Today we skipped off to the RE to have our third IUI done. It was supposed to be our egg retrieval but that was canceled because my ovaries didn't develop enough eggs to warrant going in and getting them. There were only two mature follicles willing to give it up. My dreams of having enough to retrieve, fertilize, transfer, and have some to put in the freezer were abruptly halted.
I'm a poor responder. Huh? You mean two months of sticking needles in my stomach and the highest dosage of stimulants didn't do the trick?
Needless to say, I wasn't exactly pleased. When I went in to have my last scan done I knew there was a problem when I saw those two lonely little circles on the monitor. When the RE says they want to talk to you that is a bad sign.
I was given the options: go ahead with the IVF with the knowledge that I only had two eggs and it was entirely possible that they could not fertilize, not be mature, not survive, or not even implant and we had no backups OR we could convert this cycle over to an IUI. I saw the logic. I even saw the financial reasons to convert the cycle. If the IUI failed, we were out a whole lot less money than if the IVF failed. Hell, we'd even have a credit with the clinic.
It just sucked. I was so ready to pull out the big guns and I was so sure that this would be IT. This was going to do the trick and we would be done and wouldn't have to do this anymore.
Either way, it made sense so we converted. I took my trigger shot like a good little girl and tried to figure out why I didn't grow any eggs. How was it possible when I popped three follicles on just 50mg of Clomid a few months ago? It didn't make sense.
I started researching different IVF protocols. The most common, Lupron down-regulation, is what I was on. Some research shows this can cause over-supression of the ovaries. Hmmm...you mean like 8 weeks of Lupron shots in addition to birth control pills? Naaahhhh....
Another protocol, Flare or Micro-dose Lupron, uses "antagonists" to stim faster and uses less supression. Everything I've been reading and a great many number of women I've happened upon who have switched from down-regulation to flare or even estrogen primed antagonist protocols have had much better success.
The point here is that while I'm still hopeful this IUI will be successful my nurse and I conspired together to have my RE do my procedure today. My husband and I cornered him in the room (with my paper sheet still draped around my hips no less) and we talked about agonist vs. antagonist protocols. While he feels I could respond completely different and have better results than last time using the same protocol again, he's willing to try something different. What a nice man.
I owe my nurse big time.
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