Choosing home insemination for your path to parenthood can give you the luxury of having more privacy, more flexibility, and more intimacy, unlike some other fertility procedures. Home insemination can provide an enjoyable experience that works for you when you are ready to begin your trying to conceive (TTC) journey.
If you have reason to believe that you may have fertility issues or if you are older, contact a fertility specialist to help you decide if home insemination is the best approach for you. After last week’s radio show/podcast on the topic of Home Insemination, our friends at Cryos International created this step-by-step explanation of the process. We hope that these two resources will help you understand if home insemination should be part of your path to creating your family.
Step 1: Tracking your ovulation
Ovulation is the most important thing you need to know about your body before trying home insemination. There are many ways to track your ovulation. It is recommended that you use more than one method for a more accurate picture of your monthly ovulation. You can use ovulation testing kits, monitors, testing strips, and calendars to help you.
Start with the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP) or by calculating 12 – 16 days from the next expected period. When you know your ovulation cycle, you are one step closer to beginning home insemination. Next, you must determine your most fertile time.
Learn More: Guide to Tracking Your Ovulation
Step 2: Finding the right time to inseminate
The most fertile time of your cycle is on average between day 11 and day 21, from the first day of your LMP. Every woman’s body is different, so ovulation may occur on a different day each month and at different times during your cycle. Make sure to track your ovulation carefully.
When using an Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK), you are looking to get a positive result for your LH surge. This is typically 36 hours prior to ovulation, but it can also be between 24 – 48 hours. The days between your LH surge and ovulation are your most fertile time for home insemination with frozen sperm.
Your egg drops during ovulation and lives for only 24 hours. Chances of conception drop down to 0% the day after ovulation, so be sure to understand the right timing for your body.
Step 3: Choosing Your Sperm Donor
Choosing a sperm donor can be a fun and exciting time as you search for the perfect match for you to conceive your future child. Most sperm banks offer diverse donors from all walks of life that make it easy for you to find the right fit.
For example, Cryos gives you the option to choose a donor based on their genetic background, blood type, and similarities that are important to you. Some sperm banks, including Cryos, provides pictures of many donors, making it easier for you to find a donor that resembles what you want.
Most sperm banks offer both Non-ID Release or ID Release donors to choose from. A Non-ID Release does not agree to be contacted and an ID Release donor can be contacted by your child when they turn 18 years old. Confirm with your sperm bank, but donors from a sperm bank have usually signed away paternity rights, so you never have to worry about legal parental issues.
Learn more about the difference between Non-ID Release & ID-Release.
Step 4: Deciding on Motility
Once you have chosen your sperm donor, the next step is to decide on the MOT level. MOT stands for motility and is the amount of moving sperm in each straw which can range from MOT 10 to MOT 30+.
Here’s a tip: buying 2 straws of MOT10 ICI or IUI-ready sperm for home insemination allows you the ability to space apart your insemination and inseminate during your fertile window. It is recommended to inseminate 12 hours apart for the best chance of getting pregnant.
More information about motility can be found here.
Step 5: Ordering your sperm
Once you have chosen your donor and the MOT level that will best suit your home insemination needs, you are ready to place your order.
First, you need to align the shipping date to your ovulation. By understanding your most fertile time, you can line up the shipping date to match your ovulation day and store the sperm in the provided nitrogen tank until you use it and ship the empty tank back.
Ask your sperm bank what shipping options for home insemination they offer. Some, such as Cryos, offer two shipping options available to ensure that you have a few days of flexibility when inseminating at home.
Shipping Tank Options:
- A regular nitrogen tank that lasts 7 days from the shipping date.
- A large nitrogen tank that lasts 12 days from the shipping date.
Here’s a tip: Your most fertile days will be the two days leading up to your ovulation and your ovulation day. The chances of pregnancy go down to 0% after your ovulation day and rise again during your next ovulation cycle. So make sure that your Home Insemination kit arrives before ovulation day!
Step 6: Receiving your donor sperm
After you’ve purchased your selected donor, you will receive a tracking number. Use that number to track your shipment and make sure an individual who is over 18 is at the destination location to receive the shipment. Someone must be at the address to sign for it.
Check the content of the shipment and make sure it is undamaged. Most sperm banks that offer the shipment for home insemination will include everything you need to complete home insemination. For example, when ordering donor sperm from Cryos, our kit includes:
- The shipping container that keeps the sperm frozen
- The sperm straw(s)
- A needleless syringe
- An adapter that fits into our straws specifically
- An individually wrapped alcohol wipe
- A copy of your packing list and instructions
Learn more about how to handle your nitrogen tank.
Step 7: Preparing Your Straws
Follow the directions from your sperm bank on how to prepare the sperm for home insemination. If the sperm comes in straws, such as sperm from Cryos, the following procedure is usually recommended.
Once you have received your nitrogen tank, remove your sperm straws and thaw them at room temperature for approximately 15-20 minutes. Do not thaw the straws in warm water.
How to prepare your straws.
- Fit the thick end of the adapter onto the syringe.
- Clean the straw using the alcohol pad
- Using scissors, cut the sealed end of the straw (a maximum distance of 0.5 cm/0.2″) opposite of the side with the ID-number/name
- Place the cut end of the straw into the thin end of the adapter
- Keep the syringe upright and slowly draw the content of the straw into the syringe. This video will also explain how to handle the sperm straw(s):
Watch: A Step by Step Guide to Handling Sperm Straws
Step 8: Ready to Inseminate!
Once the syringe is ready for use, start by laying down comfortably. Use a pillow to raise your hips. Take the syringe carefully and insert it as far into the vaginal canal as possible. Inject the sperm into your vagina to complete the home insemination. Then lay still in place for approximately 30 minutes.
Watch: Home Insemination Guide Video
Finally! The Two Week Wait
The two-week wait is the time between your ovulation and when menstruation begins. This can be an emotionally difficult time for women who are trying to conceive. During this period, many women struggle with stress and anxiety.
Testing before the right time can give you a false negative. The best option is to wait until your period is at least one day late.
Practice Self Care
To help make the time go by faster and decrease anxiety, stay healthy, try to keep busy, and practice much-needed self-care.
- Go for walks, try some yoga poses, or do some stretching.
- Check out a book you’ve been wanting to read.
- Take up a new hobby or investigate something that interests you.
Create a Good Support System
Being able to talk about your feelings and emotions can make any stressor feel easier to process. Support groups are a great option because you can talk to people that have had similar experiences and understand what you are going through. Consider joining the Cryos Facebook Group called Family Dreams – Cryos USA. You will gain many new friends to talk with along the way. Creating a Family’s Facebook group is also full of folks who are happy to share their experiences.
Cryos is happy to help and can be a great resource for you to have the family of your dreams. Please feel free to reach out to our website or social media any time.
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Thank you, Cryos International for this guest post that offers such both education and support for families who are curious about home insemination.
You have written a very good article about Artificial Insemination at Home. A lot of doubts have been cleared after reading this. Thank you so much!
Nice blog and very informative. Thank you for sharing.
My partner and I have been trying to conceive and I’ve done it 5 times. With no luck yet. We bought a Mira, hoping that we time it probably. We have tracked my levels for several months. I don’t know what we are doing wrong. I know timing is everything and I just want to know if anyone has any suggestions for us to try.
Hi Jennie,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry for your struggles to conceive – I know you must have so many questions and concerns. However, we are not medical professionals and we cannot give you specific medical advice. We do recommend that you consult with your primary care physician or your reproductive specialist if you have one already. They can guide you through the process of testing and addressing your concerns to help you get to your goal of building a family. Here’s some helpful information on how to pick an infertility clinic. We wish you well!
I can personally say I relate. At the age of 16 I was told I wouldn’t have children due to surgically being diagnosed with endometriosis. My sister gave me a book called Trying to Conceive. The first time when I started the charting I thought I had done it wrong, but I was doing it according to the book just to learn how unbeknownst to me I thought I did it wrong because my temperature was elevated for about 23 or 24 days. According to the book any temperature that stays above the range of 18 days or later will confirm usually a pregnancy. So since I was told no so much I didn’t check right away. My nephew was very young and told me I had a baby in my belly. That night I decided to take a pg test. Little did I Know I was Pregnant. Unfortunately that pregnancy ended five days later because it was ectopic. Of course I was devastated because I had gotten engaged a week before and when I found out I couldn’t understand after years of being told no now I was pregnant, but having surgery before I ruptured my type and kept bleeding. Afterwards we decided to get married right away even after I lost the baby we went through with the wedding which was a week at best after I lost the baby. I was afraid it was going to take a long time to get pregnant again since I was never supposed to in the first place. Well now we were married July 1sr, 6 days from loosing the baby. In a few months, September, we decided to go back to the charting and try again. I got pregnant the first time and that pregnancy resulted in a little boy. When I wanted a second child it also happened exactly on the day I planned and it was a little girl. When I had my son he did have some problems that needed surgical repair and that’s when I found out we had a balanced translocation on our chrome zones 3 and 13. Too many threes would have caused the miscarriage before I would even know I was pg and too many of chromosome 13 the baby would definitely be born with what’s known as Trisomy 13. That baby would die for up to 1 year later and of course I didn’t want that so when I got pregnant with my daughter prior to that we considered IVF so after our fertility doctors consultation insurance didn’t cover the one test I needed. so my husband and I decided to try on our own because there was a test I could have at 10 weeks that would let me know if the baby was healthy or not and thankfully she was. I really soul searched and prayed because I couldn’t have a baby then watch the suffer one having to bury them. so at about 11 12 weeks I got the results and they took about 7 days and I knew I was having a healthy baby girl. nobody knows the sex of baby that early so that was perfect because I wanted a girl. But
knowing that early was great. My mother in law was so happy. But I was happy she was healthy. . My morning sickness was so bad I needed to plus ER visits for fluids and anti nausea medication. I must say I did look good and doctor said I would eat when she needed food. I guess I had a lit left over from my son but I lost that weight because I would walk every morning after he had breakfast.
I also quit smoking,, but 6 months later I started again, I was pissed. I actually found out I was pregnant with my second baby. she was a very big baby I had her electively 3 weeks early because she was hitting my my sciatic nerve area and I almost fell in shower
a lot and I didn’t want to lose my baby. The doctor performed an amniocentesis to make sure her lungs were ready because I still had 3 weeks to go for the original c-section. So he checked to make sure her lungs were ready and if so he would deliver her. My Don was a five day late and long story. I had the amniocentesis at 8:30 a.m. 7 days after my son turned 2. The test came back about an hour later and PA said she was ready and called my doctor he went to the office after test,, but he was back around 19 am and she was born by 11:30 that afternoon. I never got to hold my son after he was born so since I changed doctors and he knew all that happened with my son he made nurses put her in my arms when c-section was done.. My son obviously we didn’t know about the genetic issue they say it did not cause the problems he was facing but thankfully he was home within 7 days after major surgery and all of that from the day he was born which was 5 days late and labor started he was born and sent to Yale asap.. I left hospital 3 days later because I needed to be with him..
Thank God I got there because they decided to do his surgery. I was with him.. He came home seven days from the day he was born He was a strong baby. He was 7lbs 4ozs so he looked so big in that neonatal Icu. Most babies were any were a pound to barley 4 lbs. These days I can attest that both my children are extremely brilliant and very very happy . They are pretty healthy my son is now 15 and my daughter is 13 she has awful nut allergies and asthma. She did have Covid which made her lungs worse.. However, I can’t promise you your daughter is going to be a walk in the park that’s a hard one, lol. My son was and daughter too so well behaved. Slept through the night by 8 weeks. What I’ve noticed when people say they’re babies crying they don’t want to sleep they’re not eating well. I noticed in the family Dynamic either parents are really really nervous or they’re fighting over different things about the baby and in my opinion that is what is possibly causing the baby to be very unhappy, stressed out and even crying up all night. behaviors that sometimes expect like being nervous
I could be totally wrong, but when I had both of my kids my life was a fairytale and in turn they never ever behaved no crying or did any of that outside of when they were sick. I studied this a bit and that seemed to be common denominator. I know many story is long but if it helps families have children easier then I want them to know about the charting info and they are not alone