First IUI Fail ... How many do I need to do before a baby?

Rohall12 · July 2014

My husband and I have been TTC for 23 months now. I am newly 30 years old and my husband is 36. We've had every test in the book done and everything looked great except my husband's sperm shape and mobility are low (but sperm count was great). So because the sperm issues, our RE suggested that we move onto IUI.

My meds included Clomid 100 mg (days 3-7) and Gonal F 112.5 (7-10). On day 11 I went in for my ultrasound to find 8 follicles with 4 of them being mature! They explained the risks and shortly after they gave me my "trigger shot". My IUI was scheduled for the next morning

I went in for my first IUI on July 12, 2014. It was a perfect cycle too -- 4 mature follicles, great lining, husbands sperm count was 28 million and my IUI was planned right on my ovulation day! Everything was perfect and I continued with Progesterone starting day 14.

I was soo excited ... I felt like this was it! But that feeling went away because here I sit 10 dpo and a negative test. They only thing that feels different is my boobs are huge and sore (but I was told this could be from the Progesterone). I know I have a couple more days to wait but I feel out. I have been doing this for 23 months accompanied by 3 miscarries, so I feel I have an adequate idea of what my body should feel like.

I am feeling defeated. I am wondering how many IUI’s did it take for you ladies before you had success? Or maybe you didn't have success and you tried something different. I just don't know how many IUI's I should go through? Any help or suggestions you can give me I would greatly appreciate.

MoFree · July 2014

I'm sorry about your BFN and previous losses. Unfortunately no one can answer when you will have a BFP resulting in a take home baby. Many women have conceived on subsequent IUI cycles.

Has your RE discussed IVF because of your husband's sperm issues? I would also question someone who has you trigger with four mature follicles.

Rohall12 · July 2014

We are trying to avoid IVF due to costs. I would really like IUI to work I just didn't know how many cycles we should try before moving onto IVF.

As far as the 4 follicles, they were hesitant to proceed but we wanted to go for it so they did as we asked. If we didn't have the sperm issue or had not been trying for so long they said they would have canceled it.

Mrs.AmyDylan · July 2014

I'm sorry for your bfn. There is truly no telling how long it could take to get pregnant using ART or otherwise.

We are unexplained. We ultimately did IVF to get our little girl. Were you able to have analysis done on any of your miscarriages?

kmc84 · July 2014

We had no diagnosed fertility issues at all (just very long cycles) while ttc #1 and did 6 textbook iui's with no BFP at all. We moved to IVF and got a BFP with our 1st embryo transfer, but that ended with a blighted ovum. Our second IVF was successful.

Unfortunately, there is no crystal ball to help you make the right move

If I were you and I had just had a failed IUI with four follicles, I would seriously consider moving to IVF before I wasted any more money on another IUI if you are concerned about costs.

(Our last failed IUI before IVF was with four follicles)

TJ1979 · July 2014

10dpiui doesn't make you out yet. I never got a + before 14dpiui.
I always thought that with a perfect IUI cycle, you have the exact same chances as a "normal" couple TTC. Which is like 25%. We got our take home baby from IUI #3.

mnj05 · July 2014

I agree that you can't quite count yourself out yet, although I understand those feelings. FWIW, I didn't have any symptoms with our BFP cycle and thought I was out too. My only experience with IUIs is through my SIL/BIL. They are unexplained and had "absolutely perfect, gorgeous" embryos as their embryologist put it when they did IVF, which resulted in their almost 2 year old daughter. They did a total of 6 IUIs that seemed perfect, just never worked. As for me and DH, we went straight to IVF. I have ovulation issues in that I don't ovulate. DH had testicular cancer four years ago which affected his numbers, everything is low, so IVF made the most sense and in the long, the most cost effective. For you, I'd say to just talk to your RE and see what his/her feelings are about this cycle and whether he/she would make any changes the next time around. It may only take one more IUI, or it may take 3 more, no one can say for sure.

jesselayne8 · July 2014

I had success on IUI #3. I got a BFN at 10dpiui and a BFP at 12dpiui. It's not over yet!

olenkapdx · July 2014

I believe the average IUI success rate is around 10-20%. Of course, there are a ton of factors that play into that, so it could be higher or lower for you. But, your chances of success don't increase with each ensuing IUI that you do.

Everybody is different. What didn't work for someone on this board may work for you, and vice versa. Your RE should be sitting down with you and your husband and giving you a realistic idea of what the IUI success rate will be, given your and his medical situations.

Best of luck to you!

Ruthie04 · July 2014

I was unexplained. I had a previous pregnancy from an unmonitored Tamoxifen cycle and attempted 5 IUI cycles (one was canceled because I had too many follicles, one was converted to TI because i ovulated between monitoring appointments). My three completed IUIs looked ideal, but no success. My RE recommended moving onto IVF after three IUIs and we found success after our second completed IVF cycle. My twin boys will be two in the fall.

I think the important thing to remember about an IUI is that it is only meant to boost your odds to that of a couple without any fertility barriers. For DH and I, that number was 20% success/ per cycle. I know it's super hard and I'm so sorry for the BFN. I sincerely hope you find success very soon.

mcgeeva · July 2014

Our RE said success for IUI was usually based on 3 rounds. Hang in there it is still early. I also didn't get a positive until day 13. So don't give up hope yet. If not this round it's still early. Also sometimes different drugs help. Clomid never worked for me.

Jenny935 · July 2014

I'm sorry I don't have a better answer, but it's different for everyone. We did two IUI's because that's what our insurance covered. We thought about paying OOP for another one, but in retrospect we're glad we didn't. Our first IVF cycle uncovered some issues that assured us that IUI's probably wouldn't have worked, so we were glad that we moved to IVF. I hope that no matter the road you choose, you have a take home baby soon.

Rohall12 · July 2014

Thank you ladies ... I'm going to try to hold out and test on Thursday. Hopefully I am wrong about being out.

saraeric · July 2014

We had success with our 2nd IUI. I really didn't have much hope for it but somehow it worked! We were going to try 3 or 4 before moving to IVF. Good luck!

MJC1116 · July 2014

We had a successful second IUI but I opted to go with a medicated IUI cycle. Our chance of conceiving with clomid + IUI only increased to about 8-10%, so I didn't feel it was worth it. Everyone is different, though, and like other ladies have said, 10 dpiui is still early. I saw a squinter of a line at 11 dpiui in the evening and a clearer positive on day 12, but even that can be early. I hope it works out for you.

When we started the process, our RE reminded us that it could take several IUI cycles to achieve success (she would only do 3) and at that point, the costs could add up to the cost of an IVF cycle. This is also based on your own RE and insurance (we were OOP), but it was definitely something that we factored into our decision.

Good luck to you!

ccam · July 2014

Our RE recommended 3 IUI's before moving onto IVF, which is what we did. Had we been paying OOP, that might have changed our decision though. I was ready to move on after 2 failed IUI's, DH wanted to do that 3rd one.

After 1 IUI with Clomid, we did move onto injectables though. According to my RE, using follistim would result in "better quality embryos".

BabyKsMommy · July 2014

For ds we did 2 IUIs with clomid. I respond well with clomid and never did a trigger shot.

For the twins we did 6 IUIs. 3 with clomid, 2 with menopur/trigger, 2 with Femara. Honestly I didn't respond well to menopur, most of my cycles were cancelled. My clinic is extremely conservative so maybe my doses weren't high enough.

I took Femara 7.5mg after the menopur and got pg on my second iui with twins. We also are mfi, low sperm count.

We did a ton of IUIs as I have tons of follies and have 50% coverage for IUIs. We are OOP for ivf.

I might also ask why your re did your iui 12 hrs after trigger? Most REs do 36.

Rohall12 · July 2014

You know I thought it was too early too but they kept saying it was fine. I figured if I did the trigger shot on Friday morning we would at least wait until Sunday but they said around 12 hours.

According to my temps though I did ovulate on the day we did the IUI ... so I don't know.

kmc84 · July 2014

Temps are not really accurate during medicated cycles. IUI 12 hours post trigger is very odd since ovulation occurs 36 hours after trigger. Did they tell you to have sex that night and/or the next day? That would make a little more sense to me.....

jesselayne8 · July 2014

My IUIs were between 14-18 hrs after tigger shots so I wouldn't worry about the timing of your IUI. I usually felt O pains 24hrs after trigger.

Rohall12 · July 2014

Sorry it was 24 hours ... not 12.

Rohall12 · July 2014

And yes we were told to BD that evening then the next day too

KDR1979 · July 2014

It took us 5 embryo transfers to get a take home baby (ies). We easily paid $50K OOP for all of our treatments. If we hadn't had IF, our student loans would be paid off, but our babies are worth it and we would do it all again. Luckily, our RE had a guaranteed IVF program that we were able to get into or we would have spent a lot more!

Our only diagnosis was sperm morphology. My DH had numerous SA's and his stats were usually: Count ~60 million, motility 45% and morphology 0-1% normal, all head defects. You can see what we had to go through in our siggy. If you are conceiving (even though miscarriage), that is still a good sign that sperm and egg are meeting and implantation happened. Have you been worked up for "habitual miscarriage?" After 2 IVF losses, my RE checked both of our karyotypes ($500 each), then check me for MTHFR, protein C and S deficiencies, factor V Leiden, Lupus, etc.

Good luck!

summererobinson · July 2014

Any update on this??? 10 days past iui is super early. Many people dont even get a positive on an IVF cycle that early and thats when you know for SURE when everything happened. with IUI it could take a day or 2 for the egg to implant and everything!

Rohall12 · July 2014

My first IUI did indeed fail. We are going to be trying again this cycle and hopefully it will work

TJ1979 · July 2014

GL.

auntjessy · July 2014

Sorry it didn't work out for you, I know how very frustrating and heartbreaking that can be!

I echo what others have said about IUIs, with some additional information about ours:

We did IUIs for about a year and a half, waiting for me to ovulate on the correct side that wasn't blocked, before they found a hydrosalpinx. So, the tube was scheduled to be removed and was instead opened. Didn't work, had another surgery a year later to remove it. Waited, still nothing. Went forward FINALLY with IVF and got my twins the first time (I recommend one at a time!).

In retrospect - IVF would have been a much more successful outcome for us from the beginning. However, the timing was perfect. **Romans 8:28**

mcgeeva · July 2014

Good luck on your next cycle!

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