IUI or IVF for next try?

I've done IUI 4 times so far. First time unmedicated, negative, second time with Clomid, + but 5 wk loss, 3rd time Clomid negative. Im in round 4 now but timing may have been off, My REI was pretty strict about going by bloodwork and not home OPK which showed an LH surge a day earlier.

If this 4th time does not work I'm strongly considering IVF. I'm 38 y.o. and potentially want more than 1 child but I know 4 tries is not really a lot, also, insurance does not cover any of this.

From other posts I've seen a lot of women comment that they would have gone to IVF sooner. Thoughts?

Comments

  • I had five unsuccessful IUI's over the last year and am moving on to IVF. My doctor didn't recommend more than 6 IUI's. And, yes, in hindsight, I wish I would've started with IVF right away. I just kept thinking that I'd be lucky and an IUI would work.

    Best of luck to you!
  • We wished we would have moved to IVF a lot sooner then we did. We did six unsuccessful IUIs. 3 unmedicated with a trigger and three medicated with a trigger. We needed to do 6 for insurance to pay for IVF. Basically our doctor said your chance with frozen sperm is a mere 15% chance of pregnancy. I know it works for some but for us it did not. IVF increases your chances to 50% chance. We got pregnant with a fresh transfer and my wife is 27 weeks along. Best of luck. If you are paying out of pocket I would move in the IVF direction. The thing is if you have more embryos it will be good for more kids. We have three 5 day blastocysts in the freezer to grow our family in the future.

    Good Luck!
  • We did 3 IUIs with no luck and moved onto IVF and got pregnant the 1st try. My wife is 35 and had great fertility test results but for whatever reason IUI was not the right procedure for us. IVF is a lot more aggressive in terms of the shots needed and process you have to follow but it was worth it in my mind. I would say that if you have the money to do IVF do it.
  • Thanks for the advice. I'm preparing for IVF right now, though I did a 5th IUI as I'm waiting to start (my REI has a D#2 start protocol) so it doesn't affect timing.

    I feel that the deeper I get into this the more decisions to be made, such as frozen or fresh transfer? PGS or no? I've come to the conclusion that fresh transfer and PGS and freeze the rest would be the most efficient.

    Not looking forward to the shots, bloodwork, monitoring, and unpredictability of when the retrieval will happen, but I just keep telling myself it's only a few weeks.
  • Thanks for the advice. I'm preparing for IVF right now, though I did a 5th IUI as I'm waiting to start (my REI has a D#2 start protocol) so it doesn't affect timing.

    I feel that the deeper I get into this the more decisions to be made, such as frozen or fresh transfer? PGS or no? I've come to the conclusion that fresh transfer and PGS and freeze the rest would be the most efficient.

    Not looking forward to the shots, bloodwork, monitoring, and unpredictability of when the retrieval will happen, but I just keep telling myself it's only a few weeks.
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