Saturday, June 29, 2013

...I Take it Back

It seems bills always come on Saturdays and we haven't received one in quite some time so I knew they were building up. I went to the mailbox knowing there'd be something there for us today. I was right. It was a bill for the hospital stay part of the HSG. This is the most expensive part of the procedure - $1200.

I'm doing the BIGGEST happy JIG EVER right now because....... UMR negotiated a discount for us. What the what??? And hold on to your pants because it is a $900 discount. WOOO! We are responsible for just $250. I am the most excited I've been in a long long long time. Now that's $900 we saved that we can put towards an IUI (well, IF we have to... lets hope I'm preggers already).

I just have to share a little story from today. I found a website a few days ago for a whole foods store in a town not too far from where I live. So I asked my hubby if he was up for an adventure today & asked if he'd want to come with me to check it out. We've really been wanting to eat meat that is locally raised and butchered in a humane way. So we get to the store and go to the meat section and they have 3 burgers for around $8, a $15 steak, & a whole chicken for $8.50 (among other random items). I just figured we haven't cooked a whole chicken for quite some time, so lets try that. Ummm.... well..... turns out it was $8.50/lb. Yup.... this was the tiniest little whole chicken ever and it cost us $17!!! GULP.....  I literally only some kale, popcorn, cucumber, apples, salsa & the chicken and our total bill was $45. Talk about buyers remorse! At least I know we supported something important but I think I'll be going to the farmers market from here on out. AND after shopping, we tried out a restaurant we've been wanting to go to. They had a special we both wanted to try (no price listed) so we both took one of those. Our bill came and it was $70. FOR LUNCH!!!! We just laughed it off, but we weren't having a very "frugal" day, that's for sure. (ps, the lunch was amazing.... best thing I've eaten in a long long time).

Fast forward to now and we just saved $900. Makes that chicken & lunch sound not so terrible.

UMR, you really aren't so bad afterall.

P.S. I am 7 days post IUI and I'm going crazy. Only one more week and we'll know whether it worked or not. I know implantation doesn't occur until 7-10 days after, so I'm trying to stay positive. EEE!

Monday, June 24, 2013

IUI #1 - what is it really like?

We can check one more accomplishment off the list... Artificial Insemination. HA! Wow, I just had a moment of "is this really my life" as I wrote that. I used to hear about IUIs when I was younger (in movies and such) and had no idea that this would actually be something I'd have to do. So strange how life is.

We had our IUI on Saturday morning. The morning started out as a race against the clock. We had to be at the hospital w/ the "specimen" at 7am, so we showered the night before, woke up at 6 am & got dressed. Before we knew it, it was almost 6:30 and my husband knew it was time for him to get down to business. I imagined me being a part of this part of the story... helping in some way or another.... BUT, the hubby was just like "I'm going into the bedroom now" and he shut the door. HAHA! I didn't want to make him any more nervous than he already was, so I just let him do what he was comfortable with. It took 5 minutes or so... maybe longer.... He told me after that he was JUST about to call me in because it wasn't working. Enough about that tho....

Once we had the "specimen", we got in our car and drove as fast as we could. I stuck it between my legs to keep it body temperature. We live about 30 minutes away from the hospital and we were told the specimen couldn't take any longer than 30 minutes to get there. YIKES. When we got to the hospital, my hubby dropped me off at the door so I could run up to the andrology lab instead of waiting for him to park and everything else. I'm pleased to say we made it in exactly 30 minutes. At that point, it was time to wait an hour and 45 minutes while they "washed" the sperm. It was breakfast time for us, so we went to Perkins and just enjoyed a nice meal together while we anticipated what was to come. After wasting some more time driving around, we went back to the hospital to wait.... UGH.... the waiting was the worst that day. We went back up to andrology and picked up the freshly prepared "specimen". It's pretty interesting. They take the sample and get rid of all of the "bad" sperm and keep the good ones.... these go into this vile. Then there's a second vile of pinkish liquid that goes with it. I wasn't sure what that was until later.

We then took this to our nurse and paid for the procedure. We both went into an exam room and she got right to work. It took a while to find my cervix (ouch!) and then she entered the catheter. The catheter already had the sperm sucked up inside -- which brings me back to that pink fluid. Before sucking up the sperm, she sucked up the pink fluid in the catheter. This was to make sure it was working and there were no bubbles. Then she spits that back out and draws up the sperm. Weird...
Well, back to the good stuff -- she then inserted the sperm very very slowly. Once that was done, I was told to lay on the table (pillow under pelvis, no pillow under head) for 30 minutes. She turned on a CD of classical music.... and my husband entertained me. He kept making me laugh -- looking at old stupid photos of me on his phone. I kept yelling at him because I wasn't supposed to use those muscles in my stomach. HA.... He's such a good guy tho. There with me thru it all.

I didn't want to get up when the 30 minutes was up. My husband even dressed me ON the table while I was laying down. HAHA! Eventually I knew we'd be kicked out, so I got up and surprisingly, nothing came out.

We made our way home and pretty soon after, my left ovary (the one w/ all the follicles) started hurting really bad. They put all of the sperm on that side since it was the one w/ the eggs that would be released - and wow, it really hurt! I was in some pretty intense pain. Luckily, I was told to lay on the couch for the rest of the day, so we stopped and grabbed a movie on our way home. I laid my butt on the couch and really enjoyed being lazy. That only lasted until 1:30ish because we had a graduation party to go to that day (blah, bad timing!). As soon as the party was over, I came right back home and laid down again.

All-in-all, it was great. Everything went really well and I'm feeling pretty good about everything. I haven't had any symptoms or felt anything since that day of extreme cramps on that side. Still waiting for SOMMMMETHING to happen. Will keep you posted!

Friday, June 21, 2013

IUI cycle #1

I haven't done the best job of documenting this cycle - which is a shame since it is my first IUI everrrrrr. So exciting people!!

Let me catch you up real quick. I took clomid day 3 to day 7. On day 12 I had a baseline ultrasound done to check out the size of my follicles and just to see how well I responded to clomid. This was my very first cycle ever taking a fertility drug, so you just never know how it will go. The ultrasound showed that I had 6 follicles on my left ovary and 4 on my right. YIPPY! I was so relieved when I saw her counting out those dark areas on the ultrasound. I really didn't know what to expect. So, from there, they take the 3 largest follicles and count out what day they will all be around the 21mm mark (at least that's what I think she said).... Apparently follicles grow 2 mm every day? or maybe every other day? I need a better memory! In the meantime, I had received this HCG drug & syringe in the mail. Let me tell you, there's nothing more scary than knowing that you are going to have to give yourself a shot. And in a way, it's even more scary having to trust someone else to do it for you. This shot is a trigger shot and I needed to take it on day 15 (which was last night). Here it is ladies.....


GULP! This shot is given when your follicles are estimated to be their largest and it then triggers your body to ovulate. The nurses knew I would ovulate 3 sizable eggs this cycle. THREE! I can't believe that there will be three targets for those sperm to hit. How strange is that thought? 

Last night my husband injected the medicine into my buttcheek. I can't tell you the amount of psyching myself up I did leading up to this. But take it from me - if this is your first time ever having one - don't be nervous. It seriously was not terrible at all. I was grasping onto our comforter and saying "I'm ready, just do it quick!" and then a few seconds later, "is it in?" haha....   My hubby was a champ! I know he was super nervous and didn't know if he could do it, but he did an awesome job. 

I feel a little cramping down there, but nothing too terrible today. I took an ovulation test this morning and it was super positive, so at least it is working!

Now tomorrow morning, we go in to have our IUI done. I can't tell you how excited I am about it.... I'm so hopeful for this cycle!! I just have this feeling that either this one or the next one are going to be "it". I can't believe we're so close!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Are those my Ovaries?

I started clomid 2 days ago and as I sit here at work, I swear I can feel my ovaries. HAHA! It is the most bizarre feeling because I usually can't "feel" them. But yup, I'm having some aching/growing-pain-ish feelings in both of them right now. So strange!!

I guess it means the meds are working.

woohoo!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Do You Ever Feel Like Your Body Is Failing You?

Yup, that's how I feel this morning. I started bleeding last night but stayed hopeful that maybe this was finally implantation bleeding. Unfortunately I awoke to a full blown aunt flow and I just can't help but think, what the heck went wrong?

We had that HSG this month. You hear all the time how people are especially fertile after having that procedure so you should take full advantage of that month. Which we did. I had the most clear positive ovulation test I've ever had this cycle. So I knew without a doubt when we were supposed to time intercourse. We did... 3 or 4 times. We followed the clinics guidelines exactly (while still keeping it fun) and yet, here we are.... no pregnancy. I just don't understand how that is possible.... why doesn't my body work?

I'm trying not to go to the dark place right now because I want to stay hopeful for this upcoming IUI cycle. Although, I don't even know if that's going to be possible anymore. Today is day1 of my cycle and they need to do an ultrasound on day 3. Well, day 3 will be on Saturday and I'll be in another state for a wedding. Should be interesting to see what they say when I call them today. Again, thank you oh so much body. That's wonderful that you decided TODAY would be the perfect day to bring on aunt flow.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Infectious Disease Testing

Well, hello there! I am in a terrific mood because I just had my very....last.....test..... EVER!

Yesterday my hubby and I went to the hospital to get our blood drawn and he gave his urine sample. Then this morning I had to give some cervical cultures and now we are officially DONE. I can't imagine what other "tests" they can possibly come up with for us to do. So I've decided to celebrate! This has been such a long neverending process - all just to get to the point where they would finally give us drugs and do something to help us get pregnant.

I should be getting my period this weekend (I find it a bit odd that I'm sort of sharing that detail w/ the world right now). HA! Blogs, such a weird thing....   Anyway, I should start my cycle either friday or saturday. Both days I will be out of town so it's a little scary since I think I'm supposed to start drugs on Day 3. I'm hoping for a period on Saturday or later so that I have enough time to get back into town and figure that all out.

I'm super excited! .... and I guess a little nervous because I wonder what Clomid will do to me. It seems different for everyone. But I've come this far, so I'm ready to take on whatever it throws at me!