Insemination Ahoy...Is there anyone at the helm?

So, you have been at it, been there, done that and to your utter frustration, "that" has not helped..What now!

For the medical jargon junkies, it translates to having done the investigations, been through the ovulation induction, planned the act for the anticipated pregnancy, tried the laparoscopy and still its back to square one. the strip on the pregnancy card never tickled you pink!
Your doctor has advised insemination..after the first reservations, it does seem simple enough and quicker perhaps?
Hold your horses, for it may not be as simple as it seems. The essential criteria to undergo an insemination, more specifically  an intrauterine insemination is that the fallopian tubes should be patent, the sperm count should not be below a cutoff value and yes, the follicles should grow well and rupture.these are some things you have to make sure are in place before proceeding for an IUI.

IUI if done without stimulating the ovaries minimally, usually gives you just little bit of edge over the natural process by way of overcoming any hurdles that may be present in the path of sperms in the female genital tract. However, IUI when coupled with oral medication or injectables to aid ovulation is more helpful, the pregnancy rates per attempt are approximately 15%. Because you are taking medications and the ovaries are being pushed to perform, make sure your medical care provider also performs!

The perparation starts pre-treatment to ensure that your hormones like thyroid prolacin are well in range and the  blood count, fasting sugar levels are normal. An ultrasound of pelvis should be done before hand to ensure, we do not miss out on anything like an ovarian cyst or fibroid that may interfere with pregnancy. as i mentioned above, testing the patency of the fallopian tubes is essential otherwise IUI is like shooting those sperms in the dark. Ideally the woman must be on a simple prenatal vitamin like folic acid and no more unless so required medically.

So where does the male partner come in..well, right in the beginning! A sperm count is an essential  before the woman is tested for anything mildly invasive as a tube test. This ensures that at least in the fertility world, the woman does not have to undergo more than she needs to!

Once the above are in place, the treatment is just about getting the eggs to grow to the maturity, inducting them to ovulate and timing well an insemination with a well washed sample of the sperms.
Ideally 2 mature eggs is more than ssufficient before a trigger or release injection is administered. when in the process, keep a track of the number of eggs you are growing and talk to your doctor about the chances of multiple gestation. Twins look like fun only in the films and television and triplets is some thing we don't even want to talk about !

So essentially, when we say IUI, you have to ensure there is some one at the helm of the treatment and  know which direction is the ship headed!