Hi There,

We have a total of 11 donor IUI attempts available to us. We understand it take 4-6 attempts to get pregnant via this method and we're only on our fourther try, so we're not too worried yet.

We have already done IVF ICSI. It was heart breaking. We had four blastocycsts, two of which did not survive the thawing process. The two we did have transferred also died. It is awful to look at an embryo on a screen (they show it to you before they draw it up the catheter), see that it's alive and even hatching, have it transferred to your body, only to find, eight days later, it is dead. The emotional impact of that is severe.

If IUI doesn't work out for us, we'll go back to IVF. I think we are better equipped now. But the process, including the finanical management really brought us to our knees. We nearly lost our marriage over it. And when you consider the success rate for IVF is 3/10, it's a pretty poor success rate. The only way around it is by increasing the numbers. With each round costing $8,000, you have to take your hat off to people who give it multiple goes.

You have to make your own choices, but I would suggest having at least four IUIs is giving the process a fair chance to work.

:-)
P.