# IUI donor sperm



## ButterflyHen (Jan 10, 2010)

Hi All, 

I've been looking at the message boards for a while and been on a bit of a rollercoster of emotion. Due to start stimulated cycle for iui tomorrow and have been optimistic, pessimistic, excited and scared reading the posts.

Presently I'm worried I'm not slim and healthy enough and also thinking that I'm paying £1500 for something that looking at the odds probably won't work. Feel like I'm strapped into the cart and about to set off on a really scary fairground ride.

Any advice?


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## Guest (Jan 10, 2010)

Hi ButterflyHen,

I think any treatment leaves us with so many different emotions and I think you should be more worried if you didn't feel that way about trying to make a beautiful new life  . I had 2 donor inseminations without any drugs and I can currently hear the result of that screaming with laughter in the bath with DP upstairs  . DP is now carrying our second child with the same donor but as you can see from my profile info below, it has been a much longer TTC journey with her. I think you need to remember that IUI can work otherwise clinics wouldn't keep offering it as a treatment. Unfortunatley hindsight is a great thing as we would've gone straight to IVF with DP if only we knew BUT for me it was a success  . One thing I would say to you is that you need to take one step at a time on your journey and listen to the wonderful health professionals when they advise what to do next - BUT I hope you won't need to  . Good luck with this cycle


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## ButterflyHen (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks for your reply. I suppose from your experience and the experience of others on the message boards...success comes easier for some than others. Obviously there are many factors that affect fertility but its the big "pot luck" one that un-nerves me.

Good Luck with your pregnancy and thanks for your encouraging words.


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## Jinglebell (Dec 5, 2008)

Hi ButterflyHen,

Why not check out the 'IUI girls TTC' thread and the 'Anyone else using donor sperm?'  thread?  We're all very friendly and you can have a little look at all the signatures to see that there are lots of IUI successes 1st time around.

J x


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## jo36 (Aug 12, 2008)

Hi ButterflyHen,

Moo is right - whatever treatment we endeavour to do will leave elements of doubt and concern, but rest assured IUI can work for lots of people. It worked for me on my 2nd attempt back in 2004, using clomid, and back in the summer of '09 it worked again for us but on our first attempt using no medication. I know it doesn't suit everyone, but unfortunetely we don't have a crystal ball to look into so we have to trust our bodies and our health professionals who are advising us with this treatment. We liked the idea of IUI as it is fairly non-invasive, especially non-medicated. I'm not sure at what point we would have moved onto IVF if IUI hadn't have succeeded, but I suspect we would have at least gone for 3-4 IUI attempts.

Try to remain positive about your IUI cycle, and on the day of the insem try to relax and think positive thoughts of sperm and egg!!! And of course good luck, I really hope it's a good outcome for you. There's no reason it won't work.

  

Jo x


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## M2M (Sep 16, 2009)

Hi ButterflyHen 

You sound like you're feeling pretty much the same way I'm feeling at the moment, though you're further ahead in the process than we are as we're not starting IUI until the Spring. I don't feel that I've been tracking my cycle for long enough to really have an idea of my fertility yet so we want to give it a few months before we start throwing massive wads of money at it!

I think I know just how you're feeling. I see IUI as such a gamble - not just of money but of emotions, too. This forum has helped me immensely and I know that whatever happens, the girls here will be a support, even if I haven't been here very long, don't really know anyone, and have never met any of them face to face. This place is full of lovely people and is probably the friendliest forum I've ever been on.

I keep switching between the hyper excitement mode where I can't wait to get started, and can actually envisage myself pregnant, and then the negative "I'm never going to be a Mummy" mode where I feel completely barren and think I'm too fat, too unhealthy and that my cycle is too erratic to ever make a baby.

But then I just come to a happy medium of "All we can do is try... and keep trying." We know that we're never going to decide that we DON'T want a family, so that means that we have to try to have one until such a time that we either have a family, or we decide that to keep trying is a worse option than a life without children.

It's very scary, though. I keep looking at the stats and thinking about how IUI is kind of like placing a huge bet on something with fairly poor odds, but then you have to remember a few things. IUI DOES work. Of the lesbians I know with children, the two who actually had fertility treatment (as opposed to having the kids from a previous marriage or adoption) had IUI treatment and both of them got pregnant the first time - both used anonymous frozen donor sperm in a clinic. So they both give me hope, even though I don't expect to be as lucky as them and get pregnant first time.

The statistics for lesbians and single women are probably a bit higher than the "general" statistics as a lot of us are coming to IUI treatment with no proven fertility issues other than "I don't have a male partner".

I find that certain things help my positivity levels: visualisation is one of them. It sounds crazy but sometimes I stand in the shower letting the water run over me, close my eyes, and put my hands either side of my tummy, visualising myself pregnant.  I probably made it up but it feels like some sort of meditation and it actually does make me feel more like I am able to grow a baby inside of me, and that my body is "good enough" to do the job.

It's a huge emotional rollercoaster we're embarking on but isn't it exciting?


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## ButterflyHen (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks all - will definately look at iui girls thread.
Feeling much better and more positive.  
Perhaps a touch pmt at last thread.
Slight bumpy start as turned up for USS and endometrial lining too thick and so I'm now day 4 (but technically Day 2 as likely first 2 days are early endometrial shedding rather than AF) so starting injectables today.
Pleased with LWC Cardiff as favourite nurse has been available at all times and we haven't felt rushed as per previous visits.


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## toniandlisa2010 (Sep 7, 2010)

Hi There.
We are new to the site and we are probably posting it the wrong place-sorry If we are!! but have read all the posts mainly on same sex relationships trying IUI. We are at the stage now were we are waiting for the smiley face on the ovulation test and then off to the clinic we go! It is a roller coaster of emotions at the moment, asking the same questions over and over again! Will it wont it work, will we be able to try again will we catch the egg on time!! Only time will tell and we are both trying to be positive but the closer it comes to it the harder its getting! The Manchester Fertility Clinic have been great answering all our questions. We got most of the bloods done on the NHS, we had to pay for 1 test the AMH test which was £80 at the clinic as the doctors didn't do this but it took a huge chunk off our expenses so that was good! Please post anything that relates to us and would love to hear from anybody else in the same situation, 1st time on IUI fingers crossed!


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