Infertility Journey (part 2)

Hello! First of all, thank you for the outpouring of love and support since my last infertility post. It’s so comforting to know that people understand or are in the same boat. When we last spoke, I had just introduced you to my infertility journey. Today I’m going to continue to share that journey. I hope this isn’t TMI. Ha-ha!

Okay, where did we leave off….

Once all of the test results came back, we were ready for our first IUI. IUI stands for Intrauterine insemination. It’s basically like artificial insemination, but with your partners swimmers. It is not very invasive, somewhat inexpensive and overall, pretty easy. Check out the links above to learn more.

I started my first cycle in September of last year. Since I wasn’t ovulating on a perfect schedule, they gave me a pill called Clomid. This basically induces ovulation with the help of a trigger shot. The trigger shot is taken the night before the procedure, which ensures you ovulate on demand. I was SO nervous about my first trigger shot. It’s a true injectable that goes in the belly. GASP! Thank God for my husband. He was a pro. We watched a YouTube tutorial so we could see exactly what to do. However, he already knew what to do, because of his medical background. The video was really to pacify ME. I just kept thinking about why we were doing this and the gift that will come out of it. Ok, it was time…he washed his hands, cleaned the area with an alcohol pad, and counted to 3. 1….2….3….GO! And just like that, it was over. I didn’t even feel it. Seriously, it was nothing.

24 hours later, I with my many moods (holy hormones), and my hubs, went in for the procedure. The really awkward part was my husband having to provide a sample. I’ll spare you all of the nitty gritty details, but let’s just say…it’s like what you see in the movies. The hilarious part was that he had to overcome hearing me chatting it up with another female patient in the waiting room adjacent to his “donation” room.  But, with concentration, he was able to get it done.

We went into an exam room with one of Dr. K’s nurses. It is very much like when you go to your OB/GYN. You know, stirrups, cute gowns, and great lighting (bahaha). She put a very thin catheter into my uterus and then injected the swimmers into the tube. That was it. I was told to sit there for a few minutes to let everything settle. I then got dressed and we headed home.

I was so excited with the prospect that I could actually be pregnant. 12 days later we took a pregnancy test. Negative. I went in for blood work to confirm. My HCG was under 5. So yes, negative. I was sad, but I also realized this was the first try. It takes more than one a lot of the time. I wasn’t going to let this get me down. I was just going to try again. So we did.

In October, we tried it again. It was the same regimen as what we did the prior month. I was still very optimist and excited about our baby to be.

About 7 days after the procedure, I was feeling a little weird and thought I’d take an early detection pregnancy test. I peed on the stick, waited 3 minutes, and then magically….2 lines appeared. I had to keep looking at it…was this it? Was it this easy? I called Trent, my mom and my best friends. I was SOOOOO excited. Then I started thinking. What if the medicine I was taking could cause a false positive? Going thru this process everything feels too good to be true. It really psychs you out! Sure enough, after I shared the great news with everyone, I realized it wasn’t real. I googled and learned that the trigger shot has HCG in it, which is the same hormone you produce when you are pregnant (for those that don’t know) and caused the false-positive. I felt so stupid, but moreover very very sad.

What now? Well, I called everyone and told them about the “false alarm”. I then waited until the 12th day blood test. When the nurse called with the results, I thought maybe this would still be it? It was not “it”. Another. Negative. Pregnancy. Test.

Part 3 post to follow in the coming weeks, as the journey continues. Thank you for coming along. xx