Success rates for a IUI /Interesting Facts about TTC

What is the success rate for IUI?A: Searching through about a dozen medical journal articles and a number of web sites resulted in a rather wide range of statistics. Basically the odds of success are reported to be just under 6% and as high as 26% per cycle. The low statistics are with one follicle, while multiple follicles resulted in as high 26% success. Another influencing factor is sperm count. Higher sperm counts increase the odds of success; however, there was little difference between success with good-average counts and those with high counts. The overall success rate seems to be between 15-20% per cycle, judging from the articles which will be abstracted below. The rate of multiple gestation pregnancies is 23-30%.

Q: How many follicles give my best chance of getting pregnant? A: According to different studies, either 3-4 follicles gives one the best chance of getting pregnant, while more follicles beyond that simply increases the risk of multiples. The U.S. study said 4 follicles, while other countries have data stating 3. The U.S. has a higher rate of multiple births, so 3 may be more likely to be the correct answer.

How long after IUI should implantation occur? A: Implantation generally takes place 5-11 days after ovulation -- so 5-11 days after a well-timed IUI.

This is how the baby’s gender is determined:
Each of the man’s sperms and each egg carry 23 chromosomes. The sperm and the egg combine at fertilization for a total of 46 chromosomes which come in 23 pairs.
The 23rd chromosome is called the “sex-chromosome”. In sperms it is either an X- or a Y-chromosome, while in the woman’s egg it is always X.

If an X-bearing sperm fertilizes the egg, the resulting 23rd pair is XX, a girl, and if a Y-bearing sperm fertilizes the egg, the result is XY, a boy.

It is therefore the sperm that decides the baby’s gender: X-bearing sperms result in girls, and Y-bearing sperms in boys.

In general, X- and Y-bearing sperms are about equally distributed in the ejaculate, so each time there is about an equal 50-50 chance for each gender.