IUI or donor eggs?

[Anonymous]

I just turned 44. I had a baby in May 2019 and got pregnant again in September 2019 but miscarried. Both times, we got pregnant super quickly. This time, we've been trying 6 months but no luck. We've both had fertility testing done and all of the numbers look good. My RE just thinks it's poor egg quality due to age. She thinks, however, that IUI could possibly be successful since I've been pregnant twice recently.

My husband definitely wants to try IUI. I'm dubious. We never had trouble getting pregnant before, so I don't think IUI will help. I'm thinking of going straight to donor eggs. Mu insurance covers neither procedure.

Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

If she thinks it’s an egg quality issue, what’s her rationale for why an IUI would help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she thinks it’s an egg quality issue, what’s her rationale for why an IUI would help?

She stated that my odds may be better because I was pregnant twice recently. But, yeah, I'm not sure I agree with her.

[Anonymous]

If I were in your shoes, I would go straight to an egg donor. I don’t think you have much time to try IUIs at your age. IUIs are really a young person game. Of course, you could conceive this way, but the numbers percentages are so low for success at 44 I think it’d be a huge waste of time. (Just one data point, but I had fantastic numbers when I was 34 and we did six IUIs with no positives for unexplained infertility, and I was a full decade younger than you are. Went on to IVF. I hated that we wasted so much time trying IUIs). Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Why isn’t IVF on the table?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t IVF on the table?

She basically said it would be a waste of money. The numbers only gave it a 5% success rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t IVF on the table?

She basically said it would be a waste of money. The numbers only gave it a 5% success rate.

So, IUI would be better how?

If you really want to do this, it's donor egg.

[Anonymous]

I agree with others that donor egg would probably be best for you at your age. Fertility can really fall off a cliff all at once when you get into your forties (happened to me between 42 and 43 - I did six IVF cycles and there was a shockingly stark drop-off, not in numbers of eggs but in the normal ones when we tested the embryos). But, you might try some IUIs while you get the donor egg cycle up and running if you can afford it. Doesn't it take some time to find a donor and get everything set up? Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Look into frozen eggs--it's faster since the eggs are already harvested and the pool is national not local.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with others that donor egg would probably be best for you at your age. Fertility can really fall off a cliff all at once when you get into your forties (happened to me between 42 and 43 - I did six IVF cycles and there was a shockingly stark drop-off, not in numbers of eggs but in the normal ones when we tested the embryos). But, you might try some IUIs while you get the donor egg cycle up and running if you can afford it. Doesn't it take some time to find a donor and get everything set up? Good luck!

How long is the donor cycle process? The entire process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with others that donor egg would probably be best for you at your age. Fertility can really fall off a cliff all at once when you get into your forties (happened to me between 42 and 43 - I did six IVF cycles and there was a shockingly stark drop-off, not in numbers of eggs but in the normal ones when we tested the embryos). But, you might try some IUIs while you get the donor egg cycle up and running if you can afford it. Doesn't it take some time to find a donor and get everything set up? Good luck!

How long is the donor cycle process? The entire process.

It took me about 6 months and that was using frosen DE. It will be longer if you want fresh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t IVF on the table?

She basically said it would be a waste of money. The numbers only gave it a 5% success rate.

So, IUI would be better how?

If you really want to do this, it's donor egg.

The idea is that your body naturally selects the best quality eggs to ovulate each month, whereas IVF causes a random selection of eggs to be harvested - not necessarily the best.

But, OP, I agree IVF is a real long shot. DE is what I would do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t IVF on the table?

She basically said it would be a waste of money. The numbers only gave it a 5% success rate.

So, IUI would be better how?

If you really want to do this, it's donor egg.

IUI is alot less expensive. You can do a few cycles while you explore donor egg. It takes some time to get moving with donor egg.

[Anonymous]

We did IUI 4x per doctor recommendation then moved to IVF and then to donor egg.
Successful with donor egg. Wish we had started with it and we could have had more than one child.
We just wasted so much time and money before coming to terms with moving forward with DE.

[Anonymous]

I think IUI is a bit too rough on your cervix. (There are studies about this). DE if you want another baby. But seriously 45 is pretty old to have another baby. BTDT.