Where to even begin

AmyRehs · January 2012

Hello! My partner and I are TTC this year but have no where to even start! I would be the one carrying the baby and we do not have a donor at this point. Any and all help and resources would be much appreciated. We would like to TTC by October 2012. Thanks!

betsykerry1 · January 2012

I don't know where you're from, but my partner and I are from new England and used new England cryogenics for our sperm donor. We chose to use an unknown donor to help avoid any paternity claims in the future. We chose to do an intrauterine insemination performed by an OB/GYN doc who will also be delivering our daughter in march. There are other options, but we found, based on our research, that an IUI was both the easiest choice and had the best outcomes. The OBs office does a fair number of IUIs and they had the ability to store our samples that we purchased from the cryo bank on site and thaw it for use when we called them to set up our IUI. I charted my ovulation with an ovulation predictor kit and when I got a faint positive on the third tracking month, we decided to give it a shot... We called, made the appointment and are now expecting our first child! The whole insemination took about 12 seconds followed by 15 minutes of lying still. All in all, it says less painful than a pap smear! Good luck!!!

ball.and.chain · January 2012

There's an FAQ at the top of the board that has a lot of helpful info.

They may be mentioned in the FAQ, but I highly recommend reading:

The New Essential Guide to Lesbian Conception, Pregnancy and Birth by Brill

The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians by Pepper

Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Wechsler

It's not a bad idea to start charting your cycles soon -- a few cycles before you plan to start is good because you get a sense of your body/cycles before you start. It will give you a sense of how long your cycles are, if/when you're ovulating, etc. Taking Charge of Your Fertility will help explain that, and Fertility Friend is a good place to track online.

Also, they say you should start taking prenatal vitamins for at least several months beforehand, so you could start those soon if you want.

I have been doing unmedicated IUIs with midwives -- 4 so far and no luck yet. It can take a little while. Stick around -- there is lots of helpful info to be learned from the women on this board! Good luck.

leapgirl8 · January 2012

I would start with looking at the FAQs on this board and checking out some of the books on lesbian conception, since there are of course lots of emotional, financial and legal considerations along with the biological ones. We used this one, but there are several good ones out there. https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Guide-Lesbian-Conception-Pregnancy/dp/1555839401