Let the Human-Pincushion-Experiment begin!

It's finally here. It seems like forever since I found out that our first IUI procedure didn't work, but now we're onto Round #2!

Tomorrow I will begin taking Clomid again, then will alternate every other day with Gonal-F, an injectable (and stronger) hormone in hopes that I will produce several follicles this time around. With any given IUI attempt, there is around a 15-20% success rate, IF you produce more than one follicle. Since I only produced one lonely little gal last time, my RE decided to go ahead and step up the hormones in hopes of 'waking up' at least 4-6 follicles for this round.

That being said, has anyone seen the new show "Quints By Surprise" on TLC?? Me either, but I heard this couple had quints - not by doing IVF, but by doing IUI!. Of course with this type of intervention, there's always a chance of multiples, and with IUI the doctor can't control how many of your eggs get fertilized. Yikes. However, the chance of twins is fairly low so I'm gonna go ahead and commit to NEVER watching that show and freaking myself out.

Anyway, back to business. The shots. More follicles = more eggs which only increases the chances of pregnancy. The chance of success of an IUI w/injectables is around 30%. Obviously not near as high as the IVF success rate, but I'll take it for now.

I'd kinda had my mind made up to go ahead and jump right into in-vitro this month but there was a hiccup with that plan. The center at Presby Plano that would do the egg retrieval part of the procedure is closed for a week during October. Since everything is timed so precisely, my nurse of course didn't want to run the risk of me going through all of the medication, then having it go to waste if it I happened to need the procedure done that week. Maybe that "hiccup" is a good thing - I keep telling myself that maybe God is meaning for this round to work so I won't have to go through IVF. I mean...does the phrase "egg retrieval" sound fun? Yeah, it doesn't to me either.

So around Halloween we should know the results of this next one. It sounds so far away, but I've quickly discovered that all of this fertility stuff is a "hurry up and wait" game. If it doesn't take then we'll definitely move to IVF and hopefully by Christmas we will have some good news!