Well, I will definitely NOT be pregnant before my 38th birthday. OPK I took about half an hour ago was positive, or will be by the end of the day. That means no IUI this month (though I might ask Dr. G to run a P4 level on Tuesday to check). I'm too stunned to even start registering disappoinment. The only time I've ever surged on cd 8, I've been hopped up on Clomid/Femara. And given that my lining was 12+ yesterday...clearly my body is ready to go. Not only does this rule out an IUI this month, it really fucks up the whole schedule I have going. And unless I do something (put myself on the pill? do the estrace/prometrium combo?) my next IUI would likely fall Thanksgiving weekend.
Do I take this as a sign that I need to give up on my body and run to donor egg? Do I take this as a sign that I need to give up the "natural" approach, because clearly it's not doing a damn bit of good? I'll admit there's a part of me that thinks this would be the perfect time to take estrace and do a femara/follistim combo.
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So as I said yesterday, Dr. Slideshow did not provide me with the sense of clarity I was hoping I'd have. I'll admit that the numbers he gave me for IVF were not pretty (17% live birth rate, though he admitted that's arguably dependent on ovarian reserve which is still in question [he wants to redo AMH level and day 3 labs]). But while he was very professional, he did indicate that he thought Dr. Gorgeous's MDL/Ganirelix protocol is very odd and suggested I do a straight antagonist cycle (no EPP) if I choose to do IVF. He also suggested that the fact that I had an E2 level of 2100+ and had only 2 mature eggs at retrieval indicates a problem with how the eggs were retrieved (though it sounded like his method is the same one that Dr. Gorgeous uses).
Do I want to do IVF? No. But I'm not ready to dive into DE either. If I do decide to do IVF, do I do it with him, for something new? For his lab? For his success rates? I'm honestly not sure.
He also told me that he thought IUIs were a complete waste of time/money, that if it hasn't worked by 12-15 cycles, it won't work (but, I think, even at age 29-30, I needed to do 10 IUIs to conceive LG). And, to be sure, I'd rather spend that $600-700 on something else, or save it, but in the whole scheme of how much this baby project has cost me, really, what's the expense of a few more IUIs? Because, really, that's all I plan to do.
Still don't know what to do folks. As always, observations are welcome!
That is alot to take in. My RE is particularly aggressive so he only does 3 IUIs for women over age 35 then proceed to IVF especially if we are dealing with donor sperm. I would continue doing IUIs but I think it's not as controlled as IVF and the age-factor. I will be doing my IVF #1 next month so I will let you know.
ReplyDeleteClearly this is something doctors feel differently about. Dr. Gorgeous has said that IVF doesn't really give a benefit if egg numbers are low, as mine were... I'm glad I tried it. Just don't know if I want to do it again!
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