Today, I woke up at 5 am, I was too excited and couldn't sleep. I also woke up to about two inches of crappy snow on the ground, which freaked me out at first because I thought that being the way Maryland is, that they were going to shut everything down and call it a state emergency. Thankfully, this did not happen, and our appointment remained at 8am, as usual.
When we got there, Brandon was first up to do his thing. When that was over with, we went out to breakfast while they "washed" the sperm. This is a process that gets rid of all the dysfunctional sperm and saves the good ones. Usually, they shoot for gathering 2 million good sperm from one collection. Brandon managed to get 8 million good sperm! So, we are already off to a good start.
Brandon came back into the room with me for the first time. That was kind of funny. He cracked jokes the whole time (like Brandon does), which made me less nervous. First, the lab nurse came in with a paper and a vial, and I had to identify the vial, confirm it was from my husband, and then I had to hold it to keep "them" warm until it was go time.
The doctor gave me an ultrasound and determined that I didn't ovulate quite yet, but it would be okay because I'd probably ovulate tomorrow, and the sperm stay in your system, on average, for 3 to 5 days. Your best chances of conception happen the day before and the day of ovulation. This just means that Brandon and I will have to do things the old fashioned way tomorrow to double our chances of this being a successful venture!
After the ultrasound was the actual artificial insemination, which was slightly uncomfortable, but Brandon comforted me until it was over. I think he thought it was more painful than it is, since, let's face it, no one looks comfortable or at rest when their feet are up in stirrups and a team of doctors is in between your legs with syringes and catheters and what have you.
I had to remain lying down for five minutes, and when time was up, we could leave. I came home and took a two and a half hour nap, the whole thing exhausted me so much. Tomorrow, I get to wake up and go right back to the fertility center for another ultrasound to confirm ovulation, and then I will have to be patient for about a week until they will check for a pregnancy.
Of course, during that week, I'm going to be checking myself. I have to "test out" my trigger (of the pregnancy hormone) so that I know when it is out of my system, so I don't get any false positives. So, for the next week, I'll be peeing on sticks regardless, and pretending that my positive tests mean something. ;)
Thank you for all the support this week, everyone! Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We're ready for this.
No comments:
Post a Comment