Artificial Insemination - The Pro's and Con's

If you are thinking about intrauterine insemination and your husband is finding it a bit difficult to accept that it is ok for you to do, then you are not alone. Buster, my husband found it a bit hard at first. He tended to think that it wasn't natural.

I didn't pressure him, we just talked it over and the more we talked, the more we both realised that it was the obvious next stage. It wasn't working for us the other way and it will only make things worse prolonging it, so we took the plunge. Once Buster had all the facts and thought about it, he came to accept that it was still his tadpoles that were going to (hopefully) fertilize the egg, he was ok about it.

Once Buster had 'done his stuff' into a lovely little container, like the one in the picture, we only had an hour to get it to the clinic. One hour - that's it. We had to get it to the clinic no later than 12.30 that day. Buster went to work in the morning and left Brisbane at 11. This got me panicking that he wouldn't make it home in time, but he did.

It was a case of pushing him straight into the bathroom with pot in hand and saying you have 10 minutes ! Sure is a way of killing the passion, hey ? Once he had done it, I had to get it to the clinic, so off I went.

When I arrived at the clinic the pot was taken

and given to a guy there named Peter who to be

honest I hadn't had much dealings with up until

that point. He asked me to go with him into his

office whilst he took a look. Well, when in there

he put 'the stuff' under a microscope. It was

amazing to watch. There were loads of tadpoles

there, some were just stood still, but some

were swimming around like crazy. He said

that these were the good ones.

I couldn't believe how magnified he was

able to get 'the stuff' in such a short space

of time. Technology today just astounds me.

I then left the clinic until later on when the

intrauterine insemination would take place.

In this time the tadpoles would be washed.

The washing will help to get rid of the dead or slow moving tadpoles. It can also get rid of additional chemicals that can impair fertilization.

Washing is neccessary with intrauterine insemination because if it is not washed then it will contain the chemicals called prostaglandins. These chemicals can cause muscular contractions and pain. If it was inserted into the uterus raw then it could cause severe pain and discomfort and may even cause the uterus to collapse.

I had my appointment for the insemination at 3.15 the same day as the drop off. It was a case of lying on a bed in the same position as when having a smear. (Nothing is sacred when trying for babies, lol). The intrauterine insemination itself was done with a catheter, not the type of catheter that is used for other things such as bladder control after a C-Section. Don't be alarmed it was really thin. It didn't cause much discomfort at all. In fact it was all over in 15 minutes.

Paul Stokes informed me that the tadpoles were 80% (whatever that means). He said that they were medium to high, which was good, but not as good as a previous sample. I told him that we had actually done the baby dance last night as recommended by Jane, Pauls assistant and he said that this was probably the reason why it was a bit lower. Then he asked me a few more questions and when he found out that we had abstained for 2 weeks prior to the night before, he told me that it was right that we had done it last night.

He told me if we needed to go again next month (please no) that it was best to start baby dancing every second day from around day 7 or 8. Why tell me now ?????? Anyway, he said there were still plenty of strong swimmers in there to get the job done.

The Waiting Game - we should be used to it by now, hey ? The next thing is that in a weeks time I go for a blood test - I think that this is to confirm that yes, I did ovulate. Then a week after that, I have an appointment with Paul Stokes - to see how we went on (his words).

Two weeks does sound like a long time, but to be honest I have got so much to do in those 2 weeks it will fly, it always does. Just hoping for some good news. Time will tell....

That's right, as the picture says a big, fat NO. The first month of Intrauterine Insemination was unsuccessful. Well, when I say unsuccessful, I did ovulate well - I had the best results that I have ever had with that (determined with a blood test), but no pregnancy. I have picked up the pieces of my emotions and now I am feeling ready for this next month, so here we go again....

I have paid the $800 and we are now on day 5 of this month. My fertility guy, Paul Stokes says that maybe we did the Intrauterine Insemination a smidgen too early last month, so this month I am only just starting to take the Serophene today (2 days later). The appointment for my scan is next Tuesday, so hopefully we will see a couple of follicles there. I will keep you informed. Wish me luck :)

Following on, I am now on day 17 of my cycle and have still NOT ovulated. Last month I ovulated on day 12 ! My temperature chart looks like the rocky mountains too. I even contacted the fertility clinic on day 11 which was the day before my scheduled scan because from reading my temperature chart it looked like I had ovulated. They got me in for a scan that day that showed 1 little follicle. This meant that I had either ovulated or was not ready to ovulate, aarrgghh ! They booked me another appointment for day 15 to see how that follicle would grow.

On day 15 the scan confirmed that yes the follicle had grown and was now up to 15mm. I was asked to go in for another scan on Monday to see how it grows in the next 3 days. I was also given a testing kit that I have to do at home on day 17 to detect whether or not an LH surge is present. Of course the test involves weeing in a pot (see pic above) - don't they all ?

I did question my fertility guy, Paul Stokes though because last month when I had the artificial insemination and he waited until my follicles were 21mm before giving me the HCG shot he did comment that maybe they had done it a little late. Well, bearing in mind that he has already told me that follicles grow around 2mm per day I hope that giving me the HCG on day 18 will not be too late. I telephoned him to voice my concerns after the appointment (isn't it funny how as soon as you leave an appointment you have questions?) and he assured me that the timing will be right. I just hope that he is not delaying because it is over the weekend, so that they don't have to go into clinic over the weekend. I have to put my trust in him, but bearing in mind the treatment costs $800 per month I want to give it the maximum chance of working.

The intrauterine insemination didn't work on the second time around either - aaarrgghh (sorry, just had to do that). Anyway, this month I went in to see Paul and he wants us to try again but accompanied this time with injections and not clomid. So I now have a needle and am injected myself every night - things we do, hey ? It's also a bit more complicated this month aswell because Buster is working away, so as you may have seen on the previous video, so we have had to freeze his tadpoles.

I have my appointment booked in the next couple of days to determine whether any follicles are showing to be growing nicely. I have created a lens on the injections (as you can see below) but I will return here later - hopefully with good news.

When I went back in to see Paul Stokes on day 14 for a scan to see how my follicles were developing, we saw that one follicle had grown to 18mm. They then did a test to look for a surge of hormone that would show that I was close to ovulation. The test was positive, so I then had the HSG shot to just give it that bit of extra boost.

The next day I went in for the artificial insemination (really hoping for the last time) and he checked the follicle and found that I was actually ovulating at that time, so timing wise it's perfect. The only thing that was going against us is that we have used frozen tadpoles from my hubby this month because he was working away at the crucial time and this did affect the motility a little, but trying to think positive thoughts :)

The gonal f injections didn't work and we have had enough. We are changing direction completely and trying natural fertility treatment. No more drugs ! My homeopathic lady has us both on lots of supplements, herbal remedies and vitamins which are aimed at getting us back on track with stress levels aswell as aiding conception. I have a good feeling about this, wish us luck. I have created a lens on our Natural Fertility Treatment which you can find below :

Squidoo is my favourite place on the web. It's easy to make friends and it's just a lovely community of talented folk here willing to help newbies. The modules that you are given to work with make lensmaking easy and fun. So go have fun and Click here to Make Your Lens today