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@LindsayInNY: RE appts can be super confusing! but sounds like they have a good plan in place.

the clomid will help in follicle development and they'll do the second ultrasound to see how the follicles are progressing and also to see if you will ovulate or if they should administer the ovidrel shot to make you ovulate. with both our iuis I had the ovidrel shot the day of the first iui (both times we did 2 iuis back to back days) and you'll ovulate within 24 hours of the shot.

the iui itself is super quick, takes about 2 minutes and then you lay there for about 20 or so. i did find that I needed to take off work due to collecting dh sample. going to the lab, waiting for them to spin the sample and then going to the RE took the longest.

hope this helps best of luck to you!!

Clomid will probably make you O sooner. The ultrasound(s) for CD10-12 is to monitor your follicle growth. When they are matured, you'll be instructed to do the Ovidrel which triggers Ovulation.

@LindsayInNY: depending on how your RE does things, and how flexible your work is, you can sneak this by them without telling. At my clinic, they need your partner's sample an hour before your appointment, so DH would drop it off on the way to work and then I would come in an hour later. I didn't mind DH not being there for it, so this routine worked out for both of us so we didn't have to tell our works about it. I always tried to get the first IUI appointment of the day (9:20) and I'd be at work (15 minute drive from the clinic) by 10:00 at the latest. I just made some excuse about why I was a little late, and my work is flexible enough that no one cared.

@LindsayInNY: clomid and femara/Letrozole stimulates the growth of the follicles, the trigger shot is to cause your follicles to release any of the mature eggs. I think the early ultrasound is to make sure that your body did/is responding to the meds & to check on the size of the follicles. At that u/s your RE will probably tell you when you should give yourself the shot. You probably can get away with taking a half day off work for the ultrasound but might take the whole day off for the IUI. I took the whole day off for the u/s because the trigger shot made me so tired the rest of the day. FX that this plan works on the first try!

@LindsayInNY: injectibles means FSH medicines, which would be the next step if clomid/femara doesn't work. they stimulate more so you have to worry more about too many follicles.

I've had 3 IUIs now (did some TI with clomid too) and I usually had ultrasounds CD3, then CD11, and once CD13 too (the others times they could make the call on trigger based on CD11 alone). I had my actual IUIs CD14 or 15, but on my own I would ovulate CD16-18. they can see when your follicles are mature enough to go for it and then the trigger gives you basically perfect timing for the IUI.

also I only had to take time off for the day of the IUI, just a couple hours- DH might bring in his sample at 8:00 and then it would be ready for IUI by 9:30 - quick procedure, you'd be out before 10 easily. all the monitoring was at 7am so no problem.

also on the sex question - they would tell us to have sex the night of the trigger, then abstain the 36 hours until IUI (they did single IUIs, some places to back-to-back), then have sex that evening. you abstain to make sure you have a decent count for the IUI. and of course you can BD before and after those times too if you want, but it's kind of nice to know within a 6 hour window when you will ovulate.

I also O'd on my own, but still had to do a trigger shot. The reason for this was so that my doctor could control the timing of everything and make sure to do the IUI at the optimal time.

I am also a lawyer (but am transactional) and I didn't tell work about this. I was able to do the monitoring appointments either first thing in the morning or last appointment in the afternoon. For the IUI itself, my DH would go do his thing in the morning and then I would go in for the IUI around noon. I would then work from home for the afternoon. I got lucky and 2 of my IUIs were on the weekend.

@LindsayInNY: my clinic had monitoring hours between 7 - 9 am and any procedures (IUI , HSG, IVF things) later in the day. My advice is to get there as soon as the clinic opens - as long as I did that, I was never late for work and had enough time to get to court (assuming court was in Manhattan, which is where my doctor was). Lots of people show up for monitoring right before 9 am, so it took a lot longer if I got there later. For all other appointments, I just stepped out and came back to the office afterwards. The IUI itself only takes a few mins - if your office is close to the clinic, there's really no need to take a whole or half day off.

I think all the pps answered your other questions, but the trigger shot just allows the doctor to time the IUI perfectly - they know the shot will make you O within X hours of taking it, so they schedule the IUI around that time. My nurse told me to have sex as often as I wanted after the IUI, but to abstain for 24 hrs beforehand so DH could give them the strongest sample.

@KT326: Did you get pregnant on an injectable IUI cycle?

@CatchAFallingStar: yes, on our second one.

@LindsayInNY: It sounds like you got lots of good advice already, but I just wanted to chime in and wish you lots of good luck! My RE was also of the opinion that if you're doing meds, you might as well go for the IUI to up your chances. Especially with undiagnosed IF, it can't hurt to bypass the cervix. Worked for us anyway (although I still think it was mostly the right meds that did it). And we were always done with appointments by 9:30am, and could have been earlier if I wanted, so easy to plan around work schedules.

@LindsayInNY: no advice to add, but I wanted to say good luck! I'm glad that you've got a plan moving forward

@ShayNanigans: We're unexplained too, but *something* has to be wrong! What other testing or info did you get that lead to an answer to what was going on? What issues surfaced?

@FaithFertility: I don't know what RPL is... so I'm going to go with no on that one haha. What is that? I have not done any genetic testing. I think based on family history or just about everyone in my grandmother and ups generation being like 9+ kids, and my own immediate family with no reproductive issues it may not have been suggested?

This was a lot of great info! We are doing our first IUI this cycle (whenever it finally gets started) with the same protocol as you, and we're unexplained too. I agree it was totally confusing and overwhelmingly when our RE went over it too.

My biggest question is how many cycles of IUI are really worth it since it only increases chances by such a small percentage. Hopefully, the first will be lucky for the both of us!

@PurplePumps: we did a few small tests at RE thyroid and stuff but so our insurance would cover it we did the bulk at a local Diagnostic center.......14 viels later passed out. ...lol but hey it was only $40 and we got some answers!!!!

Seconding what @ShootingStar: said. My RE is adamant that unless there are issues with the SA or a postcoital test shows that sperm is not able to get through your cervix (which is doubtful since you've been pregnant, despite the chemical), IUI is unlikely to do anything TI + monitoring + meds can't do. It's the meds that are doing the work!

@LindsayInNY: I didn't read everything but I always o'd on my own and with Clomid it was on day 14 exactly (instead of 18-20). So the timing sounds perfect.

@MeginAnCo: I'm no doctor but I feel likw one...lol but I can twll you my history:
First IUI we got 2 follicles, linning was good, I was on progrstrone roo and we did get PG, but ended in a c/p

IUI #2 we did same thing had 1 follicle, good lining and again progestrone we got PG again, but again had another c/p

IUI#3 we tried again same routine but that was unsuccessful

Then, we decided to look into reasosns why we had 2 c/p

The test showed a few things that could most likely havw caused them, after getting that under control we will be doing IUI again since that did get me pregnany twice, and hoping we found out how to keep it :))