IUI #1

Charles ended up explaining the situation to his coworkers, and they worked everything out so we he could take 30-45 minutes away from work in the middle of the day to provide a sample.  And of course, they all wished him luck when he left!  Lol!  We met at a park & ride between the fertility clinic and his work.  I had big decisions to make before I left the house what I was going to wear because I wanted the process to go fast for him, but I wanted to keep my garments on in case I got in an accident (plus I would've felt weird not wearing them)! 


We met up at the parking lot and faced a cement wall, and I put jackets and blankets up to shield the windows.  It really felt sketchy to be so secretive and making a little hide-out for ourselves!  Charles got there on time and we had plenty of time to spare.  We were getting into the mood, kissing and touching and such things, and what happens?  A guy walks right in the front of our car and puts a flyer on my windshield as we're just staring at him like deer in the headlights!  Because we definitely needed something to make this situation more awkward!  After that, it was a little more difficult to accomplish our task because we were super paranoid, but we managed.  I kissed Charles goodbye and drove 8 minutes back to the fertility clinic where I proudly handed them the sample. 


I went back to the clinic one hour later, and it was insemination time.  I was surprised to learn that a nurse was going to do it, not Dr. S.  Here goes another month without seeing him.  Oh well, I'd rather have a woman do it anyway.  It was like a pap with a metal speculum and then she swabbed my cervix with, I'm guessing, some type of antiseptic.  She let me know that Charles' motility needed to be >40% and it was 90% after the wash!  Awesome!  Then we verified 3 times that it was Charles' semen in the syringe she had.  And then came the fun part of trying to get 8cm of catheter threaded through my cervix.  I think this is what they had the most difficulty with during my HSG.  Apparently my cervix is curvy.  Charles had a good laugh with that one later, but it was not fun at all during the process!  She curved the catheter and tried to maneuver it through my cervix for about 10 minutes, causing cramps the whole time, and finally it found its way through and she injected the semen into my uterus.  She told me there could be a lot of spotting because of the trauma to my cervix, and she said to call with either result after I test in 2 weeks.  Then I laid on the table for 15 minutes still in the stirrups, falling asleep for a short nap (night shift has enabled me to sleep anywhere), then I got up and went home. 

Syringe with catheter attached (after the semen was shot through)

I was crampy and felt twinges of pain for 2 days after, along with some spotting.  But all in all, I feel pretty good about it.  And I'm curious to know if my curvy cervix has been the issue all along.  We can only hope that IUI fixed our problems!  We will take a $400 fix over a $20,000 IVF cycle!  Keep us in your prayers!


"Faith in God includes faith in His timing."