new here

[Cananny]

Greetings from the Bay area ~

My partner Kass and I are in the process of TTC. We are on our 3 rd round of Home Insem.. She will be the one carrying, as I can not due to PCOS.  

We are using a known donor ( fresh) and have gotten mixed facts about how long fresh semen samples are fresh for? Does anyone have any idea? 

We have been doing OPK ( predicton kits), and she is super regular and knows when she is ovulating. We insem 2-3 times a cycle as our donor lives locally and is very awesome about donating as much as we want.

One thing we are doing is using the soft cup *instead cups* as we have heard great sucess rates with them. .. used a syring the 1st time and that was not great as it all spilled back out~

we could use some guidance and any helpful ideas are welcome.. it is an emotional roller coaster for sure TTC

[Monarchgrrl]

Hopefully you'll get some advice.  I just wanted to say hi from the Bay Area! :)

If I remember I think fresh sperm lives for 3-5 days in the woman's body. I didn't use instead cups and I've heard mixed reviews. We just used a syringe and I kept my hips up on a pillow for 30 minutes. It worked on our second try. I can't say it was or wasn't because of how we did it, though.

GOOD LUCK! Baby vibes coming your way! 

[Cananny]

Thanks  so much!

 Your daughter is beautiful!!!!

[gumshoegirl007]

Yup, second what Monarchgrrl said.  Fresh sperm will live upwards of 5 days inside you.  I believe, however, that Brill recommends doing the insemination within 1 hour of ejaculation.  From the time the sperm leaves the donor till the time you inseminate, it's also recommended to keep it at body temperature (put it in your armpit or between your cleavage).  An orgasm can also help facilitate the process.

We also used a known donor at home and just used a syringe to inseminate.  We inseminated 3 times over 4 days the first month, and got a BFP then.  Totally unexpected and we were very surprised.

[Monarchgrrl]

Thanks, Cananny! Also you might head over to the Queer TTC- March thread in here. Lots of helpful advice and a great place to get support from other queers on the same rollercoaster. I loved that group when I was TTC.