what would you do?

brooklyngirl18 · March 2017

hi ladies. I'm looking for a little advice, I feel like I'm at a crossroads in my IF journey and I don't know what to do. A little background on me **TW for living child and loss** I've been pregnant twice, both times easily. One resulting in my 2 1/2 year old DS and one in an ectopic last february. Since my ectopic I have been unable to get pregnant with no real diagnosis. I have some signs of mild pcos but nothing concrete, my husband has low morphology but nothing too concerning. We've tried on our own and 3 iuis without a pregnancy. My insurance usually requires 6 iuis before approving ivf but given my history, my dr has put a request in for approval after 3 iuis. I am waiting to hear any day if they approve us, and are tentatively scheduled to start stims on april 7. I am currently on bcp waiting for ivf and just had a laparoscopy yesterday. The said he found stage 2.5 endometriosis and a bunch of cysts, he cleared out as much as he could and was happy with how it went. now I'm wondering if I should give iui another shot or still continue straight to ivf. I know the logical side of my brain is telling me he most likely fixed the problem and to give iui a shot but I'm THISCLOSE to ivf and I'd hate to push it back further if iui fails again. I'm coming to you guys because I know you understand the desperation to just get pregnant already and ivf has the best shot but I've been able to conceive naturally twice before and I'm assuming it's before this endo showed up. any input or advice is greatly appreciated. sorry for the rambling word vomit, if you got through all this you deserve a cookie and a drink.

Irisheyes81 · March 2017

@brooklyngirl18 That's great news that you had a successful laparoscopy! I would appreciate a cookie and drink but not for reading your post but because that is delicious. If I were in your shoes, I would go to IVF. Especially since it sounds like you have some insurance coverage. It's already scheduled and you've already gone the IUI route. That's just my opinion

Good luck and sounds like you have really promising options.

mandasd · March 2017

I'm sorry you find yourself here. If your insurance approves IVF I would go for it. Good luck!

brooklyngirl18 · March 2017

@irisheyes81 and @mandasand thanks for the replies. Insurance covers some but we're still looking at 8-10k out of pocket. we have money set aside but that's still a lot of money hence my dilemma.

funkykey · March 2017

@brooklyngirl18- hm, this is a tough one.
1. Why did you have the laparoscopy? Had you been exhibiting endo symptoms?
2. How old are you?
3. How many children do you hope to have?
4. If your insurance does approve you for IVF after 3 IUIs, how big a headache is it going to be to go back and be like: "Actually, 4! After 4-5 IUIs?"

And, of course, if your insurance rejects your application, this is all moot! I hope you hear back soon!

For me, I'd move forward with the IVF, but only because 1) I don't have any children, and ideally I'd like more than one, so the chance to get more than one embie with my 32-year-old eggs is a big draw, and 2) because there's no guarantee that your issue is caused by the endo. If you have PCOS and ovulation dysfunction too, odds are another IUI cycle would also be unsuccessful.

I know it is a lot of money though. Grr. Good luck with your decision!

brooklyngirl18 · March 2017

@funkykey
1) I had the laparoscopy because my dr suspected endo even though I didn't have any signs. Nothing else was adding up to why I wasn't getting pregnant and I have a family history.
2) I'm 32
3) I always thought 2-3 kids but now leaning towards 3. If we do ivf and have extra embryos then I'd probably try for a 3rd.
4) I'm not sure about insurance. I think once they approve it it's valid for 3 months so I could probably still do an iui before start ivf. I have an email out to my dr to see what he thinks.

thanks for your input!

daisy222-2 · March 2017

I don't know a lot, but I had a laparoscopy (to remove stage 3 endo) immediately followed by 3 unsuccessful IUIs. We are now moving on to IVF and I wish we had jumped to that initially (but we are paying OOP and so wanted to try the cheap stuff first). My doctor did say that there is usually a 6 mo - 1 yr "fertile window" after removing endometriosis from the general area, but clearly our window was not that fertile.

I have also heard various doctors (and also people on here) talk about how endo can cause IF in non-obvious ways. Like, it doesn't have to be giant lesions/growth on ovaries/tubes; instead it could be an inflammation-related protein thing, or something else more biochemical. I guess what I'm saying is that removing the macroscopic growths doesn't necessarily mean the endo problem is solved (although hopefully it is for you!)

Good luck.

brooklyngirl18 · March 2017

that's really interesting @daisy22 good luck to you!

my dr got back to me and said he still recommends proceeding with ivf so that's what we're doing. thanks again ladies and good luck to you all! hopefully i'll be joining the april board soon.

wifeinraleigh28 · March 2017

@brooklyngirl18 Congrats on making your decision! Just wanted to echo the others and say that moving forward with IVF sounds like the best thing to do and it's exactly what I would do too if I was in your shoes. I know that IUIs do work for some people but success rates are so low with them that I've completely chalked them up to a waste of time by this point. I wish we hadn't even done the 3 that we did! Good luck to you

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