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Lesbians Using Donor Sperm, Part 6

11K views 127 replies 14 participants last post by  Jayne 
#1 ·
Cyclers ^fairydust^

Eddie* - Clomid and DI ^fairydust^

(Midnightaction) Sarah* - Egg Share DIVF ^fairydust^

Woo* & Lea - DI ^fairydust^

2ww - Good luck! ^reiki^ ^reiki^

(Nismat) Tamsin* & Karen - DIUI - Testing 8 Nov ^2ww^

In between treatment

Emma73* - DIVF in October

(Feistyblue) Claire* & Beverley - Egg Share DICSI

Heather* & Jo - DIVF in Jan

(Herbaltea) Sarah* - DIUI

(Julesforgirls) Jules* - Donor eggs with partners eggs, then DIVF

Misty* & Bunny - DIUI

(Snagglepat) Gina & Rae* - DI

Tonia2* - DIUI

Precious Cargo On Board ^clapping^

(Bagpuss1) Kerry* & Helen - DIUI - EDD 9 Jan ^congrats^ ^cloud9^

Friskypony* & Pup - DIVF - EDD 9 April ^congrats^ ^cloud9^

Edith* & Mabel - DIVF - EDD 26 April ^congrats^ ^cloud9^

Never Forgotten Angels ^angel^

Our Miracle is Here ^babycrawl^

Evelet & R* - Proud parents to a baby boy born 16.08.05

Please let me have any additions/amendments to the above list :)

* = Partner having treatment
 
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#2 ·
Hi Jayne,

Thanks for doing this. You're a star. :) For the record, assuming we go for the 3WW this time, we'll be testing on November 1st (if AF doesn't rear her ugly head before then that is).

Best wishes all round.

Gina.
 
#4 ·
Well, sadly I was right and my period did indeed show up as expected. So I'm just finishing day 1 of my next cycle.  Bizarrely, I've felt fine about it today - I think I was more upset over the weekend when I realised that it hadn't worked again, after those dratted temperature drops. Is anyone else on here doing temp charting? After several months of charting, it is pretty accurate for me now, and easy to see patterns. I dare say that I will be up & down a bit emotionally over the next few days though, as I come to terms with another negative result. Karen & I had both been convinced that it had worked this time ::)

Need to ring the clinic to arrange a scan, and to discuss our options for the next cycle. I think I'll go medicated again, but with more drugs to try & get more than 1 follie. Obviously there's then a risk of multiples, but luckily its quite a small risk. Karen thinks that having twins would be great ::) Not so sure myself  ^idiot^

Gina & Rae, sending you some babydust for the 3ww ahead of you, and wishing that 14 is your magic number.  ^reiki^ How have you two managed to keep sane when you have been trying for so long? I'm struggling slightly after just 4  ;)

I know there were some postings on the last thread that I wanted to respond to, but can't remember them now, and can't look back at them. Oh well.

Tamsinx
 
#5 ·
Hi,
So sorry Tamsin that your 4th try hasn't worked. You will be pregnant soon. All the best to you and Karen, have lots of treats.

Good luck to Gina and Rae  ^reiki^

Time is really dragging waiting for our scan. I dreamt last night that the baby had 2 heads and was a real monster on the screen.

^fairydust^ to you all,
Mable
 
#6 ·
Sorry you had such a horrible dream Mable - it doesn't stop you feeling unsettled just because it's "only" a dream. Everything crossed for the scan that all will be as it should be  ^reiki^ ^reiki^ ^reiki^ Is it on Friday?

T xx
 
#7 ·
Hi all,

Tamsin, so sorry to hear that your 4th attempt wasn't successful. Sending hugs out to you both, and lots of positive vibes for the next cycle. Extra medication sounds good. I have to admit I'm kind of with Karen on the multiples thing. A pregnancy of any number of children would be really most welcome!

Rae hasn't had a strong surge line yet, so we think we either may have missed it (not sure how) or she's just not having a strong reading this cycle. We're not overly concerned, as one of the previous couples our donor donated to had a similar experience one cycle, and conceived triplets! (Naturally too.) We inseminated on Monday, and he's coming over again this evening for another bash.

I was at the hospital again this morning to see how my ovaries are responding to the Metformin. Amazingly, they're responding really well and I have a 19mm follicle on my right ovary, meaning I'll ovulate in the next 24-48 hours! When we found this out, we did ponder whether we should inseminate me instead this evening. We're probably not going to do this, as tempting as it is (with my body craving pregnancy but R's age meaning she gets the priority). It would be just our luck to both get pregnant at the same time! There's a part of me that quite likes this idea - the prospect of both being on maternity leave at the same time especially - but R is adamant that we don't risk such a thing. If she's going to get pregnant, she wants me to be fully able to support her, which I completely understand.

But still, I can't help feeling a little bit like this is too good an opportunity to waste. Ah well! At least we know I'm responding, and if I'm ovulating now, the chances are I still will be in a year or so when it comes to my turn again.

Best wishes all round folks,

Gina.
 
#8 ·
Hi all,

Just a quickie. :)

Rae surged more strongly last night, so we inseminated her again. I guess her cycles might still be being a little bit irregular after the chemical pregnancy? Don't know, but at least we got a decent reading and can feel like we got the timing about right. Fingers crossed!

I was re-reading 'The Ultimate Guide to Pregnancy for Lesbians' by Rachel Pepper last night. It was the first lesbian conception book I ever read and thought it might be fun to read over again now we're much more involved in the process. There was one quote in there from a couple who finally conceived on their 14th attempt, which I was very pleased to read, and has given me a bit more hope. :)

Best wishes to all,

Gina.
 
#9 ·
Hi everyone,

Tamsin, so sorry to hear that this attempt was not successfull, I had all of mine and squishys fingers and toes crossed for you. Really thought this would be the one for you!!

Gina, Hope the inseminaton went well for you both last night.

Have got my 28 week midwife appointment tomorrow, hopefully my urine infection should have cleared up and no more nasty antibiotics YUK!!!

We are going away for a week tomorrow so wont be able to check up on you all.

Good luck to everyone, will catch up when I get back.

Kerry and Cuthbert.
 
#10 ·
Ugh, just lost a long posting and haven't got time to do it all again.

In brief, had a good visit to the clinic, saw the doctor that we like (an unexpected bonus), and I can go straight on with treatment this cycle. Going to up the meds slightly to try and produce more follies (but not too many), and also going to go for 2 IUIs on consecutive days. Hopefully that will do the trick!

Kerry - can't believe you are 28 weeks already! How big is your bump now? Enjoy your week away.

Gina & Rae: sounds like the timing of the insems was pretty good in the end, so hope that it works for you this time. You must be very strong to keep on going, so I hope that your persistence is rewarded very soon. I used to read all those lesbian baby books before we started ttc and blithely assumed I would be one of the lucky ones who got pregnant almost straightaway, not one of the ones in the "it can take some time" chapter. And I do also know that I'm not in that group either at only our 5th attempt! Good luck anyway, and it's also brilliant news that you are responding to the metformin Gina.

Mable & Edith - good luck for the scan  ^reiki^

Tamsin
 
#11 ·
Hi folks,

Kerry, I hope you both have a fabulous week away. I look forward to catching up with you when you get back.

Tamsin, it's great news that you can go straight head with the next cycle and I really hope the increased meds and the double doses of sperm do the trick for you. ^reiki^ ^reiki^ ^reiki^

You made me laugh when you said you thought you'd concieve almost straight away. When I read those books I was also sure that we'd conceive really quickly - I know that unwavering optimism all too well! The prospect of it taking years just didn't feature in my world plan at all at the start. I have to admit, it has got easier though. We did our first five inseminations on five consecutive months and by the end of them we were both emotionally exhausted and we forced ourselves to take a break. It was the best thing we could have done and now we regularly take a break after three or four cycles, just so we can 'get our breath back' a bit. I also think we've just got used to it not working, so no longer expect it so much. We always do hope, but the hope isn't as strong as it was, or as all consuming. In the past I'd have been working out in my head exactly where R's egg would have got to and watch stage the process would be at, but now I rarely think of it. I don't actually think we're going to believe it when it does happen.

I also think it's a bit easier for us using a known donor, simply from a financial point of view. There's no way we'd have been able to afford 14 IUIs in two years, and I imagine most clinics would have wanted us to move onto something more intensive (and expensive) well before now anyway. But regardless, whether it takes 2, 5 or 20 inseminations, we've all had to go through a lot to get to where we're aiming for. Hopefully it'll work out for all of us soon.

Best wishes all round,

Gina.
 
#12 ·
Wow, just seen our baby, he's amazing (hoping for a boy!), fully formed, little arms and legs waving about in the air. We saw his face in profile, brain and spine, he was opening and closing his mouth (drinking the amniotic fluid apparently) and flipped over when the scanner prodded Edith's stomach.

Thanks for all your thoughts and positive messages.

^fairydust^ to you all, and happy weekend!
Mable

 
#13 ·
Wow!

Mable and Edith, that's fantastic! You must be just overflowing with joy and excitement! :) :) :)

Gina.
 
#14 ·
Hiya all just a quicky from me !!! :)

Tamsin So sorry it was a bfn for you this time, but glad to see your already onto the next cycle. ^hugme^

I am like you were in the early stages, I still have this small thought in my mind that I am gonna get pregnant straight away, and all this talk about carrying on for months and years seems crazy............I know the likelyhood of that is very slim but I guess when you first start out you still hold a small amount of optimism, I sure that will diminish in time ;D

Mable & Edith Wow I'll bet it was a truely magical experience to see you little one moving around on the screen like that :)

Gina &Rae Hope you two are doing good !!! :)

I'm glad to see that metformin is doing it's job and working for you .........I understand how hard it must be for you know knowing that your body is doing all of the right things for you to ttc but it's just not the right time for you yet :( But at least you know that when the time is right your body will be in the best shape that it can be :)

Kerry Hope had had/have (depending on when you read this !!! ^idiot^) a fab holiday and it gives you a well earned relaxing break !!! :)

Wel only 4 more days of that vile pill for me and then I can not start sniffing on Wednesday, can't believe it has come around this quick !!! :eek:

Anyway I best be off

Love to all

Sarah xx
 
#15 ·
Mable & Edith - how wonderful to hear that everything is OK with your baby and that you got to see everything so clearly. It actually brought a tear (or two) to my eye! So pleased for you  ^Cuddle^ ^rainbow^

Sarah - almost ready to start cycling in earnest! If you are doing egg-share IVF, then you have got a pretty high chance of it working first time I should think. Anyway, there's every reason to hope that it will work quickly when you start out; optimism is not a bad thing! Although I thought it would work quickly, I think that I've always been prepared for it to take 4-6 attempts without worrying about it too much, but what I wasn't prepared for was the delays/having to skip cycles, which has dragged everything out so much. I was convinced that I would be heavily pregnant by this Christmas, whereas now I'll just be happy to be pregnant at all!

Gina; very interesting to read how things have changed for you over the course of your & Rae's 14 cycles - thank you so much for sharing that. I particularly liked the bit about working out where the egg is and what's going on! I was so completely like that in my first 3 cycles, but last time didn't think much about it at all! And yes, the finance side of things do have an impact on it all - in going the clinic route and spending a fair bit on each cycle anyway, we're actually now prepared to spend more money on each attempt (and try much more intervention than I ever would have thought we would have considered at this stage), rather than try and eke it out over lower-tech cycles that have a lower success rate. I hope that our reasoning is correct  ::)

Love to all,
Tamsin x
 
#16 ·
:)
Hello girlies,
Sorry i've been off air for a while. Got taken into hospital and ended up having a laparoscopy for suspected appendacitis. All clear though and Just a pelvic irritation and womb pressing on a nerve... It's been a joy!!!
So all ok now and bub still going strong at nearly 15 weeks.

Hope you're all ok

Love Frisky xx
 
#17 ·
Frisky, glad to know that you (and baby) are OK - it must have been pretty worrying at the time  :(

I had good news at my scan today - the drugs & my body have co-operated to produce 2 follies on my right ovary (both at 13mm today which is cd8). Back on Friday for another scan - just hoping that they don't think that I will ovulate on Sunday which would mean having to abandon the cycle. That's pessimisim for you!  ::)

Tx
 
#18 ·
Frisky Sooo sorry to hear you have not been well.........I am sure having your uterus pressing on a nerve is no fun at all...........but glad to see both you and little one are doing fine now !!! :)

Tamsin Big congrats with the scan and your two follies.........I will do a little growing dance for you so that when you go back on Friday they will of grown even bigger ^dancing spot^ ^banana^ ^dancing spot^ ^banana^

Got some dissapointing news today, I was supposed to start cycling tomorrow but unfortunately the lady who was my recipient has not responded well so will no longer be proceeding !!! :(
They have matched me up with another recipient straight away but she is at a different stage in her cycle so I am gonna now have to wait until 31st Oct to get started !!!

I know it's only a couple of weeks extra but when you are so close to actually starting it's a bit upsetting to find out that your gonna have to wait a little bit longer !!! ^idiot^

Oh well it will get me into practise for waiting during the 2ww ;D

Love to all

Sarah xxx
 
#19 ·
;D

Morning girlies,

Tamsin well done on your follies by friday they'll be lovely an juicy, why would they abandon the cycle if your due to pop on sunday??? What drugs are you on??

Sarah it's really hard when they keep putting you off but it may prove to be the best move, Fingers crossed X

I move back down to London next weekend, which is good in some ways but poor Pup is having to come up and drive me down as driving still makes me sick, we also still have some stuff to move back down south as well.
Then i start a new job on 1st Nov - Can't wait ???

Catch you all later

Frisky
 
#20 ·
Hi all,
Exciting news about your follies, Tamsin. It's lovely that you can proceed straight away with your next try. Good luck - hope you don't pop on Sunday.

Sorry to hear about your delays Sarah - time to get extra healthy.

Good luck on the move, Frisky and Pup - London is great!

I've told my parents - mixed reaction, a bit fed up with hearing about their 'reservations' although feel I need to give them lots of explanations and time to get used to the idea (they are rather traditional/backward) - better in the long run although it's also hard to stay positive about ourselves when faced with their negativity.

Edith's tummy is growing - 13 weeks,1 day now!

Let's get dancing for Tamsin, girls -
Whatever happened to Herbaltea and Eddie?
Mable

 
#21 ·
Sarah - So sorry to hear that your recipient didn't want to continue - what a total pain but at least they matched you up quickly again. Us blondies are so in demand there which is good stuff!

Tamsin - Fab news about your follies - good luck!

Frisky - Good luck with the move!

Mable - The scans are so fabulous aren't they? I loved all my scans with my ds - had a couple of extras ones at Guys because they suspected he had a heart problem and then extra one at the hospital because my placenta started off as being low lying! You'll be hearing the heartbeat next on the doppler and that is so awesome - made me shed a tear each and every time!

Gina - Hope you're doing ok

As for me, well I've had some potentially bad news. My anti-cardiolipins came back as raised which means that if the repeat test comes back positive too I have got Hughes Syndrome, which is pretty scary. I'll need to take heparin and asprin during my next ICSI but also asprin for the rest of my life due to the high risk of blood clots/DVT etc.

I still can't have the NKC test until January as it needs to be as close to the tx start date as possible.

Had a freaky thought the other day, only two more AF's until I start the evil pill again - :eek:

Babydust to all

Claire xx
 
#22 ·
Hi everyone,

Claire, I've got my finders crossed that the repeat test comes back as normal. That must be a real worry for you!

Mable, I suppose there are good things to be said about your folks having a mixed reaction. At least it wasn't all negative. And these things do tend to take time. Good luck with your patience while they get their heads around it! Great to hear Edith's tummy is growing too. :)

Hope the move goes well Frisky. Good luck with it! And I hope your discomfort eases too. That uterus-nerve thing sounds horrible!

Sorry to hear about your delays Sarah, but at least they've matched you with someone else straight away so the delays aren't too much longer.

And Yey for Tamsin's follies!!! I hope tomorrows scan is good news and the timing works out well for the insems.

Things are ticking along nicely here, although R had her first good PMT moment last night. She's also felt perfectly fine, whereas the one time we got a positive with her she had a dodgy tummy from around 7dpo, so we're guessing this month is another no no. We won't count our chickens yet though, there's still time to go....

Best wishes everyone,

Gina.
 
#23 ·
Sorry not to reply before - my computer was doing odd things and only letting me read messages!
Went for my scan on Friday and follies had grown to 15mm and 16mm, so at pretty much the expected rate. Made another scan appointment for today (Monday) at 12.15pm, with the clinic expecting that I will have my first of 2IUIs this afternoon. I expected that they would want me to test for LH surge and give me the trigger injection to do at home if I got my surge over the weekend. But no! Doctor said not to test, and not to give me the trigger injection to take away. If my follies are at the "right" size, they will trigger me after the scan and do the IUI just a few hours later. This news really threw me, but there wasn't a lot I could do about it as the doctor had been very insistent with her instructions to the nurse. I was hoping to surge naturally on Sunday, so that my body's timing would work in with this, but I haven't got a surge yet. Am really worried that they will want to go ahead anyway if my follies are 18mm or more. I want to wait for my body, and will insist that they do so. Luckily Karen is off work and able to come with me, so it will be easier than if I was on my own.

Frisky, I've been on Letrazole (Femara) + Puregon to promote the growth of more follies. My clinic doesn't do insems on a Sunday, so if you get a surge on a Saturday morning (indicating you will ovulate on Sunday), you have to go and have the IUI a day early on the Saturday, which I know would be too early for me, and therefore pointless. Anyway, it didn't come to that this time! Good luck for your move down to London next weekend. Once you are settled in, you & Pup could come along to the group of us on http://groups.msn.com/LesbianInseminationSupport/welcome.msnw that meet up every 6 weeks or so, at different people's houses. There are 3 babies in the group (all boys!), several pregnancies, and a few of us who are still trying. "Edith" and "Mable" usually come along, so if you come too you can find out their real names! ;D

Sarah sorry to hear that the start of your treatment has been delayed - it must be very disappointing. At least it's not too much longer to have to wait, although I'm sure it feels like a lifetime at the moment. I think that the delays in treatment are the most frustrating thing to deal with; worse in many ways than the 2ww!

Mable - sorry to hear that it's a bit of a struggle with your parents. It must be difficult for them to get their heads round it, especially as you are the non-bio mother, but I'm sure that they will be thrilled by their grandchild when he/she arrives. Not easy for you to deal with though. Have you officially reached the start of the second trimester now, or is it more around 14 weeks? I'm so focussed on getting pregnant that I feel I know very little about the actual pregnancy process!

Claire - I hope that your blood test was a one-off result. I don't know anything about the condition, but it must be a real worry to have it hanging over you that it is a possibility, especially when you can't find out yet.

Gina & Rae, hope that things are going OK for you ^reiki^ ^reiki^ ^reiki^

Will post with an update later,
Tamsin x
 
#24 ·
Hey folks,

How did it go yesterday Tamsin? I hope they were receptive to your desire to wait for your body to ovulate naturally. I can understand why you'd want to do that, and I really hope they went with you on it without a struggle. How did the insem go?

No news here. We reckon Rae is due some time this week, but as her surges were so vague we really have no idea when or if she ovulated this cycle. It's now 15 days since the first insemination, and 13 days since the second. We thing she might have ovulated on the Thursday, which would make it only 12 days ago. So no news yet. She has had all her normal PMT signs and no upset tummy, so we're not really that hopeful.

We've also been talking about where we go next with all of this, now we know that I'm ovulating thanks to the Metformin, and now R is studying again, and uncomfortable with the idea of pregnancy getting in the way of her studies. We're going to swap back over to using me, at some point. The only issue is my current work contract runs out in July 06, and trying to find another post whilst pregnant isn't exactly good planning. So I'm now looking for another contract, ideally a 2yr or more one, so I can have some certaintly around maternity cover. We'll probably continue trying with R for now, and swap over as soon as I've found myself something. It's a shame, as I really enjoy my job, but I'm going to try and find something else within the university if I can. So it's the beginnings of all change here. Of course, R might get pregnant before I find a new job, in which case I can stay where I am!

Anyway, that's the news from here. Sending the best of wishes to everyone else.

Gina.
 
#25 ·
OK, so I worried needlessly yesterday  ::) At the scan, one of my follies measured 21mm (hurrah) and the other only 13mm (boo), but because I hadn't yet surged, they automatically changed my first IUI to happen today (Tuesday), and then the second on Wednesday pm. I had the trigger injection at the clinic, and hopefully one or the other insem will do the trick, even though I've now only got 1 viable egg.

Gina - it can be so tricky trying to organise life plans around the "what if I/we are pregnant?" thing can't it? We've given up postponing things, and just work on the basis that if I'm pregnant when something else is occurring, we'll just have to deal with it at the time. I know that it's a bit different when you're talking career moves though.

Tx
 
#26 ·
Hey Tamsin,

I'm glad things went well at the clinic. It's a shame you're down to one egg again though. Still, one is all it takes.... ^reiki^ ^reiki^ ^reiki^

Yeah, we're very much the same when it comes to arranging things. It's been two years since we started trying, nearly three since we started planning this, so we're well versed on the 'we'll deal with it when it happens' idea, but if I were to get pregnant now I'd be signing up for nothing more than statutory maternity cover and we simply won't be able to afford it. Well, I guess we would, really, but we'd probably have to sell up and down-size, and we're only in a 2 bed semi as it is. Still, what will be will be. It's forcing us to decide to continue to try with R until I get a new, longer term post, and that's that. R might get pregnant one of these months anyway, and then the pressure's off.

Good luck with this time Tamsin. I'm crossing all available appendages for you. (Which makes it really awkward to type, I can tell you!)

Gina.
 
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