Self insemination - Any success stories?!

[TurkeyBasterHopeItWorks]

Hi everyone,

I have NC'd for this to save our blushes!
DH and I have just had our first round of IVF which was sadly unsuccessful after an early miscarriage.
We have 2 frozen embryos but we would like to TTC naturally for the next 6 month's first in the hope the IVF hormones might help boost our chances.
DH has always struggled to ejaculate inside me when DTD. Therefore we have decided to try self insemination in the hope it will take away some of the stress.

I would love to hear any success stories.

Also which insemination kit did you buy?

Has anyone tried a soft cup / Ferti Lily conception cup after inserting the syringe to help things along?

Thanks everyone!

@bigsweetpotato fingers crossed!!! 😊

@LAG1986 my hubby has a lower libido than most it seems, so we do it every third day usually but this cycle we did three times in six days which is the most we've ever done it! Ideally if we could do it as often as we wanted I'd do every other day.

Hey ladies sorry for the radio silence, I wasn't getting notifications, turns out I had been logged out of the app!

I'm now ovulating, flashing smiley yesterday and today on my clear blue OPK

With regards to the MC I only bled for a few days, but heavier than my normal 🩸 but to be honest I get quite light 🩸 anyway so not too bad and not very many cramps.

So we tried SI last night and I'm glad that the doctor has said to one of the ladies to leave it until it liquifys as that's what I've been doing the past couple of cycles. Done the same last night.

So today I'm cd9 and if I'm true to form I should ovulate around cd11/12 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

Hi All,
This is one of the threads that kept me sane through months of TTC with self insemination at home. It was great to read other people were in the same boat, as it can feel a very lonely place to be. I just want to let people know that it can work. After 18 months I am expecting. We used Mosie syringe. I inserted the syringe pretty much straight away after my husband did his thing and then lay back for about 20 minutes. We inseminated on day 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15. I think I ovulated on day 13. The only thing I did differently this time, was to actually locate my cervix and guide and aim the syringe towards it. I could never find the cervix until I read something which said that the best time to find it, is at the end of your period, as the cervix is quite low at that time. Once I found it, I checked it most days, which made it easier to find as I approached ovulation. Now that Ive actually located it, I know I was pointing the syringe in the completely wrong direction for all the other months beforehand! I had also tried using softcups to keep the semen inside but once I located the cervix, I realised that the way I had inserted the softcups meant I hadn’t covered the cervix. I know other ppl have had success with them, I would just say to be absolutely sure that they are in properly. Good luck to everyone trying, don’t lose hope!!

@Carol1980 ovulating already?! I'm so jealous that you ovulate so quickly 😊 you'll be at the end of your tww before the time I next ovulate! I hope you're okay, fingers crossed for your egg 🥚!

13 dpo today so expect spotting this evening/tomorrow ready for AF on Friday. I've been very mixed up with what day it is this week so kept thinking AF due tomorrow. Getting AF without any spotting would be nice! 😊

@Cardigan2020 so good to hear a positive story!! Thank you for sharing. Congratulations ♥️

@MrsKin90
I used to have a 25 day cycle but after the birth of my daughter it's changed to 27, or that seems to be the date now x
I generally OV on cd 11/12 from recent months so yeah, because I have such a short cycle and a short AF ( usually 3 days) means I OV quite quickly.

I've now had 3 days of flashing smiley but last month I had no smileys it just went from empty circle for a few days to static smiley. No flashing at all.
I'm hoping that my cycle follows the same pattern of so then I should OV in 2 days as I'm cd10 today.
Who knows, maybe I've tested too early and it's still all messed up after the MC 🤷‍♀️

I'm hoping that you will get your positive soon xxx keep the faith love x

@Carol1980 oh I hope you do ovulate when you expect to 😟 like having a miscarriage isn't cruel enough, don't think it should be allowed to mess with your cycles! At least you're testing so you'll know when it happens and sounds like your body is gearing up and trying so 🤞🤞

I try to remind myself I'm lucky to be ovulating at all with my PCOS and my weight going up and up after stopping contraception! 😬 So I shouldn't complain about it taking a bit longer.
I'm supposedly 14dpo today. I do wonder if I'm about 3 days out, so won't freak out if I don't get AF until Sunday. That will teach me to continue taking my BBT through my TWW to see if I get a second/more realistic O rise. I wasn't convinced by the one I had even though FF was.

@LAG1986 it's our first time trying this! I'm hoping that it will help us as I'm not getting any younger so I worry about it all the time. Fingers crossed x

@bigsweetpotato first time here too!! Fingers crossed for us. Xx

Morning x

On my 4th day of flashing smileys....usually only get 2 but still hopeful that I will get the static smiley tomorrow 🤞

Hubby and I have done 2 SI so far, had a night off last night as he was working first thing and I was down at my mums doing some stuff in her house.

I'm actually not holding out much hope for this month to be honest, but you never know, I always think that folk say ' your most fertile after a MC' but I think that's probably more to keep the person positive and well cheer them up a bit if that makes sense ?

@Cardigan2020 Hey! Congratulations that is amazing news 🥰 thank you for also sharing what you did with us! I’ve never even thought about was I aiming it in the right direction! I don’t even know how to locate my cervix (I don’t mean to sound silly) maybe this is where I am going wrong. Is it easy to do??

@MrsKin90 I tend to ovulate later to so I know what you mean it just feels like forever each month! I’m CD7 I just want to ovulate already! Now you are DPO15 I believe how are you feeling today?

@Carol1980 fingers crossed this month, it’s been a tough few months for you be kind to yourself xx

@bigsweetpotato @LAG1986 good luck!!!

@bigsweetpotato and @LAG1986 excited to see how you get on! Fingers crossed for some baby magic getting you caught on the first try 🤞🤞

@Carol1980 I'm honestly not sure of the truth of the 'extra fertile' after a MC. I wonder if it's similar to how people are extra fertile after just giving birth? Maybe left over HCG gives a boost or something? Here's hoping for you anyway. I'm not surprised you feel that way, I'll be extra positive on your behalf if you want to be more levelled this cycle 😊

@Lori23TTC glad there's someone else ovulating late like mee! I've been being extra healthy the last few weeks and have been calorie counting and increasing exercise so I'm hopeful that encourages earlier ovulation for me on the next cycle if I keep it up. My ovaries definitely punish me for too many doughnuts 😂 I AM 15DPO today but I've got lots of cramps and super emotional yesterday (cried that I dropped something 🙄 and then just spiralled). Typical AF behaviour sadly. I'm monitoring my rhr on Fitbit too and that's on it's way down so I've no doubt at a AF will be here over the weekend. If somehow it magically isn't I will test Sunday. I do still feel incredibly sick all day long, but that's just as likely stress really. 😊 I'm okay though and won't be crying this cycle when AF comes as I've already done that lol. Are you feeling positive this cycle?!

@Carol1980 I have heard the increased fertility after MC line so many times but personally this is cycle 5 for me since the miscarriage and still nothing so far! Meanwhile, it took us only 3 cycles to get pregnant first time round... I feel like it only made me more disappointed tbh, I was really hoping to get pregnant again super quickly and put the MC trauma behind me :(

@MrsKin90 you have a patience of gold if you still haven't tested again since 11DPO - on my 15DPO I would be peeing on every stick I could get my hands on hahaha - not that early testing is going to change the overall outcome in the slightest!

I'm supposedly ovulating today according to my tracking. I hope it's true. We SI'd this morning and I'm going away with some girlfriends for the weekend so fingers crossed we got the dates right. QQ: Does everyone on here use the digital OPKs? I only use the standard strips but I hear you all mention "flashing smiley faces" a lot - have you found the digital tests more reliable?

I had been using the Femometer strips from amazon for over six months, naive me thought they would all have same level of accuracy then I saw on here that people didn't think all strips were made equal!! So I bought some Clearblue and wondfo strips from amazon and this cycle I used all 3 at the same time and compared the result.

I will say that the Clearblue gave me the flashing smiley earlier than a darker line showing on the other two strips. And the Wondfo seemed to be much more sensitive than the Femometer as the line it gave was always darker!! So now I'm wondering in all the last months where I was just using Femometer whether I could have missed my window a bit...

I very much feel there's no point testing with the cramps tbh. Also life is an ass so can't imagine it being that good to me right now.
I've never used OPKs of any kind. They're not great with my PCOS but don't you have to hold your wee and not drink too much? I'd never get a line 😂 I drink a pint of water before I even leave the house!

I use strips I got from amazon but I’m not to confident they are accurate. I tend to ovulate on day 17 so I try not to worry to much about the sticks and start trying on day 13 normally and wait for a temp rise. I drink so much water so I really struggle when I am doing the sticks as my pee is always to dilated even tho I don’t drink as much! I tend to go by the temp as my decider. We have been trying over a year I think if I got the clear blue ones it would cost a fortune every month on top of everything else we do 🤷🏼‍♀️ X

I found that the clearblue advance gave me more of an accurate result.
The flashing smiley is an indicator that the your estrogen is going up which happens a couple of days before you get the LH surge.
If your comparing between them and the IC ones I would say only compare the lines when you get a static smiley as this is the indication of the LH surge which is what the strip lines test for, if the line is dark on the IC at the same time as the Static smiley then it means their catching it also.

I have found that it's your pot luck with test strips from either Amazon or e-bag. I've had a lot of bad batches recently.
The last set of one step I got from Amazon didn't even register my pregnancy at all, neither did the other ones I bought to try.
Thankfully didn't spend too much on them but still very very frustrating !! But I guess that's what you get when you buy the super cheap ones.

Thanks for all the info/tips!

@MrsKin90 any sight of AF?

@primrosechill not yet! I'm three days late in theory but I'm sure I'm about three days days out on when she's due 😊 I'm almost positive we missed the window if my O happened later than originally thought so don't have much hope! I'm already feeling really positive about the next cycle so hope she comes and goes so I can move on.

How are you doing today?

How is everyone else?

Hopefully with you feeling so positive it's a sign that something is happening x
Have you tested yet ?

It took 6 days but I'm finally on a static smiley 🥳🥳🥳

So we did a SI this afternoon, probably do one tomorrow too and the day after x

Weirdly I checked my cervix and it's still about medium height, it's usually high at this point so maybe it's just a bit slow, but I'll check it again later tonight x

I've tested a couple of times but not since Thursday I think. All BFN. I'm 99% sure I'm not pregnant and I've ovulated super late.
I'm feeling positive because I've realised that we've only been properly doing the syringe method since January, which has only been seven cycles for me (depressing in itself really haha) and two of those I'm not convinced we SI'd at the right time. So even though we've been 'trying' for over a year now, it's easier to feel better about it when I think it through this way as it makes it feel like five proper attempts😂 always a way to rationalise it.
Gonna test Thursday if no sign of AF as will be enjoying cocktails and spa hot tub on Thursday and Friday so best to make 100% sure 😊
Hooray static smiley! Do you usually check your cervix? It can move around so much in a day! Sounds like you're on top of the SI though.🤞🤞

I'm really hoping that it is a positive outcome but that is so great hat your feeling so excited about the next cycle x
I'm the same as you though when we actually count it all up we've been trying for about 10 moths but there are at least 2/3 months of that when we've been totally off or haven't been doing the whole orgasm during SI or afterwards x

We've done 2 SI today and we'll do another tomorrow and maybe one the day after for good measure x

@MrsKin90 Thanks for the good wishes 😀
and the best of luck to you. I am proof that insemination can work!

Hiya, been reading this thread over the past few weeks and seeing what a lovely bunch you are!

Hoping one day to have a home insemination success story to share... This month we will be trying tomorrow and Sunday - spaced apart because we have to plan ahead without knowing ov dates, so try to cover the date range as best we can. Feeling excited for tomorrow, I love the waiting time when it's possible...!

Good luck to everyone SI this week, and those testing soon....

@Lori23TTC
Thanks so much for the good wishes. To be honest I still can’t believe it actually worked.

I had no idea how to find the cervix either.
I read a couple of things online which said that the best time to find it, is at the end of your period, because it sits much lower down and is harder at that point. The phrase that kept coming up online was that it would feel “like the top of your nose” , which sounded pretty weird to me!!

I didn’t find it hard to do, once I tried at the end of my period. Just put your finger in and feel around gently.

Sure enough, it felt smooth and round, a (little) bit like the top of your nose or a small, smooth dome.

I then tracked it everyday, which made it easier to keep tabs on it as it began to move back and get softer as I moved towards ovulation.

All the info online talks about the cervix moving “higher” at ovulation so I was always inserting the syringe and aiming it upwards. But when I found my cervix, I actually had to reach sort of downwards with my finger to get to it. That’s why I think I may have been pointing the syringe the wrong way!!

When it came to inseminating on the month I got pregnant, I inserted a couple of fingers first, located the cervix, guided the syringe in alongside the fingers towards the cervix and released the semen. I didn’t touch the cervix with the syringe though, just aimed towards it. It was bloody awkward but worth it!

Hope that help, sorry for the essay length reply. If you have any other questions, just ask X