Ok, ladies, we did our first insemination last night after getting a smiley yesterday morning. Sorry ahead of time if there's any TMI in here, I'm pretty open about this stuff! We went to our donor's house and ate dinner together, hung out for a little bit. After a while he went in and did his thing (we used an artichoke hearts jar) while we watched TV. As soon as he finished we took the donation and left, drove to our house about 10 minutes away. We got all set up, pillows under my bottom and a towel. We put a large suitcase at the botton to rest my feet on. I inserted the syringe, my wife pushed it in very slowly. I then removed the syringe very, very slowly so I didn't pull everything back out. The whole thing was just nerve-racking because we wanted to do it the right way! We tried to be intimate afterward for a big O, but it was just too weird and I wasn't relaxed. I did eventually have one though. After that, I rotated to each side for about 20-30 minutes (still propped up). Then I went to sleep. I checked my cervix this morning and it's still open, so we are going to do another insem tonight. After that we will be in our 2WW! Wish us luck!

Hope everyone else is doing ok! Sending well wishes and baby dust your way....

Jury3 - How exciting! Good luck and buckets of baby dust to you girls!

Thanks adroplet!

My cervix was very open yesterday and today it's medium open. So, pretty sure I O'd within the last 24 hours. That means we timed it pretty perfectly! Such a relief!

Any updates for anyone? I'm 5 DPO today and very impatiently waiting for symptoms or to be able to test.

Good luck everyone!!

hey ladies,

I've posted a bit in an IUI thread, but want to say hello in here too. It's nice to know you all understand the struggles of not having unlimited sperm!

To recap the last few months of my wife and I TTC using anonymous donor sperm:
August-October 2012 at-home ICIs (trying for IUIs but cervix too closed), BFNs
November 2012 at-home ICI, added Clomid, BFN
November- decided to step it up and went to Reproductive Clinic, HSG showed open left tube but blocked right tube. Otherwise good fertility. So, now we're doing IUIs in-clinic with ultrasounds first to make sure the dominant follicle is on my left (good) side, or else we cancel.
December 2012- 20mm follicle on the left on d10, had IUI at day 12, 36 hr post HCG- BFN again.

January has pretty much sucked too. This was the first cycle we added a single FSH injection on day 9 ("Mayo protocol") in addition to the Clomid d3-7 in hopes of getting multiple follicles. Went in for US on day 10 and there was a 14mm follicle on the right (blocked tube side) and a 13.5mm one on the left (good side). We were relieved that there was something on the left and were told to come back in 2 days for a follow-up ultrasound. Well, we were pretty surprised by what we saw on those images. Somehow the right side went gangbusters and I had 4 big follicles over 17mm. The left, however, had totally crapped out and my little follicle had only grown to 14mm. The docs advised cancelling the IUI since the chances were so low that that left one would be viable or that the left tube would cross over to the right ovary.
What a waste. Very disappointing. I wallowed in self pity for a few days.
But also, just bad luck. I did respond well to the meds and had the follicles just been dispersed differently, I would have had something going on over there in the left ovary.
So, we're going to do the same thing this coming cycle and just cross our fingers that if I have 3-5 follicles again, that at least 1 will be on the left.

However, this is what I'm thinking- we should make our back-up plan be minimal IVF if that same scenario comes up. What do you think? I mean, I had 4 harvestable eggs, I was a perfect candidate for minimal IVF. I already wasted the $ on meds, US, etc., I had already sunk costs into that cycle. Why not turn lemons into lemonade IF that happens again and at least go for something with a pretty good likelihood of working? It probably won't happen again that everything's on the wrong side, but if it does I think I want to go for minimal IVF. Yeah, it costs more, but not a hell of a lot more... about the same as 3 IUIs and has much better rates. At my age and I had awesome 9mm uterine lining, I think chances of implantation are good.

Anyone here have experience with minimal (or "micro") IVF?

thanks and well-wishes to everyone!

Hi there everyone!

I was on the board for a bit in the summer the first time my partner and I tried to inseminate. we tried then for 3 months and then took a break as we got married in August, moved, and i started a big new job. But now we are back in ttc land... It's the 2 of us, and a friend of mine who is our donor.

We have a minor hurdle to contend with in that our donor lives in Berlin and we live in frankfurt, germany... And both the donor and i are artists, so we're often elsewhere for work. which means somebody nearly always has to travel for us to ttc.

I am 35 (as is my partner), and our donor is 47. So we do also have the age factor to contend with. But we are all in good health (at least we think so), I'm doing acupuncture to try and keep everything balanced, and both the donor and I are taking supplements that are supposed to encourage fertility... So fingers crossed!

We tried this past weekend 3 times, we travelled to him... And I do think we nailed the timing: inseminated Friday night, Saturday midday, and today midday, using instead cups, and I am fairly certain I O'd late Saturday. (I'm using the Clearblue monitor, temping, and sometimes a an extra OPK.

Here's hoping! It feels waay more relaxed than it did in the spring/summer months that we tried.., maybe we are just getting better at it :-) hopefully that helps, somehow!

Sending everybody baby dust....

Just a favour that I would like to ask you folks here

The vote on equal marriage is coming up on Tuesday. Some of you know how important equal marriage is to myself, and my gay friends and family. I think regardless of anything, you should be able to celebrate your love with the person you want to spend your life with just the same as everyone else.

I want to be able to explain to my future children that gay, white, black, transgender, disabled or whatever people are are equal in this world.

If you believe in equality please consider filling in the forms on this site to send an email to your local mp asking them to vote YES to equal marriage in the vote on Tuesday.

If you don't agree, that is fine, but for those who do, please take the time to do something that will cost you nothing, and will take up barely five minutes of your time.

http://www.c4em.org.uk/

Thankyou :-)

Hey laurac1988 and other UK gals-- congrats on the marriage vote! I heard the news... Is it a sure thing now? I admit I don't understand all the ins and outs of British politics. Anyway-- a step forward, for sure!

Has to go through House of Lords first so may be some amendments. But it's on the way