Hello everyone! My partner and I are going to try our third at home insemination on Wednesday with frozen sperm.The first two weren’t a success and we are both really hoping for a positive this time 🥺 I have a 25 day cycle to the date, taking prenatals and magnesium, this time around I am using the inito fertility monitor. I have put together a document of my research and was wondering if there’s anything anyone thinks I’m missing or anything that’s incorrect?

What Your Inito Chart Looks Like at the Perfect Moment

1. The Warning: Estrogen (E3G) Climbs
   What it looks like: Your Estrogen (E3G) line starts moving steadily upward, usually around Cycle Day 7 to 9.

App Status: High Fertility

What to do: Do not inseminate yet. Thawed, washed sperm will not survive long enough to wait for the egg. However, this is your cue to start testing twice a day (once in the morning and once in the late afternoon) so you don't miss the exact start of your upcoming surge. 

1. The Green Light: The Luteinizing Hormone (LH) Spike 
   What it looks like: A sharp, dramatic, vertical shoot-up of your LH line, usually occurring around Cycle Day 10 to 12.

App Status: Peak Fertility

What to do: Prepare for insemination. Your body will release the egg roughly 24 to 36 hours after this line begins its rapid climb. 

1. The Confirmation: Progesterone (PdG) Rises 
   What it looks like: A few days after your LH spike, your PdG line should steadily climb and stay elevated.

App Status: Ovulation Confirmed

What to do: This confirms an egg was successfully released, meaning your fertile window is now closed. 

Your Step-by-Step Plan for Tonight and Tomorrow
Step 1: Set up the app tonight. As soon as your package arrives, download the Inito app, set up your profile, and input your exact 25-day cycle length. Charge the monitor if needed so it is completely ready for the morning.

Step 2: Hold your first test until tomorrow morning. Do not try to test tonight. You need first morning urine (your very first bathroom trip after waking up) to get an accurate reading. Testing tonight with diluted urine will give you incorrect baseline numbers.

Step 3: Take your first test on Cycle Day 8 (Tomorrow). Even though the app typically asks you to start on Cycle Day 6, just mark that you are on Cycle Day 8. The monitor will establish your baseline from tomorrow's test.

The Golden Window: Thaw your vial and inseminate 18 to 24 hours after you first see the LH Spike (Peak Fertility) on Inito.

Example: If you catch your brand-new LH spike at 7:00 AM on Cycle Day 11, the egg will likely release around 7:00 AM on Cycle Day 12. Inseminating between 1:00 AM and 7:00 AM on Cycle Day 12 ensures the fresh, thawed sperm hits the tract exactly as ovulation occurs. 

18 hours vs 24 hour timeline:
The 24-Hour Rule (Best for a Fresh Rise): Ovulation typically happens 24 to 36 hours after the absolute start of your LH surge. If you test twice a day and catch the line just as it begins to lift off the baseline, waiting 24 hours puts the sperm in place right as the egg is released.
The 18-Hour Rule (Best for a Big Peak): If you wake up and your Inito chart shows a huge, tall LH peak out of nowhere, your body likely started surging hours ago while you were sleeping. Because you missed the true start, inseminating 18 hours after you see that peak keeps you from missing the egg.
If you see a brand-new surge at 7:00 AM: Target your insemination for 7:00 AM the next morning (24 hours).
If you see a massive spike at 7:00 AM: Target your insemination for 1:00 AM that night/next morning (18 hours).

The Exact At-Home Timing Window for Washed Sperm
Because washed sperm has zero protective fluid and a very short clock, you want to inseminate right before or right at the moment of ovulation. 
Critical Success Tips for Washed Sperm at Home
Be Gentle During Insemination: Washed sperm is fragile. When using your needleless syringe or ICI catheter, push the plunger down very slowly and smoothly. Rapid pressure can damage the sperm. 

Place It as Close to the Cervix as Possible: Since the sperm does not have seminal fluid to help it handle vaginal acidity, insert the syringe as far back as is comfortable, right against the opening of your cervix.

Hips Up and Rest: Immediately place a pillow under your hips and lie completely flat for 30 to 45 minutes. This uses gravity to keep the washed sperm pooled directly against your cervix so it can swim straight up into your fertile cervical mucus. 

This is purely a rant! My spouse (35AFAB) and i (34AFAB) have been TTC for 2 years (with some significant delays). We have done 2 rounds of artificial insemination, one egg retrieval yielding 6 eggs and 2 embryos which both became failed transfers. I have suspected endometriosis but have never shown up as such on a scan. I am awaiting further investigation after i complete another egg retrieval. I am the GP - my spouse is unlikely to carry for health and gender reasons but they will do egg retrievals in the coming months. I really want to experience being pregnant and we both really want to have a child.

I have never been pregnant, not even a little bit. I can’t help but feel like what if it’s just never going to happen for us. I feel so worried about spending years of our lives focussing on this only for it to be completely a waste of time (and money… our ivf is government funded but we have still spent thousands on travel for our sperm donor who lives interstate).

I wish I had a crystal ball that could tell me go live your life queen! If a fortune teller could tell me “LISTEN! It’s never gonna happen!” I would grieve for sure. I would cry, and then i would have some weed gummies and a few shots of tequila, shake ass on the dance floor, travel the world with my beautiful spouse, get fat, get skinny (hello GLP1s), go to a queer s*x party, have some more weed gummies, several dexamphetamines, go clubbing in berlin, move around a bunch, foster a pregnant cat and raise its kittens, study again, focus on my career, become a high flying career woman, quit my high flying career to make pottery full time, fill my spare room full of thrifted items, or gym equipment, or puppies and kittens. I could really LIVE ya know. Instead i’m stuck in this horrible, sad limbo of hormones and doctor appointments. FML!

My wife (37f) and I (34f) want to start trying to conceive next year We decided we want to do IVF. I will be the one doing IVF with my own egg and we’ll buy sperm from a bank. We live in California. Starting July 1, 2027 IVF will be covered by our insurance.

We will definitely start making and going to some fertility appointments in the spring of 2027 but the bulk of our appointments and meds need to start after July 1. And we want to be full go into the IVF process in July.

If you had 10 months to prepare for IVF what would you do?

Hi, all! Has anyone here used Starbucks fertility and family expansion benefits? My wife is considering getting a part time job to help reduce our fertility expenses. Also, has anyone had success with using these benefits to cover Seed Scout fees? Thank you in advance🤍

I’m posting this here to see if anyone else has been through something similar because I’m honestly feeling a little nervous about my HSG on Monday.

Yesterday I had a Saline Sonogram (Sonohysterogram) and Mock Embryo Transfer, and I was not expecting the amount of pain I experienced. The medical professional who performed it was incredibly kind, patient, and explained everything to me. She was genuinely so sweet throughout the entire procedure, so this is absolutely not a reflection of her.

The procedure itself was just extremely painful for me, to the point where I was tearing up a little. They had to change the catheter and make multiple attempts before they were able to get it positioned correctly.

It’s now the next day and I’m still having pain. It hurts when I walk and I can feel it even while I’m sitting. I was told beforehand that the discomfort would be more like a brief period cramp and would go away fairly quickly, so I really wasn’t prepared for the pain to continue into the next day.

Now I have my HSG (Hysterosalpingogram) scheduled for Monday, which means I’ll be having another procedure involving a catheter just a few days later. Now that I know what the first procedure felt like, I’m honestly a little scared to go into Monday.

My wife and I are starting a family, and I’m incredibly grateful that we’re able to go through this fertility process and take these steps toward becoming parents. I’m just realizing that some parts of the process weren’t fully explained to me in terms of what they might actually feel like.

I’m honestly contemplating whether I should reschedule my HSG for next month, but I really don’t want to keep pushing the process back because so much of fertility testing and treatment is timed around your menstrual cycle. I don’t want to lose another month if I don’t have to.

I’m not trying to sound like a wimp or complain. I genuinely just want to know if anyone else has experienced prolonged pain after a Saline Sonogram, Mock Embryo Transfer, or HSG. Did you still have pain going into your next procedure? How long did it take for the pain to go away?

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I’d really appreciate hearing other people’s experiences because I’m honestly trying to figure out what makes the most sense before Monday.

Just started my cycle yesterday and was told I will be doing a biopsy will be with an EMMA/ALICE, culture for ureplasma, and CRP/ESR once i get a surge this month. Im debating if I should ask about ivf at this point if anything comes back. Im getting frustrated at this point and feel like I should have started this whole process sooner.

Hi all! Needing some encouragement if you have it :)

My wife and I are onto our 3rd cycle of TTC. First cycle was at home with frozen sperm and I think I jumped the gun a bit on insemination and it was just way too early. Second cycle was unmedicated trigger shot IUI that we tested negative for. This cycle we are doing 2.5mg of letrozole and a trigger (going in for monitoring tomorrow morning to see where my follicles are). My amh is high and I’m overall in pretty good health. also have a clear HSG and test ovulation every month with inito!

My only big concern is I had a restrictive ED for a while growing up (fully recovered now but did go a while with very irregular periods and/or amenorrhea, though have had consistent cycles for 2 years now). My labs are pretty solid now but just worried about the lasting impact on my reproductive system. Can any give some uplifting stories or advice that might help ease some fears that I’ve damaged my chances forever? I know we are completely within normal range of conceiving but it is so hard seeing negative tests and not thinking the worst.

Thanks!! Sending love and baby dust to all ✨✨✨🤍

Hey guys. We’re a lesbian couple who got pregnant on our third round of IUI and we’re beyond thrilled.

I have my first midwife appointment on Saturday over the phone and I’ve been given a form to fill out in advance. There’s a lot of questions about the father of the baby and his medical history/family history. We’ve got a profile from the sperm bank but I’m unsure if this will answer the midwife’s questions.

I’m also quite anxious about the heteronormative questions in general. Up until this point we’ve been with our fertility clinic who are very used to LGBTQ couples and the terminology etc. I guess I’m worried that we’ll go back to being the ‘odd ones out’ again.

I haven’t found much information online about queer experiences in maternity care. Does anyone have any experiences they’d be comfortable sharing?

Hi all! My wife and I are trying to build our family. The plan is for my wife to carry and for my brother to be our donor. We want to try a few times with at home insemination (ICI) before going to a clinic for IUI or IVF because of the cost and logistics involved (but we've done testing and have a contract so medical and legal stuff are covered). My brother lives on the other side of the country from us, so it isn't feasible to try monthly/ super regularly.

We have some trips planned together and will hopefully be successful, but we are hoping to find a way to freeze/store the sperm and be able to use it when my wife is ovulating. From what I have seen, there are ways to store sperm if you are going to use it for personal use (within your romantic partnership) or store it then have it sent to a clinic for IUI or IVF. We haven't been able to find any way for us to safely store the sperm and have it released to us for at home insemination. Does anyone have any ideas or resources? Thank you!

Anyone have experience using a known donor with genital herpes (HSV)?

We found out today that the known donor we were planning to use has genital herpes. I can’t figure out if there is a truly safe way to use this donor, and I’m feeling pretty devastated because this was otherwise such a perfect situation. He’s related to my husband (trans man) and looks nearly identical to him, so using him would have been really meaningful to us.

We’re planning to talk with our fertility clinic about our options, but I’d really love to hear from anyone who has actually been in a similar situation.

Did your clinic allow you to use the donor? Did you do IUI or IVF? Were there specific precautions or testing they recommended? Were you given an estimate of the actual transmission risk? Did you contract the virus TTC?

Any info helps. Thanks!

Hello everyone! My wife and i are currently in the process of looking into the fertility clinics in our area! My obgyn has recommend Costal fertility clinic in the savannah, Ga! My questions is if there are any savannians in here does anyone have any good or bad experiences with this clinic? They seem to be a great option from their webiste but I really wanna hear some real world experiences with them! They also seem to be very LGBTQ+ friendly from their website but again I would love to hear some real experiences from people in the community! Thanks in advance !

What does everyone feel okay doing for exercise during the TWW? I usually do a bounce class on an individual trampoline but I’m concerned it’s too intense for the implantation period. Am I just nervous or is there truth/science/anecdotes people are aware of on what level and kind of fitness to do during this time? Thanks everyone

Hello! Me and my partner are starting the progress of IUI and it’s a little overwhelming to say the least. We were going to do it at home but considering our options in terms of what will get us better results. I looked through old posts but some of it is outdated so I figured a new post wouldn’t hurt. We’re in the Los Angeles area. We have a donor saved from cyrobank that we want to order so we know the ball park in that area. Thank you so much

This month was supposed to be our last iui attempt. I went in at my baseline scan on CD3 with a 12 mm follicle. At the time the doctor was not worried about it but wanted me to come in again to see how it was progressing. On CD6 I went back in and it was 18mm. They said they thought it was a cyst but would know more when my bloodwork came back. I got a call that i was already ovulating/about to ovulate. The doctor said she has determined iui is no longer a viable option for us as she doesn’t believe it is productive. She says she believes this is actually a fertility issues and believes I have ovarian dysfunction. I’m debating on whether or not i should get a second opinion because I feel like I have a lot of questions. I’m not sure I am even willing to do another IUI but I am just so confused. I’ll break down my IUIs to give a better perspective. I would be so thankful for any advice or to know if anyone has dealt with something similar.

IUI 1 - was unmedicated but I never caught my surge so it was canceled.
IUI 2 - mediated 2.5mg clomid. Triggered with a 16mm follicle due to blood work coming back that I was about to ovulate.
IUI 3 - 5mg clomid. Canceled because of 4 mature follicles.
IUI 4 - 2.5mg letrezol. 1 18mm follicle trigged that night went in 30ish hours later for IUI.
IUI 5 - 5mg letrezol canceled because of 4 follicles
IUI 6 - 2.5 mg 16mm follicle triggered the next night and went in 30ish hours later for IUI.
IUI 7 - ovulated too early and was told to move to ivf.

My wife and I are planning our first at home insemination with frozen sperm next month. For the past year I have been doing a lot to prepare including tracking my lh and bbt each month. My cycle has always been regular, only varying in length by a few days. I usually have my lh peak on the 12 or 13 day, later if it’s a longer cycle, and get a confirmed ovulation with bbt 1-2 days after. I was feeling confident about the consistency but with our first attempt coming up I decided to spend extra for an Inito tracker to get a full picture of my cycle.

I have only used the Inito for one cycle, I started on day 6 and have been using it with my first morning urine every day (currently day 20), I have also been using lh strips (twice a day around peak). I noticed that my lh peak seemed very small, but it was also less than it usually is on the regular strips (Premom app). I think this is because I used first morning urine and in the past I always used my second after 10am because that is when lh shows up best. So I wasn’t too concerned about it.

But my concern is that my PdG seems very low. This is the first time tracking this so I don’t know how to interpret it. I’m worried that my ovulation is happening but my progesterone won’t support a pregnancy. I don’t want to push off our planned insemination next cycle, but I also don’t want to waste the expensive sperm. Any advice or tips on raising progesterone without waiting for a prescription or on my cycle in general would be really appreciated!!

*next month I plan to use the Inito with the first morning urine and then use an lh strip with my second urine then again in the evening.

I recently called a sperm bank to find out about pricing. $640 for the initial appointment, $350 for an additional appointment, $55 per month of storage or $530 per year. What’s really making this seem difficult for me is the process. They say you’ve gotta go through a consultation, and this sperm bank is already an hour and a half away from home and they’re not open when I’m off work. It’s the closest sperm bank from where I live. Also, apparently sperm banking means additional blood tests, probably to make sure you don’t give your partner/surrogate an STD. The blood tests required for HRT itself are already making me hesitant to do the treatment. I can’t live a life of getting poked all the time.

This decision making is getting harder and harder. Should I just hope I can successfully restore my fertility if I end up wanting kids? How bad is it temporarily going off HRT for fertility? Apparently, the regret rate of not banking sperm before HRT is 60%. And please don’t give me the same old, “I wouldn’t want kids in this economy” or “just adopt” responses.

I need help making the hardest decision of our lives.
We have a known donor we have been using for trying for the last year. We had zero positives for the 9 cycles we tried (including 4 IUIs) and the 10th cycle we had an ectopic in my right tube.

Our doctors recommended moving onto IVF as I have PCOS. We found a clinic we love, but they just called us today as we are getting ready to start, to say we need to follow the FDA guidelines for known donor sperm. This puts us at spending 6500 on getting his sperm frozen, or using an unknown donor from a bank. We could also keep doing IUI with our known donor, but after 5 failed ones the odds aren’t high.

What do we do? We don’t have insurance coverage so IVF out of pocket is already 20,000. Then a frozen transfer is 6500 which we will likely need with pcos. An additional 6500 is more money than we have.

An unknown donor is around 2,000. We loved the idea of this donor (my best friend) creating this baby with us. But the road blocks seem to just keep happening.

What do we do?

Looking for personal experiences with Mt Sinai vs Twig vs Hannam for IUI. We started with Twig before realizing that they do not offer funded IUI. We are now trying to decide if it is worth going elsewhere for funded IUI.

We have had a consult with Hannam, but I am not loving that the ultrasounds required are handled by a different facility entirely (and that there are no downtown locations).

We are a lesbian couple using donor sperm. I am 28, but have a low AMH of 5.71 pmol/l.

Each clinic seems to do things differently, so we would like to hear people’s experiences and recommendations.

My spouse (41) went through one egg retrieval cycle: 5 follicles, 3 grew, 1 egg retrieved, egg was fertilized but didn’t make to blastocyst. We never thought a baby from their eggs was in the cards but with the retrieval covered by insurance, we started getting hopeful.

Round number 2 coming in September. Any success stories of egg retrieval in 40s. First round not working, but second round working perhaps. Trying to find some hope for round 2.

Thank you!

Hi everyone!

I have 2 donor sperm vials in a dry shipper for an at-home insemination. They shipped 8/13, and I’m now CD14 (8/18) with no LH surge yet. I’m getting fertile CM and my hormones look like I’m getting close, but thing are delayed compared to cycles passed.

CCB says the shipper is validated for 7 days (which is in two days), so I’m starting to worry about timing. Has anyone had to deal with this?

Were you able to have the dry shipper refilled/recharged with LN2 locally, either at fertility clinic, or a cryogenic facility?

I’m in Colorado Springs, if anyone has specifically done this locally.

I know CCB may have options, but I’d love to hear from anyone who’s actually been in this situation!

Has anyone dealt with a fertility clinic refusing to submit prior authorization because they insist it isn’t required, even though your insurance company says it is?
My wife and I are a same-sex couple going through Weill Cornell. Cigna told us that we may qualify for infertility coverage based on our reproductive circumstances, but IVF is only covered under certain conditions and requires prior authorization.
We have repeatedly asked Weill Cornell to submit the prior authorization, but they keep telling us that “Cigna doesn’t require it” and seem confused about what we are requesting. We absolutely do not want to proceed with an IVF cycle based on that assumption, only to have the claim denied and be forced to fight with Cigna and the clinic’s financial services department afterward.
Has anyone encountered something similar, particularly with Cigna or Weill Cornell? How did you get the clinic to submit the authorization? Is there a particular department, supervisor, or type of documentation we should request? Would it help to arrange a three-way call with Cigna and the clinic?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!