IUI

[pollyanna]

Hi Girls,
JUst wondering please if anyone can share their experiences with IUI at Melbourne IVF or anywhere really. i just want to get a feel of how MEDICAL/HOSPITAL,the procedure isMy FS has said this is the next avenue for us as we have done 2 stim cycles and because of my age(38),he wants to give us the best possible hope. i have unexplained infertility. I just don't ovulate unless i have ovulation induction medication. I just feel a little indecisive. I wonder whether to just do another stim cycle with dtd at specified times or to go into the IUI.
Does anyone know with IUI do you have to obstain from sex for any period before or after the procedure?Just not sure what to do. Do you have to lay there for a while after the transfer or are you up and away? Do you just continue a normal day after transfer or do they want you to do minimal to keep it up there?I want this to happen more than anything but i wanted as little intervention as possible. Clomid didnt work,the stim drugs work but just not happening yet.I have a friend and she fell during herr 3rd stim cycle but she is a copule of years younger. I do listen to all you girls like fellow sisters so i could really use your support and cyber cuddles right now as i feel depressed and confused. having really bad Af certainly isnt helping.Thankyou so much for listening to me wallow;i hope i havent brought anyone down,and i'm sorry i'm not my normal upbeat self. Just feel wishy washy and wrung out.lol Thanks girls
Pauline

[pollyanna]

bump #*#*

[briggsy's girl]

hiya pollyanna - i'm an IUI veteran so will give you my take on the whole thing - our clinic refuses to do ovulation induction with timed intercourse - they believe the chances of it working are just not good enough.

so, you've already done the ovulation induction thing with FSH - you know what that's about. not sure how your clinic were doing (i'm with a satellite clinic of monash) - but basically we had 7 days of stims, u/s to check follies - trigger when it was approriate - and then the actual IUI

for the IUI, we toddled off to the clinic with DH's sample (we lived within a certain time frame of the clinic so he could produce his sample at home - which took the clinical side of it away from his perpective seeing i was "involved" in making it fun for him). sample was "cleaned", and then it was inserted into my uterus in a process similar to a pap smear - though less uncomfortable. DH was there the whole time, and the clinic nurse was talking to both of us the whole time to make it relaxed. i was able to lay there for a short time, and then go about my normal day's activities. we'd usually go out for lunch and a bit of window shopping, then home for the afternoon.

for the abstinance thing - we were told for hubby not to ejaculate for 2 to five days before the sample was collected - we usually went from the morning of the u/s to the morning of the IUI as it was basically 48 hours. wasn't a drama as i had trigger in there and was usually niggly from ovulation and just didn't want to anyway! after the IUI, we were told to have sex within 12-24 hours to make sure that there was another sample there in case ovulation is later than they anticipated...

hope that helps - feel free to ask any more questions you might have...

good luck
BG

[pollyanna]

Thanks heaps Bg;
You are precious. Dosent sound a lot different to what i'm doing now. Nor does it sound too yucky. Just so hate hospitals. My fs said pretty much what you commented on. Not much different to a pap smear and i can take the sample of dh before he goes to work. He said there is a two hour window of viability. Can i ask how many IUI's have you hade done? And if its not offensive your age and dh's age. I'm totally cool if you dont feel confortable answering.Thankyou so far for all your advice;it means heaps.We have been trying for 18 months. First homeopathics,accupuncture,then clomid,the fsh and timed intercourse another three cycles. Now Fs recommends IUI. Feeling really nervous.

[pollyanna]

I'm a dill, i just read your ages on the bottom of your post. How absolutely crappy at your age that you are having trouble. I'm 38

[briggsy's girl]

hehehe - dont stress!

we had five attempts at iui - first two cancelled due to failure to respond. three proceeded beautifully - one chemical pregnancy in there...

i have pcos (severe) so knew i'd need help ttc long before i considered it - our first two angels were natural but seems i need additional hormonal support earlly in pg to help them stick...

[pollyanna]

Oh MY Goodness;dare i ask whats a chemical pregnancy?

[briggsy's girl]

a chemical pregnancy occurs when your embryo implants and you get a small rise in HCG but due to something being wrong with the embie, it doesn't continue to grow - i was four weeks 4 days - in most "normal" attemps at conception, where there isn't a desire to check right on 4 weeks whether you get a positive hpt - it would be considered a late AF...