[Clementine17]

Hello all,
My DW and I have been TTC since November 2016. We did 3 rounds of ICI with frozen donor sperm and four IUIs with Clomid and Ovidrel.

I was diagnosed awhile back with PCOS but I ovulate on my own; we mainly did Clomid to better time the IUI cycles as my clinic was not open on weekends. I'm frustrated by the Clomid use, as I was just diagnosed with Stage IV endometriosis a month ago via laparoscopy and had it excised.

During my lap they also did a hysteroscopy and I have a very small uterine septum. Due to its small size my surgeon does not advise removing it.

We're going to try another ICI as my doctor moved out of state and I haven't found another to perform more IUI yet. We may actually try a home IUI but ICI seems easier at this point.

My big question is regarding timing. Even on my non medicated cycles previously I ovulated pretty clearly via OPKs and BBT. Since our last IUI in June my cycles have been really funky. They've gone from 27-29 days to 35-38 days. The BBT patterns have become less clear, too.

Anyone else have issues with this? I may cross post in an infertility forum but I'm finding it helpful to hear advice from others using frozen donor sperm.

Clementine

 

[pokeyac]

Hello! I don't have personal experience with PCOS but my cycles did seem to change a bit when I was TTC. Have you considered IVF? It's expensive but buying sperm for multiple IUI's really adds up quickly and if you want to have more than 1 child it would be nice to have some extra embryos saved. I spent a lot of money on 9 IUI cycles with sperm and ultrasounds and drugs and paying for the IUI itself. I don't know where you live but I am in California and midwives can do IUI's at home. I would suggest checking out the Maya Midwifery website. They literally wrote the book on lesbian conception. They offer classes on timing and also personal consultations. She will look at your charts and make recommendations. Good luck!

 

[Clementine17]

Thank you! That's great info - I'll definitely check out their website. We are on the East Coast but maybe they can do online or phone consults.

It's beginning to look like IVF might be our best bet, but I'm really stubborn about not wanting to be on the drugs (Clomid made me feel horrific; I can't imagine being on injectables, but I will if I have to). Our insurance also doesn't cover anything related to infertility (not even consults or diagnostic testing). We also live in a pretty rural area and the nearest RE is an hour away (the nearest RE we'd prefer to see is two hours away), making appointments and monitoring difficult.

We got around that a little bit with a doctor (he was a GYN, not an RE, but he still did IUI in his office) who was willing to code diagnostic procedures as PCOS related as opposed to for infertility. The IUIs themselves were pretty cheap (in the grand scheme of infertility) but you're right, the sperm and the drugs (not Clomid, but Ovidrel) are expensive. It adds up over time. Before my doctor moved he actually taught my wife how to perform an IUI so technically we could do them at home if we wanted to. We've had an issue finding somewhere to buy IUI catheters where they wouldn't be sold in bulk, though.

I hadn't thought about having multiple embryos saved for future siblings, but that's a good point. We've thought about trying to have my wife be an egg "donor" so that IVF wasn't so hard on my body, but we haven't thought it all the way through yet.