Donor IUI?

[MinnieMooMoo]

Hello! Just looking for a group/quiche to join but not really sure where I fit it.

I'm intending to go it alone and have Donor Insemination by IUI starting in January providing my investigations all come back clear.

Any one else in the same boat, or has done it alone in the past?

OMG! Also best of luck tomorrow :)

Dear TD
I have been thinking about you all day.... Any news?
Kx

Hi K,
Yes we have news. But not the news we were hoping for. Ah well. Maybe next time... on the plus side I did get to drink full caffeine coffee, beer, wine and medium rare steak on my birthday. Yum! Every cloud....
How's things coming along with you? Half way there on the countdown. Fingers crossed.
Have a lovely weekend.
TD x

Dear TD
How disappointing....I am glad you are able to look on bright side but I am sure it is tough. Will you try again?
I have all my pre-period symptoms including sore boobage...so we shall see. If it turns out that I am not pregnant, I will skip the next cycle and try again in a month - I am on constant business travel in a weeks time for two weeks and I know that I will just be so stressed best to have a "rest".
Keep smiling
Kx

Hi K,
Yes, we would like to try again. Will take a month off though. As you say have a rest (sounds like you'll be lucky to get a rest!). Thinking of booking a week to Spain or somewhere for the end of September so that will be nice.
Fingers crossed for you. It can be tough double guessing symptoms. I convinced myself I felt sick the first round. Think symptoms can be similar either way so hard to tell.
I'm enjoying running round playing with my 3 nephews this weekend. Think it would have been tough hiding things if the result had been positive.
Stay positive, you never know...
Enjoy your weekend.
TD x

Dear TD
I love your idea of a holiday :) I wish I could get away - for pleasure - also but needs must and all that. I was actually in south of France this week but all work work work...
Still no sign of dreaded period.... I am still teetotal... I cannot believe that I have managed a whole week off the sauce!
We took my nephew on his first ever march today: refugees are welcome... We were very lucky with the weather and there was a really good turnout... Just hope we can show a but more compassion and empathy to these poor people.
Will you do iui again or try ivf? My cousin (who has twins from ivf) says I should just bite the bullet and go for ivf but I want to give iui a few more tries first as it is less intrusive.
It has been a bit of a miserable time for me (down below ) as I think I had so many scans that I developed thrush... And was really hesitant to treat as got mixed messages on what treatment to use & I did not want to ask clinic (what am I like?) and then the actual procedure was soooooooo painful and then the crinone seems to give me cramps and then there was still the thrush.... Which I think I am finally getting over....
Anyway have a fab rest of weekend & good luck booking your holiday. I would highly recommend Andalucia this time of the year
Kx

Hi all,

I'm just about to start this rather scary process.....still a long way off as need to save save save so i can afford to do it. I am 31 single female so looking to do donor iui. I'm going to a free seminar at the londons womens clinic on the 24 october to get more info. Realistically cant have it done for 18 months but want to be prepared for everything so as soon as i have enough money i can go go go, rather than spending months researching then.
I have told my 2 besties and they are on board, not surprisingly the one with 2 children already has made sure she has told me how tough it is but i cant not go through with it because it might(and will be) be tough. I cant wait forever for the magical mr right to come along that hasn't ever hinted in making an appearance.... I've never really been one for relationships but i know i need to be a mummy.

anyway i'll stop rambling on, but it would be lovely to have some people to chat to who are in the same position or who have been through the process and get it.
Thinking of going to Shirley Oaks hospital near croydon, if anyone has any experience of going there?

thanks xx

Dear Pickle
Well done for making the momentous decision! I really wish I had had your wisdom 10 years ago... Now it is like a ticking clock .
I would suggest that you spend time going to lots of open evenings but also success rates... It is not all about how pretty the carpet is! I think a big factor is how convenient the clinic will be to you... You spend a lot of time there! I am at CRGH in London - perhaps rather conveyor beltish but has really good success rates.
I would definitely recommend that you ask loads of questions... I still have plenty but now am beginning to get embarassed that I do not know more... I am going to try and get over this, because the Spanish saying goes "baby that does not cry, does not get fed"!
Anyway I am hear for you if you have any questions and in the meantime - best of luck!
Kx

Hi K,

thanks for the reply :) Yeh Shirley oaks is my nearest clinic, I live in Rochester so to get to London is only an hour away but £20 return each time so would soon add as additional costs. I would have like to have gone to the day thing that is next Saturday to get more info about it all but i'm away, but i have time to go next time they have it.
I don't understand a lot of it, like what tests i'll need, what additional costs there are etc. i wish i could start the process sooner- i have no idea how i'm going to patiently wait for this to all happen.....need to win the lotto!! instead i will be doing lots of overtime to save as much as possible.

good luck with your treatment :) x

Thanks Pickle ... At the moment no news is good news, if you get my drift. I have been told to hold off until Saturday before taking a pregnancy test but it is nearly killing me!!!
My clinic charges for EVERYTHING!! So the IUI procedure is £850 but to that there is the medication - this time it was about £155 and then there are the blood tests - this time they only did one set - £125 and of course as I am using donor sperm - so £500 per straw, plus import costs, which I think were about £400, plus annual storage at £250. IVF is lots more expensive (& more intrusive) - but has higher success rates.
Makes sense to be with a clinic near to you but make sure they are good!
You have time to do lots of research and more importantly, save! I am playing the lottery a lot more frequently!!

It's sooo much money but totally worth it if/when it works :) good luck for Sunday,can't imagine how exciting/scary that is.fingers and toes crossed x

Thank you Pickle. Still no news is good news but I do not want to jinx things so enough said.

Hello ladies,
It's been a crazy busy old week so only just had the chance to reply. Tried to reply a few days ago while I was away for the weekend on my phone but as I wrote an essay it decided to crash and not let me send - techology hey?! Hope you are both well.
K - How's the mammoth 2 week wait coming on? And how's things downstairs? Hope the thrush has all cleared up now. I guess you'll be in the fun Crinone clumping phase right about now - fun hey?! Like you, we'd like to stick with IUI for a little bit longer. I know IVF has better success rates, but it's so much more invasive, and there's loads more appointments - I think I'd rather stay as I am for now. That said my friend has just undergone a proper boot camp style IVF where it sounds like she had to be at the clinic every single day and they got pregnant on their first round (that said they did miscarriage within the first couple of weeks . Let me know how you're coming along. I have my fingers and toes crossed for you.
TD xx

So... I just learnt you can write too long a message on here. LOL! So I'm breaking up my replies...
Pickle - Welcome to the group. And congratulations on making the decision to join the rest of us crazies trying IUI! Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like. No questions are too silly or too gross. As for choosing clinics - I'd recommend going to as many open evenings as you can/want to. We narrowed down our search to anything within about an hour's drive (as you'll have to go for lots of appointments potentially) and also anything that had a good success rate according to the HFEA (www.hfea.gov.uk/). They give you all the figures on success rates on clinics here which is really useful. I am a bit of a sad control freak so I even put the figures into a spreadsheet and we also put on there our views/thoughts on the clinics/staff at the clinics when we went to visit and then picked from there. I think we only went to open evenings/days of perhaps 5 clinics - all ones who we had chosen due to location and feel of the place. We finally went with Bourn Hall Clinic near Cambridge as it's got good figures and also has a lovely feel about the place (feels almost a bit more like a wedding venue than a hospital as it's a big house in big green grounds in the countryside). Just feels a bit more relaxed than e.g. having to fight through London for appointments. But it's totally up to you - you may well know when you have found the right place.

I have more to write but it won't let me post more

OK so it appears I'm not allowed to talk about costs of IUI... So let's try again...
Funding wise have you looked in to NHS funding? We did. It does all depend on the PCT (NHS area) you're in, so may well be different, and I have no idea what the rules are for single people (we're a same sex female couple). K - did you look in to NHS funding? If nothing else, you can get all your tests done on the NHS pre IUI which helps with the pennies. I found the tests and waiting for confirmation on funding or not dragged on for almost a year so could be worth looking to getting the ball rolling on that sooner rather than later. I also wish I'd had the wisdom to start this sooner but hey, life doesn't always work like it should, does it? I've just turned 36 and I can feel my clock ticking, but hopefully there's still time... As K says, ask lots of questions, both of us and of the clinics - no question is a silly question!

P.S. 1700 pounds per IUI cycle for us including medication/treatment/donor sperm. Can split that out if you want.

Dear TD
So glad you are back on the thread - I was getting a bit worried!
I am in still hoping and praying mode - thank you so much for all your well wishes!
I had some clumping last week which was really uncomfortable but that seems to have gone (only lasted a few days). I apply the gel as I go to bed at night and then I typically wake-up about 1 hour b4 my alarm (don't ask!) and apply again and have a schnooze . I have been getting cramping... Every second it seems like my period is about to start... i am trying not to think about it but it is all I am thinking about!
My bits seem to have recovered from thrush - praise the Lord!
I LOVE that you did a spreadsheet... I did one for my summer holiday this year (comparing yoga holidays from costa rica to sri lanka) but in the end all it took was a drink of "Fino" at my local tapas bar to show me that I just had to return to my beloved Sevilla...and then I tagged on a week of yoga in the Algarve. Please note: all this done before I decided to try IUI...
I only visited 2 clinics - Bridge Street (did not like at all) and the London Women's Clinic (better impression) but I went to CRGH (without going to an open day) as this is where my cousin did her IVF and got pregnant first time.

Continuation of previous message:
My cousin warned me they are bit conveyor beltish but that they had really good success rates.
I did go and see a GP to let them know what I was planning but as a single woman it looks like I am not eligible for any kind of support on the NHS. I am not sure how reliable this is and I did not push this as I probably would have gone private to jump the queue anyway.
I cannot believe it took you so long for the initial tests - I did an ovarian reserve test, they checked my blood, they checked for CMV, I had to see a Genetic counsellor (due to blood disorder) and I had to have implications counselling. Did you do other things also? I decided not to do tubes test as there is no reason to believe I have an issue - although I only have one ovary as I had the other removed due to an ovarian cyst in my teens.
TD - did you book your holiday already?
Pickle - any further in your research?
Must dash but my best regards to you both :)
Kx

Hi
Thank you both for all your advice. I'm back at work after holiday so haven't had the chance to look at much and think once I've been for the seminar morning in October then think it will all seem more real and will understand it all a bit better although have learnt a lot more from you 2 already. Just waiting for payday so can't start saving.
Have a good eve x

Morning! Okay so I am not sure what is happening... I am late, today is day 15/16 after insemination, depending on how you count, pregnancy test negative but still no sign of period...

Does/can the insemination or medication affect the cycle?
Sorry to hear about the negative-i don't know enough about it whether a negative can turn positive when enough hormones from the pregnancy are higher??? Xx

Hi both
Pretty sure the drugs can affect both length of cycle and test result. Based on my results and reading around online anyway. Still fingers crossed for you K. Let us know result tomorrow?
TD xx

I bought a different kind of test which I just did = not pregnant. I can only imagine that my mind has taken over my body and that is why I have no period..... Anyway I shall try and report my results tomorrow and speak to someone about this although I am just about to embark on a mammoth 2 week business trip so that will be interesting... And then the next cycle I can I will try again...
I think I may keep off the sauce if I can just because I am trying to lose weight and I think that helps.

I am not sure what I am feeling right now... I slept so badly last night and I have a pounding headache so I am going to try and have another schnooze before I get up and face the world.

Hello, new here.
Have been trying at home insemination with a friends sperm. Got pregnant first time in May but sadly miscarried at 8 weeks.
Am considering IUI. What is the deal with a known donor? Does anyone know?
Wishing you all copious amounts of luck.