At home AI first try unsuccessful--advice?

[lauren726]

Hi everyone! I'm a newby here!

My partner and I were unsuccessful after our first attempt at AI at home on July 2. AF started Friday. We inseminated once with frozen sperm 24 hours after a +OPK, and my BBT rose the next day after insemination (so we must have had it timed pretty well). I need some advice about how to get this right next time (which will be in a couple of weeks)!

One thing that we did not anticipate was how small the vial with the frozen sperm was. We had two different sizes of oral syringes ready, but neither of them were small enough to fit inside the vial, and we didn't have an easy time getting the stuff into the syringe. We didn't want to empty the vial into a larger container because of waste. But we had to sort of turn the vial on its side and try to get the stuff up into the syringe, and it left some in the vial that we couldn't reach, and also a lot of air bubbles in the syringe. Where do you get syringes small enough to get the stuff out of the vial? Or do you pour the stuff into a larger container?

Also, our sperm bank (california cryobank) has instructions to thaw the vial in a water bath. I have since read that water can kill the sperm. Should we be using some other method to thaw the vial? Could we have killed the sperm by using a water bath to thaw it?

I feel like we had it timed really well, and after the insemination I had my hips up for an hour, and nothing came out. I have been charting my cycles for a few months, and I am sure that I'm ovulating based on +OPK's and rise in BBT. Our only problem was the tiny vial/large syringe issue.

Is there something else I should know/be doing to get this to work? Should we order two or more vials next time?

Thanks!

[wehrli]

lauren; we, too, were unsuccessful our first try... as i understand it, it is pretty rare to get it on the first try, especially with frozen swimmers. but i can share our experience with the syringe. we used midwest sperm bank, who provided the syringe. it was a 1cc syringe without the needle. they actually provide a catheter, too, which we used and i think maybe we shouldn't have, but anyway.... we thawed on the bedside table for an half hour, we are going to try waiting longer and maybe putting it in an armpit to bring to body temp next time (this sunday!) i keep reading posts that say to make sure to bring it to body temp. i recommend to not tip the vial as i lost some when i opened it from it being on the cap.
it sounds like your timing was right on, don't be too discouraged, and keep reading here on this sight... there are some really wonderful people with great advice and support!
baby dust to you!

[milletpuff]

I think indigo mentioned the statistic that even if all the planets are aligned and your timing is perfect, you *still* only have a 20% chance of conceiving each cycle. So really the advice would be: keep trying! You're totally normal!

To increase your chances, I would definitely say to do two vials each cycle, as that can make a real difference.

Are the sperm washed or unwashed? If they are washed they have a much shorter life span, so you have to get as close as possible to O. Unwashed live longer and have a bit further to go, so you can insem earlier.

How is your cervical fluid? If you are doing vaginal insems that can make a difference too. How did your CF line up with your OPK/temps?

As far as thawing, we thaw on the counter until the vial can be comfortably touched, then I tuck it in my armpit or cleavage till it's liquid -- usually about 5 minutes? We got syringes from our midwife. We are doing at home IUIs though so we pick up a whole package from here that includes the syringes.

Good luck, and I hope you are in the lucky camp that gets a BFP soon!!

[moonmama22]

Welcome!!!
We too used CA Cryobank - we just did our first at home AI a few days ago - (very, very early Sun. a.m., like 1:00am). I think our timing was good, but my bbt chart was very screwy this month, and I did not get any clearly positive OPKs. With ds, we did the AI at an OBs office, adn were successful the first cycle, so were very very spoiled... I'm not counting on it this time, but I'm a little afraid that dp will think it was because we did it at home.

We had some trouble with the syringe too. It was way too big, but fortunately, the one that we got came with one of those adapters that fits into the opening of a medicine bottle so it can be tipped upside down. I was so nervous tipping the vial upside down, but it did work. If we need a next time, I might spend the extra and order the right kind. That was the thing we probably stressed out about the most, but it seemed to work the way we did it, and I don't think we lost any...

As far as thawing it, I was worried about the water as well. We put just enough water in the contained so that it came up 3/4 of the way, but not to the cap, and I just held it there. I like the idea of just holding it - that's how the OB had us do it when we did it there, but CC said specifically to use a water bath...

Using two vials in each cycle absolutely sounds like a good idea, but we cannot by any means afford two a month. We can hardly afford to do it again next month, so I'm really really hoping we don't have to!!!

Good luck next time - keep us posted!!!

[DJK]

Originally Posted by lauren726

Hi everyone! I'm a newby here!

My partner and I were unsuccessful after our first attempt at AI at home on July 2. AF started Friday. We inseminated once with frozen sperm 24 hours after a +OPK, and my BBT rose the next day after insemination (so we must have had it timed pretty well). I need some advice about how to get this right next time (which will be in a couple of weeks)!

One thing that we did not anticipate was how small the vial with the frozen sperm was. We had two different sizes of oral syringes ready, but neither of them were small enough to fit inside the vial, and we didn't have an easy time getting the stuff into the syringe. We didn't want to empty the vial into a larger container because of waste. But we had to sort of turn the vial on its side and try to get the stuff up into the syringe, and it left some in the vial that we couldn't reach, and also a lot of air bubbles in the syringe. Where do you get syringes small enough to get the stuff out of the vial? Or do you pour the stuff into a larger container?

Also, our sperm bank (california cryobank) has instructions to thaw the vial in a water bath. I have since read that water can kill the sperm. Should we be using some other method to thaw the vial? Could we have killed the sperm by using a water bath to thaw it?

I feel like we had it timed really well, and after the insemination I had my hips up for an hour, and nothing came out. I have been charting my cycles for a few months, and I am sure that I'm ovulating based on +OPK's and rise in BBT. Our only problem was the tiny vial/large syringe issue.

Is there something else I should know/be doing to get this to work? Should we order two or more vials next time?

Thanks!

OK I will tel you what we have learned, although we have only done two rounds. But we have been reading and charting for 8 months. The syringes that have worked the best are the needless syringes 1mm, we got 100 for 15.00 on ebay, kind of hard to find in Hawaii .

Also, it is suggested you use two if not three. 18, 24 and 36 hours from your pos result. Good luck!

[lauren726]

Thanks for the advice!

I ordered a bunch of different sized syringes online, so I should hopefully have one that works next time I think that we'll definitely use two vials. Our only issue is the donor that we liked only had 5 ICI vials available, so we bought all of them, and shortly after, all of his IUI vials were bought by other people, so now he's totally unavailable. I guess we can try two next time, and then we'll still have two for another try if it doesn't work. I just don't want to have to find another donor that we like...

My temps/OPK's/CM were perfect last month...I hope they will be this month as well (but I'm kind of wary, since my temps are kind of high for the beginning of my cycle. They've been around 97.5-97.7, and are usually at 97.0 the first few days; it only dropped slightly, like from 97.8 to 97.5, when AF came)

I'll keep everyone posted. Attempt #2 should happen around next Friday or Saturday (Aug. 1)! Good luck to everyone else trying too!

Lauren

[Defenestrator]

I help a reasonable number of women get pregnant through insemination each year in my fertility practice. Here is what seems to work best for me.

I have the women do OPK testing at 2-3 pm in the afternoon and wait for a dark, dark line. They will sometimes get a weak positive the day before but we are looking for a dark line. Alternatively, some of the women use the clearblue easy monitor and we will inseminate on first and second day of peak.

2 vials, if possible, unless they are from different donors. Two men's sperm will try to kill each other (I am trying really hard not to insert snarky comment here). If you can't afford two per month, consider doing it anyway and skipping months.

First insem is morning after strong positive and second is 12-24 hours after that, depending on symptoms and history of symptoms. I have had a few positives with only one insem on the morning of the temp rise, so not all hope is lost if it rises before you do the insem. I have had much, much better luck with morning insems than evening insems. I think they work better with the natural rhythms of most women's bodies, coupled with the shortlivedness of frozen sperm.

Don't use a speculum while inseminating. It drags out a lot of good sperm when you remove it. (The exception would be for IUI). Some women do have their partners use a speculum to look at the cervix and see if it is open before inseminating, but you should not use it for the insemination itself.

Be careful not to use non-sperm friendly lubricants within a few days of inseminating. This includes large quantities of water or saliva. Saliva on the labia and external genitallia is not harmful, but up near the cervix it can disrupt the environment the sperm need to live.

One of the biggest challenges when you are trying to get pregnant is resisting the urge to tinker with the process too much if it doesn't work. There may be nothing wrong. The very best case scenario with frozen sperm is a 15-25% chance per cycle -- it does add up to most women getting pregnant within 6 months but you could be doing everything right and still not get pregnant in a given month.

Good luck!

[AngelaM]

I just also wanted to add to the very good advice here that for me, sperm count made all the difference in the world. Unfortunately, CCB won't tell you the counts of donors before you buy. I got pregnant twice in six cycles, and both times it was with counts above 50 million. The other four times (in which I did everything else exactly the same) the counts were around 23 million. So for me, sperm count was clearly key.

I used Sperm Bank of California, who will tell you the counts of everyone before you buy. I think that maybe Xytex does too?

Anyway, sounds like you're doing things right. It just takes time. But I personally might consider switching to a bank that will give you the counts...

[spcd]

CCB told us, but only when we specifically asked and had been trying like FOREVER and I wanted to compare a few different donors. And when I called to order, I would specifically ask for the vial with the highest sperm counts. I guess I technically don't know if they did this, but they even wrote it on our packing slip. I too, think the numbers are important. Younger donors tend to have better numbers - not always, but mostly. Our final donor (for our now 1 year old) was born in 1986 - he's a baby! But his swimmers were fast and furious!!

[Jessie123]

It took my 5 tries with at-home AI to conceive, so don't loose hope!

Look into using INSTEAD cups. They are about 7 buckas at Wal-mart and help hold in the "goods" after insemination.

I did not use any fancy equipment - just a baby medicine dispenser bought at the local pharmacy for $2. Use the plunger type - not the bulb kind.

I swore by the ClearBlue Fertilty monitor - it showed me "PEAK" at a day when the regular OPKs showed negative. That happened the month I conceived. I know they are pricey, but soooo worth it if it works!