# Trouble conceiving with donor



## zebby (Apr 23, 2006)

Is anyone else out there doing donor insemination at home and having trouble conceiving? We're using fresh donations from a known donor and after 10 cycles (2 inseminations per cycle) I'm now 13 dpo and my temperature's dropping like a stone.   
Does anyone else have any experience of this? After the pain of finding out DH had absolutely no chance of being a dad it's now looking like it's me. I'm having a small fibroid removed this month but apart from that everything seems to be operating as it should. I'm really on planet low.


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## nismat (Mar 7, 2005)

I'm so sorry that it's not working out for you  

Has your donor had recent tests for his sperm count/motility? I presume that you already checked this out, given that you're using a donor because DH has no sperm. Technically, 10 cycles without conceiving is still within the "normal" range (given that couples are generally only treated for fertility issues by their GP after trying for 12 months, but it must be so upsetting that it hasn't worked yet. And the chances are, after 10 goes, there probably is something else causing problems. 

Did you get your fertility checked out at the same time as you discovered DH's problem? i.e. hormone levels, tubal check such as an HSG to make sure that there aren't any blockages etc.? I don't know much about fibroids, but I think that they can have quite an impact on fertility. 

Hope that someone else is able to offer some more constructive help, but just wanted to send you a hug.  

Tamsin


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## AnneD (May 9, 2005)

Hi Zebby,

I'm so sorry you're not having any success.  We had treatment through a clinic and the sperm they used at the clinic was specially prepared and 'washed' (whatever that means   ) so that it was suitable for treatment.  Also when we moved from un-medicated treatments to medicated treatments the sperm was treated differently again - apparently to leave only the vital cells in order to maximise chances of pregnancy.  Non-medicated cycles were no good for me because the stress of treatment messed my cycle up and they ended up being mis-timed but with the medicated cycles we were able to control ovulation which increased our chances and most importantly it worked.  Is there any way you could have treatment with the same donor through a clinic?  I think it could increase your chances substantially.

Anne x


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## zebby (Apr 23, 2006)

I've had my fertility checked out and apart from the fibroid everything seems fine. In fact, my doctor's said that in a normal situation (ie: not using donor sperm) he wouldn't suggest removing it yet. I have a pretty short cycle (25 to 27 days) but no one seems to think that's a problem as it's always 14 days from the first LH surge to AF (ie: no luteal phase problem). We haven't had the donors sperm checked because he has two kids both of whom were conceived on the first try (lucky them). Also, we can't have any medicated cycles as since it's a donor they need to do a 6 month quarantine period first to check that he doesn't develop any nasty diseases (silly really as if he had any I'd have them already). We're just starting that process now - thank God our donor's so understanding. If we'd gone for an unknown donor we'd never have had to go through this but I guess everything's easy in retrospect - we really thought that it would be a matter of a few months given it all looked so good for me and that's the worst thing. There doesn't really seem to be any good reason why it shouldn't have worked.


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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

zebby I can empathise with you, I was trying with my known donor and close friend, and after 3-4 months I got inpatient and we went off to the clinic for help and advice as I thought it must be my age- only to discover that he had a low sperm count and we need ICSI ot try and cenceive - totally unexpected and a bombshell, as he has a very healthy lifestyle etc.  

We did have all the Sexual health tests before we started. Like you say you do need to quarantine the sperm at a clinic, but thinking about it I wish I had gone down the clinic route straight off as I wouldn't have wasted time and also it takes the pressure of you both, they could also just help with timing of when to do AI- the time does fly by, you could approach  a clinic for advice and bank the sperm and still continue trying at home.  If you think up to 30 % of men now have IF and 30% of couples unexplained it it a lottery!  However most couples take time to conceive.
Best of luck


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## zebby (Apr 23, 2006)

I totally agree - I wish I'd gone down the clinic route first too but since I'd already had the most obvious checks and everything looked fine AND our donor has two kids (three pregnancies with his partner) all of which were conceived on the first attempt it's pretty unlikely there's anything wrong with him. Still we have the first clinic appt next week as well as the hysteroscopy for the fibroid so we're at least starting over and we'll continue the way we are in the mean time. I don't think it can be a timing thing as I've been religiously using ovulation predictors for the whole time. as I'm sure lots of people here think it's a case of WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME??


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## Marielou (Oct 18, 2003)

Zebby - I havent got anything else to add, but I wanted to wish you the best of luck    and I hope you get your BFP soon.

Marie xx


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## ynwa18_92 (Sep 2, 2006)

Hi there zebby i'am lisa my girlfriend emma and i have tryed a few times at home with a friend donor but sadly like you nothing we have been to the hospital and had donor sperm to but emma had all the checks and she was fine,, we sterilize everything before and after and did it for 3 days in a row but still nothing,, sorry i wasn't very helpfull to you take care lisa xx


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