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

[firechild30]

Since we have many bfps, would you lovely ladies please tell us what your earliest symptoms were. Did you "just know" immediately?

 

[Oxygen7880]

Since we have many bfps, would you lovely ladies please tell us what your earliest symptoms were. Did you "just know" immediately?

My stomach felt strange right from around 2dpo. Kind of like a slight pulling and tugging sensation. It has felt wierd since then. I kinda felt like AF was coming but it was a week too soon. I was also drinking all the time which is not like me and I was also pee'ing a lot more than I ever have (even accounting for the increase in fluids I was drinking). Also out of routine for me.
My appetite was increased and it felt like my stomach was never satisfied.
I was exhausted last week but I have M.E so its hard to know which is causing the exhaustion but I was in bed by 9m on several nights due to the exhaustion.

I did a lot of reading during the tww and read of many people convinced they were preg coz of the 'symptoms' they were having so I hoped but never assumed my symptoms were due to being preg.

I have also read loads of women don't have any symptoms at all so I think it's a purely individual thing.

I'm still at the very cautious stage but trying to relax and enjoy it.
Good luck to all you ladies.

 

[LeahMSta]

It is so lovely to so much baby dust flying around this thread. Congratulations Oxygen!!!! I hope you and your new little bean are healthy and happy for the next 9 months and beyond.

DW and I are 10dpo and plugging right along. Things have been a bit chaotic around here this week as she is working different hours than normal and so we aren't having half of the opportunity to sit and obsess like we usually do. She did mention that she feels quite crampy so hopefully it isn't because of AF. Nothing to do but to wait and see.

 

[astito]

It is so lovely to so much baby dust flying around this thread. Congratulations Oxygen!!!! I hope you and your new little bean are healthy and happy for the next 9 months and beyond.

DW and I are 10dpo and plugging right along. Things have been a bit chaotic around here this week as she is working different hours than normal and so we aren't having half of the opportunity to sit and obsess like we usually do. She did mention that she feels quite crampy so hopefully it isn't because of AF. Nothing to do but to wait and see.

Leah, it is time to begin to do a hpt tomorrow for you, right?
I send you all my best wishes!!!

 

[LeahMSta]

It is so lovely to so much baby dust flying around this thread. Congratulations Oxygen!!!! I hope you and your new little bean are healthy and happy for the next 9 months and beyond.

DW and I are 10dpo and plugging right along. Things have been a bit chaotic around here this week as she is working different hours than normal and so we aren't having half of the opportunity to sit and obsess like we usually do. She did mention that she feels quite crampy so hopefully it isn't because of AF. Nothing to do but to wait and see.

Leah, it is time to begin to do a hpt tomorrow for you, right?
I send you all my best wishes!!!

No HPT tomorrow. We are waiting until she is 5-7 days late before testing in an effort to make sure that the next time we test, we know it is going to be positive. Plus it puts us at a place that we can be proactive about getting scans to make sure that the little one is tucked in the right spot. We can't even schedule that until 5-6 weeks in. We only have one test left and we plan on it being the only one we need.

 

[2moms2be]

Just wanted to pop in and say congratulations on all the BFP's floating around here!

My wife and I, due to some unforeseen circumstances, have decided to put off our first official TTC cycle until August (mostly getting our financial ducks in a row after a little setback.)

I did go see a midwife yesterday for preconception counseling and Arvigo massage (anyone have any experience with that? It was awesome!), and she said that everything looks good and she doesn't anticipate us having any trouble, which was a huge relief (I was stressing over my weird temps!)

So now I'm just trying to be patient until August, haha... easier said than done

So congrats again, and I hope the baby dust sticks around in this thread for awhile!!

 

[cazzie1128]

hey you guys this is my first time posting since stalking the website for months now lol. My girlfirned and i have been trying to conceive now by at home AI since december 2012....so 5 cycles minus one month. so im hoping its going to happen soon. We had one chemcial in december on the first try but i guess it wasnt ment to be. And ever since then ive been so impatient with trying to conceive. Its so hard because, i have two donors, well started this month. i had one every since december and he has 2 daughters himself. and its so hard with trying to get his stuff cause of his work and mine. So when he does its once a week and with 1-2ml worth and im worrying bout the angle and so on and if its even getting there cause were using a 5 ml syringe. And this month ive done it 3 times and one more tomorrow which i beleive is when i ovulate. im soooooo hoping im doing everything right.

 

[Juniperjules]

Hi girls.. Am needing some opinions/ reassurance to stop me from being a negative nelly!

So my OH & I have done AI 3 times this week so far. We were going to do it from cd 10 until cd15.. Which we've never done before. Seemed like a good idea to try something different. The last time I did opks for a few months, I seemed to get a +OPK on cd14 (so therefore Ov on cd15). And so I figured the same would happen this month.. WRONG. Today is cd13 & I just got a smiley face at 1715hrs!! So will Ov tomoro, cd14.

it also seems that by doing the AI every day, my OH semen became less & less in volume. its usually around 1.5ml (40million and all his other numbers are good too). But each day after the first insem, it was less & less.

So we did AI as following:
cd 10 2300hrs approx 1.5ml
cd 11 2330hrs approx 1ml
Cd 12 1600hrs 1/2 ml

So yesterday I told him we would give cd13 a miss- I figured a day off would help increase the volume. AND I thought we'd get +OPK on cd 14.

So here I am on cd13 with no AI (im out all day/nite & OH working from 2230-0300) & tomoro on Ov day we won't be in a position to do anything until probably after 5pm.

I know I'm maybe jumping the gun.. But I now feel like this month is a bust. I've got it in my head that we really needed to do an AI on the day of +OPK. I feel like Ov day is theoretically just too late. It makes sense to me that sperm have to be 'waiting' for the egg to pop. And yes, we did do AI on cd 10, 11, 12... But given that the volume was less & less I just feel like it will have been a waste of time. The biggest volume was cd10 which is 4 days before ill have ovulated.

I'm being quite negative. Which is probably not helped by the fact that last nite I saw an old 'friend' who was very very pregnant with her 3rd child. We were very close friends more like family, from 8yrs old till 30yrs old- and our friendship ended under ridiculous disappointing circumstances considering the time we'd known each other & how close we'd been. we haven't seen each other for 8yrs now. We were on opposite sides of a road last nite and we both saw each other but pretended we hadn't. Stupid & sad really. But seeing her pregnant & now this happening today with unexpected Ov... Well it has just made me feel very low & like this month is a bust now. I won't let on to my OH, bcos he is so positive about all of this. When he handed me the spec container with so little semen in it I actually felt irritated! I even asked him if he knew why there wasn't much there?? But I was treading carefully- I don't want him to end up feeling judged or stupid about all of this. But it's still frustrating. Roll on may so we can just convince the FS to do IUI. I've had enough of dealing with all these 'quirks' of ttc. We just need help- and I'll take whatever a FS will offer at this point.

Sometimes I truly hate being a woman!! : (

 

[c.30]

I've said it many times but I know a lady who did AI and who got 1 donation on the day after ovulation (O + 1) and she now has a little boy...this proves that the egg stays around and a quick sperm can still get to it. Hope this gives some hope, in my humble opinion, you ain't out yet.

Also, I know very little about quantity but I know it has been discussed briefly in here in the past; we know we only need 1 sperm, 1 good, quick, healthy sperm and i know i've read in here that quality sperm is/can be more important than quantity.

 

[PiperDilly]

Since we have many bfps, would you lovely ladies please tell us what your earliest symptoms were. Did you "just know" immediately?

The only thing I experienced was the feeling that AF was about to start. I kept running to the bathroom to check. A dear friend took me out to get a HPT(I was on vacation visiting her) and I kept telling her, "I'm not pregnant! I can feel AF about to start any second!" I did not have any other symptoms and I still do not have any at 5 weeks!

Goodluck!

 

[cazzie1128]

Hi girls.. Am needing some opinions/ reassurance to stop me from being a negative nelly!

So my OH & I have done AI 3 times this week so far. We were going to do it from cd 10 until cd15.. Which we've never done before. Seemed like a good idea to try something different. The last time I did opks for a few months, I seemed to get a +OPK on cd14 (so therefore Ov on cd15). And so I figured the same would happen this month.. WRONG. Today is cd13 & I just got a smiley face at 1715hrs!! So will Ov tomoro, cd14.

it also seems that by doing the AI every day, my OH semen became less & less in volume. its usually around 1.5ml (40million and all his other numbers are good too). But each day after the first insem, it was less & less.

So we did AI as following:
cd 10 2300hrs approx 1.5ml
cd 11 2330hrs approx 1ml
Cd 12 1600hrs 1/2 ml

So yesterday I told him we would give cd13 a miss- I figured a day off would help increase the volume. AND I thought we'd get +OPK on cd 14.

So here I am on cd13 with no AI (im out all day/nite & OH working from 2230-0300) & tomoro on Ov day we won't be in a position to do anything until probably after 5pm.

I know I'm maybe jumping the gun.. But I now feel like this month is a bust. I've got it in my head that we really needed to do an AI on the day of +OPK. I feel like Ov day is theoretically just too late. It makes sense to me that sperm have to be 'waiting' for the egg to pop. And yes, we did do AI on cd 10, 11, 12... But given that the volume was less & less I just feel like it will have been a waste of time. The biggest volume was cd10 which is 4 days before ill have ovulated.

I'm being quite negative. Which is probably not helped by the fact that last nite I saw an old 'friend' who was very very pregnant with her 3rd child. We were very close friends more like family, from 8yrs old till 30yrs old- and our friendship ended under ridiculous disappointing circumstances considering the time we'd known each other & how close we'd been. we haven't seen each other for 8yrs now. We were on opposite sides of a road last nite and we both saw each other but pretended we hadn't. Stupid & sad really. But seeing her pregnant & now this happening today with unexpected Ov... Well it has just made me feel very low & like this month is a bust now. I won't let on to my OH, bcos he is so positive about all of this. When he handed me the spec container with so little semen in it I actually felt irritated! I even asked him if he knew why there wasn't much there?? But I was treading carefully- I don't want him to end up feeling judged or stupid about all of this. But it's still frustrating. Roll on may so we can just convince the FS to do IUI. I've had enough of dealing with all these 'quirks' of ttc. We just need help- and I'll take whatever a FS will offer at this point.

Sometimes I truly hate being a woman!! : (

Stay positive with my chemcial in december we did it the day of and 3 days before and got pregnet and he only gave us 1ml both times. This time we did it monday and 5 days later im supposed to be ovulating today but i have a feeling it was yeterday. beleive me the last 4 cycles im getting more and more negitive as well.

 

[mizcee18]

Since we have many bfps, would you lovely ladies please tell us what your earliest symptoms were. Did you "just know" immediately?

The only thing I experienced was the feeling that AF was about to start. I kept running to the bathroom to check. A dear friend took me out to get a HPT(I was on vacation visiting her) and I kept telling her, "I'm not pregnant! I can feel AF about to start any second!" I did not have any other symptoms and I still do not have any at 5 weeks!

Goodluck!

same here, I kept thinking OOO man this is going to be a bad month! I would go to the bathroom knowing I had started, and Nothing! I was super grouchy and crampy, I did get sore boobs a little after that.

 

[mizcee18]

a friend of mine has been having issues getting pregnant for the past 10 yrs. they have 1daughter almost 11 yrs old. they just got their bfp yesterday surely this is a grand month! good luck to you all that are trying!

 

[Mummylou23]

well girls im bk after my m/c and bleeding stopped this morning. we are looking at every other day and temping till ov confirmed with temps. sound good? as was told opks aint realiable now?

 

[Juniperjules]

I've said it many times but I know a lady who did AI and who got 1 donation on the day after ovulation (O + 1) and she now has a little boy...this proves that the egg stays around and a quick sperm can still get to it. Hope this gives some hope, in my humble opinion, you ain't out yet.

Also, I know very little about quantity but I know it has been discussed briefly in here in the past; we know we only need 1 sperm, 1 good, quick, healthy sperm and i know i've read in here that quality sperm is/can be more important than quantity.

Thanks c30. I appreciate ur input. We have missed Ov day also now.. Long story.. But we've missed it. So cd 10, 11 & 12 were it this month. I hope your right about quantity. I know it only does take one sperm.. But I just keep thinking about stuff I've read that says how you need lots of sperm bcos so many just don't make it & die very quickly.

I'd like to think positive, that for once in my life I'd get a miracle. But I'm having a bad week. I can't imagine anything good happening right now.

Thanks for your support

 

[Juniperjules]

Hi girls.. Am needing some opinions/ reassurance to stop me from being a negative nelly!

So my OH & I have done AI 3 times this week so far. We were going to do it from cd 10 until cd15.. Which we've never done before. Seemed like a good idea to try something different. The last time I did opks for a few months, I seemed to get a +OPK on cd14 (so therefore Ov on cd15). And so I figured the same would happen this month.. WRONG. Today is cd13 & I just got a smiley face at 1715hrs!! So will Ov tomoro, cd14.

it also seems that by doing the AI every day, my OH semen became less & less in volume. its usually around 1.5ml (40million and all his other numbers are good too). But each day after the first insem, it was less & less.

So we did AI as following:
cd 10 2300hrs approx 1.5ml
cd 11 2330hrs approx 1ml
Cd 12 1600hrs 1/2 ml

So yesterday I told him we would give cd13 a miss- I figured a day off would help increase the volume. AND I thought we'd get +OPK on cd 14.

So here I am on cd13 with no AI (im out all day/nite & OH working from 2230-0300) & tomoro on Ov day we won't be in a position to do anything until probably after 5pm.

I know I'm maybe jumping the gun.. But I now feel like this month is a bust. I've got it in my head that we really needed to do an AI on the day of +OPK. I feel like Ov day is theoretically just too late. It makes sense to me that sperm have to be 'waiting' for the egg to pop. And yes, we did do AI on cd 10, 11, 12... But given that the volume was less & less I just feel like it will have been a waste of time. The biggest volume was cd10 which is 4 days before ill have ovulated.

I'm being quite negative. Which is probably not helped by the fact that last nite I saw an old 'friend' who was very very pregnant with her 3rd child. We were very close friends more like family, from 8yrs old till 30yrs old- and our friendship ended under ridiculous disappointing circumstances considering the time we'd known each other & how close we'd been. we haven't seen each other for 8yrs now. We were on opposite sides of a road last nite and we both saw each other but pretended we hadn't. Stupid & sad really. But seeing her pregnant & now this happening today with unexpected Ov... Well it has just made me feel very low & like this month is a bust now. I won't let on to my OH, bcos he is so positive about all of this. When he handed me the spec container with so little semen in it I actually felt irritated! I even asked him if he knew why there wasn't much there?? But I was treading carefully- I don't want him to end up feeling judged or stupid about all of this. But it's still frustrating. Roll on may so we can just convince the FS to do IUI. I've had enough of dealing with all these 'quirks' of ttc. We just need help- and I'll take whatever a FS will offer at this point.

Sometimes I truly hate being a woman!! : (

Stay positive with my chemcial in december we did it the day of and 3 days before and got pregnet and he only gave us 1ml both times. This time we did it monday and 5 days later im supposed to be ovulating today but i have a feeling it was yeterday. beleive me the last 4 cycles im getting more and more negitive as well.

As mentioned above.. We've missed Ov day too now : (

So are u saying you've just had an Insem 5 days before Ovulation? Was that on purpose or did u think Ov was closer?

It would be amazing if I got a bfp from AI 3 days before like u did. Sorry to hear it was a chemical though. We basically did it 4, 3 & 2 days before Ov. But there was so little (volume) that it almost felt like a waste of time. I just can't imagine it will have worked. I've given up thinking good things can happen randomly like that for me. Am on a downer today. I feel like I'm wasting my time with lots of things including thinking that ill ever have a child. I feel like that's other people's lives, not mine.

Sorry for being so negative.

 

[cazzie1128]

Hi girls.. Am needing some opinions/ reassurance to stop me from being a negative nelly!

So my OH & I have done AI 3 times this week so far. We were going to do it from cd 10 until cd15.. Which we've never done before. Seemed like a good idea to try something different. The last time I did opks for a few months, I seemed to get a +OPK on cd14 (so therefore Ov on cd15). And so I figured the same would happen this month.. WRONG. Today is cd13 & I just got a smiley face at 1715hrs!! So will Ov tomoro, cd14.

it also seems that by doing the AI every day, my OH semen became less & less in volume. its usually around 1.5ml (40million and all his other numbers are good too). But each day after the first insem, it was less & less.

So we did AI as following:
cd 10 2300hrs approx 1.5ml
cd 11 2330hrs approx 1ml
Cd 12 1600hrs 1/2 ml

So yesterday I told him we would give cd13 a miss- I figured a day off would help increase the volume. AND I thought we'd get +OPK on cd 14.

So here I am on cd13 with no AI (im out all day/nite & OH working from 2230-0300) & tomoro on Ov day we won't be in a position to do anything until probably after 5pm.

I know I'm maybe jumping the gun.. But I now feel like this month is a bust. I've got it in my head that we really needed to do an AI on the day of +OPK. I feel like Ov day is theoretically just too late. It makes sense to me that sperm have to be 'waiting' for the egg to pop. And yes, we did do AI on cd 10, 11, 12... But given that the volume was less & less I just feel like it will have been a waste of time. The biggest volume was cd10 which is 4 days before ill have ovulated.

I'm being quite negative. Which is probably not helped by the fact that last nite I saw an old 'friend' who was very very pregnant with her 3rd child. We were very close friends more like family, from 8yrs old till 30yrs old- and our friendship ended under ridiculous disappointing circumstances considering the time we'd known each other & how close we'd been. we haven't seen each other for 8yrs now. We were on opposite sides of a road last nite and we both saw each other but pretended we hadn't. Stupid & sad really. But seeing her pregnant & now this happening today with unexpected Ov... Well it has just made me feel very low & like this month is a bust now. I won't let on to my OH, bcos he is so positive about all of this. When he handed me the spec container with so little semen in it I actually felt irritated! I even asked him if he knew why there wasn't much there?? But I was treading carefully- I don't want him to end up feeling judged or stupid about all of this. But it's still frustrating. Roll on may so we can just convince the FS to do IUI. I've had enough of dealing with all these 'quirks' of ttc. We just need help- and I'll take whatever a FS will offer at this point.

Sometimes I truly hate being a woman!! : (

Stay positive with my chemcial in december we did it the day of and 3 days before and got pregnet and he only gave us 1ml both times. This time we did it monday and 5 days later im supposed to be ovulating today but i have a feeling it was yeterday. beleive me the last 4 cycles im getting more and more negitive as well.

As mentioned above.. We've missed Ov day too now : (

So are u saying you've just had an Insem 5 days before Ovulation? Was that on purpose or did u think Ov was closer?

It would be amazing if I got a bfp from AI 3 days before like u did. Sorry to hear it was a chemical though. We basically did it 4, 3 & 2 days before Ov. But there was so little (volume) that it almost felt like a waste of time. I just can't imagine it will have worked. I've given up thinking good things can happen randomly like that for me. Am on a downer today. I feel like I'm wasting my time with lots of things including thinking that ill ever have a child. I feel like that's other people's lives, not mine.

Sorry for being so negative.

well then chemcial was because of the timing and it was a practice month, we didnt think i would get pregnet. but this month we started when my mucus was more fertile and just started it from there. We used OPK, the 30 dollar expensive one when it was i was at me peak days and then we did it every other till then. We used the cheap ones as well the 11.00 equate ones. because it showed me when i was getting closer. But I really agree with the sperm meets egg plan and doing it every other day. Since the sperm regenerates every 24 hours.
I know its really hard and feeling like a downer, cause my donor on his stressful days sometimes only gives me 1ml or .5 but i still use it and prey for a BFP my fiance is trying to keep me positive cause when it keep feeling like a downer then it doesnt add to the stress. when i didnt feel like i was going to be pregnet i actually got it, and it ended in a chemcial cause i think it was from the scare of having an eptopical....(long story). Last month i wanted a december baby so badly, and i didnt get it i cried and told my gf that i wasnt ever going to get pregnet. And shes like you need to stop and be positive, you know 1ml of sperm have 10,000 to 20,000 sperm it just takes one. So please, it takes women 24 months and longer to get pregnet, when doing AI the odds are even shorter.

 

[cazzie1128]

Plus every month i use an app on my phone that tells me when my ovulation is predicted to be and i can feel on one side when i do, plus when i get close to ovulation my mood totally changes and i get aggervated really easily. SInce i have a 31 day cycle i ovulate on the dates 17,18, or 19 of that month.so usually when i get the eggwhite i know 2 days later i OV

 

[firechild30]

Sorry for your loss mommylou. We are here for you.

Jules- it's so easy to get discouraged. I also go through this every cycle. last month was one of the worst! It was the first time I cried over a negative- not just cried, I spent most of my day sobbing. I try to distract myself with books and work. It helps. This whole journey is very taxing- on us, our relationships, our schedules, and sometimes our finances. try to keep your head up and remember we are here to help with that.

 

[Mummylou23]

thanks girls xxx I am hoping to get back into the sandle from Wednesday heres hoping I don't want to miss chance that's all as they say your more fertile after a m/c