Considering at-home insemination with donor sperm...?

[RubyRainbows]

Strawbs... we finally got our special delivery in the mail... ha! We inseminated with frozen donor sperm.... it arrived via fed ex (weird, right?) in a dry ice shipper. It was such a tiny vial... kinda like watery/creamy opaque... but really a small quantity. It wasn't disgusting or anything! I just hope it did the trick! Let me know if you have any more questions. I live in the US... it was a lesbian owned sperm bank in San Francisco, California. Baby dust to all!!

 

[enrisa]

Good luck mommy tammy ;-) I think the frozen sperm is better because it´s treated. It´s less quantity as they got rid of the unnecessary stuff.

Guess you have timed and did it carefully as it was expensive. I know it´s all about cup, syringe, maybe mooncup, legs in the air....any other tricks?

And for timing ov, it´s about OPKs, CM, and temperatures....

Ahh, I have learnt so much since I started trying.

x

 

[RubyRainbows]

Well, since this was my very first time inseminating and i'm fairly new to this site... i wasn't very knowledgeable about all these different techniques! I suppose i should have researched it more since it was so expensive and so important!

I wasn't very good at charting or predicting OV, unfortunately! In July (the first month i started using OPK's) it was so easy to tell when i OV! I felt the twinges and then it was followed by CM and a positive OPK at CD20. In August though, i didn't feel anything and no CM... plus the OPK's got darker and darker but never as dark as the test line... and then went to negative!

So in September i wasn's sure when to have it shipped! But, we did inseminate at Cd17 and cd19... just using a syringe and legs in the air to keep the soup in the bowl! My OPK never got positive again... but it was getting darker and darker!

I keep telling myself that if it's meant to happen it will happen... and trying to be hopeful & optimistic....... but i know i will be heartbroken if AF arrives. I used all of my savings for this one attempt!

I agree with you though... now that i am on this site quite a bit... i am learning soooo much from all you wonderful women on here!

 

[bek74]

Well, since this was my very first time inseminating and i'm fairly new to this site... i wasn't very knowledgeable about all these different techniques! I suppose i should have researched it more since it was so expensive and so important!

I wasn't very good at charting or predicting OV, unfortunately! In July (the first month i started using OPK's) it was so easy to tell when i OV! I felt the twinges and then it was followed by CM and a positive OPK at CD20. In August though, i didn't feel anything and no CM... plus the OPK's got darker and darker but never as dark as the test line... and then went to negative!

So in September i wasn's sure when to have it shipped! But, we did inseminate at Cd17 and cd19... just using a syringe and legs in the air to keep the soup in the bowl! My OPK never got positive again... but it was getting darker and darker!

I keep telling myself that if it's meant to happen it will happen... and trying to be hopeful & optimistic....... but i know i will be heartbroken if AF arrives. I used all of my savings for this one attempt!

I agree with you though... now that i am on this site quite a bit... i am learning soooo much from all you wonderful women on here!

Wishing you all the luck I can and I hope you get your BFP this month.

A gay (lesbian) couple I am friends with used a friend of theirs sperm, as same as one poster mentioned earlier they had fresh home delivery everyday over 4 nights and bingo, they fell pregnant first time. They didn't use a syringe, they used a Turkey baster (really, seriously, honestly), I laughed, you hear the jokes of a turkey baster being used, but they really used one. Doesn't matter how they did it, but it worked.

If this time doesn't take ( praying like heck and fingers crossed that it will) is their a trusted male friend that would donate his sperm to you if needed?

 

[RubyRainbows]

Hi Bek... glad to hear their turkey baster method worked! Yaayy! There are a few SS couples on here using fresh sperm from guys willing to be donors. After hearing from them... and your friend's story... it makes me seriously start thinking of that option. There really isn't any guys i am close friends with, or would feel comfortable asking. But it's an option i would definitely explore further! Thanks for your support... and best of luck on your TTC journey as well! Baby dust!

 

[enrisa]

Yes, a donor friend sounds like a great option, as you can try every month for free Try to make male friends, you never know, and nothing to lose. But hope you don´t need it at all!

It´s funny about the turkey baster. When I started researching about at home insemination, I actually bought a turkey baster!! I thouught that was the way! Ha ha, I never used it and threw it away. It was only 2 pounds at John Lewis.

 

[RubyRainbows]

The ugly got me!! Thanks for all your help girls... i'll be back in the spring to try again! Lots of baby dust to you all!

 

[enrisa]

Oh, so sorry. Actually, I can see from this forum it´s really hard to get preg., so it´s very difficult if you leave it for one try. Also, when that one try is so expensive!

My advice: try to find some donor, for fresh sperm. Maybe you can pay him, much cheaper than the frozen one.

What do you think?

 

[bek74]

The ugly got me!! Thanks for all your help girls... i'll be back in the spring to try again! Lots of baby dust to you all!

Oh Honey, I am soooooooooooooooo sorry, I know how much you invested into this one try.
Maybe your partner has a brother and maybe one of his friends may be willing to help out.
My girlfriends, partners brother is gay, so they used his sperm and put it into my girlfriend, so not there is NO inbreeding but it not only makes him the dad, but also the uncle LOL, and my girlfriends partner is mummy #2 and Aunt LOL.
Look which ever way, it doesn't matter.
I hope something comes your way and you get your BFP really soon babe

 

[RubyRainbows]

Thank you, girls... for all the advice & support! I really had hoped that one attempt would work... since i got pregnant so easily with my son. However, he was conceived with my ex-boyfriend... the "good old fashioned way!" I believed that if it was meant to happen it would.... but now that it didn't.... i desperately want to get pregnant even more! I went to the bank today and did some maneuvering to come up with the money for ONE MORE TRY this cycle! This will absolutely be my last chance since i have nowhere left to dig up some cash, lol. Bek -- I love your story about the partner's brother! However, right now we have no relatives or male friends to ask... plus i am a bit shy and can't ever imagine asking someone such a question! Although i know fresh sperm would be ideal! At any rate...... FED EX will be bringing me another special delivery on October 20th! Remaining hopeful! I hope all of you are having luck on your TTC journeys!!!!! Baby dust!

 

[bek74]

Thank you, girls... for all the advice & support! I really had hoped that one attempt would work... since i got pregnant so easily with my son. However, he was conceived with my ex-boyfriend... the "good old fashioned way!" I believed that if it was meant to happen it would.... but now that it didn't.... i desperately want to get pregnant even more! I went to the bank today and did some maneuvering to come up with the money for ONE MORE TRY this cycle! This will absolutely be my last chance since i have nowhere left to dig up some cash, lol. Bek -- I love your story about the partner's brother! However, right now we have no relatives or male friends to ask... plus i am a bit shy and can't ever imagine asking someone such a question! Although i know fresh sperm would be ideal! At any rate...... FED EX will be bringing me another special delivery on October 20th! Remaining hopeful! I hope all of you are having luck on your TTC journeys!!!!! Baby dust!

Are you charting? so you know when you are ovulating?
Good Luck hun, I hope you get your BFP

 

[enrisa]

Yes, check your cm, and use OPKs. Try to know when you are ov, so your chances are higher. Don´t drink alcohol or coffee, drink green tea, eat fresh fruit and vegetables, and try to avoid fat and sugar, and do some exercise. Easier said than done, I know. But make an effort, frozen sperm is not cheap at all.

And don´t be shy, try to find a donor, it will be far cheaper and increase your chances!

xxx

 

[RubyRainbows]

Well i don't drink alcohol or coffee... but sweets & sugar is hard for me to resist! I used OPK's for the past three months. But only one month i got an actual "positive." The other months it got darker and darker but never as dark as the sample line... that's why i was confused what day to inseminate! Plus i never have any kind of CM to really pay attention to! I am going to try those smiley face OPK's i hear about on here! I don't chart... i have looked at that fertility friend site a few times but i don't temp and that seems to be a requirement on there!

 

[kairzh7]

I highly recommend that you start charting. It is such a small investment that can really help you know exactly what your body is doing. Especially if you are spending so much money on donor sperm, you want to make sure you are hitting the right time. For predicting it pay close attention to CM and cervical position. Temps will help you determine after-the-fact if and when you ovulated, so that is really only helpful to predict if you have a few months of charting.

 

[RubyRainbows]

Thanks! I looked up online how to check CM, so i will def do that this month! If i don't get my BFP after this attempt (and i pray to God i do!!!!), then i will start charting and taking temps between now and the spring when i will be able to try again!

 

[snagglepat]

Hi folks,

I just found this forum today and am really pleased to have found a rainbow bit. We're going to inseminate for the first time trying for a second child this weekend using a known sperm donor at home. It's how we conceived our first (our daughter is now nearly two - same donor), but unlike some of you lucky folk it took us 18 cycles over three and a half years to get pregnant. There is no way we'd have been able to afford to try for so long if we'd been using a clinic.

We found our donor online after we'd exhausted our list of suitable male friends. The forum we used is no longer active but I know several people who have found their known donors here: ah I haven't posted enough to post a link but if you google sperm donors worldwide it should be the top link.

It's not the most fun process. The thing I liked least was the smell! We'd usually insem in the evening and then I'd just stay lying down through the night and when I'd get up in the morning I'd smell of man and it just felt very wrong. But it did get us our wonderful little girl, so well worth the pong.

Gina. x

 

[enrisa]

Hi Gina!

Glad to meet people doing the at home insemination method. Wow, it took you long, hope it´s not like that for all the girls using this method.

I´m also old for TTC, I´m 35, so I´m kind of worried. How old are you?

I do the cup syringe thing, but haven´t used softcups yet. Did you use them when ttc?

Good luck for this second time xx

 

[RubyRainbows]

Hi Gina -- Welcome! Congrats on your little girl... she is beautiful! We sound like we are in similar situations... both with toddlers and both trying for baby # 2!! Good luck and keep in touch... i hope your process is much quicker this time around! It sounds like an ideal situation to have a willing donor and he has even come back to father your second child... plus he helped over 3.5 years! Wow... you are lucky he is willing to do that! I really wish my OH and i had someone to ask but we really don't. I will look online for a donor site, but i am just so worried about doing that. I worry about meeting a potential weirdo online, lol. Especially since he would have to come to my house!! I also worry about STD's, and would want someone to get tested monthly! I can't imagine someone would be willing to do that. But if my next attempt with frozen sperm does not work, i will need to start looking into a Plan B! Good luck this weekend.... i hope you are first time lucky!!!

 

[RubyRainbows]

Enrisa... i saw in one of your other posts that AF was due today?? Hope she stays away!!!!!!!!! When are you going to test???

 

[enrisa]

Enrisa... i saw in one of your other posts that AF was due today?? Hope she stays away!!!!!!!!! When are you going to test???

AF still away!! I bought a test today, but I´m using it tomorrow morning. Just one test cost 9.5 euro!! So I´m using it in the morning, when a positive is more probable in case I´m preg. I´m nervous!

Yes, you can find weirdoes online, but also normal people, like us I´m sure there will be people willing to do it, you can offer to pay sth, to make sure they test monthly. It will always be much cheaper than the frozen one. Give a try, search the net, see what happens