This cycle looked quite promising on paper. I had follicles measuring 19 mm, 18 mm and 17 mm, a 9.4 mm trilaminar lining and a post-wash motile count of 18 million. I really thought these were decent numbers, so the negative result caught me off guard. Has anyone else had a similar IUI cycle?
That would’ve caught me off guard too honestly. Those numbers sound like one of those cycles where you quietly start letting yourself believe a bit, so getting a negative after all that feels really unfair. I had moments in my fertility journey where everything looked reassuring on paper and it still didn’t work, which made it even harder to make sense of. Has this happened before for you or was this cycle noticeably stronger than the others?
Mine looked really promising on paper too and I still got a negative. That was honestly the part that messed with my head the most because all the numbers looked good, so I kept wondering what I was missing. It eventually turned out I had Stage 2 silent endometriosis after repeated failed transfers. It definitely taught me that a good looking cycle sadly doesn't always mean it'll work. 🙁
I can completely relate to how disappointing that feels. If I'd had follicles measuring 19 mm, 18 mm and 17 mm, a 9.4 mm trilaminar lining and an 18 million post wash motile count, I would have felt hopeful too. But one thing I've learned is that even when everything looks great on paper, an IUI can still be unsuccessful because there are so many factors we can't actually measure, like egg quality, fertilization, embryo development and implantation. I'd be interested to hear from others who had really encouraging numbers but still needed more than one IUI before it worked.
Yes, it's actually quite common. Even with 3 dominant follicles and a good post-wash sperm count, an IUI can still be unsuccessful because pregnancy also depends on egg quality, sperm function, implantation, timing and sometimes simply luck.