I have been frequenting several IF boards, reading countless blogs, and googling donor sperm iui over and over. I am getting so excited!
I work all weekend so DH is going to look over the print-outs of my favorite donors this weekend so we can discuss them soon. My thought is we should pick our 'top 3' so we have options. We probably won't be ordering until January so this gives us back-up in case our favorite is sold-out or something. I am trying to think of any and all things that can go wrong so I can be prepared, at least mentally.
Things we need to do:
I work all weekend so DH is going to look over the print-outs of my favorite donors this weekend so we can discuss them soon. My thought is we should pick our 'top 3' so we have options. We probably won't be ordering until January so this gives us back-up in case our favorite is sold-out or something. I am trying to think of any and all things that can go wrong so I can be prepared, at least mentally.
Things we need to do:
- Get our blood work done. We just go the orders in the mail from Dr Alan so we need to get this done in the next couple of weeks.
- Fill out California Cryobank's paperwork (we must sign something and Dr Alan must sign something and send it in)
- Trim our favorite donors down to 3.
- Order 3-4 vials! (Dr Alan's office has storage so this can be done weeks before the IUI, but not before Jan 1 due to FSA usage)
- Call Dr Alan's office when January AF starts (should be around Jan 12) to get meds and get tentative IUI schedule!
I am feeling so good now that we have a plan. I have more questions for Dr Alan's office but I hate calling them constantly...I am going to list them here so I can reference this post next time I have them on the phone...
- I know I will be using clomid and estradiol...is there a trigger shot I will be using? What is it?
- How many ultrasounds can I expect?
- Do you recommend 1 or 2 IUIs/cycle when using donor sperm?
I think that's it. Anyone have any other questions I should be asking?
Have a great weekend!
Estriadol can be used to build up your estrogen during the cycle, as a low-dose, plus an HCG trigger shot at full strength. Some RE's don't do a trigger with IUI, but from what I understand, most do. That way the time of your ovulation and prime IUI time can be controlled. The number of u/s will depend on how your follicles are developing, starting with a baseline u/s, and they get more frequent the closer to trigger you get in order to monitor more closely. As for the IUI's, it depends on your doc. Mine did back-to-back IUI's, 2 days running. Some feel one is fine and your odds are not increased with 2. Talk to your RE about that.
ReplyDeleteI hope that helps! My question for you: Did you go with an ID Consent donor??? Or fully anonymous???
I have two things:
ReplyDeleteOne: Order early, especially if your doctor's office has storage! Our first cycle was cancelled because the "shipment" was stuck on the runway in a snowstorm.
Two: Be sure to ask the doctor's office about refunds for cycles if you have to pay at the beginning. We had one cycle cancelled b/c the follicles were too small, and he almost cancelled the last one because there were almost too many. (So glad he didn't!)
Good luck picking a donor!
Thanks for your input girls!
ReplyDeleteI think out of the 6 or 7 I like 1 or 2 of them are ID consent. Truthfully it isn't important to me either way. Maybe it should be...I just think with technology as it is if a child of mine wanted to find his or her bio dad they would be able to. I will make sure to keep all info I have on whatever donor we pick.
Yea for having a plan! I hope you get all the answers to your questions. I always used an ovidrel trigger.
ReplyDeleteHey girl - So many questions!!! But it is SOOOOO exciting to be making a plan and moving forward. You can reference my post about all this at: http://foxypopcorn.blogspot.com/2010/09/iui-questions.html.
ReplyDeleteDory even wrote a post in response to my post at: http://determineddory.wordpress.com/2010/09/11/dear-foxy-or-the-art-of-sperm-choosin/
As for the timeline, each RE has their own protocol. I wanted an aggressive approach, and was partly chose our RE because he was willing to be aggressive. I started with a baseline ultrasound on cd3, used Clomid 100mg on cd 3-7. Had an ultrasound on day 10 to confirm that the follies were growing, received the trigger shot on cd10, had iui on cd 11 (with an ultrasound), and another iui on cd 12 (with an ultrasound that confirmed I had ovulated). Then I used progesterone on 1 dpo until bloodtest. I had my bloodtest on 13dpo and again on 16 dpo.
Next cycle I will be using a lower dose of clomid, but I think that everything else will be the same.
I was not expecting the cysts that canceled my cycle this month... and need to get a better understanding of the relationship between the clomid and these cysts. I DO NOT want to have more canceled cycles.
There are some RE's who will not do a medicated IUI cycles until after a patient has had 3 unmedicated cycles. My RE says that he recommends moving to IVF after 4 unsuccessful IUI cycles.
On some level, it really seems like you can find medical opinions to support any approach, which leaves us on our own to figure out what 'feels' right for us.