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Artificial insemination is a fertility therapy for couples who have difficulty having children. What is an artificial insemination program and what are the processes or steps? Find out the complete information in the following.

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What is artificial insemination?

Artificial insemination or intrauterine insemination (IUI) is an alternative pregnancy program for those of you who want to have children.

This method is done by placing sperm in a woman's uterus to help the fertilization process.

The goal of the artificial insemination method is to increase the number of sperm that make it to the fallopian tubes.

Through this method, it is hoped that it can increase the chance of an egg cell to be fertilized by a sperm cell.

However, not everyone with fertility problems should undergo this procedure.

There are several conditions that actually prohibit you from performing artificial insemination procedures, such as:

• Women who have problems with the fallopian tubes.
• Women who have had pelvic infections.
• Women who have had endometriosis.

Just like in IVF, this insemination process will be long and requires careful preparation.

The steps of the artificial insemination procedure

The artificial insemination procedure must be undertaken together with the partner to make it run smoothly.

Both have their own share so that pregnancy can be realized.

See a complete explanation of the steps for the artificial insemination procedure below.

1. Health examination

Before undergoing the artificial insemination procedure, what you have to do first is see a doctor for a thorough examination.

In this stage, the doctor will usually perform several examinations.

Examinations such as fertility tests must be carried out together with the partner to find out the fertility conditions of both parties.

Chances are, the doctor will check the condition of the fallopian tubes. This is because the health of the fallopian tubes is one of the keys to the success or failure of artificial insemination.

The conduit between the ovaries and uterus must be open (not blocked) and healthy.

Not only that, the doctor will also assess your and your partner's hormone levels to find out if all hormones are at normal levels.

The doctor will also check whether your uterus is strong enough to house the fetus during pregnancy.

2. Ovarian stimulation

After going through a period of checking your health condition, now is the time for you to enter the ovarian stimulation phase.

Currently the doctor will provide fertility drugs while checking your condition regularly through ultrasound and blood tests.

The oral fertility drugs that doctors recommend during the IUI procedure are clomid or letrozole.

Clomid promotes the release of hormones from the pituitary gland which stimulate the body to release luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone.

This hormone helps promote the release of eggs and also encourages the eggs to mature.

However, your doctor may also give you other medicines while undergoing the artificial insemination program.

For example, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) in injection dosage.

This is a hormone replication in the body that can trigger female ovarian follicles to release eggs.

This stimulation aims to increase the number of eggs produced by the ovaries.

The more eggs that can be removed and fertilized during the procedure, the greater your chances of getting pregnant.

During this ovarian stimulation, the doctor will monitor the growth and development of the follicles by doing blood tests and ultrasound every few days.

Blood tests are done to find out the levels of estradiol. Meanwhile, an ultrasound is performed to determine whether you produce healthy eggs or not.

Monitoring is very important to do to determine how much the dose of the drug, whether it needs to be increased or decreased, as well as determining when the eggs are cooked.

Therefore, doctors can determine when is the most appropriate time to inject sperm into the body so that fertilization occurs.

3. Preparing sperm

The next step of artificial insemination is sperm preparation.

In this stage, the man will provide a semen sample or can also use a sperm donor that has been prepared.

Before being injected into the vagina, the sperm sample will be washed first.

The process of washing sperm is actually a selection of healthy and unhealthy sperm cells.

In this process, healthy sperm will be separated from sperm that are of poor quality.

Good sperm is sperm that has a high concentration and motility (movement) to reach the egg.

This sperm washing process is also done to remove toxic chemicals that your body might react negatively to.

Poor sperm also has the potential to interfere with the fertilization process of an egg.

If the sample of spema is not too many but of perfect quality, the fertilization process will be easier so that there is a chance of pregnancy.

4. Insert sperm

The artificial insemination process will be carried out during the fertile or ovulation period.

Usually about 24-36 hours after the surge in the LH hormone that indicates ovulation is imminent.

When the sperm cells are ready, the insemination process can finally begin. Usually, this process takes 1-2 hours.

Your doctor will insert a very small, slender, flexible catheter into your uterus through your vagina and cervix.

When the device is in the uterus, the doctor will release sperm cells in the hope that these cells will successfully fertilize an egg.

This artificial insemination process is said to be painless, although you may feel a little cramping during the process.

The cramps you feel may be similar to the cramps that you experience during the examination PAP smear.

Your doctor may advise you to lie down for a while after the artificial insemination process is over.

There is no need to worry that the sperm will leak out when standing, because the sperm has been transferred directly to the uterus and is just waiting for the results.

Since you will lie down for a while during the process, it is best to be accompanied.

Support from those closest to you may be able to make you calmer during this artificial insemination program.

Artificial insemination side effects

Actually, this artificial insemination process is classified as minimal risk. However, it does not mean that there are no risks that may occur after living it.

The following are some of the possible risks after the artificial insemination procedure:

1. Infection

While undergoing an artificial insemination program, you may have an infection. However, the possibility is very small, almost impossible.

However, no matter how small the chance is, you still need to understand this risk.

2. Blood spots occur

Blood spots can occur while undergoing the artificial insemination process.

This condition can occur when the doctor inserts a catheter into the uterus, causing light bleeding in the vaginal area.

Even so, you don't have to worry. These conditions do not have an adverse effect on your chances of getting pregnant.

3. Pregnant twins

This condition is actually not a side effect but something that can happen after artificial insemination.

This means that if you get pregnant with this method, you may end up with twins; it can be twins, triplets, or even more.

However, the doctor will also try to control the dose of the drug given to prevent the release of excessive eggs at one time.

Can you get pregnant immediately after artificial insemination?

After undergoing the artificial insemination program, it will take you approximately two weeks to wait for the results.

While waiting for the results of the procedure, carry out daily activities to avoid stress and feeling depressed.

We recommend that you do not take a pregnancy test before the insemination process is complete to avoid inappropriate results, such as:

Wrong-negative

You may get these results if the pregnancy hormones are not yet at measurable levels.

Although negative, the result of artificial insemination is not necessarily true.

This means that the result you should get is positive pregnancy, but the body shows a different condition.

False-positive

The result of this artificial insemination means you get a positive result, when in fact you are pregnant negative.

This can happen because the effects of ovulation-producing drugs such as HCG are still circulating in the body.

Therefore, the body indicates pregnancy. In fact, at that time you were not pregnant.

After performing the prenatal care yourself, your doctor may ask you to return to see him in about two weeks.

You will be asked to do a blood test, which is a more sensitive test for detecting pregnancy hormones after conception and an ultrasound test

Conditions requiring artificial insemination

Quoted from the American Pregnancy Association, the success rate of artificial insemination when done routinely reaches 20%. Moreover, this pregnancy program does not require special surgery.

Here are certain conditions that require an artificial insemination process to get pregnant quickly, such as:

1. Patients with donor sperm

There are some women who want to have children from their own womb, even if they don't have sexual intercourse.

One way that can be taken is artificial insemination.

Usually, this woman will use the help of a sperm donor from a trusted laboratory.

2. Infertility with no known cause

Not all female fertility problems can be identified. There are also those who experience infertility for no apparent reason.

So, you may be able to do an artificial insemination program to have children from the womb alone.

This procedure is often used as a type of treatment for people who experience infertility for no reason.

Usually, the process is accompanied by the use of drugs to stimulate ovulation.

3. History of endometriosis

Usually, women who have experienced endometriosis tend to have the potential to find it difficult to get pregnant.

Before doing the artificial insemination process, you can use drugs to stimulate the production of quality eggs.

4. Male infertility

Not all problems with pregnancy difficulties come from women. This condition may also be caused by fertility problems in men.

If your partner's sperm analysis shows that the condition is not good, you can undergo this procedure.

This unfavorable condition can be in the form of sperm abnormalities. Therefore, this procedure will help sort out quality sperm and those that are less qualified.

5. Cervical or cervical problems

The cervix or cervix, which is at the bottom of the uterus, is the link between the vagina and uterus.

The mucus produced by the cervix or cervix when ovulation occurs helps sperm to enter more easily from the vagina into the fallopian tubes.

However, if the cervical mucus is too thick, it will block the passage of sperm to the fallopian tubes.

In fact, the cervix may block the sperm from meeting the egg, so that fertilization does not occur.

Meanwhile, the artificial insemination procedure does not need to go through the cervix and can directly send sperm to the uterus.

6. Ovulation problems

Another cause of difficult pregnancy for women is ovulation problems. Usually, this problem occurs because the production of egg cells is reduced drastically.

7. Allergy to semen

Although this is a very rare condition, it is possible that a woman is allergic to semen.

Quoted from the Mayo Clinic, allergies occur when the ejaculation process causes redness, burning sensation, and swelling. In particular, when semen hits a woman's skin.

In addition to the various conditions above, there are several other conditions that could be the reasons why you need to perform an artificial insemination procedure, including:

• The patient cannot have vaginal sex because of his health condition.
• It is not possible to get pregnant, for example, have HIV.
• Your partner cannot ejaculate.

The difference between artificial insemination and IVF

IVF and artificial insemination are two ways you can choose to get pregnant quickly.

Especially if you or your partner have fertility and reproductive system problems.

However, there are differences between artificial insemination and IVF that you need to understand, including:

1. Different processes

Artificial insemination is a procedure that involves implanting sperm directly into a woman's uterus to speed up conception.

This is done for couples who have low sperm quality problems.

While IVF is the process the ovaries are stimulated to produce many eggs which are then extracted from the uterus through suction.

IVF program is carried out not only because of low sperm quality, but also because of the sticky fallopian tubes and others.

In IUI, fertilization still occurs in the mother's body while in IVF, fertilization is carried out in the laboratory.

2. The level of success and risk

Artificial insemination is also a short and relatively painless procedure. However, the success rate is smaller than that of IVF.

Although the IVF process uses more sophisticated technology and has greater success, the risks are higher.

The reason is that in IVF procedures, infection, bleeding, or other organ disorders are more likely to occur.