Our successful MS/IUI cycle

I have had a lot of people asking me privately for details about our MS/IUI cycle that worked, so I thought I'd share with everyone here. Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to include everything.

I took 100mg of Clomid cycle days 3-7, Estrace cream days 6-12, and Ovidrel trigger shot when I got a +OPK (late night of day 13). My IUI was day 15, about 38 hours after the Ovidrel. I had an ultrasound on cycle day 10 that showed three mature follicles, 18 mm and 17 mm on the left, and 17 mm on the right. At the time of IUI it appeared that the two on the left had already ruptured and the one on the right was just starting to rupture. I have been taking progesterone capsules vaginally at night starting cycle day 17.

My husband took a natural multivitamin called Catalyn, a fish oil (Pro-DHA), and acidophilus. We had a 94.7% sort purity the first cycle and 92.99% this time. I don't know if the supplements had any effect on this. He only took them for a few days each time. 

I also took the Catalyn and Pro-DHA, as well as a prenatal vitamin. I also see a naturopath and take several supplements she prescribes. Last year I stopped taking those a couple of months before my MS/IUI attempt. This time I told her I was TTC, made sure the supplements were safe, and kept taking them. She said they should actually help me get pregnant. She did not know about the MS/IUI, but I did tell her I was taking Clomid. I get to go see her tomorrow and tell her the good news! The exact supplements aren't relevant to anyone else because they are specific to me and health issues I have. But I wonder if they may have helped. The naturopath has really helped my headaches, which are clearly hormonal and linked to my cycle. I wonder if the supplements might have helped align my hormones in some way that helped me conceive, but this is purely speculation.

My first MS/IUI cycle was a BFN last October. I did a completely natural cycle that time. It was important to me to do it that way because I got pregnant the first month with both of my boys, so I didn't want to mess around with what my body does well on its own. I also didn't want to increase the chance of multiples. A year and one failed attempt later, I've gotten over my concern about multiples and would much rather have twin daughters than none! (The possibility of three is scary though...)

The hardest part of this for me with both of my cycles was the timing. I went crazy waiting for a +OPK, wondering if the tests were working right, wondering if I was going to miss ovulation or get the day wrong. I was concerned that if I triggered based just on follicle size, it might be too early and the eggs wouldn't be mature. If we had just gone by ultrasounds, HRC would have told me to trigger at 20 mm. But with my first cycle, my follicle was 24 mm the morning of the IUI, and it still hadn't started to rupture at the time of IUI late that afternoon. If we had guessed when to trigger this time based on my day 10 ultrasound and expected daily follicle growth, it would have been a day or two earlier than it turned out to be using the OPKs.

One frustration for me was that GIVF and HRC have some different protocols they follow. At GIVF I was told to do OPKs three times a day. At HRC they were just going to go by ultrasounds and it was my request to do OPKs. GIVF wanted CBE digital OPKs (with the smiley face). HRC wanted CBE analog tests so that I could see the line getting darker. At GIVF I had an ultrasound at the time of IUI. At HRC, they were not planning to do that, but did when I requested it. Having that ultrasound obviously didn't affect the outcome, but it was so good to know I was really ovulating! I wanted this all to be an exact science, and I realized it isn't. Different clinics have different ways of doing things, and maybe they both work. But there is still a lot of guesswork. The experts couldn't predict when I was going to ovulate or what day my IUI would be. My advice is to be proactive and ask for what you think will work best for you. It's just so hard to know what that is.

I think your best chance for success is probably to go for complete daily monitoring with ultrasounds and bloodwork in addition to using OPKs, but that was too expensive for us. Doing Microsort at all was a big financial stretch. I have a friend at home who is a physician assistant at an OB practice, and she did my day 2 and day 9 ultrasounds for $25 each (what her office pays the technician). Otherwise, those would have cost me $800 each at my local hospital's ultrasound lab (we have a $4000 deductible, so insurance did nothing for us). I had one ultrasound at HRC on day 10 and that was $270. If I had added bloodwork, it would have been about $600 total. I would have liked to have had more ultrasounds between day 10 and day 15, but we just couldn't spend more money on this. I never did any bloodwork on my successful cycle.

Even without multiple ultrasounds, the trigger shot really helps get the IUI timing right. I wish I would have done that the first time, even if I didn't do the Clomid. I wonder if I would have had a different outcome if I had taken an Ovidrel shot when I got my +OPK that time. At the time of my first IUI, I had one follicle, and it had not yet ovulated. I wonder whether it ever did. I have short cycles with apparent luteal phase defect, so they put me on progesterone starting the day after the IUI. I wonder whether I had not yet ovulated and the progesterone prevented ovulation. That's just a theory, but it was very reassuring this time to see that I was in the middle of ovulating at the time of IUI.

Actually, I don't have any regrets, except that it's hard to spend so much money. It was very important to me to do a natural cycle. I would not have felt right doing the Clomid the first time with my history, although after my experience I would recommend Clomid to anyone who really wants this to work! I also realize that the timing is much better now than it was last October, just in terms of things happening in our lives. I knew the timing wasn't good then, but I rushed to get in just as the MS trial was closing. Nobody knew then whether they would get the extension that let me go back this time. So I had to try then, but I'm glad it worked now. 

I hope this is helpful to others who are starting this journey. I'm happy to try to answer any questions. It's so hard to go into something so expensive and stressful knowing that you only have a 15% chance of success. The first time I really thought it would work for us, because we had never let sperm near me before without me getting pregnant. I just couldn't believe they could inject sperm into my uterus on ovulation day and not get me pregnant. My BFN was a huge wake-up call to me. I was a lot less optimistic this time, and I also knew it was my last chance. I still can't believe it worked. I really feel like I just won the lottery.

Update: On 12/22 we learned that this baby really is a girl. We really did win the lottery. I can't wait to meet her!

Final Update: Our baby girl was born on May 31, 2009. Thank you Microsort!

Thank you SO MUCH for this, for all of it, all the details. I'm totally going for a trigger shot now.

And again, CONGRATS!

WWP

Thanks for posting all this!  It is so helpful to those of use with MS/IUI questions!

Thank you so much for sharing too.  I'm making sure I save this for future reference.  I am so happy this worked for you.

Best wishes for you and your baby girl!

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this.  It is great info and really helpful!  It didn't even occur to me to do OPKs in addition to the ultrasounds.  I will definitely do this.  I am shocked they would not do an ultrasound routinely at the time of the IUI to make sure the timing is right.  Maybe I will see if they will do one in the morning to make sure I am ovulating before they do the sort.     

So excited for you! I am dying to know how many little girls you have in there! Your 20 week u/s couldn't get here fast enough for me (or you, I'm sure)!!!!

Where did you get the supplements that you and your husband were taking? Do you recommend HRC or GIVF? If we do the full monitoring how long would we need to plan on being out of town? We have been considering IVF, but its so much more expensive. I just don't know if we can afford it. Thanks so much!

Shawna

Mom2RJ:

I have had a lot of people asking me privately for details about our MS/IUI cycle that worked, so I thought I'd share with everyone here. Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to include everything.

I took 100mg of Clomid cycle days 3-7, Estrace cream days 6-12, and Ovidrel trigger shot when I got a +OPK (late night of day 13). My IUI was day 15, about 38 hours after the Ovidrel. I had an ultrasound on cycle day 10 that showed three mature follicles, 18 mm and 17 mm on the left, and 17 mm on the right. At the time of IUI it appeared that the two on the left had already ruptured and the one on the right was just starting to rupture. I have been taking progesterone capsules vaginally at night starting cycle day 17.

My husband took a natural multivitamin called Catalyn, a fish oil (Pro-DHA), and acidophilus. We had a 94.7% sort purity the first cycle and 92.99% this time. I don't know if the supplements had any effect on this. He only took them for a few days each time. 

I also took the Catalyn and Pro-DHA, as well as a prenatal vitamin. I also see a naturopath and take several supplements she prescribes. Last year I stopped taking those a couple of months before my MS/IUI attempt. This time I told her I was TTC, made sure the supplements were safe, and kept taking them. She said they should actually help me get pregnant. She did not know about the MS/IUI, but I did tell her I was taking Clomid. I get to go see her tomorrow and tell her the good news! The exact supplements aren't relevant to anyone else because they are specific to me and health issues I have. But I wonder if they may have helped. The naturopath has really helped my headaches, which are clearly hormonal and linked to my cycle. I wonder if the supplements might have helped align my hormones in some way that helped me conceive, but this is purely speculation.

My first MS/IUI cycle was a BFN last October. I did a completely natural cycle that time. It was important to me to do it that way because I got pregnant the first month with both of my boys, so I didn't want to mess around with what my body does well on its own. I also didn't want to increase the chance of multiples. A year and one failed attempt later, I've gotten over my concern about multiples and would much rather have twin daughters than none! (The possibility of three is scary though...)

The hardest part of this for me with both of my cycles was the timing. I went crazy waiting for a +OPK, wondering if the tests were working right, wondering if I was going to miss ovulation or get the day wrong. I was concerned that if I triggered based just on follicle size, it might be too early and the eggs wouldn't be mature. If we had just gone by ultrasounds, HRC would have told me to trigger at 20 mm. But with my first cycle, my follicle was 24 mm the morning of the IUI, and it still hadn't started to rupture at the time of IUI late that afternoon. If we had guessed when to trigger this time based on my day 10 ultrasound and expected daily follicle growth, it would have been a day or two earlier than it turned out to be using the OPKs.

One frustration for me was that GIVF and HRC have some different protocols they follow. At GIVF I was told to do OPKs three times a day. At HRC they were just going to go by ultrasounds and it was my request to do OPKs. GIVF wanted CBE digital OPKs (with the smiley face). HRC wanted CBE analog tests so that I could see the line getting darker. At GIVF I had an ultrasound at the time of IUI. At HRC, they were not planning to do that, but did when I requested it. Having that ultrasound obviously didn't affect the outcome, but it was so good to know I was really ovulating! I wanted this all to be an exact science, and I realized it isn't. Different clinics have different ways of doing things, and maybe they both work. But there is still a lot of guesswork. The experts couldn't predict when I was going to ovulate or what day my IUI would be. My advice is to be proactive and ask for what you think will work best for you. It's just so hard to know what that is.

I think your best chance for success is probably to go for complete daily monitoring with ultrasounds and bloodwork in addition to using OPKs, but that was too expensive for us. Doing Microsort at all was a big financial stretch. I have a friend at home who is a physician assistant at an OB practice, and she did my day 2 and day 9 ultrasounds for $25 each (what her office pays the technician). Otherwise, those would have cost me $800 each at my local hospital's ultrasound lab (we have a $4000 deductible, so insurance did nothing for us). I had one ultrasound at HRC on day 10 and that was $270. If I had added bloodwork, it would have been about $600 total. I would have liked to have had more ultrasounds between day 10 and day 15, but we just couldn't spend more money on this. I never did any bloodwork on my successful cycle.

Even without multiple ultrasounds, the trigger shot really helps get the IUI timing right. I wish I would have done that the first time, even if I didn't do the Clomid. I wonder if I would have had a different outcome if I had taken an Ovidrel shot when I got my +OPK that time. At the time of my first IUI, I had one follicle, and it had not yet ovulated. I wonder whether it ever did. I have short cycles with apparent luteal phase defect, so they put me on progesterone starting the day after the IUI. I wonder whether I had not yet ovulated and the progesterone prevented ovulation. That's just a theory, but it was very reassuring this time to see that I was in the middle of ovulating at the time of IUI.

Actually, I don't have any regrets, except that it's hard to spend so much money. It was very important to me to do a natural cycle. I would not have felt right doing the Clomid the first time with my history, although after my experience I would recommend Clomid to anyone who really wants this to work! I also realize that the timing is much better now than it was last October, just in terms of things happening in our lives. I knew the timing wasn't good then, but I rushed to get in just as the MS trial was closing. Nobody knew then whether they would get the extension that let me go back this time. So I had to try then, but I'm glad it worked now. 

I hope this is helpful to others who are starting this journey. I'm happy to try to answer any questions. It's so hard to go into something so expensive and stressful knowing that you only have a 15% chance of success. The first time I really thought it would work for us, because we had never let sperm near me before without me getting pregnant. I just couldn't believe they could inject sperm into my uterus on ovulation day and not get me pregnant. My BFN was a huge wake-up call to me. I was a lot less optimistic this time, and I also knew it was my last chance. I still can't believe it worked. I really feel like I just won the lottery.

Update: On 12/22 we learned that this baby really is a girl. We really did win the lottery. I can't wait to meet her!

 

sbunch11:

Where did you get the supplements that you and your husband were taking? Do you recommend HRC or GIVF? If we do the full monitoring how long would we need to plan on being out of town? We have been considering IVF, but its so much more expensive. I just don't know if we can afford it. Thanks so much

 

I got our supplements from a naturopath that I see regularly. The specific supplements we took are only available that way.

I was very happy with our experiences at both HRC and GIVF. I only switched to HRC because GIVF stopped doing IUIs, but they have started again so you would have either option. If one is within driving distance for you, I would recommend going there. It is so much easier to just get in the car after you trigger rather than trying to plan your trip weeks ahead to buy plane tickets without really knowing what the timing will be.

You can do some of your monitoring locally, so you really only need to be out of town for a short time. If you can drive there, you could leave after you trigger, drive there the day before your IUI, and drive home the day after your IUI (or even start driving the day of IUI, which is what we did on our first cycle). If you have to fly it is trickier to plan. We went to CA for six nights and tried to plan it so the IUI would be in the middle. It ended up being the day before we flew home, but that still worked. You just have to be there long enough to make sure you are there on ovulation day (or be able to change your plane tickets easily).

Good luck with all your decisions.

Thanks for all the info.  I will be printing this off and adding to my binder.  Thanks for always being so helpful So excited that it worked for you!

If  we go to either location we will have to fly, but I have family in both CA and VA, Thanks so much for all the info. In your opinion I am better off doing 1 round of IVF/PGD or planning on 2 IUI/MS? Thanks again!

Shawna

Mom2RJ:

sbunch11:

Where did you get the supplements that you and your husband were taking? Do you recommend HRC or GIVF? If we do the full monitoring how long would we need to plan on being out of town? We have been considering IVF, but its so much more expensive. I just don't know if we can afford it. Thanks so much

 

I got our supplements from a naturopath that I see regularly. The specific supplements we took are only available that way.

I was very happy with our experiences at both HRC and GIVF. I only switched to HRC because GIVF stopped doing IUIs, but they have started again so you would have either option. If one is within driving distance for you, I would recommend going there. It is so much easier to just get in the car after you trigger rather than trying to plan your trip weeks ahead to buy plane tickets without really knowing what the timing will be.

You can do some of your monitoring locally, so you really only need to be out of town for a short time. If you can drive there, you could leave after you trigger, drive there the day before your IUI, and drive home the day after your IUI (or even start driving the day of IUI, which is what we did on our first cycle). If you have to fly it is trickier to plan. We went to CA for six nights and tried to plan it so the IUI would be in the middle. It ended up being the day before we flew home, but that still worked. You just have to be there long enough to make sure you are there on ovulation day (or be able to change your plane tickets easily).

Good luck with all your decisions.

sbunch11:

If  we go to either location we will have to fly, but I have family in both CA and VA.

 

Having family nearby is a big help! I really don't think you can go wrong with either location, so I guess just pick where you'd like to go! 

sbunch11:

Thanks so much for all the info. In your opinion I am better off doing 1 round of IVF/PGD or planning on 2 IUI/MS? Thanks again!

That's a tough question. We were not willing to consider IVF because of the extra embryo issue, the expense, and also I didn't want to do anything that invasive. So MS/IUI was really the only option for us. You could probably do 3 MS/IUI for the cost of one IVF/PGD, but that doesn't include travel expenses. MS has said that most people will get pregnant within 3 MS/IUI attempts, but there are people here who will dispute that. It is certainly possible to get pregnant on the first attempt, and also possible to try three or more times without any success. The chances of pregnancy for any given cycle are higher for IVF/PGD than for MS/IUI, but there are no guarantees either way. It's so hard because if you succeed you will believe you made the right decision, but you will second-guess your decision if it doesn't work out. You just have to look at all the variables and decide what works best for you, and then believe you did your best no matter what happens. Good luck!

Mom2RJA:

Actually, I don't have any regrets, except that it's hard to spend so much money. It was very important to me to do a natural cycle. I would not have felt right doing the Clomid the first time with my history, although after my experience I would recommend Clomid to anyone who really wants this to work!

Huge congrats on your baby girl - I'm so pleased that this worked for you.

Your story really rings a bell with me - I too got pregnant on the first month of trying with both my boys (my hubby likes to think he has commandos!) and was was leaning towards a more natural IUI because of this but now I'm thinking otherwise. I hope you don't mind me asking but if you could do your first attempt again, would you do clomid and the ovidrel shot?  Am I right in thinking that clomid helps mature the follicles and the ovidrel shot releases them? I assume that this increases the risk of multiples - was that your concern?

I seem to go from IUI to IVF to IUI and back again but I think due to the cost and the the question about left over embryos which we both have issues with we will probably do IUI. Did you ever consider a sway attempt too? My 2nd DS was a failed sway and although I love him dearly, I don't really want to risk it again as this will probably be my last baby.

Thank you for the congratulations. I still find it really hard to believe she is really here!

Flapper:

I hope you don't mind me asking but if you could do your first attempt again, would you do clomid and the ovidrel shot?

That's hard to answer. I honestly have no regrets and I wouldn't change a thing because then I wouldn't have THIS baby. But for anyone trying MS/IUI I would recommend the clomid and ovidrel. Although it was really important to me to try it naturally. If I had used the drugs the first time and failed, I would have regretted not trying naturally. You really just have to decide what works for you and go for it and then don't look back.

Flapper:

Am I right in thinking that clomid helps mature the follicles and the ovidrel shot releases them? I assume that this increases the risk of multiples - was that your concern?

Clomid helps mature the follicles and increases the chances of multiple mature follicles (I had three). It does increase the chance of multiples, which was part of my concern. But by my second cycle I thought twin girls would be a lot better than no girl. I was actually a bit disappointed to find out I only had one. But now that she is here I am relieved--I can't imagine coping with two newborns right now! Ovidrel helps control the timing of ovulation so you can plan the IUI for the right time.

I had all the same concerns about IVF and we never really considered that. I also wasn't comfortable with swaying as I knew it would be my last baby. I considered it for a while, but then a couple of high profile IG members had perfect girl sways and still had boys, and that helped lead me to MS/IUI. I had planned to sway for my second child, but he snuck up on us a month before we planned to start. Best surprise ever, and I'm so glad it all turned out the way it did. I wouldn't trade him for the world. But with two boys already and knowing this one would be my last baby, I didn't think swaying was enough. However, if my second MS/IUI attempt had failed, we would have either had to sway or give up on having a third child.

Good luck with your decisions, and I hope you find your way to your daughter soon!