IUI with 5 good follicles... chance of twins?

[Anonymous]

I just found out today that I have 4 follicles that are mature with a few more small ones. My Dr. cancelled my cycle and told me to abstain.

So sad right now.

[Anonymous]

That happened to me (I had six that were pretty big) and it is the worst feeling. I hope that things work out better for you next time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just found out today that I have 4 follicles that are mature with a few more small ones. My Dr. cancelled my cycle and told me to abstain.

So sad right now.

Can I ask, what were the sizes? Just curious...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just found out today that I have 4 follicles that are mature with a few more small ones. My Dr. cancelled my cycle and told me to abstain.

So sad right now.

How long have you been trying for? How old are you? I would probably still take my chances and have sex tonight or tomorrow if I have been trying for awhile and am a little older.

[Anonymous]

I don't remember the exact sizes, but they were all big enough to be considered "mature" (so over about 14 mm each, I think, though some were even bigger) and my estrogen levels indicated that they were all mature or very close (I THINK its about 200 per mature egg/follicle). I am in my early 30s and our only known issue is male factor. I didn't want to risk multiples so we did abstain. I have heard of people who had sex anyway in a situation like this and did not get pregnant, but I have also heard that almost all of the people with very high order multiples were the result of IUIs, not IVF, so I took the doctor's instructions to heart and was really careful. As my doctor said, you don't want to throw yourself out of a fire and into a frying pan. I decided to move to IVF after my cancelled cycle and got pregnant on the second try.

[Anonymous]

I am Anon 16:20. I have been trying for 15 months. I am 30. My doctor started me on a shot to stop ovulation and am told to not have sex at all for a week. I run the risk of triplets or quads and my estrogen was dangerously high so pregnancy would be dangerous.

My sizes were 21, 19, 18, 16 and 6 more at 10 or less...and that was just the right ovary. The left had even more.

[Anonymous]

I find it surprising too. Don't all RE's check follicles first and then determine whether to proceed? Otherwise what is the point of monitoring? (I know it's to time the trigger & IUI, but it's also to make sure it's ok to go ahead with an IUI.)

However, to counter the PP w/ 2 follicles and twins, it's entirely possible to have 5 big follicles and not get pregnant at all. I also respond really well to the drugs and had my first cycle cancelled for overstimulation (too many follicles). The 2nd cycle I had 4 follicles and they let me go ahead, after giving me the selective reduction talk, and I ended up with a BFN. This cycle I had 5 and they let me go ahead. I'm only a few days past the IUI but I have a feeling this one didn't work either. BUT, I believe going ahead with 5 this time made sense for me in light of my history: I have gotten pregnant really quickly/easily in the past (3 times, & never had to TTC longer than 2 cycles), we've currently been trying for one year with no success, my IUI with 4 follicles was a BFN, and I'm 39, so I probably do not have nearly as many good quality eggs as I had 5 years ago - if I did, I almost certainly would have gotten pregnant by now. The RE didn't feel the risk of multiples was that high for me with 5 follicles this time given all of that - there's really no chance that all 5 of them have good eggs. We will be lucky if even one was good, and of course one good egg + IUI doesn't guarantee a pregnancy.

So maybe there's something else in your history that led your doctor not to be concerned with checking your follicle count before proceeding with IUI?

That's my post. As I said, we did go ahead with 5 follies this time. I had my beta yesterday, and while it was positive, it was only 20 so this is another chemical pregnancy (my second in 6 months). Again, for me this is age-related, so I think going ahead with more follicles if you are younger carries a much higher risk. Initially, I thought I would never consider going ahead with more than 3, but now I would certainly go ahead with 5 again since I know I will have to get very lucky to get even one good egg.

[Anonymous]

To the PP, sorry to hear about the chemical pregnancy. What a disappointment.

I'm actually the OP, and I was surprised to see this thread start up again. If you recall my original post, I had 5 good follies and was nervous about moving forward with the IUI (I'm 36, BTW). I ended up going ahead with it and got pregnant with a singleton.

But as an update, it turns out that I miscarried at 9 weeks (sac only measured 6 weeks). So I'm horribly disappointed but will try again. I guess, besides just wanting to circle back, I thought I'd chime in that after all that concern about multiples... the outcome was a singleton that wasn't viable.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm 10:51. I'm so sorry to hear about your miscarriage.

I wish all of this weren't so hard. I hope you are able to try again soon.

[Anonymous]

10:51, yes it is hard, isn't it! Best of luck to you as well.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry to everyone for their miscarriages. Jeeze, this board isn't having much luck right now.

[Anonymous]

Hi all. I have never posted on any board before so please forgive me if I don't know all the proper lingo, lol! I just found it interesting all the canceled cycles. It makes me want to call my RE for further explanation. I guess it really does not matter now. My iui was Feb the 11th with 5 mature follicles. I am 34, this is my 2nd iui, post wash count was 7million (not sure on morphology or motility), gonalF injections. The wait is killing me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all. I have never posted on any board before so please forgive me if I don't know all the proper lingo, lol! I just found it interesting all the canceled cycles. It makes me want to call my RE for further explanation. I guess it really does not matter now. My iui was Feb the 11th with 5 mature follicles. I am 34, this is my 2nd iui, post wash count was 7million (not sure on morphology or motility), gonalF injections. The wait is killing me.

Hi 12:41. Best of luck to you. I am 35 and just had my first IUI on February 9th. I hope you get your BFP. The wait it definitely killing me too. Do you mind me asking where you had your IUI?

[Anonymous]

Don't mind at all, Houston Fertility Institute. I am still confused on the amount of mature follies because the nurse said I need to go by the u.s. which showed 5 over 15 but the b.w. did not indicate the same.

[Anonymous]

Don't mind at all, Houston Fertility Institute. I am still confused on the amount of mature follies because the nurse said I need to go by the u.s. which showed 5 over 15 but the b.w. did not indicate the same.

I think size is one indicator of maturity; the mature ones also put out estrogen so that is what they're looking at with the b/w (as well as checking LH to make sure you are not surging on your own).

I've posted on here a few times about my IUIs - first was cancelled b/c of too many follicles & my estrogen that cycle was through the roof. We abstained. Second time, I had 4 mature follicles but my estrogen was only 420 so they let me go ahead with the IUI (but it was a BFN). Third time I had 3 or 4 mature follicles (a 20mm and three 19mm-17mm ones) and my estrogen was also good (didn't get the number) so we went ahead and I did get a BFP but it was a chemical pregnancy. The fourth time (right now) I had a 19mm, 15mm, and 14mm at monitoring yesterday, so they had me do one injection of FSH last night, give them today to grow a bit more, and I will trigger tonight. Estrogen was only 345 yesterday.

So yes, they do have to look at your estrogen in tandem with the follicle measurements to get a sense of how many are really mature. And (I think) not every follicle contains an egg, so that's also why the estrogen level is relevant. Maybe someone who knows more can explain more clearly than I am doing???