It's official - onto my first IUI.

So after 13 months of TTC and nothing but a lower morph for DH to show for all of our testing, I am officially out of what was to be my last month of trying on our own. AF showed today and even though I was expecting it and I told myself I was ok because we had our plan to go forward, I still ended up on the bathroom floor crying my eyes out just now.

I am going to call LI IVF tomorrow and let them know I am ready to start treatment. I have some concerns and questions that I was hoping some of you might be able to help out with.

Here is my situation:

I have a regular 25-26 day cycle. I ovulate on my own with all of the telltale signs, and have no known issues. HSG, bw and endometrial biopsy have all come back clear.

DH has had 2 SA. First came back great based on WHO scale. 2nd one (done at LI IVF) came back all good except for a morph of 5 (Krueger)

Originally my plan was to do my first IUI unmedicated since I do not have any problems ovulating. However, at the advice of one of my best friends, I'm thinking it may be in my best interest to just go ahead full force and do the clomid to better increase my chances. I was told that they will determine when I will start the clomid. What is that contingent upon?

Here is my big dilemma. I tend to ovulate somewhere around CD 11-13. I am going to be leaving for an overnight business trip on CD 7 and returning on CD 8. Is this going to be a problem for my monitoring? Do I need to be monitored every day?

Then, because the universe is against me for some reason, I am scheduled for another overnight business trip on CD 12 and 13 Pretty much when I am due to ovulate. Do they typically do IUI's before you O? Will the clomid make it so that I possibly O a little earlier? How many do they do? Does anyone know what time during the day they typically do them?

I haven't even begun and already I am over-stressed over this whole thing. Somehow I just have to get this to work out for me.

Any thoughts??

Message edited 9/18/2010 11:12:04 AM.

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

When i did medicated IUIs i alaways ovulated earlier. I usually Od on CD 14-15 with femara (similiar to clomid) i O'd CD11. Really no way to know how you will respond to the meds till you try them. For the IUIs I usually only had 2 monitoring sessions. One on CD 3, then on CD 10 and i was always ready to go. (i responded fairly quickly to meds, again, you will need to find out how you respond)

I would think this would not be a good month for IUIs b/c of your traveling schedule but ask your doctor and see what he says. Since its your first they may want to monitor you closely.

I remember starting the process and being so scared/frsutrated/nervous about starting IUIs, but honestly, they are no big deal, they are quick and painless. You will be fine. Promise.


ETA: I totally agree with your friend, go with the clomid. It raises your chances and is fairly low on the side effects. Best of Luck

Message edited 9/17/2010 7:56:51 PM.

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

i am just going to give my opinion, but i am not a dr. I actually disagree with taking clomid if you are ovulating. Clomid is a medication to induce ovulation, if you ovulate on your own, why take clomid? it is possible that the only thing clomid will do for you is to make you develop multiple follies. If you do not know what the issue is with you, i would not just take clomid, just for the sake of it. Just my opinion Also, clomid makes you O earlier.
Were you tested for immune issues? This is very important. What about thrombo work up?
Please do not be upset Having a plan is very important in this journey and you have a plan. I would go with unmedicated IUI first.
By the way, i am sure you know that clomid has side effects and thins lining. Maybe it is just me, but i like to avoid meds unless needed. I, on the other hand, do not O , so i will have to take O inducing meds. GL!

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

I'm sorry AF came. I've been there- not expecting anything but it's still disappointing.
To answer your questions, I don't think I would do an IUI this cycle with your work schedule. Cycles are unpredictable and this whole process is stressful. From what you said, it sounds like there is a good chance you would end up being away when you would need to do the IUI.
Also, if you are ovulating on your own, I don't know that Clomid is right for you. I could be wrong, but I thought it was like PP said, just if you needed help ovulating.
I also go to LI IVF. We are at about the same point in the process. I ovulate on my own and they are recommending we start with natural cycle IUI's. So, they may recommend the same for you.
Good luck whatever you decide!

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

Posted by DaisyGirl

I'm sorry AF came. I've been there- not expecting anything but it's still disappointing.
To answer your questions, I don't think I would do an IUI this cycle with your work schedule. Cycles are unpredictable and this whole process is stressful. From what you said, it sounds like there is a good chance you would end up being away when you would need to do the IUI.
Also, if you are ovulating on your own, I don't know that Clomid is right for you. I could be wrong, but I thought it was like PP said, just if you needed help ovulating.
I also go to LI IVF. We are at about the same point in the process. I ovulate on my own and they are recommending we start with natural cycle IUI's. So, they may recommend the same for you.
Good luck whatever you decide!

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

Posted by curiousO

i am just going to give my opinion, but i am not a dr. I actually disagree with taking clomid if you are ovulating. Clomid is a medication to induce ovulation, if you ovulate on your own, why take clomid? it is possible that the only thing clomid will do for you is to make you develop multiple follies. If you do not know what the issue is with you, i would not just take clomid, just for the sake of it. Just my opinion Also, clomid makes you O earlier.
Were you tested for immune issues? This is very important. What about thrombo work up?
Please do not be upset Having a plan is very important in this journey and you have a plan. I would go with unmedicated IUI first.
By the way, i am sure you know that clomid has side effects and thins lining. Maybe it is just me, but i like to avoid meds unless needed. I, on the other hand, do not O , so i will have to take O inducing meds. GL!

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

Message edited 9/19/2010 7:54:49 PM.

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

Posted by FlowerWife


whatever you do, just keep remembering what the end goal is. in the end when you see that perfect little person, it wont matter to you how you got there!!

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

Posted by ns1011

Posted by DaisyGirl

I'm sorry AF came. I've been there- not expecting anything but it's still disappointing.
To answer your questions, I don't think I would do an IUI this cycle with your work schedule. Cycles are unpredictable and this whole process is stressful. From what you said, it sounds like there is a good chance you would end up being away when you would need to do the IUI.
Also, if you are ovulating on your own, I don't know that Clomid is right for you. I could be wrong, but I thought it was like PP said, just if you needed help ovulating.
I also go to LI IVF. We are at about the same point in the process. I ovulate on my own and they are recommending we start with natural cycle IUI's. So, they may recommend the same for you.
Good luck whatever you decide!

Thank you all for your responses. I have taken what everyone had to say into consideration.

Daisy - Can I ask why you are doing the IUI? For us, it's because we have tried for over a year and now and DH may have a morphology issue.

I asked them a few times if the Clomid is necessary and they said it will be the lowest dosage and that it will just help to produce more dominant folliicles thereby increasing my chances. I went for bloodwork this morning and got the go ahead to start on CD 5 which is Tuesday. I told the nurse that I am concerned that I will be away when it comes time for the IUI and she said it would end up being a cancelled cycle, but at least we would be able to see how my body responds to the clomid. I talked it over with DH and he thinks I should leave my work trip as is and we are going to just hope that it all works out. I'm hoping that the IUI will end up being done before I am due to go away. I just cannot bring myself to give up so quickly on this cycle. I'm going to at least give it a try.

Thank you all for your advice. I'm starting to get more excited about this and that we are onto the next step and hopefully a lot closer to meeting our little angel.

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.

Here's my suggestion - purely based on my opinion and experience - so take it as you will, but no matter what you end up doing, GOOD LUCK !!

I had irregular cycles, never O'd the same time, so Dr. Braverman suggested that I take Femara to regulate my ovulation. It had FAR less side effects then Clomid (didn't dry my CM, didn't thin my lining, didn't make me produce a lot of follies) I took Clomid one cycle (NOT with Dr. B) and wanted to go to the hospital my cramps were SO bad when I O'd. I produced one good and one "okay" follie my 1st round of IUI and one really good, and one "sort of good" follie on my 2nd round of IUI, which I am now 29.5 weeks pregnant with a singleton.

DH had (has) LOW morphology. His WHO criteria 1st SA was 1% - after taking vitamins for 3 months it went up to 31% !! His motility and count went up slightly too. See THIS POST OF MINE for all the numbers, and exactly what vitamins he was taking.

My 2nd round of IUI Dr. B put us both on an antibiotic (I think it was Doxycycline) for a week and then we did back to back IUI's the day I triggered, and the day after, as well as the night of the 2nd IUI and the next day !! It was all worth it though because it worked !!

IMO - because you know that you usually O around CD 11-13 and you know that you are going to be out of town CD7-8 I personally would tell the dr. this, and see what they say. You don't know how you are going to react to the clomid (if they put you on it) and because of that they might want to monitor you more carefully. Are IUI's covered by your insurance? If so, then maybe doing them naturally to begin with might not be so bad.

Also, if it does come down to you going on meds, see if they will offer you the option of going on Femara instead. THIS LINK is for a coupon that lets you pay only $10 for 30 pills at 2.5 mg each. For me, when I was taking it, that would have been 3 months worth !!

again, my opinion, but order the vitamins for your DH and have him take them. They can't hurt, they can only help. THIS LINK gives some info on the studies they have done on Pycnogenol.

Again, GOOD LUCK !!

Re: It's official - onto my first IUI.