at-home ICI - does anyone have experience?

mypalbabs · February 2012

My partner and I are TTC. Right now, we're charting (temp, CP, CM, plus OPKs) and plan to start with at-home ICI.

Can anyone share their experiences?

Was is difficult to get the sperm bank to release to a home address (we'll be working with a midwife during the pregnancy, but she doesn't do ICI or IUI). We'll only work with a RE if we're unsuccessful after a handful of cycles.

Did you thaw on the counter, or use a more sophisticated method?

Really, anything at all you'd be willing to share would be helpful.

(And in case I was supposed to do an intro post... Hello, my name is Babs. My partner and I have been together over five years. We're planning to start a family. My partner will be the carrier. We're super excited!)

mypalbabs · February 2012

And I can now see that a very similar conversation is already taking place... I'll go check that out!

betsykerry1 · February 2012

I did an IUI at my OBs office. I wouldn't jump straight to an RE if you don't get pregnant with an ICI, there are quite a few OB docs who do IUIs a lot and have good results.

mypalbabs · February 2012

betsykerry1:
I did an IUI at my OBs office. I wouldn't jump straight to an RE if you don't get pregnant with an ICI, there are quite a few OB docs who do IUIs a lot and have good results.

We're meeting with a potential midwife next week who does general OB care in addition to L&D. We're hoping she also does IUI, but won't know until our meeting.

In good news, my partner showed all signs of having ovulated this month (yay!) so we'll be on track to begin TTC in a cycle or two.

Jazibel · February 2012

My wife and I did an at home ICI with fresh donor sperm for our October cycle and were successful (we did one insemination 4 days in a row from the earliest darkish line on the OPK - but we knew that fresh sperm lived 4 days so we started early) My temp spiked on the 5th morning (if memory serves me..).

We used OPKS, CM, BBT among other things to monitor fertility. And for the ICI procedure used egg whites (there are some great resources on what to do using egg whites if you google it) but I think we left the egg at room temperature for an hour, and separated the yolk from the whites,using only the whites as lubrication (and supposedly it feeds the sperm too thereby keeping them living longer). We also used a speculum, head lamp (oh yeah sexy - lol), syringe and catheter which we purchased online (fertility supplies online.com I think). The catheter we placed into the opening but not too far (this is what my DW told me at least). We had tried IVI's in the past with just a syringe and were not successful, but getting the sperm into the cervical opening and keeping it there with an instead cup seemed to help. I also had an orgasm each time. (FYI - I'm not sure if that is recommend with frozen or not - I've read different opinions). Then lay there resting for about 15 minutes or so.

Anyway hope this helps. Good luck!!!

mypalbabs · February 2012

Jazibel:
My wife and I did an at home ICI with fresh donor sperm for our October cycle and were successful (we did one insemination 4 days in a row from the earliest darkish line on the OPK - but we knew that fresh sperm lived 4 days so we started early) My temp spiked on the 5th morning (if memory serves me..).
We used OPKS, CM, BBT among other things to monitor fertility. And for the ICI procedure used egg whites (there are some great resources on what to do using egg whites if you google it) but I think we left the egg at room temperature for an hour, and separated the yolk from the whites,using only the whites as lubrication (and supposedly it feeds the sperm too thereby keeping them living longer). We also used a speculum, head lamp (oh yeah sexy - lol), syringe and catheter which we purchased online (fertility supplies online.com I think). The catheter we placed into the opening but not too far (this is what my DW told me at least). We had tried IVI's in the past with just a syringe and were not successful, but getting the sperm into the cervical opening and keeping it there with an instead cup seemed to help. I also had an orgasm each time. (FYI - I'm not sure if that is recommend with frozen or not - I've read different opinions). Then lay there resting for about 15 minutes or so.
Anyway hope this helps. Good luck!!!

I've found a few references (including yours) to using an instead cup (or something similar) - I'm fascinated by this. I mean, it makes perfect sense.

I wish we had access to fresh sperm - it enjoys a much longer "shelf life"! But we feel strongly about using an unknown donor and really don't know anyone who would fit the bill (as a donor) even if we were comfortable with a known donor.

Random strangeness: I see signs all over my office building (I work in a medical facility) recruiting sperm donors for the same bank we're working with. It's bizarre to think one of the students/residents/faculty in our building could be our sperm donor.

clairmeij · February 2012

Fascinated reading your at home success story! Congrats!

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