IUI Cycle #11

Driving to our RE appointment Monday morning we made guesses about how many follicles we would see and joked about having twins and triplets. The one good thing about our having to use fertility meds was the higher instance of multiples. We would LOVE to have twins. Triplets are scary, but even still, I'd be thrilled. Much to our disappointment, the ultrasound showed she still had only one responding follicle on the right side. I know it only takes one, but I sure would feel more confident if we had a few to work with. It was 15.7mm and her estradiol was 248.We were told to come back at 8 the next morning for a recheck.

Tuesday morning's ultrasound showed our solo follicle had grown to 17.14mm and labs revealed her estradiol was up to 380. She was to trigger at 9pm and be back in the office for IUI#1 at 9am the next morning. We left the office with mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety. I was scheduled for hip surgery in an hour and I had no idea what shape I'd be in the next morning. What I DID know was that I would be there for the IUI even if I had to crawl on my hands and knees.

Wednesday morning came and I was not exactly happy to be conscious. I had been asleep for the better part of the last 20hrs. My wife, the rock star, had given herself the trigger shot the night before. I can't imagine how she made herself stick that 1.5" needle in her rump. I slowly got to my feet and with Trina's help slowly dressed myself in the baggiest clothes I own. She frowned at me when I refused to take my pain meds, opting for Motr1n instead. I was barely holding on and I wanted to at least remember the day we made our child. I slept the whole way to the Dr's office and stared into space while we waited in the lobby. A nurse came out and called Trina's name. It was our turn. Trina was so nervous since she had had a horrible time with her 3 IUI experiences. Her last IUI had gone so badly that we chose to do at-home ICI's for the last 7 cycles.

We didn't have much time to worry because, as usual, our doc didn't keep us waiting. He came in with a beaming smile and as he got his tools ready, he told us we had a whopping 56million swimmers! We were stunned and even he seemed impressed. We were used to counts in the high teens and low 20's. The IUI was, much like our Dr, fast, gentle and efficient. There was no sharp pain like when our old Dr bumped the top of her uterus with the catheter. Afterwards, he shook our hands, told Trina to lie still for 15min and said he'd see us the same time the next morning. Then he left with the smile he came in with. We sat there half waiting for the pain to start, for the cramps to double her over or for the nausea to come. 5 min passed, then 10. Nothing happened. She was so relieved that she teared up. Was this how everyone else experienced IUI's? No wonder no one thought they were a big deal. Amazing. Other than a few passing cramps and light spotting throughout the day, all was well.

The next morning we repeated our routine and ended up back in the same exam room as the day before. This time we had grins to match our Dr's. How could this not work? The previous day's sperm count was double what we were used to and here we were doing it again. Add in the nearly painless IUI and we were on cloud 9. Again, he came in and got right to work. He said "Today we have 63 million! Your donor is a champ!" This IUI was a little more painful, causing some small cramps during the procedure, but still nothing like before. He told Trina to start the pr0gester0ne suppositories on Sun, shook our hands and wished us luck. Our 15min was soon up and we were out the door. Our TWW has officially begun and our next appointment is for a beta on OCT 1.

Our swimmers waiting to be deployed.

Marveling in the pain free 15 min wait.