IVF #3 (Cycle 10): IVF converted to IUI #7

My ramblings on Stim Days 6-8 and the important Monitoring Appointment #2 results, & the decision to convert to an IUI. For my other stims days see:

Stim Day 1
Stim Days 2-5

Stim Day 6 (7/15)

I was a bit bitter doing my injections today. Not sure what was going to happen this cycle makes it frustrating to be injecting all these meds into my system. Feels like I'm almost throwing money away. I know it'll all be worth it if the cycle ends up continuing. But if it doesn't, it's such a waste.

Stim Day 7 (7/16) 

Starting to feel really "hot," which sucks in this heat! I'm also highly impatient, which maybe means my estrogen levels are going up? But I'm hoping these are good signs and that it means my ovaries are working and the follicles are growing. Maybe some more will show up??? Feeling a little less fatalistic about the cycle today. Hoping it's not mis-placed optimism/hope. Right now I'm leaning towards moving forward with the cycle with PGS testing anything that makes it to Day 5 (plus my 2 frozen). I'm hoping that's still an option tomorrow...

Stim Day 8 (7/17) + Monitoring Appointment #2

I had a horrible Charlie horse this morning and hoped it wasn't indicative of how my monitoring appointment was going to go. Going into the appointment: I haven't been feeling noticeable ovary pain, so worried my follicles weren't  growing. I am moody, have CM, & running "hot" - so was hoping those were good signs.

Well, bad news first. At the monitoring appointment I only had maybe 2-3 follicles (most likely only 2). Therefore, IVF was not an option (needed >4 to do IVF). My options at that point: 1) convert to IUI or 2) cancel the cycle and do nothing.

The good news: I could convert to an IUI. I'm not sure if you remember, but when IVF #1 was cancelled, an IUI conversion wasn't possible and it was pretty devastating for me to do nothing. Have to find little strings of good news in all this...

Ordering more donor sperm 

Luckily, my RE was OK with converting to an IUI. Which I honestly don't have much hope of it working... and I wish I can have more "hope" that it'll work. The IUI led to another issue: I needed to order more sperm. Turns out the sperm I ordered for IVF #3, Donor #5 , did not have any IUI vials. I had purchased an A.R.T sperm vial for IVF #3, which has less sperm/vial than an IUI vial. Which meant I had to make another decision on a sperm donor. Frustrating? Yup. I decided to check out my previous donors. Both Donor #2 (from IUI #5) and Donor #3 (from IUI #6) were available. I decided to just go with Donor #2. No rhyme or reason really... I had vetted him thoroughly and would have used him for IUI #6, but he had no vials available. He also had a good sperm count, so that's where I decided to go.

I have a lot of emotions running through my body right now and thoughts swimming around. I'll try to post a more thorough post on my feelings later... I'm just exhausted from all this right now. Here's the plan:

1) Have IUI #7 this month.
2) If it doesn't work... do a FET in September and transfer both my frozen embryos. No testing them.
3) If that doesn't work... save money to do another IVF egg retrieval. Possibly do IUI's in between.

Not the best situation, but it's the situation I'm faced with.

Next Steps:

  • 7/19/16 @ 11:45pm: Trigger Shot
  • 7/20/16: Donor #2 IUI vial should arrive at my clinic 
  • 7/21/16 @ 11:45am: IUI #7

For more info on my IVF cycle, check out my IVF Timeline.

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