# Has anybody had IUI as a same sex female couple?



## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi, my partner and I have been together for 10 years, we got married last year and have now decided to look into IUI at a local fertility clinic.

We had an initial meeting at the very posh clinic and are due to go for initial tests. It is my partner is the one who is going to be inseminated with donor sperm, I will be the one just holding her hand!

I noticed that the clinic has informed us that I must have a blood test, even though nothing from me will be used and that there is a charge for this and included in this charge is semen and anti sperm analysis, which being female is going to be a difficult test!

There is also a couple of tests that my partner has had with our GP and if she can bring written proof of results, then the tests won't be necessary but there is no reduction is cost. Has anybody else been through this with a private clinic, is this normal?

We are on a tight budget and I want to give ourselves the best chance possible but it seems a little odd that they are charging for tests regardless and I'm a little concerned that maybe these tests will lead to more tests and money.

Thanks


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## Jam&amp;Cream (Jan 27, 2013)

*Molly*, hi, I'd give them a ring and ask if this is correct what they've sent you. I had most of my blood tests done at my doctors and then just paid for my amh which my doctor couldn't do. There's no way I would of paid for something I wasn't having done. Nor would I pay for a semen analysis! If you had some of that you wouldn't be there! 
Best of luck to you both. Xx


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## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi thanks for the reply and the luck, I'm sure we will need it! I did find it odd, I'm not sure if it's the clinic or just the girl we are dealing with as she doesn't seem very on the ball.

I think I will query it, they have put it all together as one charge but surely less tests, should be less cost. I know this is going to be pricey but I am trying to be practical about this and reserve money for actually trying to give us more chances.

Do you know if it is at a GP's discretion if they do the bloods? As our GP would not do them which did annoy me, in fact they were not very interested at all.

Also did the clinic test your partner? I can't understand why we have got to pay for me when medically I'm not donating anything to this.

Thanks for your help and advice.x


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## Kandz12 (Mar 22, 2012)

Hi 

Good luck with it all 

Don't really have an answer but am very interested as we went for an initial consultation at homerton yesterday and they too have requested my female parter has a blood test - again we were left thinking the same as you. I think he said to test for infections (didn't explain any more than that and I was a but shell shocked at how the appointment was so didn't think to ask any more at the time and forms just say fp2 and fp3 which means nothing).  Be interesting to hear if this is routine. 

X


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## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi,

Good luck to you too.x

I have queried it as I am aware of a married couple, who due to fertility problems had to use donor sperm but it wasn't necessary for the male to be tested. The clinic have now confirmed that it won't be necessary,  just got to ensure that they knock it off the bill!


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## mrsww (Sep 1, 2013)

My wife didn't need to do any blood tests she did have to sign parental responsibility forms. I was also able to do most of my blood tests at the GPS and they sent reports to private clinic. GPs also had to give ok that they were fine for me to have treatment.  I did have HyCoSY done at private clinic.  Also our clinic everything is individually priced out so easy for us to keep tabs on spending.

We due for first treatment next week if ovulation arrives on time.


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## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

Good luck.x

We are based in Wales, I'm just wondering inf the Welsh government have a different take on it. We are not opposed to funding it, as it will be a lot quicker but it would have been nice for our GP to offer some help with the tests or at the very least some interest.

I may ask for all the tests / costs to be broken down and see if they will.

Thanks


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## sarahsuperdork (Mar 12, 2013)

Just wanted to add you may need some blood tests - DW was checked for HIV, rubella immunity and some other things I think, even though she was obviously not genetically involved! Definitely ask for a breakdown of the required tests and take this to your GP to see if they will help before you pay out privately.


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## sass30 (Apr 16, 2011)

Hi we did IUI(well i did)
And it was only me that needed blood tests. You dont need tests if your not having anything done. Our dr wouldnt do my tests so we paid clinic.  Id be telling clinic as u do not need them. Good luck


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## sarahsuperdork (Mar 12, 2013)

They do the HIV screening from a welfare of the child perspective, so it doesn't matter that you're not having the treatment personally, you'll still be a parent to the child. Every clinic will probably be different in terms of protocol but that's why mine tested DW.


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## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

Had our first appointment yesterday, I didn't need any tests. All went ok just got to await the results now and then plan the next step!


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## bk2013 (Aug 15, 2013)

we are having IVF rather than IUI but at our first appointment we thought we may be able just to go through the IUI route and my partner wasn't required to do any tests.
but each clinic may have there own set of protocols.
always query anything with your clinic - staff will always be happy to advise.
good luck on your journey
x


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## BroodyChick (Nov 30, 2009)

Wow, SSD, screening a female partner for HIV has got to be the most random thing I've ever heard about fertility treatment!
Just how would anyone's HIV status impact their ability to parent a child? I get why it's offered to pregnant mothers, but a lesbian couple? It's not like the non-pregnant mother could transmit this to her child in any given scenario. Weird...


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## Shatalie123 (Apr 30, 2013)

Hi my partner and I have a little girl through iui. We used a clinic abroad as it was a lot cheaper than the UK and a lot less stressful. Also you shouldn't need any testing if you're not going to carry the baby.


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## sarahsuperdork (Mar 12, 2013)

No idea BroodyChick, it was CARE in Manchester that asked for it when we started off down the private treatment route. DW had all sorts of things she didn't need - though at least we did it through our GP so we didn't have to pay.


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## ♥JJ1♥ (Feb 11, 2006)

I was doing DE and DS cycle in Greece and they checked partner for HIV too, but even if one or both partners are HIV +ve they can have IVF/IUI via sperm washing etc


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## workerbee30 (Mar 5, 2013)

Hi, 
I had exactly the same experience. I have had two cycles of IUI and initially they asked for my female partner to have all sorts of blood tests including HIV and Hep B to ensure she's ok. They needed if for the HFSE I believe to protect the unborn child. In the end I opted to go through this as a 'single' women although my partner was with me every step of the way. 

Best of luck.


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## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi,

Thanks for the replies; I would recommend anybody query if a clinic requests that your partner is to be tested, its an unnecessary test / cost and I'm glad that we did.

We have had all the results back and everything is good to go, we are looking at going for our first iui in a couple of months, fingers crossed it works!

I would be interested in hearing any iui success stories as the % of pregnancies from iui doesn't seem great?

Thanks x


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## zonzoon (Feb 25, 2014)

molly1 said:


> I would be interested in hearing any iui success stories as the % of pregnancies from iui doesn't seem great?
> 
> Thanks x


hi, molly. i know sooooo so many lesbians who have gotten pregnant through IUI (myself included). it took three (stimulated) tries for me both the first and second times, and i was already an old old gal (39&40) when it happened. the second time resulted in a m/c, but they're pretty sure that has to do with egg quality due to age. will your partner be using any kind of ovarian stimulation (clomid or puregon, for example) and will she be using an hcg trigger to time ovulation?

good luck to you both!


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## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, lovely to hear that it can be successful! It did make me worry when I saw how low the success rate was.

We are not using any stimulation, to be honest this was not mentioned by the specialist he just recommended that we use a kit to time the ovulation. We are going to use the kits for a couple of months and log the dates, then once we have got our heads around that we will go for it!

Thanks x


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## BroodyChick (Nov 30, 2009)

Depending on your age and fertility issues I'd always go with IUI first to be honest, I say this as someone who had severe OHSS which was caused by the fertility drugs used in IVF...xx


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## zonzoon (Feb 25, 2014)

molly1 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for the reply, lovely to hear that it can be successful! It did make me worry when I saw how low the success rate was.
> 
> ...


has your DP started temping at all? i ask because when you're doing IUIs with frozen sperm, it's really important to get the timing right, as frozen sperm doesn't live as long as fresh. some women ovulate as early as 12 hours after getting a positive OPK and some as late as 48 hours later. if she temps and use the OPKs for a few months, she can get an idea of how soon after a postive OPK she ovulates and use that to schedule the insemination. there are some good sites and apps for tracking cycles/temps/opks. 
good luck to your both


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## molly1 (Feb 14, 2014)

I stumbled across this site and I'm so glad I did, the support and help on here is fantastic. Thanks to you all, the advice is very much appreciated! x


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