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location: Transition > Becoming a Parent > Timeline
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January 15, 2009
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Molly and I attended an introductory alternative insemination meeting at our local LGBTQA-friendly healthcare provider. This consisted of a short presentation about artificial insemination, insemination options (intravaginal, intracervical, intrauterine insemination), and how to chart daily temperatures and monthly LH-surges. They required at least 3 months of temperature and LH surge tracking before attending the second session.
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June 18, 2009
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Molly and I attended the second alternative insemination meeting at our local LGBTQA-friendly healthcare provider. This consisted of going over the past 6 months of temperature/LH surge charts to narrow down Molly's ovulation window - this information is used to create daily appointments for potential insemination dates on future cycles. We were also able to review some of the sperm donor profiles at the medical office.
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September 2009
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September 2009 was the earliest month we even considered inseminaing to help ensure the baby wouldn't be born before I graduated from veterinary school in May 2010.
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January 21 & 22, 2010
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On the second cycle we decided to be more aggressive and do two natural IUI inseminations per cycle (Try #2). When using two vials of semen per cycle, the inseminations are usually done the day-of the first LH-surge positive (ovulation prediction) test and the next day. Unfortunately, we had a negative pregnancy test about 2 weeks later.
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February 22 & 23, 2010
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We decided to do two natural IUI inseminations again on the third cycle (Try #3). However, 2 weeks later we again had a negative pregnancy test.
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March 16, 2010
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We had a consultation at a local fertility center. The reproductive endocrinologist suggested we try drug-induced ovulation using the oral drug Clomid as the next step.
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March 24, 2010
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We had one vial of IUI-ready semen left so we used it for natural IUI insemination (Try #4). About two weeks later we had a negative pregnancy test.
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April 2010
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Before progressing to using the fertility drug Clomid, Molly had a hysterosalpingogram to make sure there were no structural abnormalities that could prevent her from becoming pregnant. The test was normal. You cannot have an IUI on the cycle a hysterosalpingogram is performed.
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May 11, 2010
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We had a follow-up appointment with the reproductive endocrinologist at the fertility center to discuss the hysterosalpingogram results (normal) and the next steps. Together we decided to try the fertility drug Clomid with ultrasound monitoring around the time of ovulation for the next cycles.
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May 12, 2010
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Because we had used up all 6 vials of the semen we purchased of the (first) donor, we needed to purchase more. The donor we previously used was unavilable so we had to choose a second donor. We purchased 3 vials of IUI-ready semen of the new (second) donor from California Cryobank.
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May 22-26, 2010
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The fertility drug Clomid is taken for 5 consecutive days on days 3-7 of the cycle.
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May 31, 2010
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The first ultrasound around the time of ovulation revealed one 16mm folicle. They told us to come in the next day and have another ultrasound.
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June 1, 2010
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The second ultrasound revealed the follicle had grown to 17mm. They instructed Molly to do the subcutaneous Ovidrel injection the next day and come in two days after that for insemination.
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June 2, 2010
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We did the subcutaneous Ovidrel injection to stimulate ovulation.
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June 4, 2010
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The IUI insemination was done with one vial of semen of the new (second) donor (Try #5).
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June 15, 2010
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We had an appointment with our reproductive endocrinologist to discuss the plan for the next insemination, should #5 not work. She was happy with the follicle development on the Clomid dose so it was decided the next cycle plan, if needed, would proceed the same as the previous cycle.
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June 18, 2010
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The blood pregnancy test after Try #5 was negative. Onward to #6.
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June 22-26, 2010
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The fertility drug Clomid is taken for 5 consecutive days on days 3-7 of the cycle.
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July 1, 2010
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The first ultrasound around the time of ovulation revealed two follicles on the right, both 15mm. Follicles on the left ovary were all less than 12mm so were not recorded (must be at least 12mm to be documented). They told us to have another ultrasound in 2 days.
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July 3, 2010
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The second ultrasound revealed the two follicles on the right had grown to 19mm and 17.5mm. Because her LH was already naturally increasing, as it normally would before ovulation, they instructed Molly to do the subcutaneous Ovidrel injection that night and to come in the next day for insemination. There was also a 13mm follicle on the right and a 12mm follicle on the left, but these would likely not be ovulated even with the Ovidrel, because they must be 18-22mm before being considered "mature" follicles.
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July 4, 2010
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The IUI insemination was done with one vial of semen of the second donor (Try #6).
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July 13, 2010
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We had an appointment with our reproductive endocrinologist to discuss the plan for transferring our records to another fertility clinic, because we were moving before the next insemination would take place (should #6 not work). Again, she was happy with the follicle development on the Clomid dose, so the recommendation was to use the same protocol for the next cycle if it is needed.
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July 18, 2010
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The blood pregnancy test after Try #6 was negative. We missed the next cycle due to moving out of state.
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August 10, 2010
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We had a consultation at a local fertility clinic near our new home.
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August 17, 2010
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We had another consultation with a second local fertility clinic near our new home. We chose to go with this second clinic because their monitoring procedures were more aggressive than the first clinic we consulted with. With the new doctor, we decided we would go with injectable gonadotropins, which is a slightly more aggressive approach than with the previously-used oral Clomid.
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August 18, 2010
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Our nurse coordinator at the fertility center instructed us on the proper way to inject the gonadotropins.
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August 22, 2010
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Molly's baseline ultrasound revealed no remaining follicles or cysts - try #7 (first one with injectable gonadotropins) was a go! We later learned that there may have been one cyst on the right that just wasn't visible on this day, which may have caused some timing confusion during past cycles.
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August 26, 2010
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An ultrasound and estradiol level were performed to assess the response to the injectable gonadotropins) Everything was on track so the dose was not changed. Four follicles total were present, 9-11mm.
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August 29, 2010
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An ultrasound and estradiol level were performed to assess the response to the gonadotropins) The four follicles had only grown to 12mm, and the estradiol level was slightly lower than desired so the dose of gonadotropins was increased.
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August 31, 2010
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An ultrasound and estradiol level were performed to assess follicular growth. Two follicles on the right were 15mm and 15.5mm. One follicle on the left was 16.5mm.
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September 1, 2010
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An ultrasound and estradiol level were performed to assess follicular growth. Two follicles on the right were 16.5mm and 17mm. One follicle on the left was 18mm. Normally, we would have done the Ovidrel injection this morning, then inseminated at 24 and 48 hours later. However, we had forgotten to do the gonadotropin injection the previous night so instead we did it this morning. Because the follicles still appeared intact, we did one more night of the gonadotropins in hopes the two follicles on the right would become mature.
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September 2, 2010
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The ultrasound showed two mature follicles on the right, and the one on the left appeared to have already begun the ovulation process. Therefore, we did the Ovidrel injection in the morning, then the first insemination later in the day with one vial of semen of the second donor (Try #7).
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September 3, 2010
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The second insemination (Try #7) was done with one vial of semen of the second donor. The two week wait until the pregnancy test begins.
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