Intro...Home Insem Questions

Mushroom79 · March 2012

Ok, so I'm a straight married girl seeking advice on home inseminations! My husband suffers from a condition called delayed ejaculation, so we are experimenting with home insem. I'm on cycle 2 now. I have lurked on this board for a bit and have seen some useful info, along with Dr Google. Wondering if any of you fine ladies had some expertise or advice on techniques, strategy etc...? I get my sperm for free whenever, which is a huge plus, but I want to do it right! Such a difficult, challenging situation, but exciting at the same time. My husband is awesome and very participatory lol.

Last month we used a baby medicine syringe and cup, laid on pillows etc.... I did not really track my cycle well, so wasn't that surprised to see BFN. Now I am loaded with OPKs and Preseed and I'm at CD5.

Anyway, if anyone has any insight, I would love to hear! And good luck to all of you on your TTC/family endeavors! I'm aware it's odd for me to post on this board, but I welcome all advice, from all angles!

Mushroom79 · March 2012

To add...it's surprising that there are few boards on this topic...not just Bump but on the internet. If you have good links, send them my way!

hlke · March 2012

I'd be interested to hear people's experiences too. I know we have a few ladies on the board who have done home insemination.

At the very least, I should be able to report back from our appointment on April 10th, where we are going to talk to the midwives about home insemination.

jennicole85 · March 2012

I don't really have any advice, as we're in the beginning of the TTC process as well, but I am curious to see how others on this board were successful.

I'm finding a lot of contradicting information on which day(s) is(are) best to inseminate. Some say that you should inseminate when you get your first + OPK and others say that you should wait until the end of your LH surge. I guess I'm just confused.

Any information would help myself as well.

Welcome to the board, Mushroom! You beat me to a question that I was going to ask as well

Mushroom79 · March 2012

From what I know...if you have available semen, it's best to inseminate 1-3 days prior to ovulation and after as well. If you are using donor (which it seems many on here may be doing) OPKs and temping are key. I'm more worried about the syringe technique and not damaging the sperm. A lot of women swear by soft/instead cups too, but those freak me out for some reason.

ball.and.chain · March 2012

jennicole85:
I'm finding a lot of contradicting information on which day(s) is(are) best to inseminate. Some say that you should inseminate when you get your first + OPK and others say that you should wait until the end of your LH surge. I guess I'm just confused.

I haven't done at-home insems, but when I was working with midwives we were just using OPKs for timing, and they would have me come in one day after a +OPK. So if I got a + on Tuesday morning, my IUI would be on Wednesday. I believe they said if you get a +OPK at night rather than in the morning, you should consider that the following morning (in other words, if you got a +OPK on Tuesday night, you'd inseminate Thursday). I only did single IUIs per cycle, but for those who did two they did them the day of the positive OPK and the day after (so + on Tuesday morning = 1 IUI on Tuesday and 1 IUI on Wednesday).

I did not get pregnant with them but plenty of other people have, including 3 (?) on this board!

I'm sure those who have actually done insems at home will have more to add...

ETA: Timing is different with fresh vs. frozen sperm. Because frozen doesn't live as long, you have to get as close to ovulation as possible.

Mushroom79 · March 2012

Changing subject line = more answers hopefully? Smile

LolaBelle515 · March 2012

Such an exciting time--congrats!

We did at home inseminations with fresh sperm. I'm not sure I have much to offer though--what you're doing sounds similar to what we did:)

We DID hear that fresh sperm can be "more productive" in the morning, so we tried to always have a morning insemination. That's one thing to consider.

As for tracking, my wife swears by the book "Taking Charge of your Fertility" which helped her feel more confident that we were inseminating at the most opportune time...even when the OPK wasn't positive. The OPKs are great tools, but they can also drive a person crazy. Since you have "access to fresh sperm" (ha!), don't be afraid to try if your body is telling you yes, even if the OPK hasn't said yes yet. Fertilityfriend.com is a very helpful tool for tracking your cycle month to month.

I'm not a doctor or an expert and everyone's body and experience are different, so the above is just my one experience...but it worked for us. If you have specific questions in the future, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck!!!

mypalbabs · March 2012

We're doing at-home insemination using a technique taught to us by our midwife. We put the sperm in what is known as a "tomcat catheter", which is attached to a syringe. This is actually injected slightly into the opening of the cervix, as opposed to the general vaginal area. (It helps the sperm along their journey, since they don't have to make the swim through the vagina and up into the cervix!)

It requires some training, though. We use a speculum so that I can find the opening in my partner's cervix for good placement. It's tricky and takes some practice.

We got the training (and the supplies, including re-usable speculum) from our midwife.

PS - It also really helps to chart your temps and other signs of fertility. Timing is important. I recommend (as someone mentioned above) reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility and also using Fertility Friend, which is a free, online charting tool.

Mushroom79 · March 2012

Thanks ladies! I have heard of the catheter method, but I think the semen has to be "washed" (?) I think this month, I will try to lay down longer (I was to impatient last month) and I'm going to "collect" from MH as much as possible! Just going with the flow like this for 6 months, then it's off to a RE.

mypalbabs · March 2012

Mushroom79:
Thanks ladies! I have heard of the catheter method, but I think the semen has to be "washed" (?) I think this month, I will try to lay down longer (I was to impatient last month) and I'm going to "collect" from MH as much as possible! Just going with the flow like this for 6 months, then it's off to a RE.

Sperm only needs to be washed if it is injected into the uterus (known as IUI). If you're entering it into the very beginning of the cervical canal (ICI), you can use fresh sperm (no washing required). Hope that makes it more clear.

PS - You can't really do ICI alone - you'll definitely need your DH to help! I have found this is really, really empowering - because I'm doing the actual impregnating!

MplsMeg · April 2012

Temping was critical in knowing when to inseminate. If we had just went with our OPK results we would have had an insanely narrow window. @mypalbabs has already mentioned some good resources for that.

Some tips from my home ICI experience:
- Go for the double "O", one before to open things up and one after to move things along
- Hang out for a while...I was antsy to get up too, but convinced myself to stay laying down for a full 45 minutes

The biggest thing is to try and stay relaxed. Good luck!

mypalbabs · April 2012

deegadee9:
We just got "The New Essentials Guide to Lesbian Conception, Pregnancy, and Birth" and it has a ton of info on how to do at home insems with fresh sperm. Including timing and how-to's. Reading a book with Lesbian in the title might not be ideal for you, but the info is great. Maybe you could get it on kindle . Hope this helps!

We have read the New Essentials Guide, and it's one of those books where you have to take what is helpful and just leave the rest.

(This book says, for example, that you get one bonus fertile day a month when the moon is in the exact phase it was on the day you were born... regardless of where you are in your cycle. That's not possible!)

hcpprincess · April 2012

My partner and I inseminated at home using fresh sperm and the tomcat syringes mentioned by one of the other responders. We got our syringes via the internet without a doctors consent. You can also get them from vets if you happen to know someone. We found using a speculum too involved and clinical so we did not do a true ICI but just got the sperm close to the cervix. We did use an instead cup which was not comfortable but did seem to keep the semen near the cervix so it couldn't hurt conception. We used OPKs for months in advance and did the insem 3 days in a row prior a couple days prior to when we expected the positive OPK. Fresh sperm can live up to 5 days inside the reproductive tract so we figured it may help to have some of the little guys hanging out when that egg got ready. And it did!!! We got pregnant on the first "try" at 30 years old. I also recommend "The complete guide to conception for lesbians."

Best of luck to you!

Mushroom79 · April 2012

Thanks for all of the awesome advice ladies. I may check that book out sometime. I think for now, I'm just going to stick with the OPKs (I'm fairly regular anyway), and we'll insem every other day, or maybe every day until I'm past O. I am lucky in the sense that I have it at my disposal every day, and not from a donor, and MH doesn't seem to mind giving it up hehe!

My FW starts any day now, so wish me luck. Best wishes to all of you!

Intro...Home Insem Questions

Re: Intro...Home Insem Questions

Choose Another Board

Search Boards