Saturday, October 27, 2007

Chapter Three: What Goes On

IUI seems like such a simple concept: you go to the clinic, they place sperm in your uterus, and the little spermies swim around, find the egg, and fertilize it. There- instant pregnancy!

Well, it really wasn't all that simple at all. First of all in order to increase our chances, we decided to start on an injectible medication. This would help me to produce more eggs each cycle, which would increase the number of targets for the sperm. It also increases the chances of multiples, but that was a chance we were willing to take. After all, if I could get pregnant with twins, we wouldn't have to worry about doing any of this ever again.

So I went to my injectibles class and learned how I was to inject the medication. It seemed so simple: the medication came in a pre-filled cartridge that you placed into a pen. You attach a micro-fine needle and inject it into your belly fat. Simple.

Before I could start the cycle, I had to go in to the clinic for a baseline blood draw and u/s. They needed to be sure that my body was ready to start stimming. This was the first of many early morning visits to the clinic. My clinic was open from 7-9am for monitoring. Which means that I had to drive into Manhattan, find parking, and get to the clinic with enough time to have a scan and my blood drawn, while still getting to work on time. Which means that I had to wake up at the crack of dawn, battle rush-hour traffic, all while experiencing the side effects of the medication: mood swings, hot flashes, headaches, ovary pain, and a sore & bruised belly which resembled a pin cushion. The medication was enough, but add to it the early wake-ups and rush-hour traffic, I was quickly losing my mind.

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