Well. Artificial insemination is conceiving without having sex, it can be done for a lot of reasons, but I would suggest that if you are using a sperm donor that this is the way you go. This weeds out people that would take advantage of your want to be a mother in order to satisfy their sexual needs, and you should never feel pressured into sex for any reason.
These are the acronyms that you are likely to come across:
IVI – Intravaginal insemination
ICI - Intracervical insemination
IUI - Intrauterine insemination
IVF - In vitro fertilisation
What you'll be doing at home is the first one, intravaginal. It's usually done when the man in the relationship has a problem performing during sex. In this case it's done because you don't want to have sex. Great.
Intracervical is where a catheter is attached to the end of a syringe and the sample is inserted into the cervix, bypassing the vagina. Intrauterine is, of course, the same, bypassing the cervix and inserting sperm into the uterus. In vitro fertilisation is the more scientific where hormones are given to the woman, eggs are removed from the body and fertilised in a lab before, as little blastocysts, being inserted back into the uterus for implantation.
All I can tell you is how I did it, and how it worked for me.
I used this method on the day before, and the day of, and sometimes the day after, ovulation. No more than three samples and three days a month. I got a BFP twice with it.
I googled up, one day, Softcups and their role in the insemination process, and I was met with this thread from a lesbian couple who had got their BFP using the method I then went on to use. I looked into it a little more and figured it wouldn't hurt to try, so I did. Sadly "Softcups" themselves are no longer available in the UK – but they do still sell them from America on eBay, but the shipping is quite expensive. It would be worth trying a different kind of menstrual cup as they all work the same way. I'd suggest trying to use a Softcup before the big day, just so you can figure out how to use them and how to insert them comfortably.
You will need (and all available online):
- 10ml syringes
- Softcups
- Preseed
- Maybe another kind of cup to rest the Softcup in – optional.
That's all.
- The Preseed comes with little syringes/applicators, so I would suck a little bit of it up, maybe 1ml, and insert it into yourself/your partner some 10-15 minutes before the donor is due to arrive. Preseed mimics "egg white cervical mucus" which helps sperm get to its place. I'd then put the Preseed packet into a pocket to keep it warm.
- Have your donor do his business directly into the softcup.
- Put a little Preseed into your 10ml syringe, and then suck up as much of his "sample" as you can into the same syringe.
- Insert the syringe into yourself/your partner and slowly depress it, pushing everything out.
- Put your legs up in the air against a wall, or put a pillow under your hips, and wait for a minute or so.
- Insert the Softcup (the same one he did his sample in, waste not), and then you can go on about your day.
Softcups needs to be removed after 12 hours. Depending on how well you know your donor it may be worth getting him to return every 12 hours during ovulation to give yourself the best chances, but this isn't necessary. It's what I had wanted to do but never quite got round to it, it didn't seem to matter.
Naturally there are a lot of different ways to do this, and this is only one of them, I found that it worked twice for me!
Naturally there are a lot of different ways to do this, and this is only one of them, I found that it worked twice for me!
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