Green Light

I went in for my first IUI this morning. It went really well and my hopes are sky-high for this cycle :)

I woke up from the ovulation pains at 5:00am. A friend had warned me that her triggers usually made her O pains more pronounced. When she told me that, I thought, "Great. My O pains are already pretty significant without meds. I hope it doesn't get much worse than a 'normal' cycle." Yikes, it was worse. I stayed in bed but couldn't fall back asleep because the pain was so intense :(

Finally I had to get up and get ready for my IUI. DH was trying to focus on doing "his job" if you know what I mean, so I didn't want to distract him or put any pressure on him. We had a little scare with the collection cup. Yesterday, I opened the bag to read through the instructions which said to refrigerate the cup until 30 minutes before collection. Oops, it had been sitting out on our counter for nearly two days. Luckily, we were able to get another cup. But I got nervous when DH went into the other room to do his thing that he might use the wrong cup. I felt bad that I had to check - I didn't want to wreck his concentration - but I needed to make sure he was using the right cup!! Luckily, he hadn't started yet and was able to perform very well, LOL! His count post-wash showed 18 million moving sperm!! The PA explained that was a really good number. They like to see something in the normal range of 5-10 million. Go, Johnny, go!!

It was getting close to the time I had to leave for my appointment, but the ovulation pains were getting worse. The more I moved around, the worse I felt. I started to dread the drive to my appointment and wished that DH was able to drive me. But that wasn't possible for today because he has a concert tonight.

I pulled out all the stops to power through the pain and just get my ass to my appointment. Thank god Rach picked up the phone and was able to chat with me the whole time I was driving. I would have probably cried the whole car ride if I didn't have her to distract me. I don't mean to sound like a baby or a wimp. I consider myself to have a pretty high tolerance for pain. I've run 10 marathons for crying out loud! I am conditioned to deal with discomfort and push through pain (yet I think I do a good job of knowing my body. I know what kind of pain is worth stopping for. I'd never keep running if it were truly hazardous to my longterm health).

The ladies in the office were so sympathetic towards me. I told the receptionist immediately that I was in pain and asked if I could take anything. The nurse got me some Tylenol which took the edge off of my pain, though I am still hurting as I write this. At least now it is manageable. The PA told me the fact that I was experiencing such strong pain was actually a good sign that my body was responding very well to the medication. So at least I'm not suffering in vain!

I have a tilted uterus, so it usually takes some extra maneuvering to get the catheter through. The PA did a great job and was very apologetic even though it wasn't that bad. The IUI took less than a minute, then I laid on the table for ten minutes to let the sperm swim around.

While I laid on the table, I held the lucky coin to my tummy and prayed. I set an alarm on my phone for 10 minutes, then took out a picture of DH and me. I tried to imagine what our children might look like. I wondered what their personalities might be like. I hope they take the best features from the both of us! I think we'd make some cute kids if I don't say so myself ;)

DH & me at a birthday party in January 2013

My hopes are higher than ever after all of the positive response we've had so far in this cycle. There has been nothing but green lights: blood work is normal, I had at least three good follies on Monday, the Ovidrel worked for sure as my O pains demonstrated, the PA thinks the intensity of my O pains is a good sign that I'm responding really well to the meds, DH's sperm wash had 18 million swimmers... it's all good! Now I just need to hang onto that hope and distract myself as much as possible during the 2WW. Wish us luck! Thoughts, prayers, and positive vibes are all welcome!! And, of course, the chant of the day:

Swim, Super Sperm! 

Find the Egg. Take Firm!

A baby is what we yearn! 

Swim, Super Sperm!