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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 require 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 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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December 17, 2009
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After months and months of basal body temperature and LH-surge tracking (ovulation prediction), we finally got the timing right to do the first regular intrauterine insemination (IUI) at our local LGBTQA-friendly healthcare provider! Unfortunately, the first try did not take and we had a negative pregnancy test about 2 weeks later.
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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 regular IUI inseminations per cycle. When using two vials of semen per cycle, the inseminations are 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 regular IUI inseminations again on the third cycle. 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 the fourth regular IUI insemination. 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 fifth IUI insemination was done with one vial of semen of the new (second) donor.
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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 IUI #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 sixth IUI insemination was done with one vial of semen of the second donor.
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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 are 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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