Trouble TTC

What would you do?

blsav23blsav23 member
edited January 2015 in Trouble TTC
I'm prepping myself for failed IUI #4. While I go for my beta on Tuesday and I know "it's not over until AF shows", I'm plotting my next step. I feel AF is imminent and of course, am devastated. I responded great, had a 7 day progesterone of 52.8 & my husband doesn't have any issues. I have no effing clue why IUI isn't working!
Anyhow-my question is this: would you stick it out for another IUI or two, knowing ovulation is happening, sperm are swimming & lining is great? Or would you consider just moving on to IVF? I know there are 100 differ t variables-finances, job situation, etc. We aren't overly prepared to drop that much $ on IVF but would do it if needed.
As always--thanks ladies. This road is rough and unfriendly but it is nice to have people to talk to who truly understand.
DH & I married 12/17/2012
Me (31)-dx w/PCOS 2007, when married to ex-husband after MC
DH (41)-no MFI
07/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI= chem preg ;(
08/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
09/2014-Clomid 100mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
10/2014-benched due to RE out of town, tying naturally!
11/2014-benched due to cyst
12/2014-Femara 5mg + stair step with additional 5 days Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI=BFN
01/2015-Femara 5mg + Gonal F 25 units + trigger (plus additional Gonal F 100 units on trigger night) + IUI= BFP!!! Twins due 10/2015
09/28/2015- Surprise!  Conrad and Hudson born at 35w6d!  

Re: What would you do?

  • It ain't over till it's over! We said we would try IUI 2 times then move onto IVF. If this cycles fails I'd go for IVF consult but that's just my 2 cents


    Me: 34 Mild Thin PCOS DH: 36

    5 Clomid & TI= BFFN

    IUI-IVF coming Soon...

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  • I'm so sorry you're not feeling optimistic  :(  I really hope you don't have to make this decision come Tuesday. 

    There is a lot to consider when changing your treatment plan. Have you ever had a WTF consult with your RE? Has the RE given any feedback as to why something might not be working? It might be worth having a face-to-face WTF appointment to see if there are more tests they could run or reasons they can identify. In that consult you could also get the medical opinion of IUI vs. IVF. 

    I haven't had to make these sorts of decisions so I don't have personal experience to offer about deciding.

    Me: 28  MH:35

    Married September 2012. TTC since September 2013

    June 2014 - Dx w/ significant PCOS and referred to RE.

    July/August 2014 - Testing complete: Testosterone & AMH very high, FSH slightly high, Vitamin D low, tubes and lining all lovely. DH SA: A+

    Cycle 1 (Nov 2014): 2.5 mg Letrozole/Ovidrel/TI = BFN

    Cycle 2 (Dec 2014): 5 mg Letrozole/Ovidrel/TI - BFN

    Cycle 3 (Jan 2015): 5mg Letrozole/Ovidrel/TI - BFN

    WTF consult scheduled for 1/29

  • It depends on how you feel about IVF and what your insurance coverage is like. You've given it a reasonable shot with the IUIs. If you're open to IVF, it might be time to move on, given the higher success rates. GL!

    Official diagnosis: Unexplained IF. I am 32. I have low ovarian reserve (low AMH), and poor egg quality. I've also been diagnosed with mild glandular developmental arrest (lining problems, detected with EFT).

    We are using open ID donor sperm. IUIs #1-7=BFN. IVF September 2014 antagonist protocol, 8R,5M,3F, 5 day transfer of 1 morula = BFN. IVF#2 planned for January 2015 (antagonist protocol + HGH).

    Image and video hosting by TinyPic image

  • I think it is definitely a person decision. You have to think about insurance coverage, money, jobs, what you and DH think, etc. I would schedule a time to talk to your RE and see where he stands. Good luck!
    Married: 12/15/2012    TTC: 08/2014
    Husband: 26 SA: normal
    Me: 23 Low AMH and damaged ovaries due to chemotherapy.
    No AF or O in 3 years. HSG showed a slight T shaped uterus.

    High Risk OB 9/29- got the ok to get pregnant.
    RE Appt:  10/28/ U/S showed follicles, but also small damaged ovaries.
    B/W results CD0: all normal except low AMH at 1.3
    Cycle 1-November (TI)- Femera 2.5mg, 2mg Estradoil, and Trigger=BFN
    Cycle 2-December (TI)- Femera 2.5 mg ,4mg Estradoil, and Trigger= No O
    Cycle 3-January (TI)- Femera 5 mg, 2mg Estra
    doil, and Trigger=


  • Exactly what @SND1231‌ said. Good luck!
  • Thanks everyone for your support! My insurance covers nada as far as fertility treatments go. It's frustrating but I also understand. I think it's time for a WTF appt with my RE & attempt to get some sort of understanding as to why the IUIs aren't working. I am 31 & my husband is 41 so while we aren't medically on a time crunch per se, my husband doesn't really want to be 70 when the child leaves the house :) It's a frustrating situation with no clear direction in which to choose.
    Again, I really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond.
    DH & I married 12/17/2012
    Me (31)-dx w/PCOS 2007, when married to ex-husband after MC
    DH (41)-no MFI
    07/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI= chem preg ;(
    08/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    09/2014-Clomid 100mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    10/2014-benched due to RE out of town, tying naturally!
    11/2014-benched due to cyst
    12/2014-Femara 5mg + stair step with additional 5 days Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI=BFN
    01/2015-Femara 5mg + Gonal F 25 units + trigger (plus additional Gonal F 100 units on trigger night) + IUI= BFP!!! Twins due 10/2015
    09/28/2015- Surprise!  Conrad and Hudson born at 35w6d!  
  • I know how you feel when it comes to feeling disappoint I've been ttc 1.5 yrs. never give up!! I say one more then go for a consult. Hey if your Progestrone was good give it one more go sister!! You got this. It's going to happen. Everyone is different but hang in there. Prayers & light :)
  • Hugs... I had the same frustrations. Have you thought about getting a 2nd opinion with another RE?  What about trying the next IUI w/injectibles? Don't give up 
    image
    3T January Siggy Challenge: New Years Resolutions 
    TTC since 10/2010 (Rhythm method since 2007)

    Me (33) Sept 2012 - DX Low ovulation/progesterone, Luteal Phase Defect. HSG 5/2012: both tubes are open, cervix and lining look good;
    September 2014 DX Hashimoto's; November 2014: PCOS IR

    ***
    DH (37) Sept 2012 SA Normal; October 2014 Mild MFI count 42 Million, Motility 36%, Morphology 2%. Clomid 50mg,
    ***
    2004 Cyrosurgery, LEEP
    May 2012 - HSG Clear; June 2012 - Appointment with RE
    July 2012 - October 2012 - Clomid 50mg W/ TI & Progesterone 3 mature follicles- BFN
    January 2013 IUI #1 (900,000 post wash) Clomid 50mg, TI & Progesterone 2 mature follicles - BFN
    February 2013 IUI #2 (1.3 Mil post wash) Clomid 50mg, TI & Progesterone 4 mature follicles - BFN
    March 2013 IUI #1-3 (2.5 mil post wash) Clomid 50mg, Baby Aspirin (lining thinned) TI & Progesterone - 2 mature follicles BFN
    April 2013 Benched due to cyst, May 2013 WTF appointment
    June 2013 DH SA mild MFI break for 2 months to re-test; August 2013 - DH SA 36 Mil count, 36% Motility, Morp 2%
    September - December 2013 - Mental sanity Break
    January 2014 - IUI #4 switches to natural due to scheduling conflict Femara TI & Progesterone - 1 mature follicle - BFN
    May 2014-June 2014 - DH Appointment w/ Urologist to check Bi-lateral Varicocele; 2nd opinion w/ another urologist - bi-lateral varicocele dx is slight no surgery
    July 2014 DH starts clomid 25mg daily SA 53.8 Mil count, Motility 37%, Morph 3%;
    September 2014 DH Repeat SA after being on clomid for 3 months 42 Mil Count, Motility 36%, Morph 2%
    October 2014 Me: Hashimoto's DX, DH taken off clomid;
    November 2014 Me: new RE PCOS IR Diagnosis
    December 2014: IUI #4 Follitism 75iu 7 days, TI, IUI & Progesterone, BFMFN

    January 2015: IUI #5
    Gonal-F 75iu 7 days, TI, IUI & Progesterone, Another BFMFN onto IUI #6
       image

  • Hi @blsav23!! <<waves>>

    I am sure you are totally overwhelmed with decisions to make right now, so I only want to offer you what we did and what our thought process was in hopes that it might help you out.

    We are not spring chickens.... I am 34 and DH is 43.... so we are definitely feeling that ticking clock. Going into this IF thing, we sort of knew right away (and especially after hearing the success rates on IVF vs IUI) that we were not going to wait long before jumping to IVF. Soooo we tried 2 cycles of IUI both of which failed. I am glad we tried, b/c I wanted to be totally sure that we had tried every option before moving on. Plus, the Dr had a chance to see how I reacted to those meds in preparation for IVF.

    After the BFN of IUI #2, we of course had the option to try again. However, since we are 100% OOP, we decided to use the $$ that we would have put towards another failed IUI right into our first IVF with ICSI. Now that we are about halfway through this IVF cycle, we are so glad that we chose this path.

    I wish you the best of luck and hope that everything turns out great for you!

    Married 5.21.2011

    TTC Since October 2012

    Me: 36, all normal, DH: 43, MFI

    IUI #1 & #2 - Sept & Oct 2014, BFN

    IVF with ICSI #1 January 2015 - BFP, M/C Feb 2015

    FET June 2015 = CP

    IVF #2 September 2015 - Discovered during ER I had ovulated early, 0 retrieved

    IVF with ICSI #3 January 2016 - BFP! Beta #1 - 839, Beta #2 - 3,192, Beta #3 - 15,000+ = TWINS!

    EDD 10/12/16

    BabyFruit Ticker
  • Hugs to you and this difficult decision you have to make. I am on IUI #3 and have already scheduled an appt with my RE to have our "WTF" is going on discussion. (But, hoping deep down that this won't be necessary) I haven't even thought about going the IVF route, mainly b/c of financial reasons and hoping that the IUI route works. If I were you, I'd try the WTF consult and go from there! GOOD LUCK!!!!
    Me: 34 (all tests normal) DH: 35 (all tests normal)
    Married 2013 
    TTC since October 2013 
    First RE visit after TTC naturally-Oct 2014
    HSG test Oct 2014-no blockage
    Non medicated IUI #1-Nov 2014-BFN
    Letrozole 5MG and Trigger Shot IUI #2-Dec 2014-BFN
    No Change in Meds-IUI #3-Jan 2014-Currently in TWW
     
     
     
  • Pretty sure our IUI #1 failed this morning. We're planning on trying 3-4 before moving on. The money is the huge issue for us.
  • Sorry to hear that, @notadadyet.
  • I apologize - didn't meant to make that a woe is me thing. TO the OP - the the answer to your question is what you can afford, your ages, the advice of your Dr., your anxiety levels, your tolerance to meds, etc 

    Best of luck
  • If it were me, and I didn't have the money for IVF yet, I would (depending on our budget) either keep going with IUI until we had money for IVF, or self-bench/TI until we had the money for IVF. The big factor for me would be whether or not continuing to do IUIs would take away from our IVF savings. Good luck.
    Love 2010 | Marriage 2011 | TTC #1 since 2012
    PCOS | Anovulatory | Metformin + Letrozole
  • I apologize - didn't meant to make that a woe is me thing. TO the OP - the the answer to your question is what you can afford, your ages, the advice of your Dr., your anxiety levels, your tolerance to meds, etc 


    Best of luck
    Oh gosh--I'm sorry to hear you don't think IUI #1 worked. It's such a bummer! I think trying 4-5 IUIs is reasonable. We aren't really wanting to drop the $ on IVF either--not that we don't want a baby that badly but I have school loans still. We just don't want to dig further in debt.
    And absolutely no worries...you didn't make it a "woe is me thing". I'm so sorry you are going through this too.
    DH & I married 12/17/2012
    Me (31)-dx w/PCOS 2007, when married to ex-husband after MC
    DH (41)-no MFI
    07/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI= chem preg ;(
    08/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    09/2014-Clomid 100mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    10/2014-benched due to RE out of town, tying naturally!
    11/2014-benched due to cyst
    12/2014-Femara 5mg + stair step with additional 5 days Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI=BFN
    01/2015-Femara 5mg + Gonal F 25 units + trigger (plus additional Gonal F 100 units on trigger night) + IUI= BFP!!! Twins due 10/2015
    09/28/2015- Surprise!  Conrad and Hudson born at 35w6d!  
  • If it were me, and I didn't have the money for IVF yet, I would (depending on our budget) either keep going with IUI until we had money for IVF, or self-bench/TI until we had the money for IVF. The big factor for me would be whether or not continuing to do IUIs would take away from our IVF savings. Good luck.

    That's a good point. We can go to our local Air Force base & essentially do IUIs for free but switched to an off base RE for this past round. While it was not free, I started to see some protocols he did that they didn't do on base & it makes me wonder if the base RE missed things. I don't want to go back to the base, wondering if I'm just "another number" & am rushed through a cycle. For example, she would trigger me at 16-18mm follicles and my new RE wouldn't trigger until the lead was well above 20mm. Also-no 7 day progesterone on base which I found strange. Ugh--it's all so stressful!
    DH & I married 12/17/2012
    Me (31)-dx w/PCOS 2007, when married to ex-husband after MC
    DH (41)-no MFI
    07/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI= chem preg ;(
    08/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    09/2014-Clomid 100mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    10/2014-benched due to RE out of town, tying naturally!
    11/2014-benched due to cyst
    12/2014-Femara 5mg + stair step with additional 5 days Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI=BFN
    01/2015-Femara 5mg + Gonal F 25 units + trigger (plus additional Gonal F 100 units on trigger night) + IUI= BFP!!! Twins due 10/2015
    09/28/2015- Surprise!  Conrad and Hudson born at 35w6d!  
  • Hugs to you and this difficult decision you have to make. I am on IUI #3 and have already scheduled an appt with my RE to have our "WTF" is going on discussion. (But, hoping deep down that this won't be necessary) I haven't even thought about going the IVF route, mainly b/c of financial reasons and hoping that the IUI route works. If I were you, I'd try the WTF consult and go from there! GOOD LUCK!!!!

    Thanks so much! I think I'm going to be asking a lot of questions at my baseline scan on Friday. I'm not sure how many BFNs I can handle, to be honest.
    DH & I married 12/17/2012
    Me (31)-dx w/PCOS 2007, when married to ex-husband after MC
    DH (41)-no MFI
    07/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI= chem preg ;(
    08/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    09/2014-Clomid 100mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    10/2014-benched due to RE out of town, tying naturally!
    11/2014-benched due to cyst
    12/2014-Femara 5mg + stair step with additional 5 days Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI=BFN
    01/2015-Femara 5mg + Gonal F 25 units + trigger (plus additional Gonal F 100 units on trigger night) + IUI= BFP!!! Twins due 10/2015
    09/28/2015- Surprise!  Conrad and Hudson born at 35w6d!  
  • blsav23 if I were your age and in your shoes I would go for IUI 2 more times then move to IVF. Everything looks like it has the potential to line up for you, might as well try the most non invasive way a couple of more times. I am sorry for the BFN, I know how badly they suck!
    **Losses Mentioned**
    Me 41, DH 38 
    TTC #1 since 9/2014 AMH 3.68, FSH 6.6
    IUI#1 12-02-2015 Letrozol, Gonal-F, Pregnyl, Acupuncture, BFP 12-17-2015 beta 1=72, beta 2=64, beta 3=10 MC 12-20-14 
    IUI#2 01-08-2015 Letrozol, Gonal-F, Pregnyl, Acupuncture, BFP 01-23-2015 beta 1=151, beta 2=450, beta 3=6524, beta 4= 29380 u/s at 7w5d baby with heartbeat measuring 6w2d. u/s 2-24 gestational sac only, beta 59400 MC 2-24-15 @ 8w6d D&C 2-27-15. Pathology results 47XX +20

    Diagnosis AMA and compound heterozygous MTHFR
  • blsav23 if I were your age and in your shoes I would go for IUI 2 more times then move to IVF. Everything looks like it has the potential to line up for you, might as well try the most non invasive way a couple of more times. I am sorry for the BFN, I know how badly they suck!
    Thanks so much for your response & support.  I am leaning toward giving IUI a couple more shots.  I am wondering if I should consider trying injectables?  Although, I had 3 follicles (17mm, 21mm & 27mm) at time of trigger, using stair step femara.  I"m not sure using injectables would have that much benefit for me.  Any thoughts on that?

    DH & I married 12/17/2012
    Me (31)-dx w/PCOS 2007, when married to ex-husband after MC
    DH (41)-no MFI
    07/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI= chem preg ;(
    08/2014-Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    09/2014-Clomid 100mg + trigger + IUI + 2nd trigger= BFN
    10/2014-benched due to RE out of town, tying naturally!
    11/2014-benched due to cyst
    12/2014-Femara 5mg + stair step with additional 5 days Femara 5mg + trigger + IUI=BFN
    01/2015-Femara 5mg + Gonal F 25 units + trigger (plus additional Gonal F 100 units on trigger night) + IUI= BFP!!! Twins due 10/2015
    09/28/2015- Surprise!  Conrad and Hudson born at 35w6d!  
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