submitted by Stephanie Berman, Sepal Reproductive Devices

If you are looking for an affordable and intimate way to start a family, at-home insemination is often the first choice of single women who don't expect they will face fertility challenges -- other than simply not having an available supply of sperm in the bedroom. The "home insemination" keyword is one the most common terms searched on ChoiceMoms.org, useful especially for women under the age of 35 who don't suspect they would have any fertility issues to talk about with a doctor.

When trying at-home insemination without a partner, there are tools to increase your chances for success. Look for things like:

• Ovulation prediction kits
• Cervical caps with a stem
• Intra cervical insemination catheters
• Needless Syringes
• Pregnancy tests

Here's what you need to know about each.

Ovulation Predictor Kits: Reduce the Margin of Error

With ovulation predictor kits, you can predict when you will ovulate. Knowing when you are ovulating is essential because it predicts the optimal time that conception will occur, which tells you when the best time to inseminate yourself will be. Without ovulation prediction kits, you will have to guess when your fertile times are.

Seminal Collection and Insemination Tools

Depending on your method of collecting sperm, you will need proper medical supplies so you can safely gather the sperm and inseminate yourself. The commonly referred to "turkey baster" doesn't actually work. The best device is an intra cervical (ICI) catheter. This is the tool doctor's use in their office for insemination, but now you can have access to it in the privacy of your own home.

Pregnancy tests: Check for Success

If you aren’t successful with your first -- or fifth -- insemination attempt, don’t be discouraged. It's uncommon to conceive right away. Even if you were conceiving the "old-fashioned way," the odds are about 1 in 5 that the egg will be fertilized. Remember, you need to be as stress free as possible to increase your chances for conception, so don’t allow yourself to get discouraged. Find ways to keep your spirits up as you try to create a baby.

Cervical Cup with Stem

This hemispheric cup is designed to collect the sperm and attach it to the cervix to prevent sperm reflux into the vaginal cavity. It essentially "pools" the sperm onto the cervix. The stem allows for easy transfer of the semen into the cervical cup, which helps prevent spillage and leakage while inserting the cup, making it easier for a woman to do the insemination on her own. When the ICI catheter and cervical cup with stem are used together, it increases your chances of success.

Needless Syringes

A sterile syringe is intended for use with ICI catheter and/or Cervical Cup with Stem for loading the semen into the catheter. Sperm can be injected into the cervix with only the syringe, but this doesn't have the same impact as use of the other devices.