Here we go again…

We’ve done very well. We took a step off the fertility train in June after a failed IVF attempt, to lose 1-1.5 stone and then return for more. I have now in fact lost 2st, and John’s lost just over 2st too. And all this simply by removing carbs from our diet.

So this week we had an appointment with our consultant. After our last chat, I’d expected us to begin another round of IVF, with slightly different drugs. He was confident we’d get another round in before Christmas. However, he threw us a curve ball…

Controversially, on his advice, we’ve decided to go for one more shot at the Clomid – the pill I was taking to make Toby. He’d previously said he thought IVF would be best, but now seemed to think that it was worth one more shot with the clomid, given my weight loss and the fact that it worked before.

Some things are different this time round compared to when I conceived Toby – I haven’t had the ovarian diathermy this time and we don’t know how much that contributed to the clomid working last time…But if it does work we’d save ourselves a lot of emotional turmoil and money. So we’re going straight in at the highest dose, no faffing around with lower doses, and if I don’t get a period by 35 days then we’ll move straight to IVF.

It becomes more complicated if I do get a period before 35 days. If I do, then we try again with the clomid for another cycle, this time testing progesterone levels (the old blood test again!) 7 days before my period is due. If this shows ovulation then I’m not sure how many cycles he’ll let us do before switching to IVF. My guess is not many, as we’ve already been on clomid for quite a while now, on and off, and it’s related to increased risk of ovarian cancer.

So throughout all this we have to have sex (ewww) and see what happens. Of course, we could be having sex “in vain”, but we won’t know until the end of the cycle if the drugs have worked or not.

I have mixed feelings about this approach. The not knowing and the waiting are the worst part of using clomid. But then if we can avoid the emotional and monetary costs of IVF, that’d be great…

It also has implications on timescale – if we exhaust the clomid option to its fullest and it still doesn’t work, we’re potentially pushing back beginning IVF by 4-5months. But then it could work first time. Either way, whatever we chose is a gamble. IVF is not guaranteed to work straight away either.

Umph. Here we go again.