Follistim with or without iui???

[luvkayln]

Hey girls! I start my first round of follistim tonight and I'm SUPER excited!!! :) Here's a little background: We've been pregnant twice in 3 years. First baby m/c in Dec. 2005 at 8 weeks, second baby carried full term and our Kayln was born still. :( Both were concieved naturally. Since Kayln, we became very aggressive on getting pregnant again and started seeing a fertility doctor. We did 5 rounds of clomid, 4 with iui, all bfn. So, now we're hoping the injections do the trick and make Kayln a big sissy in heaven! :) We're unsure if we want to do iui or not with the follistim. The reason we chose to with the clomid is b/c it messed with my cm BAD and our only hope with it to work was with the iui. My RE said follistim doesn't mess with your cm or your lining like clomid, so that gives me more hope! I'm hesitant about iui with the follistim b/c I know Sean's little guys ( and gals! :) can make it there, they have twice before. And with iui, you can't really bd the day before ovulation b/c you have to build up for the iui. So our only real chance with concieving is the day of ovulation, and washed sperm can only live for like 12 hours or so. I don't know, I'm just not sure which route to take! What do you all think?

[cure65roses]

Hey there,
Looks like I am the only one who voted without IUI.  Just because if you are responding really well to the follistim, your chances of releasing lots of eggs are great, and apparently your hubbies swimmers aren't a problem, which is the main reason for doing IUI in the first place.

Using intercourse allows for those spermies to survive longer in you, like up to 5 days even.  But usually they live 3 days.  And it's good to get those swimmers in there, as many as possible, BEFORE ovulation.  With IUI, you could miss it.  

I know the IUI's are exciting, and I wouldn't rule it out.  But I have had 3 IUI's out of the last 4 months.  And it's quite frustrating trying to time things just right and everything.

You are still young, so you can try intercourse only a few times and see what happens.  

Good Luck!!

[Tanker Chic]

I say with IUI, for several reasons:

It gives you the best chance because it puts way more sperm into your uterus than would make it there on their own.  

My RE has us BD the night of hcg injection and then IUI is 36hours later.  DH count is always very good at time of IUI.

Your RE should be testing your progesterone levels the day of hcg injection.  If your level has already start to go up, they should know and cancel IUI.  Your progesterone starts to up with our LH surge.  My point is, the u/s along with progesterone levels ensures the best possible timing for IUI.  

Whatever you decide, I wish and hope the very best for you.  

[bny807]

haha, yea we both of weird work schedules... so i just had to do what i had to do, the first time was a little odd.. but hey i'll do pretty much anything if the endpoint is a BFP!!! : )  

[luvkayln]

Wow girl, that's talent! :) I don't think i'll ever be able to give myself my hcg shot, dh will still have to do that!!

[bny807]

Yea!! yea i think i feel more comfortable doing it myself for some reason,,, then i can just be in control of it and know exactly when its going to happen! I even do the ones in the bum myself now.. : )    

[luvkayln]

Anya-Thanks! That gives me lots of hope! :)  Congrats on your BFP!!!

Bny807-Hopefully all those signs are pointing right to your BFP!! That would just be awesome! I'll keep everything crossed for you, my friend! :) I'm so proud of myself b/c I just gave myself my shot! Last night I made dh do it, but I think from now on I'll just do it! :)

[bny807]

still about the same.. i am hoping it doesn't go away really, since that might mean that we might be preg! haha. so we'll see!  my skin is SUPER DUPER dry its crazy!!! and i'm soooooo thirsty, and still waddling around, but that plus a thousand things worse is worth it, for a BFP!!!    Good luck with your injections this week! : ) I do the PIO shots in the bum nightly as well!

[Anya1984]

I would always suggest IUI....I did one without and BFN, I did follistim with IUI afterwards and got BFP!!

[luvkayln]

I will, thanks girl! :) Are you starting to feel better? I saw your post about your painful bloating! :(

[bny807]

Glad it went well!!! now grow follies grow! : )   Good luck, keep me updated!

[luvkayln]

bny807- I just did my first shot, and you were so right! It didn't hurt AT ALL! :) I could totally give myself these shots!! Thanks again for giving me high hopes for this cycle! :)

[luvkayln]

Thanks bny807! You're right! It can't hurt, especially if it helped your dh's swimmers like that! :) Looks like dh is going to be taking an extra vitamin... :) Thanks, I will definately keep you posted! Good luck to you! You're almost half way through!!

[bny807]

The shots aren't bad at all, its really easy and almost painless! : )  such a tiny needle! nothing like the Intramuscular trigger or progesterone shots that make your bum sore for days!   Yea i have my dh take 1000mg of vitamin C in addition to his multivitamin.. if your body gets excess you just pee it out so it cant' hurt.. plus after several months of vit C he had super duper fast swimmers (we never had a prob with motility, but it increased to off the charts fast my RE said). so if it cant' hurt and might help, i'm all for it!  GOOD LUCK with your injections tonight and keep us upated! : )

[luvkayln]

Thanks Helen! You are definately right! If iui is going to dramatically increase our chances for a pregnancy, iui it is! :) Look at me, I haven't even started my shots yet and I'm already ready to be in the 2ww! :) I  have high hopes for this cycle, but am prepared either way. Only 2 more hours till my shot! Yikes!! :)

[Helen72]

I read that injectables + IUI really increase your chances of bfp relative to just injectables or just IUI.  Why not give it your best shot?

Good luck!

[luvkayln]

Thanks girl! Wow! I knew it worked for you twice, but didn't realize that the femara/iui combo didn't, and that's just like clomid, right? That gives me lots of hope! :) That's awesome everything still looked the same for you guys after just one day, when normally you abstain for 4! I really hope this cycle works for you! Yea, we usually only abstain for 2 days and Sean has always had a great number for the iui. We don't have any issues with either one of us, the only "issue" is is we're NOT pregnant yet! :) You've given me TONS of hope for this cycle, thank you! :) Sean takes a multivitamin with Vitamin C in it. Should he be taking extra Vitamin C on top of that? Ok, you've convinced me to do iui!!! :) No more poll! haha!

[bny807]

Yea i have read that on forums before, but never read that as an actual fact that i can remember, so i was happy to hear my RE say that! : )  well we never got preg with femara and IUI.. not until we used follistim with the IUI.. and we have gotten lucky twice with that combo! : )    usually we abstain 4 days (we have severe male factor) this time we only abstained 1 day (since we had to do IUI ealier than initially thought) and everything actually looked like it always did!   so i imagine if you dont' have any male factors that you only need to abstain 2 days, or you could risk less. but with a well timed IUI i think your chances would be better.. one time i heard statistics about how many swimmers make it to the "goal" when you do intercourse and it was maybe around 1 million or so.. and then with IUI its sooooo much more, they all get in there! so its a pretty big difference... GOOD LUCK! keep me updated! : )   Have your dh take 1000mg of Vitamin C that should help with turnaround time of good swimmers! : )

[luvkayln]

Thanks bny807! I knew I could count on you to give me your opinion! :) Wow! I really wasn't aware that washed sperm actually live longer! That suprises me! I'm not even sure where I read that about washed sperm only living 12 hours, but I know I have seen it somewhere. We always did time our iui's exactly 36 hours after the trigger with clomid, it just never worked... Maybe the follistim will be different, and with a well timed iui hopefully it'll do the trick! I know iui does increase your chances, so maybe we'll just bd the morning of my trigger and that'll still be basically 2 days of building up. How long did you and dh abstain before your iui?

[bny807]

Hello!   Wow, you have been thru so much! Thats a hard decision to do it with our without.. as far as the timing goes with IUI.. the fact that yall shouldn't bd before IUI shouldn't be an issue if you have a well timed IUI (36 hours after trigger) also i was asking my RE this cycle (since we had to do our IUI early due to the holidays) if washed sperm doesn't last as long as natural and he actually said that opposite, that the washed sperm lives longer and the reason is that the fluid they wash and leave it in is much more sperm friendly than most peoples cervical mucus.. he said if you leave the specimen on the counter (in a container) for 24 hours at room temperature the viability of the sperm only decreases 10% at 24 hours.. so even less when its inside your uterus! : )   I like to give it the best chance possible, so i'm a fan of IUI.. you can BD the next several nights afterwards as well.. hope that might help! GOOD LUCK! : )