IUI or IVF the debate

Dr. Maud called us to talk about our options after our second negative following our second IUI.  We had some choices to make and some new procedures to learn about.  At this point we could either continue down the road of injections with IUI's like we had done the previous two months.  Hoping that it was a matter of time before we would be successful, however we also knew that with PCOS we ran the risk of having multiple mature follicles each cycle which could put us into a tough spot.

Our other option was to look into IVF (Invitro Fertilization). Finally the thing that I had thought was so scary, so unnecessary for us, something that we would never have to do.  We sat down to learn about the procedure and made our list of pros/cons for why this might work for our family.

IVF procedure is more involved, more detailed than the IUI.  IVF starts similar to IUI, in that injections are used to grow multiple mature follicles, with frequent ultrasounds for monitoring.  Once these follicles are of mature size with plentiful amounts we would do a trigger shot and then come in for our retrieval day. Retrieval day consists of surgery for me, I would come into the office, they would take me back to the surgery patient rooms where I would get an IV, Anesthesiologist would come to visit me and prepare me for the procedure.  After waiting they take me back alone into surgery where I am put under by general anesthesia and then Dr. Maud goes through vaginally with a needle to aspirate and collect all of my mature follicles.  The mature follicles are then looked at and inseminated with ICSI which is a insemination assistance where they inject a single sperm into the egg if needed, if the sperm quality is good enough they will allow the sperm to inseminate on their own.  After this process they watch the fertilized eggs continue to grow they watch to see if cells divide, if they grow and mature.  There can be 3 or 5 day embryos at which point they can transfer 1-2 embryos to the mother (Fresh transfer) or they can be frozen for a FET (Frozen Embryo Transfer) to be used at a later date.

If a fresh transfer will be used the woman comes back in on day 5 and goes back in to the OR (thankfully the daddy can be present during this time since there is no anesthesia). The mother lays on the OR table and they prepare the embryo and insert it via a catheter past the cervix into the uterus, and allow it to implant by itself.

http://americanpregnancy.org/infertility/in-vitro-fertilization/

More information on IVF here : American Pregnancy Association- IVF

After learning about the IVF procedure it seemed a little less scary.  It seemed like we would have more control.  We decided the pro's for doing the IVF for our family included:

• Greater control over quantity of eggs that were inseminated to be back in
• We would be able to have hopefully extra embryos that could be frozen and used for future children
• Higher success rate

Although we knew that IVF was considerably more costly ($9,025 for the actual procedure, not including ultrasounds, labs, medications).  In the long run it would be a good investment. So we pulled the trigger and decided to jump into IVF.