My IVF turned into IUI/Insemination

New Journey

The day has finally arrived. We are now on our first IVF journey after 3 failures with IUI/Insemination back in 2016. 

A quick introduction to our infertility journey. 

Back in 2015 we were diagnosed with an Unexplained Infertility. We were first recommended to give IUI /  Insemination a try. So we did. 3 times!
(you can read  here for my IUI / Insemination journey )
That bring us to our IVF journey.
2 months after our last failed iui attempt, we went back to the clinic for our IVF consultation( December,2016). We gone through all the necessary information's and check-ups before we signed our paper. Our doctor concluded that i will take a short protocol.

What is short protocol?

It is a protocol where the patients will start to stimulation injection at (commonly) day 2 of the cycle and the duration for this protocol is around 4 weeks.

It is not very common a woman to be prescribed into a short protocol. It is commonly given to a woman with low egg reserve and is poor respond to long protocol ( if she have previously started with long protocol).

I was prescribed with hormones cocktails. Gonal-f, Orgalutran, Ovitrelle and Lutinus. My journey began on day 2 of my cycle. 162 iu of gonal-f taken every night at 8pm for 4 days. Day 5 i went for my 1st ultrasound to check on my egg follicles progression. After 4 days of gonal-f cocktails, i ended having 1 egg measured 13mm and the rest ( about 4 of them) around 5mm.
The flash back from previous IUI came back. But, i keep telling myself it will be fine. It should be fine after extra dose of hormones for few more extra days.

After looking at my follicles progression, my doctor prescribed me with 400iu gonal-f pen. That night onwards i will increase the dose to 200iu.

For 3 consecutive nights, 200iu Gonal-F + 0,25 mg Orgalutran shots (at this point, i have blue needle marks everywhere on my belly) i went back for my second ultrasound. I had my hope high and 30 minutes later it fall hard.

On the ultrasound screen, i saw no big changes from the 1st ultrasound. Then i knew something is not right. I saw my doctor's face. She tried to cover it but it still showed a slight disappointment. I asked her directly if there is something wrong. She reply calmly," we take a good look first, so you dress back up. Then we talk".
After she took a good look at both of my ovaries, i went back to the dressing room to get dress. I sat calmly yet very nervous.
She said, my progressions does not look good for IVF. She can't increase the dosage again because of the current size 2 of my eggs.
I saw it in her face that it is hard for her to say "you have to cancel your IVF due to..." I nearly cried. I knew she saw it too. I hold it.
She also mentioned, it seems like i am almost out of eggs. My ovaries seems having problem to produce more eggs even after taking higher dose of hormones (both during IUI and IVF).
I was very disappointed. Not because of my doctor. But at my progression.
Since my 1st IVF attempt is now cancelled, she suggested me to carry on with IUI. Since i have 2 good looking eggs and hopefully 1 of them will result in pregnancy. I agreed to it and IUI is now scheduled for Wednesday. I will take my last shots of Gonal-f & Orgalutran tonight. Tomorrow, i will take my Ovitrell shot.
Before we end our appointment, she gave me last advised. If this IUI did not success, i should give IVF a second chance. But instead of a short protocol, i will take a long protocol with higher dose.

So i agreed. But, i will need to take a break before i start again. It will not a long pause, as she advised. So, we both came to a conclusion that i will start my next IVF (hopefully i don't have to) with my June cycle.

This is the story of how my 1st IVF is cancelled and turned into another round of IUI.
*Orgalutran- it hurts! I don't like it. But i did it.