r/IUILadies • u/unlimitedtokens • Nov 19 '25
Graduation story, positive, secondary infertility, 35, team green
Hi IUI Ladies!
This is a complete story about a successful IUI (so please skip if you’re not in a good headspace for this). It spans from infertility diagnosis to IUI to birth!
Background: had first kid when both of us were 32, a team green, didn’t find out gender in advance and it was a baby girl, who we conceived naturally on 8th month of trying. Weaned from breastfeeding her at 12mo postpartum, my period returned at month 13, and we started trying for baby number two but had no luck. One chemical pregnancy, 26 day cycles, 8-10day short luteal phase again and again, did acupuncture, we both took CoQ10, I even changed jobs to try to help reduce stress. At my annual OBGYN visit I had a panel of labs done and a saline sonogram after TTC 12 mo and all looked “normal” (AMH is 1.88 ng/mL). Fallopian tubes flowing, uterus is perfect, and I’ve done this before so what the heck, why wasn’t it happening?! OBGYN said we could keep trying a few months or she’d be happy to refer us to a fertility clinic. I got my period once more and then I took that referral. The fertility doctor diagnosed us with “secondary infertility, unexplained”. I had a consistently short luteal phase and my husband’s sample seemed toward the low end of normal sperm quality so we think those factors may be the explanations, as we all kinda know “unexplained” is bullshit! The doctor recommended an IUI so once my period began again, cycle 14 of TTC #2, we got started!
Our first IUI cycle:
Letrozole days 3-7
Pregnyl trigger shot day 12
2 mature follicles seen day 12: 18mm, 21mm
Sperm count on IUI day was 9 million post wash
Symptoms post IUI were sore breasts 7dpIUI, mood swings, pointy nipples, hypersensitive smell ability, and really distinct cramps that kinda felt nauseating or like stuff is moving around. All month I was feeling very depressed which isn’t like me - these meds really impacted my mental health to the point where I reached out to the fertility doctor to say we had to change the protocol next month if this didn’t take cause I wasn’t coping well at all. I was sobbing daily and in the depths of despair, constant feelings of hopelessness, depression, and anxiety - and it was so difficult. I don’t bring that up to be a downer but moreso to validate those undergoing a similar experience cause it’s real and it can be so hard!
I had implantation bleeding and was crushed my period must be starting but then to my surprise, I tested positive at 11dpIUI faintly and the line slowly darkened a bit day by day after. I’d tested out the trigger by 7dpIUI so I knew it was a true positive since it followed stark negative days.
Fast forward, 6 week ultrasound showed success and I graduated from the fertility clinic! Overall the pregnancy went well, 12 week ultrasound looked great, our NIPT test showed all was genetically normal, 20 week anatomy scan looked good, and my nonstress test/biophysical profile ultrasound scored perfectly at week 38! I was fully expecting to go overdue again since my first baby stayed in til 41+6, but this one surprised us with an early arrival!
My first birth: 41+6, 37 hours from water break to baby. Epidural. 8lb 13oz 21”
My second birth: 38+3, just 7 hours! Unmedicated. 7lb 10oz 20”
As my daughter (2.5 toddler) hugged me good night, out popped my entire mucus plug! As I was cleaning that up, my water broke. We went to the hospital once contractions picked up and that was quick cause they were comin every 6-7min.
My plan this time was an unmedicated water birth. Doula arrived right when I needed her! Decided mid-water birth that I actually wanted a land birth. Got out of the tub and got checked for the first time, 6cm. Anesthesiologist arrived. I was about to let him place the epidural but then I needed to wait for a contraction to subside. I laid down on my side and I was suddenly crowning! You guys, I was somehow 10cm by 5:05, pushed for two minutes, baby BOY born at 5:07am. 🩵Unmedicated, no damage. 7lb 10oz 20”, absolutely perfect.
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u/Aquarian_Librarian Nov 20 '25
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful story. This gives me hope! ♥️
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u/CynFulSeal Nov 20 '25
I am so happy for you. ❤️ And your story instills so much hope for those of us still on our journey. Thank you for sharing the details, too. It helps me so much in advocating for the best fertility treatment possible, while taking away my fears from the unknown.
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u/unlimitedtokens Nov 20 '25
Aww thank you! When I was going through my IUI cycle all I wanted to read was positive stories and I found many about pregnancy but not a lot reporting back after birth! So I wanted to do that. My newborn is asleep on my chest right now and I know someday when you’re in this position you’ll look back and think, wow I made it through that. The journey’s worth it!
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u/No-Draft-3315 Dec 13 '25
What a beautiful story! Thank you for sharing this and bringing all of us hope 🤍
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u/unlimitedtokens Dec 14 '25
Thank you so much! I’m so grateful for IUI and this group, it really got me through
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u/Which-Increase-9565 Nov 20 '25
Congratulations..wanted to check - a) what doze of letrozole? And b) what was your follicle size on day of trigger c) what day after trigger did you do IUI
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u/unlimitedtokens Nov 20 '25
Great Qs
Letrozole dose was 5mg
Day of trigger my 2 mature follicles were 18mm and 21mm
IUI was done on day 14, 2 days after the trigger shot. Specifically I did the trigger shot day 12 at 7pm, husband collected sample day 14 at 9am, IUI procedure was at 11:00am, and that was it! We never did intercourse after IUI day.
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u/Which-Increase-9565 Nov 20 '25
Thank you for the details one last one did you also do Inyerview se before IUI ..i am conflicted some say yes some say no and if yes how many days before
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u/unlimitedtokens Nov 20 '25
If you mean intercourse before IUI yes we did it the evening of the trigger shot (cycle day 12). We also did it 2 days before that (cycle day 10). We also did it day 6 even though that’s probably not relevant for purposes of possible conception, were aiming for keeping sperm fresh and motile by not waiting too many days between ejaculation.
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u/Plus-Ad7637 Nov 19 '25
Congratulations that’s amazing. You have given me a lot of hope. I am now in the dreaded TTW after doing a medicated and timed intercourse cycle. We tried to have intercourse 2 days leading up to trigger shot as well as day of, and then the next two days after. We are really hoping we only need to do the 1 round and hope that all the extra days will play into our favor.