First donation

Our first donation for me.

We had of course done donation before so it was not completely new. As we did three rounds of donations with Ben. We were using the same donation so that also made it easier. Difference was this time it was me we were insemination and we were in a new house. On top of that we have a toddler now to plan around.

So firstly my menstruation (period/shark week) was later then expected which threw my ovulation back a week. This makes planning hard. Now that we have moved and the donor is in London. We had to have a bit of a plan but also be flexible if needed.

Covid 19 is still very rife, we just come out another national lockdown into a tier system. Where kent is in the strictest tier 3 making it again hard because we are not meant to mix households or see people from other areas. London is tier 2 so not as bad. Meaning the donor was risking travelling on public transport to mix households. But it was for an important necessary reason which is allowed under the government rules. It just makes it harder again. Having these odds staked against us, did not help my stress and anxiety. 

The week I ovulated we had so much other stuff happening. Which we had to plan around lots of thing changed got thrown in the air and at times it was all to much for me to deal with. The change, lack of plans, order and loss of that control. I really struggled. But we managed it and had two successful days of donations. 

Firstly on Tuesday when I got a flashy smiley face on Monday (earlier then I thought) therefore days changed but it worked out better. Our friend had Ariyah for the whole day which took the pressure off so me and Ben. We could completely relax have the day and enjoy it. We had two donations three hours apart. 

Then we planed for two days later but Thursday come around I was still get flashy face on clear blue ovulation test. These normally only show three flashy and a soild but this was the fourth day of flashing. Therefore we pushed the donation back a day, changing plans again. Friday morning our donor messaged saying he could not get work off and was rushed off his feet doing work all night so he could not donate that day. Luckily we still got another day of flashy face and no peak. 

Saturday morning I finally got a peak soild face on the test and the donor arrange to come that day. However we had no child care for Ariyah. Our two friends we had on standby were busy last minute. Thankfully we have so many people willing to support us. A friend down the road came to take ariyah for a walk to see Christmas lights in the morning for our first donation. Then the next one we timed it for her long afternoon nap. This meant the last donation had to be quick as she was stirring and woke up but we managed to still have a successful day of donations. 

Why we did two in one day? 

We choose to have two donations in one day. There are many myth around when and how many times to have donations. Many people are lead to believe that a male has to save his sperm up. However new research shows this is not true. That just three hours after first ejaculation the sperm regenerates and is fresher, stronger swimmer, with more protein to be able to fertiliser an egg. But the longer they stay there, the more weaker and risk to be exposed to genetic factors which can be the cause of genetic risk to a baby when they are conceive. Meaning donating twice within the three hour window enhances the chance of fertilisation and the pregnancy sticking too.

Fertile couples are encouraged to have sex every other day within the whole cycle then more leading up to ovulation to better the chances. Then twice a day,  on the two days before and day off ovulation. However when using a donor for us this is not possible therefore twice in one day, for two days  in fertility window, is our best chances. Three days if we could of. As sperm stays alive in the fallopian tubes for up to 5-7 days. 

Fingers crossed as now we had our donations we are just have to wait for two plus weeks before we can take a pregnancy tests. This is the hardest part, but only time will tell.