Nothing Wrong With Us - But Need FT

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   We are not sure what to do, where to go next. Here's our story...

Hubby and I have both been tested untl the cows come home, and there is NO REASON why we can't conceive naturally.

We had one successful natural conception after 9 months of trying, but that ended in mc at 6 weeks. Truth of the matter was that I didn't understand anything about ovulation etc, so when I discovered those ovulation kits we actually conceived within 5 months of that.

A year later, we had had no further luck despite using ovulation kits. So we went to a gyno who prescribed me Clomid at double dose. Every 3 months I went back to him and his words were 'here's another 3 months worth of prescription, if not pg after that come back, oh and that's $80, cheers'.

Highly frustrated, we took advice from some friends who were visiting Repromed, and became the patients of their best fertility specialist, Dr Greg Philipson from January 2009. They were horrified that I had never been scanned while on the Clomid with the other doctor (scan? what's that for???) - so  from then on we were on single dose, and scanned ready for IUI (assisted insemination).

Aside from all the other testing of the tubes, genetics, and all the other stuff I have lost count on, hubby's sperm came back as totally normal, good motility. So we were good to go - but it just wasn't happening for us.

Our first IUI resulted in a positive pg, but that ended at 6 weeks in mc - again. It was a 'chemical pregnancy'. I was ill up to a week after the mc with ms, very strange, and very horrible.  There were fears of an ectopic, but thankfully it was not the case.

Then our 3rd IUI resulted in another positive pg! But once again, at 13 weeks, we discovered our baby girl (we knew the sex from foetal testing) had died at 10 weeks. NO warning whatsoever - my scan was at 13 weeks, and I had no idea there was a problem until we saw the foetus which was too small for 13 weeks, with no heartbeat. We had had a healthy heartbeat of 120 bpm at 6 weeks via an internal scan at Repromed and were assured that we had just a good a chance as anyone of carrying to term. Even the gyno was upset when we met with him later that fateful day as he said it was just horrid bad luck that he couldn't foresee.

We had our 5th IUI on our wedding anniversary on the 4th November, and if you have kept up with me in the 2WW thread you will see that I am still feeling very pg, yet bloods y'day at 13 dpo revealed no pg. I am still not convinced as AF is not here, no signs of her arriving, and I am nauseous as heck when travelling, besides many other symptoms like sore breasts etc. But I digress.

IF we are not pregnant, what the heck do we do, where do we go next. We are not advised to do IVF because I DO get pg, and each IUI costs us $1040, whereas IVF will be $10k (I don't qualify for GF cause I am over the recommended BMI, despite being fit and healthy). The specialists say that I have just as much chance of mc with natural conception, assisted insemination, or IVF.

They have told us that because I DO get pg, IUI is our best chance. We feel that hubby's sperm just doesn't get 'right up there', despite good motility tests. After intercourse, when jumping in the shower for a good clean-up (sorry if TMI), there is often a lot of semen left just inside my vagina. It's like it just pools up 'in there' and doesn't swim up. Hence the reason we feel we are not getting pg naturally. But we have certainly proven we are fertile - with 5 IUI's we have had 2 successful pg tests, despite the end result of mc.

I am 37, turning 38 in February.  After 3 mc's, I am kinda getting a bit concerned. I KNOW that I will eventually fall pg again, but how many more IUI's do I have to do before they say NO MORE. They say that they don't want us to get into double figures... I would like to insist on IVF just so they can get my eggs out, if anything, then they will remain 38 years old (as at the time I will be 38).

Does anyone have any other suggestions? It's very tempting to do the old turkey baster trick! Upon discussion tonight with hubby, we really feel that it's just the 'getting the sperm into the uterus' that is our problem - but how can we improve that?

Sorry for the big long post, and thank you for reading and for any advice/suggestions that you can offer. We are just sooo frustrated, and we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel really (no pun intended).

Edited by MaebeeBaby