deni - moving from IUI to IVF is, as the others have said, a big decision. we moved partially on the advice of our FS, but more on intuition than anything. we had 5 attempts at IUI - the first two were cancelled for poor response, so i guess you could say we'd done three full cycles before we moved to IVF - we decided we needed to KNOW what was going on, and IVF gives more control over the outcome - we KNOW we're putting a fertilised embie back tomorrow, not just hoping that we catch the eggie...

our FS said all along only 2 or 3 attempts at IUI before IVF - after our third full IUI cycle, we made arrangements before even speaking to the FS - we had about 6 weeks before seeing the FS, so we fit in the counselling, we booked ourselves in for a local IVF cycle - then turned up to the FS and said "this is what we're doing - what does of meds do you want me on".

this is something you want to have as much control over as possible - don't feel pushed into something you're not ready for - as has been said, IVF is much more invasive and time consuming - but also, if you're ready, don't wait for your FS to suggest it. as much as IVF is more expensive, each cycle of IUI can still have a decent financial outlay...

one thing you mentioned stuck out for me as a reason i'd be more interested in moving to IVF than sticking with IUI:
they felt may be an indication my egg quality was possibly not the best
i have just done my first full stim IVF cycle, got 22 eggs, but only 4 have fertilised correctly - a large number were immature and the balance just didn't fertilise properly - so the way i look at it is that, were i to do IUI, i might have had a 4 in 22 chance of a successful outcome on those stats - that's only a little over 5% each time... not the best odds in my book....

personally, if i were in your situation, i'd move to IVF sooner rather than later - one thing to take into account though is cycling times over the christmas break - it may be that you can fit another IUI in while you're waiting on appointments to start up your IVF cycle - and hopefully it would be the one to give you a BFP! i guess it depends on the cycle style you use (we didn't have a down reg phase, so all it took was a BT to confirm hormones and straight into puregon shots - we went from BT to IUI in 8 days most times - so we'd fit another in this year if it were us, where IVF would probably be more difficult...)

ok, i think i've waffled heaps here - feel free to PM me if you need any help hun - more than happy to chat to you about it

BG