Comments

• bluelinemomma Posts: 16

  August 25, 2016 4:34PM

  Hi May5!
  My wife and I did our insemination at home in March and are currently expecting a little girl in November. I can tell you what we did for our process since I know how hard it is to find any information.
  
  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 unterus. 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. It is also very important to trust your body as well. My wife is very in tune with her body and always knows when she ovulates so she didn't want to do the ovulation tests and just wanted to trust herself and her body. So, don't let the tests make you question what you're feeling because you are the expert on your body.
  
  One thing we did when looking for a donor was try to find one whose blood type matched my wife's. There's not any research or anything to back up our thoughts on this, but I thought I would share it anyway. I think something like 50% of pregnancies end as "chemical pregnancies" or before the woman even knows they are pregnant and we thought that some of those might be the woman's body rejecting a clump of cells with a different blood type and spontaneously aborting the pregnancy. Like I said I've got nothing to back that up, so take it with a grain of salt.
  
  As for our process, the vials are good for seven days in the cryobank container so we ordered our vial 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 only used one vial and inseminated approximately 12 hours after my wife ovulated. The sperm is only viable for about 12 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 (10 minutes in room 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. I can look up the exact ones we used if you want) to suck up all the liquid. 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. Had we done two vials we would have done the second one following the same process the next morning approximately 12 hours after the first one or 24 hours post ovulation. Another woman I spoke with in another thread did two vials and did the first at 12 hours post ovulation and the second 24 hours post. 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 don't know how much you've explored the website, but they provide a lot of information on here (not about the home process, but other important stuff).
  
  I hope this information helps you guys. If you have any other questions, just want to talk about the whole process, or anything I'm happy to help.
  
  Good luck on ya'll's journey!!
  
  Karen

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• may5 Posts: 4

  September 1, 2016 12:17AM

  Karen,
  
  Thank you so much for the response. Right after I wrote that, I finally learned that it is meant to be ICI but it's amazing how difficult it is to find even that information.
  
  Thanks for being so thorough. All of your advice will definitely help.
  
  Best of luck on the baby! November is so soon!
  
  -Mal

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• ShalDr1234 Posts: 29

  October 14, 2016 9:39PM

  Thank you for sharing your success and best of luck with your baby! After 2 failed attempts with IUI at the clinic, we have decided to try ICI at home this coming week. Feeling optimistic about taking what we are considering a more natural, less sterile environment approach. I think we both felt the IUI at the clinic was very impersonal. The staff at our clinic is great, but we are looking forward to an at home intimate setting. Blessings to you both.

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• JoLJonline Posts: 3

  November 16, 2016 5:55PM

  Karen,
  
  This information is so helpful! We're going to try our first in-home ICI in January so we'll follow your instructions to a T. Any chance you can email me the brand of syringe you used? jonie.ellis@gmail.com
  
  Thank you so much!

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