We arrived at the Greensboro office of the Wake Forest Infertility Clinic for John's 9:00 a.m. appointment about 5 minutes early. They took us back to a room where they gave us the instructions and we filled out a little paperwork. Then the fun part came--the nurse told John that he needed to "collect" and we left him to do his contribution to this procedure. Needless to say, he got the better end out of this deal!
Once his job was done, the nurse let us know that it would take about 40 minutes to perform the "washing" procedure and that we could go get some breakfast and come back. Neither of us were very hungry but a Starbucks break sounded great! So we headed over to the Harris Teeter in the Friendly Shopping Center and went to the Starbucks that is in there. (It was the closest one.) John and I got our favorite Caramel Macchiato--but had mine made decaf...just in case! We sat at a little table and shared a few laughs over his part of the process. (Those jokes will remain private!)
We enjoyed our coffees and then headed out to go back to the WFIC. When we arrived the nurse popped right out and called us back to the lab room. She handed me a vial in a "Hazardous Material" baggie and told me to keep it upright and warm by holding it in a closed tight fist. She gave us our paperwork and we headed back up the road to head to Dr. Mody's office. It was only about 5 minutes away and we arrived at 10:00 a.m. on the dot! We got ourselves checked in and paid the copay (not too bad) and sat in the waiting room. We were only there about 3 minutes and Dr. Mody's nurse, Diana, came and got us. She is just so cute and sweet! She took my vitals (normal BP again! YAY!) and asked me to make sure my bladder was empty. After that, she took us into the room where our procedure would take place. She asked me to get undressed from the waist down and hop up on the table and cover up with one of those very "concealing" paper sheets (sense the sarcasm). After she shut the door, I began to do just that! John's eye's got huge and said "Are you supposed to be getting naked in here?" I just looked at him and said, "How else do you think this is going to work?" That melted us both into giggles and made me realize just how tense we had both been. I can always rely on that hubby of mine to get me cracked up and help me to relax.
Meanwhile, I've been holding that vial of what John called "his boys" during this whole process trying to keep that precious vial warm. It wasn't but maybe another 2 minutes and Diana came back in the room with Dr. Mody. They were ready to do the procedure! Dr. Mody asked me when I took my shot and if I felt myself ovulate--I was so happy to tell her about my "bursts." She smiled and said that it all sounded good and were we ready. John had a few questions, one of which was what is the percentage of success. I was interested in that too because some thing I had read on the internet had said as low as only 6%. I knew it couldn't be right because the percentage of conceiving naturally is much higher than that in healthy couples. But in the back of my mind, I still worried. Dr. Mody explained that with Clomid, Ovidrel & IUI combined there was an over 50% chance that it could work! OVER 50%??? I was shocked it was that high!!
We were then ready to do the IUI. John came and stood by my head and I had to scoot all the way to the end of the table. She inserted the speculum and hinged it open. She then had to take this green straw device to open my cervix up. This caused a LOT of cramping and I involuntarily tensed up. Dr. Mody couldn't proceed anymore until I could relax. John swooped in and was my hero to help me relax. He held my hand with his left hand and with his right hand covered my forehead--a very comforting thing for me. He quietly kissed me and asked me to relax and take a deep breath and that's just what I did. Magically, I was able to unclench and she was able to proceed.
What didn't help was when I looked up at John and his eyes were HUGE! He had seen the catheter she was going to use to insert the sperm in my uterus and by the look on his face I knew he was shocked. I had seen a picture of one before but never in person. His words "just don't look at it" went in one ear and out the other with me. I looked up right as they finished drawing the sperm into the catheter and Diana held it up. I swear the thing was 3 feet long! (John later told me it was only about 10 inches long -- that's still huge!!) I worked very hard to remain calm and relaxed. All of a sudden Dr. Mody says, "OK there we go!" I thought she said "here we go" and asked her how long it would take. She said, "No we're done!" I hadn't felt a thing. She took the catheter out and then released the speculum. The whole thing took about 10 minutes. She helped me scoot back on the table, tilted it back and told me to lay there with my feet propped up for 30 minutes. She said that I needed to come in on Friday for a Day 21 Progesterone blood test. And then she left us to our wait.
John grabbed a couple of magazines--Baby and Parenting--and gave them to me to look through. We also talked about the possibility of multiples and what we would do if that happens. We are both very positive about having twins or triplets and we know that if that is the children God blesses us with, He will provide a way for us to take care of them! We also talked about what we would name 2 or 3 babies. We have a girl's name and a boy's name picked out that we love, but it took us forever to get those narrowed down--I can't imagine having to pick out more all at once! And how would we decide who got what name? This topic got us both laughing. Well I saw a new side of my hubby at that point. He quickly turned into this highly protective man instructing me to stop laughing because I could "bounce our babies around." For the 45 minutes I laid there (the nurse got busy and came and released us 15 minutes after our time limit!) John wouldn't let me move, cough, laugh, sneeze, or do anything because he was aftraid I was going to mess our procedure up. Bless his heart--I loved seeing how protective he was being.
Once Diana came back and got us, I got redressed and we headed out the door. Have you ever seen "The Back Up Plan" with Jennifer Lopez? I felt like her walking out of the office with my legs clenched together. I didn't even notice I was doing it until John turned around and said "Baby...walk normal!" I guess I was just so worried that I would lose any of the deposit that I was clenching. I made my appointment at check out for Friday at 9:45 a.m. to have my blood checked and we left the office.
Hubby decided he was going to treat me to lunch at one of my favorite spots in Greensboro, Ham's Lakeside off of Cone Blvd. The food there is of course great because it's Ham's, but that's not why I love it there. This Ham's sits on the shore of a very beautiful and serene lake and I love to eat outside and watch the gentle waves lap into the shore. I'm definitely a girl that loves to be on the water...whether its the beach, lake or even just a fishing pond. Water is so calming to me and that was the exact environment I wanted. We had a nice lunch and sat enjoying the calm lake and beautiful blue sky together. It was truly such a perfect time and I was so happy!
We headed home and by the time we got here my bladder was about to burst! As I made a mad dash to the bathroom, John in his protective voice said "DON'T FORCE THE PEE OUT!" I wanted to laugh but I had to GO! When I was in the bathroom, I noticed some traces of blood. That SCARED me to death! I hopped on the phone and called Dr. Mody's office and left a message with the nurse to call me back. While I was waiting on the return call, I noticed some slight cramping almost comparable to gas pains. It didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable. When the nurse called me back, I told her about what had been going on. She said that the cramping and spotting was a normal thing and not to stress about it. She said that in cases where the doctor has to force the cervix open, as Dr. Mody had to do for me, it can cause a bit of bleeding. I felt a lot better.
At this point, hubby and I CRASHED HARD! We had been totally calm and collected the whole day but I guess the excitement and anticipation of our procedure had wiped us out. We both laid down and took an hour and a half nap. It was wonderful! I woke up and (carefully) ran to the bathroom to check and see if I was still spotting. Fortunately, it had stopped! But the crazy abdominal feelings have continued. I haven't decided if it really is out of the norm or if I'm just really concentrating on that area of my body so I'm noticing every move. Either way, I'm not going to complain a bit because I'm hoping that each funny little twinge may be bringing us closer to a baby Griffin!
So that's been our day. Mostly a lot of laying around and resting. And laughing at my hubby being like a little mother hen monitoring my every move! If he's this protective of me at the possibility of getting pregnant, I can't imagine how he will be when I really am! We always joke that he will wrap my belly in bubble wrap--now I think that's gonna be more of a reality and less of a joke! HA! But overprotective or not, I know he is going to be a fantastic daddy and I'm so happy that he's my hubby!
And now we pray! And hope and dream and wait and pray some more! We know that God is in control and to quote Kate Gosselin, "science and humans had given their best efforts, and now the results ultimately lay in God's hands." (In researching IUI's, her name has come up a lot--for "multiple" reasons!) So we will endure our 2 week wait and hope and pray that the procedure worked and we will soon be seeing 2 pink lines on a stick!
No comments:
Post a Comment