Help please

tigerlilies

I have no idea how all this works, can anyone explain to me how many vials are best to get and approximately how much ( in your experience) and all the procedures from picking out the donor to when they were released inside you.

I'll be doing this soon and I want to inform myself as much as possible from someone who experienced this
Already. Thanks!

tal970

Deciding on how many vials to buy at one time is a personal decision for you to make. For me I would buy anywhere from 2 - 3 at a time. Saves on shipping costs. If I had extra I would have just donated to the fertility clinic. Again picking out the donor is another very personal and hard choice to make. This site does offer allot of info free that some others do not. I made a list of ones I liked on a sheet of paper, then wrote down the characteristics I liked about each of those choices. Reviewed medical history, childhood photos. These things helped me narrow down which donor I wanted to use.

You did not mention if you are doing IVF or IUI. Each are very different paths and sometimes one leads you to the other. The actual date of the IUI or IVF is dependent on your cycle. Some are longer or shorter than others. Also doctors vary on the date they chose to do it. Another factor as to the date of the procdure is if it will be a medicated cycle. If you provide more information perhaps you might get people to reply to the thread.

mamagerdy

We knew we wanted two children with the same donor so we purchased 30 vials and had them in storage because we weren't sure of availability. We decided on a donor that was closest to my husband's physical traits.

There was a bunch of blood work and an HSG that kind of hurt. We were lucky and I didn't have any problems so we could do an IUI. My doctor recommended 2 vials minimum, but 3 for best chances of getting pregnant. I called and had the vials shipped the week I expected to ovulate and then had to take the ovulation prediction test until I got a positive. Then I went the next day for the IUI. We were very fortunate and each IUI worked the first time and we have a beautiful little girl and perfect baby boy. From talking to my doctor, she said it is very rare for the first try to work both times.

We were able to sell back the unused vials and got half the money that we paid for them.

I hope that helps. I wish you all the best and good luck!

tigerlilies

Thank you, this really helps.
I'm just trying to find out how the procedures are and from others experiences. Thanks!

amychild1

Hi Tigerlillies! I wanted to respond on my personal experience. My doctor wanted to start me on fertility medication (letrozole 2.5 mg) since he only does this with patients over 35 (I am now 38) He also told me I only need one vial for accurate timing of IUI procedure. I recommend if you are having an IUI that you track your cycle and buy the ovulation tests. I am getting ready for my 2nd IUI (in about 2 weeks) my doctor will have me take letrozole 2.5 mg on the 3rd day of my cycle and then when I test positive for my LH surge then I will go into my doctor's office for a trigger shot. 24 hrs after that I will go into the office and have the IUI done. My doctor does not work on the weekends so we had to skip last month because the timing would have been on sunday. I hope this info gives you some insight. It is all new to me and I am still learning. Best luck to you!

mamagerdy

I forgot to add, they had me purchase ICI vials and washed and prepared them the morning of the IUI. I don't know if that makes a difference or not in vial numbers recommended so make sure you check which type of specimen they will want you to purchase.

tigerlilies

Ugh good luck to you! I still have a whole year to do this and I can't wait, I'm just trying to gather up as much info as possible.

Thank you for sharing, keep me updated !

tal970

I have only done IUI's, no experience with IVF except what I have read on this forum. Before my doctor would do any IUI's he required multiple tests over a 3 or 4 month period (I'm over 40). Once I got the green light I was able to start the process. I started out on Chlmoid which I have read is very common for doctors to prescribe starting out. I also started out unmonitored, let me explain what I mean by this. I would have an ultra sound anywhere from Day 1 - Day 3 of my cycle, but would not receive another one. I would take ovulation tests at home and call them when I got a spike. They would schedule the IUI the next day. I would also come in on Day 23 for a progesterone test to confirm ovulation. Around my 4th month or so the home ovulation test never came out posititive. From that point on I had what I called monitored cycles. Ultra sounds would happen anywhere from Day 1 - Day 3, then I would come in around Day 12 for another U/S. Would get the trigger shot and the IUI would be the next day. Prog test on Day 23. I did this for 7 cycles. On my 8th attempt I was moved over to injectibles. This is a more intense cycle. You would have to go in every couple of days during the begginng of the cycle for U/S & bloodwork. At some point you would give yourself trigger shot, my IUI's were scheduled exactly 36 hours after the trigger shot. I'm on my 2nd month of using injectibles. I am told the injectible process is similar to what you would go through if you were doing an IVF cycle. Hope this info helps you out.

B4baby

We only bought two vials at a time- of course after we tried each time and it didn't work, we would go back for more only to find that the donor was not available. We didn't really care as much about what the donor looked like. We were more concerned with the medical history of the donor. It ended up working on the third month we tried. Our daughter is now 8 1/2 months old and is just beautiful.

If you will be doing IUI in a clinic, you'll want to purchase vials of the cheaper ICI because they will wash and spin the vial at the clinic for you. The vials for IUI are more for a do-it-at home approach since they have already been washed (which is why they are more expensive).

Also, since you are in the planning stages- I would highly recommend purchasing a clear blue easy monitor with test strips. We used these for three months prior to trying to get pregnant and they were extremely helpful in determining the right time to go to the clinic for the insemination.

Depending on the clinic you use (we used Shady Grove) you will likely need two vials of ICI for each month you try (they like to schedule two inseminations a day apart). Whatever you purchase from Fairfax Cryo can be sold back to them at half the cost - so long as you haven't already had it shipped to your clinic. Which is why we never bought too much too far in advance. However, now that we have our gorgeous little girl, we will be buying more from the same donor so she can have a sibling down the line. We are just going to suck it up and pay for the monthly storage fee.

Best of luck to you! Feel free to ask me any questions!

tiffanythaxton

What a wonderful story! Brought tears to my eyes. Your children are gorgeous. I'm hoping the same happens for my husband and I. 1st IUI appt will be set Thursday (fingers crossed)!