Mixing up the Variables

Okay, so our second try will probably be around July 3rd. I'd be very grateful for advice or guidance from anyone who's conceived at home using frozen ICI. Things to consider changing from our last time:

• Timing. We got a positive OPK at about 8:00 in the morning when my wife woke up and did our first ICI about 12 hours later, figuring that since most people's LH surge (and also ovulation) tends to happen about 3:00 am, that was probably around when the peak surge happened, so we estimated that we were inseminating about 17 hours after the surge, and then again 24 hours after that. Do you think we should have waited longer to do the first insemination? Was that 3:00 am assumption not well founded? I know that ovulation can happen anywhere from 12 to 36 hours after the surge, but how the heck are we supposed to know precisely when it happens?
  
  
• Defrosting. I took the vial out and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, checking it every minute or two past the 10 minute mark until it had liquified. I know that clinics use special vial heaters that heat the whole thing up to body temperature fairly quickly, and I've heard of some people putting the vials in their bra or underwear or under their armpit to simulate that. I don't wear a bra or underwear, heh, but I could do the armpit thing. But does that risk uneven heating? Should I keep doing the room temperature thing instead?
  
  
• Method. I poured the vial into an Instead cup, drew it up into an oral medicine syringe, put some Preseed around the rim of the cup, plus an applicator's worth of Preseed inside my wife, who was lying with her butt on a pillow, then inserted the syringe, had her guide it to the farthest comfortable point it could go, then I pressed the plunger, removed the syringe, had her insert the Instead cup, and she put her legs up in the air against the wall for a few minutes, and then we made whoopie. Does that sound about right? Should I have mixed more Preseed in with the contents of the vial so that there was more actual liquid in the Instead cup? There was a bit of liquid remaining in the very tip of the syringe after I pushed the plunger. Should I have taken it out, drawn up more Preseed into it, reinserted it, and then pushed the plunger a second time?
  

Any thoughts or ideas? I know it's only got a small chance of working per try, but I want to do everything I can to make it possible.

Just replying quickly before little dude cracks the shits that I haven't started feeding him, but some quick thoughts-

I think it's always better to inseminate a little early, because the sperm can wait for the egg, but the egg won't wait for the sperm. So what you did is right, in my opinion.

I wouldn't bother getting the last of the sperm from the syringe as that's more likely to disturb what's you've already inserted rather than help.

Good luck! Not long to wait now

Both of those line up with my instincts as well, but it's good to get external confirmation. Thanks for the good wishes!

I want so bad to be of more help. I think your timing sounds great. Cadence is right the sperm will hang around for the egg. I know nothing about defrosting frozen sperm.

As for the method, we chose not to do any of the extra stuff. We did not use preseed or the Instead cup. I did prop my hips up after the second insemination (we did two in one day). My wife was really weirded out by the sperm, which is kind of to be expected since it was her brothers stuff, so we did not have sex after. We also were never home alone during either insemination. I instead masturbated and then keep my hips propped up for about 20 minutes each time.

queermamavt wrote: My wife was really weirded out by the sperm, which is kind of to be expected since it was her brothers stuff

I'm glad I wasn't the only one. It was SO hard not to gag or make a fuss about handling my brothers sperm. It's hard to have a touching moment of insemination in that situation.

Cec wrote:It's hard to have a touching moment of insamination in that situation.

Sweet insamination LOL.

Cec wrote:I'm glad I wasn't the only one. It was SO hard not to gag or make a fuss about handling my brothers sperm. It's hard to have a touching moment of insemination in that situation.

Yeah, it was not a very sweet moment at all. I was not as bothered by it as she was though. I was more bothered by having people in my house while I was being inseminated, seeing as I was masturbating after. I had to masturbate in my brother-in-laws bed; I don't remember that ending well for me.

Heh. Fortunately my brothers are too old (52 and 50), live too far away (Missoula and Seattle), and my wife is an only child. I'd definitely be skeeved out by the whole idea. I think I might be a little jealous, too. Like, I wanna raise my own kid, not my brother's kid, y'know? But I know other people feel really differently about that, which is totally valid.