Fertility Journey —Closing the book on IUI
I spent the morning slogging in front of my handphone feeling sorry for myself, but its time to close the chapter for IUI №3 (4th cycle attempt, the first was a no-go), and move forward.
When I woke up this morning, I dreaded the ideal of peeing on the stick. I didn’t want to see another negative pregnancy test. One would think it gets easier with every cycle, emotionally it does not. However, you get over the slog faster. I suppose for this IUI attempt it was a ‘try and see’.
After the last IUI, our Doctor said, after 3rd attempt at IUI they would usually recommend IVF as chances goes down 15% to 7% — usually if one were to succeed quickly in IUI, they would get pregnant by the third attempt. So, we knew it was time for IVF. However, my husband had to go outstation for work during my menses cycle — and I knew I didn’t want to go through this IVF process on my own. He said, rather than waste the cycle, why not try IUI, one more time — who knows.
Recount of Cycle #4, IUI #3
This cycle, I saw my Dr on 1 November (I think it was day 4–5 for me), I had 6 follicles in left and 10 follicles in right. Again she prescribed 5 days of letero, and I would go in on Monday 7 Nov for checkup.
At first my Husband and I wanted to freeze his sperm prior to going out station, however Dr Helena said it was better to have live sperms, rather than thawed sperms for the IUI. So, she said hopefully we would time it correct. If I had a follicle on the right that was big enough, we do IUI on Tuesday 8 Nov prior to his trip.
On 7 November I went to see Dr Helena. The ultrasound showed that my biggest follicle was 17mm on the right side, there was also a smaller follicle on the right too, and there was a 16mm on the left, my lining 7point something. It was all systems go, Dr Helena could perform the IUI the day prior to my husband’s trip outstation. I was sent to the nursing room, and the nurse injected me with the medication to induce ovulation.
This time around, my husbands sperm deposit was set for 9am and my IUI was set at 11am (the next day, around 24 hours after the injection), rather than the prior two 3pm (the following day, around 42 hours after the injection). Again Dr Helena said that my husbands sperm quantity was promising, we had 17million sperm left to work with, and that my ovulation mucus was good and promising. Again upon leaving I was given 14 days worth of Duphaston.
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Additional things I did
I visited the TCM prior to the IUI — I thought I should try, maybe it will help. I learnt from Dr Yuan, that normally for IVF transplant they would do an acupuncture prior to the transplant and the after the transplant on the same day, after which they would have acupunctures for 5 consecutive days. The acupuncture was more for improving the digestive system and anxiety. She said the Chinese medicine was more focused on improving the follicle quality — so she said, as the IUI has already occurred, I don’t need the medicines.
After reading Andrea Reiter’s book, I did a few exercises and I bought Valor (Young Living essential oil) and two bracelets (one completely Howlite crystals and the other a mixture of carnelian, rose quartz and amethyst. Both packages only came after the IUI. I don’t use the Valor roll on as much, but I do feel the bracelets do have a calming affect on my naturally anxious mind.
In terms of symptoms, I realised that Duphaston ‘side effects’ had a lot of commonality with pregnancy symptoms (nausea, headaches and dizziness, difficulty peeing, breast pain)— so this cycle, I did not hold my breathe not got to over excited with the symptoms. Just take the days as they come. I would say going to TCM was good, as it gave me something to do.
A side note about Duphaston, my TCM Doctor, Dr Yuan, did say taking too prolonged Duphaston can cause cysts — so if you aren’t pregnant, its good to go back for acupuncture during clear ones’ lining.
Conclusion — Thoughts going forward
From the past few months, I have come to realise why all those Kings etc had so many wives — just to increase the probability, especially in those times where all these medical technologies weren’t available.
I feel very angry that we were not aware of my left tube being blocked, so we kept trying for 2 years thinking its all ok. Fortunately or unfortunately, its made me a bit of an advocate of telling girls to do a thorough proper check — rather than thinking its all ok and waste so much time, it’s better to know what your hurdles are, so you can better prepare.
Closing the IUI chapter, I am excited, scared and anxious at the thought of having to go through IVF. I know of so many couples have gone through the process, it’s hormonal, painful and takes a lot of bravery and strength. Today, my Husband consoled me saying “you are strong and brave”, I guess I have no choice to be.
Well on the bright side, I guess since I am not pregnant this year, we can still go ski this Christmas.
