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

[LisaMZ]

good luck, 2moms2be! I know what you mean about seeing a bfn. it's so disheartening.

keep us posted! i hope it's a bfp!

 

[2moms2be]

Huge temp drop today. AF is two days late now but on her way. We're taking next month off because we're going on vacation for our anniversary right at my fertile time, haha... back in the saddle in March.

 

[laurac1988]

Have a wonderful vacation xx

 

[shahmanish]

Question - how u count DPO?

i got + opk on jan 17th.. so today , am I 9 DPO?

Huge temp drop today. AF is two days late now but on her way. We're taking next month off because we're going on vacation for our anniversary right at my fertile time, haha... back in the saddle in March.

 

[LisaMZ]

Question - how u count DPO?

i got + opk on jan 17th.. so today , am I 9 DPO?

Yes

 

[LisaMZ]

I was expecting ovulation on Wednesday based on all my apps. I've been using the wondfos and was going to confirm +opk with a smiley, but never got a chance.

This was the darkest opk got at cd11 at night (testing twice daily first thing @ 7am and 11pm). And I also just started taking BBT. When do you think I ovulated? Or do you think I didn't ovulate at all?

 

[laurac1988]

You haven't hrted long enough to tell yet

 

[jGo_18]

i gotta say, opks are down right confusing. even the simple - spell it out for you smiley face ones make me panic.
i use the advanced clearblue - the ones that blink a smile if you are in a high fertile period and then have a solid smile if you are 'peak'...
i got the blinking smile CD12 in the evening & CD13 in the morning... i was compelled to test again in the afternoon and it was solid. but when i took my vaginal reading on my ovacue monitor it changed my peak day (CD13) to 'ovulation'... so i pretty much raced to inseminate. i know from previous cycles that i get a positive on the regular opks like within 12 hours of ovulating, so i shouldn't have been surprised... but dang.
so i thought the first insem would be this morning... it ended up being last night and then this morning... but i'm pretty concerned i missed it since by the time i took my ovacue reading it was 4 hours past getting my peak reading.

if i'm basing insemination times off of the peak reading - i was +4hr & +16hrs and we are assuming i ovulated overnight if not sooner.

do you ladies think i have a shot at all?

 

[artemisttc]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forums. My SO and I are hoping to do our first insemination the first week of March, if everything goes well.

I was wondering if anyone familiar with at home inseminations and/or frozen donor sperm could answer a few questions.

Do any insemination tools come with the shipment? How much donor sperm is in each vial/sample? We used California Cryobank, if that matters.

Anyone using frozen donor sperm - How did you inseminate? It seems like the syringe method is most popular. I'm most concerned about finding the right size syringe. I've heard that the vials are really tiny, so I want to make sure I get a syringe the right size (to hold the sample and to fit inside the vial to collect it) any advice?
If you used a soft cup, what method? Syringe to cup? Or just placing a cup after using the syringe?

We bought 6 samples total, and we are trying to figure out how many to use this cycle.

Is two inseminations enough, or should we try 3?

If we did two, we planned to inseminate a few (10? 18?) hours post +OPK and then about 24 hours after +OPK.
I think that if we did three inseminations, when should we plan to inseminate?

There is so much information out there that it's easy to become overwhelmed.

 

[Eidson23]

Welcome artimisttc! I ditched the syringes after two failed attempts. To me, I wasn't able to suck it ALL in and I was worried the swimmers were getting damaged on the way out. We didn't use frozen, we have a known donor so it was fresh. The time we got pregnant (she still is!) he did his business in the soft cup, then I took it and just inserted into my wife and got her to O. She left it in about 12 hours. We inseminted on 5 and 3 days before positive OPK (surprise!). I think it depends on the woman it's all about timing, but since you're using frozen sperm I don't think they live as long as the fresh ones so you'd be better off inseminating after positive OPK. If you have any questions feel free to ask! You can check out my journals too

 

[RubyRainbows]

I'm back ladies!! I see lots of new names and faces!! I'm going to have to go back and catch up a bit!! After a LONG break, I *think* we will be trying this cycle!! Fingers crossed things pan out with our potential known donor. Aiming for insemination on March 1st!!

 

[artemisttc]

Hi Eidson23! Thanks for the advice. I've heard mixed things about the syringes too, and I'm not even sure if I'll be able to find one, so the soft cup is looking more and more likely.

Hi Ruby. I'm shooting to inseminate on March 4! Good luck!

 

[Oxygen7880]

Hi Eidson23! Thanks for the advice. I've heard mixed things about the syringes too, and I'm not even sure if I'll be able to find one, so the soft cup is looking more and more likely.

Hi Ruby. I'm shooting to inseminate on March 4! Good luck!

Hi ladies. Just having a read at this thread which was so helpful to me when I was attempting to conceive my little lady. I used a syringe in my attempt and I got pregnant first try so I can very much vouch for that method! Good luck with which ever method you use. Good luck to the rest of the ladies on here too.

 

[Pinkorblue11]

I'm back ladies!! I see lots of new names and faces!! I'm going to have to go back and catch up a bit!! After a LONG break, I *think* we will be trying this cycle!! Fingers crossed things pan out with our potential known donor. Aiming for insemination on March 1st!!

Good luck Ruby and lots of baby

 

[LunaBean]

Im also back! Positive opks yesterday and today,saw the donor today its been a whole year since I last ttc, Im excited!!

 

[Nimyra]

Hi Ruby! Hi Luna!

Good luck on TTC again! It's been forever and then some... Maya is 4 and a half and Sunny is now almost 1!

I have no current plans to try for #3 - I think my body is telling me that it is done. It is bittersweet, but I am grateful for my 2 blessings here on earth and +1 in heaven.

I wish you all so much luck!

 

[Nimyra]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forums. My SO and I are hoping to do our first insemination the first week of March, if everything goes well.

I was wondering if anyone familiar with at home inseminations and/or frozen donor sperm could answer a few questions.

Do any insemination tools come with the shipment? How much donor sperm is in each vial/sample? We used California Cryobank, if that matters.

Anyone using frozen donor sperm - How did you inseminate? It seems like the syringe method is most popular. I'm most concerned about finding the right size syringe. I've heard that the vials are really tiny, so I want to make sure I get a syringe the right size (to hold the sample and to fit inside the vial to collect it) any advice?
If you used a soft cup, what method? Syringe to cup? Or just placing a cup after using the syringe?

We bought 6 samples total, and we are trying to figure out how many to use this cycle.

Is two inseminations enough, or should we try 3?

If we did two, we planned to inseminate a few (10? 18?) hours post +OPK and then about 24 hours after +OPK.
I think that if we did three inseminations, when should we plan to inseminate?

There is so much information out there that it's easy to become overwhelmed.

Hey Artemisttc,

If you are going to use frozen sperm, you should consider not doing at-home-insemination but going through a fertility clinic instead. The frozen sperm is only "good" for 12 hours or so and so your timing needs to be REALLY precise... the sort of precise you are only going to get by having ultrasound monitoring of your ovulation.

Your odds of frozen at-home insemination working are probably only 3% a month. It bumps up to closer to 15% with IUI (and exact monitoring). Using fresh sperm it is more like %20 (depending on your age) and you don't have to be as precise with the timing since fresh sperm lives 2-3 days.

I'm sure that is not what you want to hear... clinics and sperm are expensive. My opinion is that given the odds of success, buying frozen sperm for home insemination isn't worth it - it could work, but it might take a lot of tries and a lot of luck. If you do decide to go ahead, then I would just do one, or two vials a month at most. The amount in the vials is small (about 1/3 the amount as if you used fresh sperm) - it is plenty if you are doing IUI, but won't seem like much doing it at home. If you proceed, you should visit your doctor and get a small syringe (3ml) and catheter tube (thin tube that connects to the syringe), and have your partner use a speculum and the syringe plus tube to get the sperm right on your cervical opening. That would probably be your best chance at making it work.

Good luck!

 

[RubyRainbows]

Hello ladies!! So glad to see familiar names still on here!!

Good luck Luna!!!

We just inseminated a few hours ago!! Was planning to do it tomorrow but expecting more snow, so had to bump it up a day. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

 

[RubyRainbows]

Nimyra - I can't believe Maya is already 4!! Crazy how fast time flies!! Maya & Sunny - great names!

 

[LunaBean]

Good luck!! Ive just had a faintttt bfp at 9dpo, and boobs are so sore, but we'll see! May be a chemical, its a waiting game!! Cant post pix from my phone!