#makeithappen TTC through Donor IUI or Donor IVF or just undecided. All welcome. Thread 12

[ButtonMooooon]

New thread, hope you don't mind I started a new one Kwick

Hi everyone . . . I'm 11dp5dt today and DH and I have agreed that I'll POAS Monday. I'm TERRIFIED. I'm having symptoms - sore boobs, mild nausea, occasional cramping but all these are likely attributable to something else. For example, I had sore boobs before the transfer from taking the progesterone, I've been eating the biggest amount of junk which is probably causing the nausea, and I have a cyst on my right ovary which is probably the ache I'm feeling.

So I literally have no idea whether I'm pregnant or not

Hi all. I posted here at the beginning of the year, and I've followed the thread from the beginning, but now I'm actually in the planning process for iui, and I could do with some advice. I'll post a seperate question.

A bit about me. I'm 33 with 2 girls conceived naturally from previous relationships. I'm now married to my wife (hence iui lol).

I'm looking at cgrw in Cardiff for treatment as it's where my wife is from and only 10 mins from my inlaws. Whichever clinic I choose, it's going to be at least a 2-3 hour drive as I live in the middle of nowhere!!

So my initial question is, for unmedicated cycles, how often did you need to attend the clinic? I'm worried about getting time off work etc.
And roughly how long does it take to get an initial appointment and then start treatment? (I realise it will be different depending on clinics etc)

Hi tjll for my iuis I had 3 or 4 scans and they were every couple of days. I am sure some clinic don't require you to come in for scans for unmedicated cycles so probably best to check with the clinic once you decide which one. Also at my clinic it took a while to get a consent appointment because they were busy but after that I started on the next cycle. Good Luck

@TJLL after the initial consultation we only had 2 other appointments before the iui! We had a scan at the initial appointment to check my ovaries but no other scans. We had to wait 2 months between the initial consultation and our treatment plan meeting as the clinic was so busy! But between the treatment plan appointment and the iui it was only 8 days, we got lucky with the timing of my cycle! We had one appointment Bayern there to take blood to check when I was ovulating!

Thanks. I've emailed the clinic to get a rough idea of waiting times. We need to wait about 3 months for my wife to have surgery so I'm using that to track my cycles (and give up smoking!😥). My ovulating days seem to be any where from cd12 to cd16 according to OPKs so I'm trying to get used to bbt and cm to see if they are regular or I'm reading it wrong!

BFN for me this morning, 13dp5dt. I'm devastated. It's only our first cycle but the progesterone side effects totally fooled me into thinking it had worked, so there's a shock element to the sadness as well.

I'm wondering what tests I can have done to see what could be preventing implantation and pregnancy. I've had two early miscarriages previously so there must be something wrong, in addition to the premature ovarian failure.

I hate my body.

Oh I'm so sorry to hear that redpanda - the progesterone is so misleading...
I don't know re further tests, I hope your clinic will be able to guide you but I wouldn't presume something was wrong necesarily.
Xx

Thank you Lovely - I guess I just want to do anything I can to give the FET the best chance of working. The embryos were perfect hatching 5-day blasts. So it must be my body; something is going wrong.

Sorry to hear that @RedPandaFluff. I wouldn't assume something is wrong though, even in young healthy women IVF success rates are at best ~50%. You must be feeling shite right now but don't give up hope. x

@redpanda do u know how long your luteal phase is? If it's leas than 10 days, that can affect bean from sticking

Sorry to hear that redpanda it really sucks to get bfn. Sorry don't know about tests

Sorry to hear that @RedPandaFluff

So sorry redpanda :(

Sorry for your BFN redpanda. I’ve been there twice (with ‘perfect’ grade AA blasts) so I understand the feeling that something must be wrong with you. How many do you have in the freezer? I don’t think you need further testing at this stage, but if another round failed then perhaps immunes testing or the ERA to see when your implantation window is. I haven’t had either of these yet and wondering whether I should have. We went down the donor sperm with IUI route instead as my DH has high DNA fragmentation and low count. So most things pointed to his sperm being the issue, however the first two rounds have failed.

On that note I have a couple of questions I wonder if anyone can answer?

My first question is about follicle size - what is the ideal/optimum for IUI? In my first round I had 1 follicle that was 27mm the day of the trigger shot. At the time I just thought ‘ooh that’s a monster!’ However, now having done a bit of research I’m reading that it was likely too large/overdeveloped/a cyst?

My second question is whether anyone has had the scratch pre an IUI round and if it worked? I’ve had the HSG to double check my tubes were open this month (they were) and am also booked to have the scratch but I’m wobbling. It’s just yet more expense and unpleasantness and I’m not sure how much more of it I can take. I’ve never had any lining issues so why/how will it help me?

Shite is the word, Tinypaws!

Closephine this is our first cycle and sadly we had nothing to freeze. I haven't had any tests so far, except the fertility investigations that confirmed POF and the resulting need to use donor eggs.

I guess we pick ourselves up and try again.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone x

Redpanda

Closephine, the day before my second IUI (unmedicated), I had 3 mahoosive follicles (26,26 and 27). I am convinced that in my case the progesterone had messed up my first cycle and I didn't ovulate properly, causing some follies to overmature and just release the following month (I also ovulated very early that month, confirming my theory). I was truly devastated as I effectively thought that 2 of my cycles were ruined from the onset because I was told to start the progesterone too early. However, I read a lot about it and there is no way of knowing what is happening in there. Some large follicles can hold a golden egg while others are just water/cysts. And some women get pregnant with small follicles. Hopefully one day technology will allow doctors to have a better view of what's inside the follicles. Do you get scanned frequently and/or get blood tests to time the IUI?

As for the scratch, in my opinion this is just an add on that clinics make extra money from. There was a documentary on this a while ago which explained there wasn't sufficient evidence that it worked. This said, it must work for some women as otherwise it wouldn't exist and some women on this board have had one done (albeit for IVF rather than IUI if I remember correctly). The HSG/hycosy in itself would have helped clear your tubes so that's good you've had it.

Thanks for your reply Pez. That’s kind of my thinking re the HSG. That I should benefit from that anyway and that the scratch is just overkill. But I’m also worried that if I don’t do it and it doesn’t work I’m just going to be thinking ‘what if’....

I’ve had blood tests for my progesterone on the day of the trigger shot usually - is that what you mean? Or should there be more/looking at something else?

Should probably add/explain - I have high progesterone in the first part of my cycle (it shouldn’t be higher than 3 pre ovulation and mine is regularly around 9, so I take steroids to keep it low and then stop at the trigger to let it rise).

So when I was doing unmedicated IUI, I would go for scans and as we approached ovulation time they would test for my LH and Oestrogen levels to confirm I was about to ovulate. I never had to trigger as my levels were always high once I had a positive opk so we would go ahead with the IUI the next day. When I then did IVF (so on stims), they would also monitor my LH and Oestrogen levels (to ensure I didn't ovulate on my own this time). But then, other clinics don't do any scans prior to IUI and only rely on the patient to call when they've had a positive opk so the amount of monitoring/testing seems to vary massively from one place to the other.

I never had my progesterone levels tested before I started treatment but somehow the consultant who did the IUI got mixed up and told me to start taking progesterone pessaries the same night. And I genuinely believe it messed everything up. But it seems like they have checked this for you and it is being addressed correctly so I wouldn't worry.

@lovely how you getting on when do you test now

D day tomorrow! Have been very disciplined in not testing today as last time I tested early and then they slowly turned negative...
Don't really know how I feel, same as my other cycles really, progesterone symptoms I think.

It's horrible isn't it I'm trying to wait till sat but this flipping progesterone just mimics pregnancy symptoms so we can't tell I wish they didn't give us it its horrible my mood has been horrible to wishing you tons of luck and baby dust for d day! X

Oh Lovely all the luck in the world to you!