Along with the FAQs about IUI in the previous post, there was a section that listed 4 personal stories from women explaining their IUI experiences. These ranged all the way from a woman who has had 8 IUIs to a woman who had just had her first one that day. I thought that this one had the most information. They are all anonymous, so the writing credit goes to FertilityPlus.
The process for IUI at my doctor’s office was to call and schedule the procedure once LH surge was detected, or, if monitoring and doing hCG trigger, schedule the procedure based on the time of trigger. I did both methods and got pregnant from Clomid and IUI 24 hours after LH surge. I also did double IUIs based on hCG injection (22 and 46 hours after) and conceived and carried to.
We live about 20 minutes from the doctor’s office, so we collected the sample at home, in a sterile cup. I kept my husband’s sample at body temperature by putting it in my bra, between my breasts, while we drove over. I’d run in, drop it off, and be told to return in an hour. When we got back, the nurse would usually show us a sample of the motile sperm under a microscope and hand us the loaded catheter with the sperm solution in it. We’d go into the procedure room and I would undress from the waist down. The doctor would come in, insert a speculum, then insert the catheter and inject the sperm I would continue to lay back on the motorized table and the doctor would incline the table a bit so my hips were elevated and ask us to come out after 15-20 minutes.
I did eight IUIs and most of them I actually didn’t feel at all – I even had to ask when the doctor was done, or I would be able to tell from the speculum being removed. My only uncomfortable one was my first, and it was probably the worst one as far as timing goes – I think it was too early. The doctor used a tenaculum and I felt as if that pinched. Otherwise the only other discomfort was a quick contraction from a cold speculum, and the doctor made sure his new nurse knew what the warming tray was for after that.
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