Insemination #2 (sans graspers)

Well, it's done. Wed morning Trina's fertility monitor peaked so we called and they had us come in for insem #2 that afternoon. Once again we checked in at the Andrology Lab to pick up our swimmers. They gave us a beeper that would notify us when they were ready. An hour later we went back, silent beeper in hand, to see what the hold up was. Apparently the beeper wasn't working and our guys had been waiting for us for about 15min. Doh. We took the boys upstairs and checked in 10min before our appointment. The pain of the first IUI was weighing heavily on Trina's mind so she was a bit on edge. After not-so-patiently waiting for 45min Trina was about to pop. Several people had come in after us and had been taken to the back. Trina assured me that if one more person was called in before her, she was going to scream. As I was explaining the virtue of patience and "inside voices" an unsuspecting nurse called another patient back. Trina jumped up and asked semi-politely if they were running REALLY behind. The nurse asked her what doctor she was waiting for and directed her to the person with that info. 30secs later Trina was waving me back. Apparently when we checked in at the front desk, they put down that we were still waiting for our "specimen" to be prepared. Ugh, always with the speed bumps, such is our life. Doc came in and assured Trina that the swimmers last for 4hrs after the big thaw. She's still convinced that the hour wait caused them all to die. As Doc got "into position" Trina was squeezing the crap out of my hand and turned up her MP3 player. He did a quick exam and said "everything looked clear". Not sure what that meant exactly, but it was good to hear that there were no visible roadblocks. He noted that she had "a little curve" and bent the catheter a bit. 30secs later she winced and he said "Ok, they're way at the top" and removed the speculum. Trina's eyes popped open and said "That's it??" When he nodded she nearly cried "That was AWESOME, hell yeah!" He looked confused and asked if she was talking on the phone, because that's not the response he usually got. I tried to explain that my wife was not a masochist, she was just relieved that it went smoothly. He didn't look like he fully understood so I gave him a basic run down of the crazy painful IUI she had last try when he was on vacation. He seemed amused and went on to give us a basic pep talk and told us to call in 2wks after taking a HPT. We were both thrilled that everything went so smoothly. Trina was cramping a bit, so I had her sit in the lobby while I settled the bill. A few minutes later when I came back she was gone. Hmmm, I'm forever misplacing my keys, but this was the first time I lost my wife. I found her laying on a couch 20ft from where I'd left her. She was cramping so badly she was seeing stars. Poor thing. On the way home she started feeling much better. We had a nice lunch and headed to the house. All was right with the world, or so I thought...

The next day her temp dipped a bit and that night she threw up out of the blue. She's been nauseous since then. Her temp has still not spiked so we're not sure what to make of this cycle. She had a definite LH surge, but no thermal shift. I read it was possible to surge and not ovulate, but that it was pretty uncommon. Trina's temps have been so regular every other cycle, but it's a possibility that she ovulated with no spike. At this point, who knows. I'm not having any warm fuzzy feelings about our chances this cycle. It's kind of depressing to think that we may have wasted a good vial on an anovulatory cycle. Ah well, nothing to do but wait and see...

Memorial Weekend

Our weekend went fairly well. Saturday night we drove out to Austin to meet up with some of Trina's friends. Trina got to have her first beer in a long time, catch up with old friends and dance the night away. I don't dance, drink or have friends in Austin so I got to hold various people's drinks and assorted belongings while they danced. Shortly after someone yelled "I LOVE this song", I'd end up looking like an alcoholic trying to juggle multiple mixed drinks and a few beers.The highlight of my night was telling a complete stranger about my wife's cervix and her run in with the "graspers". In my defense, she asked me about the TTC process and I, being socially inadequate, forgot when to stop talking. I think my experience here has skewed my perception of what appropriate conversation is. I mean, I would have never talked about Trina's cervical fluid in public before you people warped me. I blame you, Blogland.

After leaving the club in the wee hours of the morning, we tried, unsuccessfully, to sneak into my father's house. That's just not possible with a Jack Russel and a Bloodhound on duty. 20 minutes later we were finally able to get the yapping and baying under control. Trina set up the bedside table with all of our TTC paraphernalia. It was odd to see the fertility monitor, temperature chart and BBThermometer sitting there beside the bed at my dad's house. Not sure why, but it just struck me as funny. We had a lazy Sunday morning eating jelly biscuits, drinking coffee and watching the hummingbirds buzz around the many feeders on the deck. Every time I visit my dad I remember how much I want to live in the Hill Country. Some day...

I had the Monday off. Unfortunately Trina didn't. She actually had to work both of her jobs. As she slaved away in corporate America I cleaned up the house, did some laundry then headed over to my friends' house for BBQ. I felt pretty guilty having fun hanging out with my friends and playing with their beautiful 9mos old daughter while Trina worked. She's been pretty emotional and I didn't want her to feel slighted.

The last few days she's been on an emotional roller coaster. One minute she's sad and the next she's pissed. The tiniest things make her cry. I feel so bad for her. She's miserable and there's nothing I can do to help. Believe me, I've tried. Here's a basic scenario. Playing the guitar makes her happy, so she's been doing it alot to soothe her savage soul. The other day she busted a string. This made her cry. Today I went to the guitar store and picked up new strings. I even got the right ones which is easier said than done. She was SO happy that I ran that errand for her without being asked. Ten minutes later she yells "Where are my needle nose pliers??" Me "They're on the table, I was just fixing your necklace with them, remember?" Her "Those are YOUR needle nose pliers, I want MINE" Me "Seriously?" Her*glare* Me "OK, I'll find them" I located the "special" pliers and left the room after handing them over so as not to say anything stupid. I could feel myself wanting to compare the two pliers to search for differences. This would not end well, so I came to the room to blog. Hi. :) Five minutes later she's standing next to me, eyes red and watery, hand outstretched. There was a tiny dot of blood on her pinkie finger. She poked herself with a guitar string and needed coddling. I rocked her in my lap and rubbed her back while she sniffled. She told me she was sorry for being a freak and thanked me for dealing with her craziness this week. Then, smiling, she ran off to play her freshly strung guitar. I can hear her singing and strumming as I type.

Identity Crisis

I had a strange conversation with a client today. It went a little somethin like this...

Woman: Hi Kat, I have an appointment with you. (big cheery smile)

Me: I'm not Kat, but she'll be right with you. (less than cheery smile)

Woman: Oh, then I think I made my appointment with the wrong person. I wanted you. What's your name? (frowning)

Me: I'm Robin.

Woman: No, that's not it. (deeper frown)

Me: *blink blink, looking down at name badge* Um, yeah, I'm pretty sure it is... Kat is probably who you want, we look similar.

Woman: Wow, you two must be twins or something. (smiling again)

Me: (weak half smile, not saying a damn thing because this is the 3rd time today I've been mistaken for Kat who is 9yrs younger, has a shaved head and just happens to be the only other lesbian in our shop)

Seriously people. We don't really all look alike, right??

Back On The Horse

We're officially TTC again. Today is CD6. Last week I went out and picked up her Clomid RX and more test sticks for our monitor. Yesterday Trina took the first pill of the cycle and cried nearly all day. My poor girl. Today has gone better, but I've got tissues and chocolate ready in case of any hormonal outbursts. Hopefully we'll have IUI #2 on or around May 29th. Wish us luck. :)

Back By Popular Demand

It has been brought to my attention that I have been neglecting my faithful blog readers. My apologies. The day we got back from our weekend away, I started a 7 day work week. Yesterday was my first day off. It was great. I'll blog about it later, but for now, here's my anniversary story. :)

On the way down to Port Aransas we stopped at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christie. It was great, but quite a bit smaller than we were expecting. Trina and I love to go to the zoos and aquariums at all the new places we visit. The last aquarium we visited was the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. That place is huge!

At check in, the little manager/owner lady was so sweet. She went on and on about how much we were going to like the cabana now. Apparently they had remodelled since our last trip 2yrs ago. After getting settled in, it was time to go meet my dad and his friend for dinner. They had been deep sea fishing all day. My dad caught 3 sharks totalling 30lbs or so. Trina's weak stomach stopped the "sea sickness" and "shark cleaning" conversation at dinner.:) We ate at Shell's and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The food was good, but not great like it usually is. I was sad. After dinner we all took a nice long walk down the beach and picked up seashells
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The next 3 days were spent walking on the beach, shopping, eating, watching Animal Planet and other such lazy activities. While there, I learned my wife had never flown a kite. How do you live 29 years and never fly a kite?? I took her straight to a shop that carried stunt kites and picked up two. I assembled her kite, explained the 2 string steering basics, set her up 50 ft back and tossed the kite into the wind. It was beautiful. The kite soared for approximately 15 seconds before slamming into the earth and breaking beyond repair... She almost cried. I gave her my kite and we tried again. After a few crashes she had the hang of it. Now she's a pro and can spin the kite both ways and bring it down without digging a trench in the sand. That's my girl. :)

My favorite part of any trip is the food. I'm a big eater. Ask anyone and they'll tell you that meals rule my world. Our best food day was Monday. It started off with yummy breakfast tacos and pancakes at San Juan. We had an amazing "best meal of the trip" lunch at The Wharf including fresh bread, yummy salad, a baked potato, their world famous fried cheese and marinated grilled zucchini. After lunch we picked up some caramel from Winton's Candies. It is the best caramel you will ever eat. I think I put back about a pound throughout the weekend. The day ended with garlic cheese stick pizza at Port A Pizzaria. Mmmm, that's my kinda day. :)