IUI

Today was my first IUI. Cognitively, I knew all along I'd only have about 24 hours' notice when this happened, but it still threw me for a loop yesterday when the nurse called and said that it would be the next day. I like to have more time to really psych myself out about this stuff! (But maybe it's a good thing not to have too much time.)

My poor husband had to go and give his part an hour before my IUI. Every time I am at the office and I see a man come in, I feel bad for him. Which really is stupid, honestly - as the nurse, Colleen, said to me today, "Compared to what you women have to go through, the man's part is extremely easy." Truer words!

I was nervous to leave the kids alone that long, so my kind friend Rachel came over to stay with them. We thought my mom would be over shortly to relieve her, but my mom's doctor appointment went way late this morning, so she ended up not making it. After David's deposit, then, we opted to bring him back home and I would go to the IUI alone. I was really nervous about going at all, much less alone, but I was more nervous about leaving the kids alone that long, so it was the lesser of two evils.

I watched youtube videos and read articles, so I knew pretty much what to expect. It's basically like going for a pap smear, a little bit more invasive and uncomfortable than that. I was surprised that the whole thing was done by the nurse. I just assumed it would be done by the doctor, but I never saw him. I've never actually even been touched by the doctor - we've met with him in twice, in his office, in chairs - but everything else has been done by nurses, ultrasound techs, and phlebotomists.

This is the ceiling light I got to stare at while I laid there afterwards. 

Here I am lying down, waiting... I need a haircut.

The first part was painful because my cervix is an elusive sucker and she had great difficulty finding it. That took three or four minutes. Then the actual insemination was fairly quick. 

They take the man's sample and 'wash' it so that only the strongest, most motile sperm are left. So the actual amount that was left for me after that was tiny. She said there were 15.2 million motile sperm in that sample, and they like it to be over 5 million, so that was good. David is the Fertile Myrtle in this family! 

I had to lie down for about 15 minutes afterwards, then I was free to go.

Now, it's just a wait. I am scheduled to go back in 14 days for a blood pregnancy test. Obviously I'll be testing at home before that time so I will know the answer. I keep reminding myself there is only a 10-15% chance of success with each IUI cycle, so that means there is an 85-90% chance it will not result in anything.

I am a little worried that we missed the best window for this. After I had to do the second round of Clomid, the nurse told me to stop using OPKs at home, because I was being monitored in their office every other day. For the most part I kept doing them anyway, because I was in the habit and I had bought so many of them! But on Sunday, I just didn't feel like doing one, so I didn't. Then on Monday they said I was surging. I think if I'd done OPKs at home Sunday I would have already known that and maybe we could have done IUI on Monday, because when I woke up today (Tuesday) my temperature was already a little high, a sign that ovulation had already occurred.