Probably a stupid question..

[Birdy56v]

Can anyone explain to me the pattern of which follicles grow? Do they ever just stop growing? I'm having medicated iui with donor sperm (meriofert and fyremadel), I'm on day 7 of stims and have 1 lead follicle and 3 smaller ones (12, 9, 8 and 7mm). Our hope was always to have more than one follicle to increase our odds. Has anyone been told or have experience of ignoring the lead follicle in their ivf or iui? I'm a way off being ready and I also know that more that 3 folicles is a no go, is it really a case that anything can happen or after day 7 will they all just gradually grow at a similar pace?

[Kate-92]

The stims if working correctly for you will keep encouraging the follicles to grow - When I had mine I was told you need follicles to be around 14-17mm pre trigger with a view of them then being the ideal of 18-22mm for a mature egg upon collection. I did mine for 9 days then triggered x wishing you lots of luck

[Twiglet2]

as you’ve said in IUI they only want one lead follicle or they will cancel the cycle so they aren’t ‘stimming’ you in the way they would IVF they are just trying to stimulate a normal monthly cycle and have one follicle grow to the size and then trigger ovulation for sperm insemination at the right time so sometimes you can have some smaller follicles develop but if too many of these get too big they will cancel the cycle so they do t tend to ignore the lead follicle but focus on that for IUI, sometimes if there are 2 they will be okay with it going ahead. In natural and medicated cycles (IUI or IVF) follicles rarely grow together and can be at all different stages so it’s about finding the right balance for timing to trigger, for IUI they want only 1 or 2 for IVF the most possible mature follicles. Hope that helps!