Best Practices with an IUI?

Hi all,

I'm new here. DH and I will be ttc later this year and will likely be doing an IUI. I wasn't sure if this should be posted here or in the other forum, but because my questions were more about what I should be doing, I guessed it would be here. :)

So long story short, DH battled and beat cancer. However we were told he should bank before treatment because of the chemo and radiation and potential ill effects, which he did. I'm guessing we will be trying IUI first because we have no fertility issues, so was curious if there is a tailored best practices list for things I should be doing to conceive a boy...keeping in mind that insemination will be in the uterus. I've been trying to read up on everything in the forums but it's so much to take in from supplements I'm just 'sounding out' to learning abbreviations etc - so any info here would be great. I guess my main question is: are most sways or best practices to essentially help the 'male' sperm survive/beat the 'female' sperm to the egg through 'normal' conception? So because I'm bypassing that step and they won't need to travel all the way up, am I going to have to just rely on the timing of the insemination? Or are some of the best practices for the cervix environment? Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

I'm interested in hearing any responses for this. I'm undergoing IUI currently and hoping/praying for a girl.

i think IUI in general does tend to sway blue anyway so that it is all good.

I really can't say strongly enough how much you need to avoid the methods where yuo are inserting anything into your uterine environment when doing IUI. MAJOR no-no, and if you read to do that on some other site, it is very important that you listen to me becuase you will both lower your odds of pregnancy and also raise your risks of infection. Follow doc's instructions!

I recommend doing HE type diet and supps (none of the dangerous supps recommended on other sites!), weight training, and have your husband release on his own or with you, with a condom, every 2-4 days.

Timing does not sway and your doctor should time your IUI for best odds of conception and NOT gender swaying. IF your doctor is willing to alter the timing of IUI for gender swaying, get a new doctor because they do not have your best interests at heart. (remember, they do get paid by the cycle so some clinics have unfortunately been all too willing to err on the side of not conceiving and having to do round after round of IUI, which becomes very expensive)

Good luck!!

Thank you for your response!

I am super new and still learning, but wasn't planning on any kind of insertion or douching - I actually thought that wouldn't have an effect anyway because I thought it was just to alter ph levels in the vaginal canal/cervix to help male sperm make it on up easier, not for when it was put directly in my uterus via IUI!

I was hoping to mainly stick to supplements or a diet change during this time - but wasn't sure what that would affect, if anything. Would it matter if I made all the boy sway diet changes if the sperm is just deposited directly in my uterus? Unfortunately my husband won't be doing any sways - he already had his sperm frozen before treatment last year so that's set in stone.

I have been swaying boy I am planning on doing iui within the next few months. I have been ttc since Dec 2012 with no luck at all. After going to an RE and placing me on clomid for 3 cycles to regulate ovulation due to my newly diagnosed PCOS and late ovulation, he concluded that oral meds will probably not help me (clomid did nothing to help my cycle) and we are going to try iui with injections for one cycle since it is all we can afford at this moment, as everything will be out of pocket. I go for an hsg test next week to check my tubes and hopefully we will be on our way to get pregnant. Good luck to us both!

Just curious, why does iui seem to sway blue? I am not sure what injections I will be on as I just found out Monday that iui would be the next step for me if I chose to move forward with fertility treatments. TIA

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Originally Posted by bluestskies

Thank you for your response!

I am super new and still learning, but wasn't planning on any kind of insertion or douching - I actually thought that wouldn't have an effect anyway because I thought it was just to alter ph levels in the vaginal canal/cervix to help male sperm make it on up easier, not for when it was put directly in my uterus via IUI!

I was hoping to mainly stick to supplements or a diet change during this time - but wasn't sure what that would affect, if anything. Would it matter if I made all the boy sway diet changes if the sperm is just deposited directly in my uterus? Unfortunately my husband won't be doing any sways - he already had his sperm frozen before treatment last year so that's set in stone.

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I'm glad to hear it, just had to make sure because occasionally people will hatch some pretty extreme plans. :)

I DO think making changes in your diet will help. We honestly don't know how all this works, but the operating theory is that your body "wants" to conceive a boy if you have a lot of nutrients coming in becuase boys need more nutrients pretty much from the minute of conception onward and are more vulnerable to lacking diets and lower maternal condition. So at the very least, even if we aren't accomplishing anything else (and I believe we would be) we would still be providing your body with the nutrients to help sustain a boy pregnancy.

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Originally Posted by missmegrn

Just curious, why does iui seem to sway blue? I am not sure what injections I will be on as I just found out Monday that iui would be the next step for me if I chose to move forward with fertility treatments. TIA

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We honestly don't know. It may be the sperm bypassing the VJ environment or that they are all capacitated simultaneously before being inserted very close to the egg (ensuring a lot of ready-to-go sperm make it to the egg)

It's hard to see it in studies done on IUI (they come up pretty close to 50-50) becuase so many couples who have it done are lower in fertility, esp. on the husband's side and may be coming in more likely to conceive girls to begin with. But in studies that were done on timing, when couples who wanted boys got IUI on day of ovulation, they did have overwhelmingly boys (I don't have the papers in front of me right now but it was above 75%). Subsequent studies found that timing did not sway, so it leaves us with IUI swaying blue for the average couple - and in fact probably all couples, just that we can't pick it out in the other studies because of the other co-factors.

I am super excited for you!!!

Bummer that it sways blue, since I am requiring iui and hope for a girl :-(

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Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush

I'm glad to hear it, just had to make sure because occasionally people will hatch some pretty extreme plans. :)

I DO think making changes in your diet will help. We honestly don't know how all this works, but the operating theory is that your body "wants" to conceive a boy if you have a lot of nutrients coming in becuase boys need more nutrients pretty much from the minute of conception onward and are more vulnerable to lacking diets and lower maternal condition. So at the very least, even if we aren't accomplishing anything else (and I believe we would be) we would still be providing your body with the nutrients to help sustain a boy pregnancy.

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Thank you so much. I will work on a boy diet, just in case, and as you said, if nothing else, I'll have all the more nutrients! :)

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Originally Posted by atomic sagebrush

We honestly don't know. It may be the sperm bypassing the VJ environment or that they are all capacitated simultaneously before being inserted very close to the egg (ensuring a lot of ready-to-go sperm make it to the egg)

It's hard to see it in studies done on IUI (they come up pretty close to 50-50) becuase so many couples who have it done are lower in fertility, esp. on the husband's side and may be coming in more likely to conceive girls to begin with. But in studies that were done on timing, when couples who wanted boys got IUI on day of ovulation, they did have overwhelmingly boys (I don't have the papers in front of me right now but it was above 75%). Subsequent studies found that timing did not sway, so it leaves us with IUI swaying blue for the average couple - and in fact probably all couples, just that we can't pick it out in the other studies because of the other co-factors.

I am super excited for you!!!

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This is really interesting!! I would fall into the no fertility issues group (as I said we just are having to go IUI due to preserve dh's sperm from chemo/radiation) so am intrigued at these statistics! Do you know the sample size or who conducted the study? Hopefully with a diet sway we can get a little guy!

I also had read about IUI's are 50/50 like anything, but didn't know male fertility issues tend to sway girl. Do you know why that is though (just curious)?

Also on an unrelated note, just because you are so knowledgable :) :) do you know if the success rate of 20% for IUI's is equal across the board for all couples, or does that vary based on infertility issues? The one thing we are worried about is we only have 4 vials (so apparently 4 tries only) and 20% is a little nerve-wrecking if that is our best case scenario.