Last week was our latest doctor’s appointment at the fertility clinic. CP and I went to discuss our options with the doctor now that the fibroid and the endometriosis is out of my body.
Right now we have three options: try on our own, an IUI, or IVF.
From age 30-35 (I’m 33), a Fertile person has a 15-20% chance of getting pregnant in a given month.
Same age range, but with an Infertile person the percentage drastically decreases to less than 5% in a given month (my surgery probably knocks me up a few percentage points, but not all of the way to that of a Fertile person).
If we decide to go the Clomid/IUI route, the percentage for my age increases to 10-12%.
If we try injectables with IUI, the percentage increases a bit more to 15-18%.
If the 3 IUIs that my insurance cover don’t work then IVF is our next step (you have to have a major justification to jump to IVF without trying an IUI first). The percentage of pregnancies after an IVF procedure jump to 50%!! I had no idea that you had a 50/50 shot of getting pregnant after IVF. According to my doctor my insurance covers 2 IVF procedures, but I’m not sure that’s correct AND getting CP on board for an IVF might be very difficult. Boy is it expensive if insurance doesn’t cover it though- $15,000-$20,000!!
In general I’m a bit confused coming away from the appointment. The doctor that did my surgery said that the endometriosis was the reason that I wasn’t getting pregnant, while this doctor said that it was the fibroid. Both of them are now out of my system but what if there is something else wrong? From my research (and what the surgery doctor told me), fibroids generally don’t keep you from getting pregnant, they generally cause a woman to miscarry. As far as I know, I have never been even a little pregnant.
We have been told that the most fertile time for me to get pregnant will be the first few months after my uterus has healed. Depending on when I get my first period since early September, we can start trying sometime in February. The question is- do we try on our own or do we go the IUI route? I asked about any side effects of Clomid and the doctor said there are usually two. Hot flashes (OH BOY THOSE AGAIN!) and PMS-like symptoms. That’s nothing too major- especially if I am only taking the medication for 5 days. Meanwhile, CP and I both remarked that we aren’t getting any younger. CP will be turning 36 in June and if we want to have two kids we need to starting getting on board the pregnancy train. But it would be nice to be like a “normal” couple and get pregnant on our own.
Decisions, decisions. We don’t have to make the call right now but we do have to think about it in the next month. Do we risk my most fertile months by trying on our own? Not only do we risk fertile months passing us by, but every month I don’t get pregnant is a month closer to when another fibroid could form or endometriosis could come back. So should we jump onto the IUI train?
4 comments:
I have friends that did IUI 5 times, and they are now expecting in May! Although I didn't go into great detail about it with them, they said it was relatively easy and really cheap ($600). I'd vote for that. She did clomid on their successful cycle, and she said she kicked herself for not doing it sooner. She had an easy time with it and didn't have any side effects, although everyone is different. GOOD LUCK!
Wow, this is a toughie
I would try it naturally with the Clomid for one- two months and then if that fails to work try the IUI.
Personally, I'd try the IUI, especially since your insurance will cover it. Getting pregnant without assistance would be nice, for sure, but in the end you won't care how you get pregnant, as long as you get pregnant. It's not any less of a pregnancy if it was achieved through IUI, you know? So my personal inclination would be to maximize the odds as much as possible, and that would mean doing IUI during your most fertile months.
Good luck deciding!
This is such a tough choice and one I know absolutely nothing about. I'm not sure what I would do in a similar situation, especially if those first few months could be your most fertile. Good luck on whatever you decide!
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