woot! Our plan was clomid/IUI this cycle then IVF, but now that we know the clomid will raise our chances to 20-25% we are going to try 3-4 cycles of that before IVF. I will start clomid on Monday, 50mg till Friday, then IUI after pos OPK! 

I can't help but feel super hopeful now that we finally know there's a problem. 

funkykey

@PoeMasque - that is great news! FX!

bluejeanbabi05

Good morning everyone I'm jumping in here too, normally active on TTGP. I'm starting Femara for my first round of IUI Monday (cycle buddies @poemasque ) If this doesn't work we're signed up for March IVF...I want it to work but I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

Are most people Oing naturally or triggering? 

Good luck ladies! 

sugarhead-2

Hiya @bluejeanbabi05, welcome to the thread.  I'll be doing an Ovidrel trigger at the end of the week.

bluejeanbabi05

@sugarhead good luck and fx. Mine is next Wednesday 

PoeMasque

I started clomid today, but I'm wondering how many ladies are on progesterone in some form for post IUI support? What's the dose? I plan on asking for it post IUI and want to make sure the dose is therapeutic. It hasn't been offered yet, so I'm preparing to go in and have to convince them to give it to me haha

JWatt5

**lurking**
@PoeMasque - ask for the progesterone. I had to ask, they were never even going to talk to me about it. The RE said that if I'm concerned that it doesn't hurt to be on it whether it's actually needed or not so they should be ok with you having it. 

cmar1006

I had my first IUI on Friday. They gave me progesterone without me asking for it. My dosage is 100mg 2x a day. 

funkykey

@bluejeanbabi05 - we are o-ing naturally, but getting the OPKs right was so much harder than I thought it was going to be! We were thisclose to triggering because I was so worried about wasting the IUI chance if we had a bad OPK.

I'd had positive OPKs earlier on when we were TTC, around months 5-8, so I had some confidence, but this past 3 cycles was a nightmare... This month, even when I could feel myself O-ing, one brand of OPK was positive and the other brand was negative. Go figure.

@PoeMasque you are making me want to have my blood checked again. Is this your first time with clomid? Was it just suppositories with the IUIs before?

It was my first time with clomid, and I'm surprised at the extent of my side effects - even still! The days I took it, there was nothing. Than I o-ed and it was totally different - the actual o. I thought that was it.

But this past week (from say CD 16 to now, CD 20), my sleep has been different. My dreams have been more vibrant, I've been waking up in the night. I was uncharacteristically moody with DH last week. Early in the evening he told me he'd been planning to meet a friend of his - who he hasn't seen in a couple of weeks - for a drink. I was totally cool, like: "sounds like fun, have fun". And then a few hours later when he stood up to leave, I was suddenly emotional about it. (WHAT?!) Like: "No, don't go!" Um. I didn't want to go, I just didn't want him to go. And then I caught myself: "Is this the clomid"? Like the clingy-ness coming out of nowhere? I've also noticed some other side effects too, with different parts of my body (breast sensitivity, GI)... Anyway, it's crazy.

PoeMasque

Thanks @JWatt5 and @cmar1006 I will make sure to ask then!

@funkykey yes, this is my first time on clomid. About 6 hours after taking my first dose I had a splitting headache. I never get headaches, but I'm hoping it was just a flook that I got one and wasn't related to the clomid. My SO has already been warned about possible side effects (like me being a total, raging crazy person). He got a taste of it this weekend when I got a cold and AF on the same day! woot! poor guy. 

rainbowwishes5

@PoeMasque I did progesterone but because TW/---///// I had 2 prior m/cs

funkykey

@PoeMasque - I hope the headache was a fluke too! I was saying to DH how I can feel it working - I was so amazed with GI side effects - and that it really is a miracle drug... but because it has an impact, it's also so scary... like, the possibility of OHSS or vision loss. FX that your headache wasn't anything and it's smooth sailing the rest of this time!

brooklyngirl18

omg the clomid side effects are real! i had such bad hot flases, i felt like I was on fire. I also got headaches and felt bloated. I get to start all that fun back up today. clomid for 5 days, trigger and iui sometime next week. let the games begin!

bluejeanbabi05

I'm not sure about progesterone but I'm definitely asking at my appt Friday!

@PoeMasque I hope the headache was a one time thing!

@brooklyngirl18 @funkykey I'm sorry you get such bad side effects  

I'm on Femara for four more days and nothing so far, but last night was the first night so we shall see.

They gave us two SA cups- not sure if that means they are planning on doing two IUIs...from what I've read online it's a lot of extra money and no proof it really helps. Thoughts?

They also told us to "release" (haha) for the last time on cd10 then we go in cd12 for ultrasound and hopefully to trigger. To be honest I would much rather HIO cd11 to get it closer to O date but I'm obviously not a doctor

funkykey

@bluejeanbabi05 - two cups?! I've heard it's actually pretty difficult to just shoot in one, because (ahem) your hands are usually busy... if our RE gave my DH two cups, he would die. Like, he finds it hard enough to BD every day during the FW (or every other day) - 2x in one morning? He'd be like: "What do they think I am? 15?!"

bluejeanbabi05

@funkykey Hahahahaha nooooo DH would laugh at me too if I asked him to do that. No I think it's like to do IUI two days in a row, so the samples would be collected on back to back days? Which has its own issues. TBH I have no idea as I was too overwhelmed yesterday to ask questions. I'm going to call now and figure it out though!!!

brooklyngirl18

@bluejeanbabi05 my dr mentioned doing iui two days in a row but my insurance covers one per cycle so we only did 1. I think it depends what insurance covers and what your preference is. My dr told us to BD the night of iui and the next night.

bluejeanbabi05

@brooklyngirl18 thanks for the intel! I think I'm just going to do the one and just HIO around the IUI as well. My insurance covers infertility but only after our deductible, which is an outrageous $3500 (!!) so it's all out of pocket until then. 

brooklyngirl18

@bluejeanbabi05 good luck!!

sugarhead-2

I used progesterone (prometrium 100mg) with my first REI office. I asked my new REI if I should take it and she said I didn't have to. I didn't push the issue because I don't know if it's that helpful for me. 

bluejeanbabi05

@PoeMasque how was the clomid night two? I hope no headaches this time

PoeMasque

@bluejeanbabi05 I did have a headache again, hot flashes, and felt like I was coming down with the flu for several hours last night! Thankfully today has been better, just felt some general fatigue at times. I react pretty strong to meds in general, so I'm glad this seems to be the extent of it  

sugarhead-2

I was beginning to think I'm the only one that gets crazy hot flashes. I'm like you @PoeMasque I tend to experience side effects.

funkykey

oh man, FX @PoeMasque - I had my worst side effects at ovulation! Gah! I am worried for you! Also just realized that I asked if this was your first round of clomid even though you specified at the top of the thread... Sorry! My mind must have been elsewhere! (Half the time, I swear, DH is like: "do you even listen to me?" and at least half that time, I'm like: "what? love you honey!" Bah!) Maybe I was so excited with your sub-optimal progesterone diagnosis? 

@notamyrtle how is it going? Still going for IUI soon? 

@SugarHead - FX for your IUI! On Friday? (At least this is what I think when I read through the thread). Exciting!

Not sure where @amanda_1182, @brooklyngirl18 & @ bluejeanbabi05 are - @bluejeanbabi05 is your trigger on the 18th? So you might know by the 31st?

@cmar1006 you will know around the 23rd?

@mcdonaldk1 - I hope we see you on the Feb boards! (Well, actually, I hope we all get KU before then, but if not, I hope we see you on feb boards. ) 

bluejeanbabi05

@funkykey trigger on the 17...yeah first week of feb, I'm so nervous. MIL told me yesterday I really need to "manage my expectations" good advice I know but I don't want to hear it. Lol. Do you have a beta scheduled or hpt?

@PoeMasque I'm sorry that the clomid is a b!tch. Only two more days, thankfully. When is your trigger?

@SugarHead GL! 

I changed my mind (again) and am going with the two back to back IUIs. It's just money, right? *awkward laugh*

edited for clarity and accidental tag