IUI Round 2

So, today was our second round of IUI, this time with Dr. P (the fertility specialist). The experience I had today and the days leading up today felt really good. What I like the most about the specialist's office is that they give you so much more instruction that you feel very confident going in to the procedure. More confidence = less stress which is what everyone tells me I need.

I'll start with the ovulation tests. I did use the Clearblue Easy sticks this month instead of the monitor starting on day 8 (which the nurse told me was this past Monday, again leaving me with no guesswork). I had two days of low fertility (day 8 and 9) followed by two days of high fertility (day 10 and 11). I called the nurse when I got the first high read (which is signaled by a blinking smiley face) and we both expected that I would "surge" on Friday (day 12) and do the IUI on Saturday (day 13). Friday morning came and my smiley face was still blinking at me, which of course led to minor panic that these tests were not going to read correctly, just like the past two months.

Luckily, the nurse for Dr. P had already scheduled a day 12 ultrasound for that morning. The ultrasound is meant to check the maturity of your eggs (follicles if we are being technical). I went in and I had four eggs brewing!!! And this time from my left ovary. I had always thought that the ovaries switched back and forth month to month (such a team!) but the nurse said not necessarily. However, mine did and I am super excited about the multiple eggs, which means the femara was working (without side effects so far).

A little surprise came in the form of an injection called Ovidrel. I wasn't expecting to use an injection this first month, but after Dr. P looked at the ultrasound he thought it would be a good idea to essentially force the eggs out. I was instructed to inject on Saturday night (they were specific, between 8pm and 9pm), which would induce my LH surge (the hormone surge before ovulation). The expectation is to get the surge next day (day 14) and do the IUI in the morning of day 15, right as the eggs are popping out.

I had plans for a girls night in with my friends, Anne and Jess. I do NOT want to become that person that doesn't go out and have fun because they are so wrapped up in the procedures and timing and medicine, etc, etc, etc. So, I told the girls post dinner I was shooting up. And, because they are such great friends, they not only didn't care but urged me to videotape the injection and helped me through it. I was a little nervous about self-injecting, but as a pharmacist I have counseled numerous diabetic patients about how they should not fear the needle, so I couldn't really chicken out and have someone else do it. Below are a couple pictures and then the video of me injecting. And no judgement on my stomach, we just finished dinner!!!

Ovidrel box. Kept refrigerated until time to use

Prefilled syringe. You let it come to room
temperature for 20 minutes before injecting

Link to ovidrel injection video:

 http://youtu.be/3Jp2680suKc

Don't you know, low and behold my ovulation test showed peak fertility the next morning, meaning I had my surge, meaning the injection worked! I had set up an appointment for the IUI for 9:00am this morning once we established our plan on Friday. We had to go to a separate lab to get the sperm wash, which was to take about an hour and 20 minutes. My last IUI, they only washed the sperm for 15 minutes. I don't know if that makes a difference, but it seems like it should. As you probably were wondering, yes poor Travis had to produce a "sample" at 6:30 this morning. That is very early to have to produce anything, especially under a time constraint and pressure. 

Solid smiley = Peak fertility!!

Travis with his concentrated "seed." 

                       

We dropped off the sample and walked around downtown for a little bit, got some coffee and went to breakfast. I really enjoyed this time we got to spend together and it helped ease the anxiety of the procedure. Plus, I'm sure huevos rancheros can only help fertilization along. The rest of the  procedure was all pretty technical, picked up the concentrated sample, took to Dr. P's office, got in my stirrups and let the doc do his thing. They had to tilt my cervix again, just like last month, because it wasn't letting the catheter through, but beyond that hiccup the whole procedure went smooth and quick. They had me lay on my back for 10 minutes afterward, just as they had the first time.

Here is the best part of the whole experience. My mom had heard from a friend of ours in Pittsburgh, who is a nurse, that it is important to be on bed rest for the rest of the day post-IUI. All of the docs poo-poo this and say you can go on with your day like normal, but who wouldn't want to take the advice leaning towards rest and relaxation! Plus, you don't really argue with my mom with certain things, potential grandbabies being one of them (reference text below). While I don't think there is a whole lot of science to the theory, my guess is that it goes along with the whole "your body is too stressed and that makes the environment difficult for conceiving" theory, which I believe is probably pretty accurate. Of all the couples I know that have faced infertility, most are driven A-type personalities that probably don't know how to take a day off to relax. Myself included, I have had to work hard to be lazy today, if that makes any sense! Now all I have to do is continue to relax and try to just enjoy myself for the next two weeks. Fingers crossed!