TWW SYMPTOMS

Max01

Hello girls, just wanted to share and hopefully receive some input as well. I am currently on my TWW from Second IUI.1st TWW felt lots of cramps and had spotting at day number 2, experienced mood swings and major breast tenderness, I could have swear I was pregnant by the way I was feeling but blood work came negative. This time during 2nd TWW have only felt minor cramping during day 1&2 and feeling tired and sleepy. Going for blood work on 9/12 and hopefully positive pregnancy results... I would love to hear about your symptoms during the TWW, good luck to all!

ShalDr1234

First TWW, my wife experienced cramping in the beginning, but first try was negative. Just got through our second TWW and my wife did not experience cramping but breast tenderness and what she thought might be the beginning of morning sickness. AF showed up for a day and disappeared which she usually sticks around for a week. Two negative tests but the doctor sent her in for a blood test today. If the results are negative, then we will press on to try #3. Best of luck to you on your journey!

ans17

We just had our second IUI and are back to the TWW. As far as the the first IUI TWW symptoms she had a lot of cramping but we think it was just the progesterone. Best of luck to everyone...

Firsttimetxmoms

Hey ladies. I'm on my 4th TWW. It never gets easier. I haven't had too many symptoms in the past... just the normal breast tenderness and cramps leading up to AF.

We had back to back IUIs on Tuesday and Wednesday. I feel confident in our timing this month and have my fingers crossed!! !

Best of luck to you all.

ShalDr1234

Best of luck to everyone! Our second try was a no go. So far we have done 2 IUI's at the clinic. We have decided to give ICI at home a try. We feel like our timing may be off and the environment and stress is up from the clinic environment. Currently on cd9 and next Tuesday or Wednesday should be the day. Blessings to everyone on this journey!

nichtrin

I am 4dpiui and I haven't had any noticeable symptoms with this IUI. I believe I am currently on my 6th IUI (I lost count). This is our last chance so I am really hoping for a BFP. However, other IUI's I have had cramping, breast tenderness, and needing to pee more frequently. So hopefully, no symptoms will be a good thing for me. Wish all of you the best of luck!! I know this can work. I currently have a 3 year old son by this same process... baby dust!

ans17

We are 4dpiui and no symptoms this time around but it seems like everyone has different experiences. I hope we can just all get BFP's. I was wondering if anyone is doing any fertility drugs? We have been doing everything natural and this is starting to really add up so I was wondering if anyone has any advice? Good luck to everyone in this journey. It's been really nice to talk to other couples going through this.

ShalDr1234

No experience with fertility drugs. Our Doctor recommended we try 3 rounds and if no success then to try a low dose fertility drug. We've currently gone 2 rounds of IUI with no success. This time we are attempting ICI at home with 2 vials back to back. Third time's a charm! Baby dust to all of you!

Firsttimetxmoms

I am 4dpiui as well.... haven't really had any symptoms. We have been using Clomid 50mg on days 5-9. This cycle we did 100mg. I've read about people using injections and other supplements but I've only ever used Clomid

ans17

Good luck to everyone in this process and thanks for the feedback. We're on IUI #2 and at least the TWW this time seems a bit easier. It maybe because this time we have a group of other couples going through it at the same time. Let's all try to keep in touch through our journeys. We find out Oct 24, but we probably will try to sneak in a pregnancy test a little earlier lol.

ans17

Good luck to everyone in this process and thanks for the feedback. We're on IUI #2 and at least the TWW this time seems a bit easier. It maybe because this time we have a group of other couples going through it at the same time. Let's all try to keep in touch through our journeys. We find out Oct 24, but we probably will try to sneak in a pregnancy test a little earlier lol.

Firsttimetxmoms

I could probably test on the 25th or 26th.... But I'm due to start on the 27th... Sometimes its just easier to see if I start my period than to see a Negative HPT...

I've done good so far. On day 6dpiui (or 5dpiui if you count by the second IUI we did...). I've managed to stay busy and not think about it as much.

ans17

Any updates from anyone? Hope everyone is feeling well...

ans17

Any updates from anyone? Hope everyone is feeling well...

ShalDr1234

We did back to back rounds of ICI at home on Tuesday and Wednesday so our TWW has started again. This is round 3 for us and we are extremely hopeful. We feel like we had our timing much better this time. Best of luck to everyone!

ans17

@ShalDr1234 what exactly do you guys have to do for ICI? We have been looking into possibly switching things up if this round doesn't work for us.

Firsttimetxmoms

No update here. Still haven't really had any symptoms... so just trying to take it day by day and not stress too much.

ShalDr1234

@ans17

The following information was actually someone else's post (Karen) that we read prior to choosing to try ICI at home. I edited a few things as we actually did two vials about 16 hours apart, but we pretty much followed all procedures from the following individuals post. Karen who originally posted this info is expecting a baby with her wife in November if I remember correctly.

First you guys will want ICI vials. The ICI vials are approximately 1ml vials and contains the sperm and fluid which makes it more likely the sperm can swim up through the cervix into the uterus. The IUI vials are approximately .5 ml and are more concentrated (just the sperm) so it would be more difficult for it to make the swim.

Now that I've been through the process I would say don't stress too much. Stressing out doesn't make the process any easier and it can even lower your chances of getting pregnant. Stress causes physiological changes that are not ideal when trying to conceive and the symptoms of stress can block important signals from your body. I understand that's easier said than done, but looking back I wish I'd been less stressed.

You guys are already ahead of the game and getting a plan together which is very important in lowering that stress level and increasing your chances.

I would suggest starting on prenatal vitamins as well as tracking ovulation. Prenatal vitamins are good because they provide important nutrients that help prepare your body for the "work" of pregnancy and strengthen the uterus and womb environment. A healthy body is a happy body and a happy body is more likely to conceive.

Knowing your cycle is probably the best way to get the timing for the insemination right and that's where tracking your ovulation comes in handy. That will tell you if your cycle is regular or not and when you are likely to ovulate. All of the test kits come with directions on how to use them and read the results. We also tracked changes in my wife's vaginal mucus to help determine ovulation. If you're not familiar with how mucus changes during ovulation, then search youtube for a video called Conception 101: decoding your cervical mucus. We found this video to be very educational and hope that it helped us get our timing right. Also, don't let the tests make you question what you're feeling because you are the expert on your body.

As for our process, the vials are good for seven days in the cryobank container so we ordered our vials so that it would be here the day before my wife would ovulate. California Cryobank has all of their shipping info on the website, but basically you can do one or two day shipping. We chose the two day because it was cheaper. When we did our insemination we used two vials and inseminated approximately 16 hours apart. We used the at home ovulation kit to track ovulation and tracked the changes in my wife's vaginal mucus to determine our timing. The sperm is only viable for about 12 to 24 hours so that's why timing is important and most people choose to do 2 vials for two separate inseminations.

When my wife gave the green light, she laid down on our bed with her hips slightly elevated and we placed pre-seed lubricant into her following the package directions. Pre-seed is a really cool goop that mimics the fluid naturally created by the body during ovulation and it's supposed to help lubricate the vagina and make the journey easier for the sperm. It is not a lubricant for sexy times. Once the pre-seed was in there, I started thawing the vial following the directions provided by CCB (15 minutes in ambient body temperature water). While the little guys thawed we fooled around until our sperm timer went off. I removed it from the water and inverted the vial a couple times to mix the stuff (per CCB instructions) and then had my wife hold it while I opened it and used a 1cc syringe (ordered like 20 or so on Amazon for like $6. I would suggest the same kind we got where the plunger has a tip on it that forces all of the liquid out of the syringe tip unlike regular ones. She continued to hold the vial while I slowly (according to other things I read it's very important that it be done slowly) expelled the sperm into her. I then took her diva cup (silicone menstrual cup) and rubbed pre-seed inside it and sat it in a bowl with the vial, cap, and syringe in it to catch any stray liquid. Then we did the dirty (no touching the lower lady bits for obvious reasons) and after the big O my wife inserted the diva cup and laid on the bed with her hips elevated for about two hours. She then kept the diva cup inside her until the next morning. We repeated the process the next day, approximately 16 hours after the occurrence of the first procedure. From what I've read on the website two is the recommended number of vials to use, but like I said before trust yourself.

I hope this information helps and that you guys get your BFP very soon. I'm certainly no expert at this procedure and would recommend doing your research and having a game plan before trying it out. I can say that my wife and I truly found it to be more relaxing and more intimate. Please don't hesitate to ask further questions if you have them. I know I had concerns about opening the cryotank, what it looked liked and what I needed to do to retrieve the sperm. It can be intimidating when you don't know what the inside of the tank looks like and you have spent so much money on the product inside. I'd even be willing to email with further information if you're interested. Best of luck!

ans17

@ShalDr1234 thank you so much for all of the info. We have been wondering what exactly the process is and this was a wonderful explanation.

@Firsttimetxmoms that is the best thing you can do. The last couple days have been really hard for us and we have two days left. I felt like the first week was the easiest.

We took an early pregnancy test and had a very faint blue line but I've heard of false positives so its hard and my wife is having a lot of cramps now the last two days. I'm not sure if this is normal. Best of luck ladies...

ans17

Happy to report we got the BFP. I hope everyone gets the same this round...

Firsttimetxmoms

Congrats!!! So excited for you. Hoping we have the same a bit later this week

ShalDr1234

@ans17

Congratulations!! So excited for your family. We have one more week before we can test.

ans17

Thanks @Fitsttimetxmoms & @ShalDr1234... We're so excited and we go back to the Dr Thursday to HCG levels. The first one was 256. I'm hoping you both have the same this round. Please let me know what happens with both of you.

Firsttimetxmoms

@ans17 If you don't mind me asking...what was your timing of your IUI in relation to your LH Surge?
I'm just trying to remind myself thay we had good timing and I just have a few days left...
I got my surge at 2 on a Tuesday and we did our first IUI that day (around 4pm) then a second one 24 hours later

ans17

@Firsttimetxmoms so we did one IUI 24 hours after the LH Surge. My wife had her surge Monday morning and Tuesday morning we did the IUI. It sounds very similar to us except you guys did two. I'm crossing my fingers for you and ShalDr1234. I also want to say I think it also helped picking a donor with strong numbers.

Firsttimetxmoms

Which donor did you guys use? We have been using 14002.

I could technically test today... I'm 14/15dpiui... But... I just want to wait to see if I start.

My nipples have been quite sore/sensitive for the past few days. And this morning, I have been getting nauseous off and on, but nothing too bad.

ans17

It's funny because we only started two months ago with donor #14458 and he had no pregnancies. A couple weeks ago it was reported he had one and he sold out within a week. He had 60 million and 21 million after motility. We tested at home 10/11pdiui when it came up positive. Let me know what happens...sending you positive vibes..

Lex07

ans17 YESSS!!!!! CONGRATS

Firsttimetxmoms

WOW! those are great numbers. I think the highest we had during all of this was 15 million after wash. But the motility % was pretty decent.

ans17

@Lex07 Thank you we're so excited.

@Firsttimetxmoms I meant 21 million after the wash. I'm still learning all the terms lol. When do you find out?

Firsttimetxmoms

I figured! haha
I think I'm going to test in the morning.... nervous and excited.