If you've been trying to get pregnant for a while and have been told it's time to try an
IUI or intrauterine insemination, there are a few things you should know to increase your
chances of success. If you're going to do that, in this video, I'm going to share my best tips
so you can get pregnant with your next IUI and hopefully not have to do multiple rounds. If
you're excited about this, give me a thumbs up and subscribe to Fertility TV to get new
fertility videos every week right in your inbox. Many of the members of my Hope program join after
having failed IUIs or multiple failed IUIs for that matter. And in most cases,
they are able to get pregnant on their own after a few changes with their hormones, health,
and lifestyle. So first, let me ask you this: why are you doing an IUI or why are you considering
doing an IUI? Is there any physical reason you need this, or are you doing this because
your doctor didn't really know what's the root cause that's not allowing you to get pregnant,
so they said, "Hey, why don't we just try an IUI and see if it works?" I tell you from experience,
as I've been helping couples get pregnant for the last 20 years locally right here in
San Diego and worldwide with my online fertility coaching program called Hope Fertility Program,
and in many cases, IUI was not the right next step for them. And I want to make sure that if
you decide to move forward with it, that it is the right next step and more importantly,
that you're going to be successful if you do. Okay, so before I get into my tips, there are
a few things that we need to cover. First and foremost, what is an IUI? It's called intrauterine
insemination. So the best way to explain that is using my little example right here. Okay,
so this is a uterus. I'm going to slide over here so you all can see this properly. And intrauterine
insemination is where your partner gives a sample of his sperm. They wash it and spin it and get
all the good ones. They put it in a syringe. They insert a catheter through your cervix
into your uterus, into the back of your uterus. Sometimes, if they know that they want it to go
one direction or another, then they will also angle it one way or another. Then they insert
the sperm. They inject the sperm into the uterus, so it bypasses the cervix, it bypasses the vagina,
and goes straight into the uterus to give them the maximum chance possible to meet the eggs that
are released out of these little guys or ovaries and make their way through the fallopian tube,
and the sperm and egg meet somewhere in the fallopian tube. So, that is what an IUI is.
And so we want to maximize those chances and make them as successful as possible if
that's the direction that you're going to go. Now that we know what an IUI is and why it's
potentially beneficial for you, I want you all to ask yourself this question or these questions,
for that matter: Have I done all the right testing to know what the root cause is? Have you?
Have you understood what the root cause is? Have you done enough appropriate testing either on your own,
with another provider, with your fertility doctor, OB-GYN, to understand why you really
need this procedure and if it's going to be beneficial for you? That's an important question.
Do you have any physical reasons why you might need an IUI? By physical reasons, I mean,
are there any male factor-related issues that might be contributing to your problem? IUI is
really most effective when there is a male factor issue because the sperm have a hard time getting
through the uterus, through the fallopian tube, and meeting the egg. So, is there male factor,
which happens in 50% of all fertility cases? So, very well could be, but do you know that, that is there?
That is an important question that you need to ask yourself before you even attempt this.
And am I okay with doing IUI, or would I prefer to get pregnant naturally? Because I don't want
you pushing yourself into IUI just because someone recommended it if you don't really
want to do it or potentially don't even need it. And what other options are there to help me get
pregnant naturally that I should try before I move forward with IUI? So, these are some
questions that I want you to ask yourself before you even attempt to do IUI because you might not
even need to do that or want to do that as your next step. But if it is, then right now,
I want to cover the five tips that I hope you can start to incorporate to make your next IUI,
if you have one, as successful as possible. Okay. So, tip number one might seem silly and odd,
and really, you know, obvious and straightforward, but I can't tell you how often this one doesn't
happen and is ignored, and I'm quite frankly frustrated by it. So make sure that your fallopian
tubes are open. Why? Well, I just gave you this example, right? Like what an IUI is, and I also
told you that the egg from the ovaries and the sperm from your partner meet in the fallopian tube
right here. If this guy's closed off here or here at the opening, the egg can't make it through,
the sperm can't meet the egg, and they can't fertilize here to come back into the uterus to
implant. That can happen, but if you don't know if these are open, then you don't know if you're
going to be successful. So, I urge all of you to make sure that your fallopian tubes are open,
or at least one is open, if you're going to move forward with IUI, so that you have
a real chance of it being successful, okay? There are multiple procedures that you can
use for that. You can use a hysterosalpingogram (HSG), which is more water-based with bubbles,
or you can use hysterosalpingo foam sonography (HyFoSy), which is dye, but either way, we need
to make sure that your fallopian tubes are open. Point number two is you need to contemplate and
discuss with your medical team what medication you're going to use and which one might be best
for you prior to the IUI. In some instances, many of you might say, "I want to do an IUI,
but I don't want to take any medication because I ovulate properly and on time, so I just want to
try naturally," or what's called a natural IUI, right? Where there's no intervention,
no medication, just the insemination of the sperm. Others might say that, "Hey,
you know what? I do think I need a little bit of help with ovulation. I'm not sure if I ovulate on
time or at the appropriate time or if my ovulation is strong enough, so I need to take medication to
make sure that I ovulate." So, you might need a trigger shot. Or some of you might say, "I need
or want to recruit more eggs that could mature and ovulate out, so I want more stimulation of
the ovaries to produce more eggs." So, that might be where you're using Clomid or letrozole or even
injectables in some cases to help you mature more eggs from your ovaries, right? More eggs from your
ovaries, so that you have more of a chance. Now, I think personally, if you're going to do IUI, maybe
a natural cycle here or there might be fine, but in general, the whole point is to increase your
chances. So if you're just gonna get one follicle, one egg to mature and release, then for that,
my thought is that you might as well try natural unless there's a real male factor piece involved.
And then, you know, IUI is appropriate. Otherwise, I do recommend using some sort of stimulation
education. You can discuss this with your doctor because then at least you have more eggs that are
maturing and ovulating and releasing, and it gives you a higher chance of success. So, that
would be my other thought here for all of you who are trying that and not something to contemplate
right when you're about to start the process, but before, and at least have those discussions
with your medical team in advance. All right. Point number three is your partner ready. Male
factor is a huge piece. Fifty percent of all fertility issues are male factor related. I
said this earlier, and timing is also crucial when it comes to IUIs and natural conception. So your
partner has to be an active participant in this process, especially if you're doing IUI. And so
we want to make sure that they are on board, they're ready, they're willing, they're able,
and they're not going to put up a big fuss. First, what that means is they should have
already been tested, so hopefully, they already had a semen analysis, and you know that they're
good to go. You should not be doing an IUI if you have not already had a semen analysis done
to know what those numbers look like, to know if you need an IUI or what that might qualify
you to do an IUI with your partner because of the amount of sperm that they have. But also,
making sure that they're ready. You might need them at certain days, certain times, and if they
travel a lot for work, like, you all have to be on the same page. So, I want to make sure you have a
good conversation with your partner to make sure that both of you are on the same page and ready
to move forward so that this can be successful. Point number four: Do I do one IUI or back-to-back
IUIs? I know what many of you are thinking. You're saying, "Well, back-to-back? Well, yeah, we can do
consecutive IUIs from one cycle to the next. That might be needed too. But that's not what
I'm talking about. I'm talking about "do we do one IUI in a given cycle, or with that same ovulation,
do we do two IUIs back-to-back?" IUIs. What I mean by that, before I tell you which one I prefer,
what I mean by that is if you're ovulating on cycle day 14, for instance, should we do an IUI
on cycle day 13 and day 14, or day 14 and day 15? That's what I mean by back-to-back, so consecutive
days in the same cycle, in the same IUI cycle, okay? And I'm a big fan of that, actually. I'm
a big proponent of doing back-to-back IUIs in the same cycle on consecutive days because that's what
I have found has maximized results and gotten the best success rates with IUI. Those couples
who I have coached and convinced and have followed through with it have had the most
success doing IUIs versus those who have just done a single insemination on a given cycle.
Now, the other question with this is do we do back-to-back cycles, and I do think that
that's important as well, which takes me to point number five or tip number five is you have to give
yourself enough time and attempts to even know if this is going to be successful. So, one IUI
alone is probably not enough data and information to know if that's the right tip or path for you,
but doing at least two or three or four in a row consecutively, back-to-back. I'm not saying you
can't take maybe a cycle off here or there, but giving yourself enough opportunities with IUI will
allow you to understand if this made sense for you, was this the right path, did you maximize
your chances, and what should you do afterwards. So, those are my five tips for all of you. Now,
I want to hear from you. Which one of these five tips were your favorite?
Which one have you already tried or multiple ones? Which ones have you tried in the past,
and were they successful? And even better, if those of you watching have tried an IUI and
been successful and gotten pregnant, I definitely want to hear from you. We want to hear, we want
to know those successes and congratulate you on that. So please comment below and let us know.
If you are really serious about getting pregnant, head to marcsklar.com/discoverycall. I will leave
that link in the description below as well to speak to a real human on my team so we
can identify if having me as your fertility coach is the right next step for you. And if
that is not the right next step right now, then I want to give you another resource. Make sure
to check out this video next: the four hormones you need to get tested to get pregnant without
IVF so that you don't have to waste your time and money. Check that video out now.
All right, everyone, until the next video, stay fertile.