help please...opk question

madisonpeas

We are running down to the wire with making a decision about having sperm shipped tomorrow to arrive Friday or me driving to get it.  So....I know the recommendation is insems 12 and 36 hours post surge.  For those of you who only did one (and I think IUI), did you all do 24 hours?  we are doing ICI at home, but wonder if 24 and 36 would be ok.  It would save me a 5 hour round trip drive and some stress for both of us.  Thanks!

thiswillbe

I don't think this will help much, because we were using an hCG trigger, but we did our IUIs 36+ hours after the trigger. If the trigger acts like a regular LH surge (I don't know if it does), 24 and 36 should be okay.

I've read that the egg lives for about 24 hours after it's released, and the difference between 12 and 24 hours is way less than that (of course), so I'd think you'd be okay with 24 and 36.

I know I probably should have left answering this Q to people who have experience with non-trigger cycles, but I know that late in the day not many people are on. GL with your decision!

madisonpeas

Thanks TWB - we were getting anxious about our decision and were really hoping we'd get some responses.  We decided to have it shipped (unless we get a dark line tomorrow morning, then it's off to the bank for me!) .  I really appreciate your answering...it may all work out that we get our 12 and 36 afterall. If eggs really do last 24 hours that would help too.  Some one said recently in TTT that they wish we could just do this the old fashioned way - DW and I wish that too at times like this with all the stress of sperm order timing.  Thanks for your help and late day support!

JoySeattle

You may have already made your decision, but I just checked the Brill book and they recommend first insem with frozen should be at positive opk, then second within 18 hours. Good luck!

ctbride08

JoySeattle:

You may have already made your decision, but I just checked the Brill book and they recommend first insem with frozen should be at positive opk, then second within 18 hours. Good luck!

I'm shocked....that sounds so off to me.  Frozen sperm does not last very long and a positive OPK usually indicates ovulation in the next 24-36 hours so with that timeframe I would think your sperm would be dead by the time the egg was available.

But to answer the original question, we insem approximately 28-30 hours after positive OPK - we always test around 6am and insem the next day between 10am and 1pm.  Last month we did one insem at about 8-10 hours past surge (you never know for sure) and based on EWCM and cervix position it was too early.  The second insem at about 36 hours past seemed really well timed based on A's fertility signs.   It always better to err on the side of after O rather than before because the egg lives longer than the sperm.

And fwiw, SSG used the same midwife group, and essentially the same timing, and it worked

good luck!!

thefamilyway904

I don't have any words of wisdom here, but I just wanted to wish you the best of luck!

bluedaisyus

i'm no help really and it seems you made a decision already anyway, but my wife did the trigger shots 36 hours before insem. the try that worked she was late and triggered about 25 hours before. 24 and 36 is really common. for single insems most docs that i've found do one or the other of those--we panicked when we realized she missed triggering and i did a bunch of searching online about it.

Two*True

The two cycles that worked for us (although one turned into a c/p) insem was 24 hours post trigger. I felt ovulation about 33 hours post trigger so 7 hours after IUI. 

madisonpeas

Thanks everyone. We decided to have it shipped.  That will mean probably a 20-24 hour insem and a 36 hour insem. I don't know how to compare the trigger timing to OPK stick timing, since I don't really know how triggers work....can anyone explain to me how a trigger time would compare.

 

Thanks again for all of your input - we panicked a bit because we really wanted them to ship it yesterday for today delivery but there was a tank availability issue (arg!).  we will now wait patiently for our little swimmers to arrive tomorrow...

Two*True

madisonpeas:

Thanks everyone. We decided to have it shipped.  That will mean probably a 20-24 hour insem and a 36 hour insem. I don't know how to compare the trigger timing to OPK stick timing, since I don't really know how triggers work....can anyone explain to me how a trigger time would compare.

 

I don't know exactly but here's my best guess.  A trigger shot will not delay ovulation so if I trigger but my body was ready to ovulate in 12 hours it is going to do that regardless.  However if my body wasn't quite at ovulation yet and I trigger than it will force ovulation to happen around 36 hours later. E2 levels and ultrasounds help the doctor to determine whether or not one is going to ovulate immediately or whether a trigger would be timely. Theoretically this allows for a more precise timing of the insem. My understanding with OPKs is that they signal the body should ovulate 12-36 after surge.  That's a larger window and why b2b iuis seem to be more common when going the unmedicated/unmonitored route.

Does that make sense? No one way is right or wrong.  It's just whatever path you and your DW feel most comfortable with.  GL!

ctbride08

I think your timing is going to be just fine w/ 24 and 36.  best of luck!!

madisonpeas

Thanks for the help and additional support Two and Ct.  We hope this will be the one...we can't wait to be in the pregnant group and not counting days and hours and staring at sticks...though then we will have  new growing pea to worry about!  I can safely say we are BOTH ready for that version of worrying