Advice please - try naturally, iui or IVF?

[CycleGirl20]

I had surgery to remove a fibroid. I just had my follow up appointment and can start trying next month. I have another fibroid which they didn't remove at the time. I had 3 removed including one inside my womb. They didn't want to do damage so left one outside in the lining. Unfortunately, the remaining one seems to have grown or moved and is now threatening to push on my lining which might cause fertility issues. As a result, the doctor wants me to go straight to IVF or at least IUI next month. If we wait the fibroid could grow then I would need more surgery and another 6 month delay, plus more damage to my womb.

My feel is I'd like to try naturally. Even if only for 3 or 4 months. I'm not convinced the fibroid has grown as much as they think it could have (I think they're mixing the original size of it up with one they removed). We only tried for 6 months before finding I needed surgery and then waiting for that. Plus the submucosal fibroid I had in my womb was only 2cm but was sticking out taking up all of the space for would most likely prevent implantation. Then again I don't want more surgery and the risk of damage to my womb. DH has said we can do IVF in autumn but isn't so keen without giving it a go naturally as ivf is expensive!

What would you do? Try naturally (with letrozol either way), do iui or go straight to IVF?

@CycleGirl20 obviously this is your decision and what you decide to do will be dependent on all the information you’ve received. If it were me, based on your summary I think I would go for the IVF asap, the operations can’t be nice and if they could cause scarring, then you may be in a worse position if you needed a further op. I understand that has financial implications, which will depend on your own circumstances. But I would personally rather go down a route that would have a higher chance of success and which would be more likely to result in a BFP at an earlier point (IVF), rather than risk the fibroid worsening and a need for further surgery.

Thanks @Gardenlady543. It is a difficult one. I feel like it's in the interest of clinics to suggest IVF instead of trying. I guess it might take a few months to organise IVF though anyway

@CycleGirl20 my clinic was the opposite which is surprising because it’s private, the specialist said we’ve only been trying for 12 months and we could try for longer. I said I wanted to go down the IVF route though. Anyway in retrospect that seemed to be the right decision as she told us that having missed my thin lining, it turns out my lining was only 5.4mm in my 9dpo ultrasound. We only just found this out even though it was in September, we haven’t been successful so far in IVF but we wouldn’t have been naturally with such a thin endometrium either.

If you’re worried that the fibroid size could have been interpreted incorrectly then you could ask them to recheck. Otherwise if you think you might progress with IVF but there will be a wait then you can always use the waiting time to try naturally.

I think my advice would be, do whatever you feel is the best thing to do for your body and your health.