IUI #1

TODAY WE DID OUR 1ST IUI

LOW SPERM COUNT= NOT A GOOD DAY:(

I'LL WRITE MORE ABOUT IT ANOTHER TIME

CD 12 Monitoring appointment

So today I went to my RE's for a monitoring ultrasound to make sure my follicles were growing like they should be, and I have good and bad news. The good news is on my left side I have a pretty good size one I think they said it was 14 mm, but the bad news is they didn't see too much in my right ovary so I'm kind of disappointed with that:( I really don't think Clomid helps me because last month when I wasn't using it I had about 10-15 follicles on my right side, a few medium sized ones on my left, and one really large one on the left it was about 18 mm. I should've done IUI last month:)

My lining is nice and thick which is just what they like to see so that makes me happy. They said they want to give my follicle in the left ovary a few more days to grow and see if we can't get a few of the other smaller ones a little more mature. This weekend should hopefully give them enough time to mature further. So here's the plan: HCG trigger shot on Sunday at 11:30 am, semen sample collection Monday at 10:00 am, and then the insemination at 11:30!

ow that it's all official and actually planned out I'm starting to get nervous. I'm not really nervous for the actual procedure itself but everything leading up to it, and then everything after it. My fertility clinic gave me a consent form for James and I to read through and then sign before we proceed with the IUI, and it mentions all the possibilities why this procedure might not work and then if it does all the possible complications. I was really excited leaving the doctors today thinking that if everything goes good and it works I could be pregnant next week, but then after reading the consent form it pretty much made all my excitement disappear. I know they do that so you have a realistic idea of your chances that it would work and they just want you to know all the complications that could arise, but it just made me think too much and now I'm scared.

I'm really trying not to get my hopes up because my doctor said our chance of it being a success is only 20 %, which for those of you who don't know that is the probability for any healthy couple with no fertility problems to conceive in any given month. If we don't do IUI they said our chances of conceiving on our own are about 2%. It definitely ups our chances but I'm still just thinking many healthy couples could take up to 6 months to conceive, so does that mean it could take that long for us? I sure hope not because we've already been struggling to get pregnant for 3 1/2 years and for me that's just way too long. I realize others have been at this for much longer than we have, but for me it feels like an eternity!

One last thing for those of you who have gone through infertility and conceived or those who are in the middle of trying right now, did you tell people right away when you found out you were pregnant or will you tell people right away, or are you worried about the possibility of miscarriage and/or complications and would like to wait for awhile before letting everyone know? The reason I ask is because we're trying to decide what to do about this. Let me explain: all my family knows that we're trying to get pregnant and they know about us doing IUI, and if they're smart enough they can count 14 days from when I do it and figure out when I should know if it worked or not but I don't want them to know either way.

The main reason is I have a sister who's been trying for 9 years, I'm 6 years younger than she is and I've been married for 5 1/2 years less than her, that isn't to say that this is any less hard on me but I just can't imagine trying for that long and then to find out your youngest sister is pregnant before you! Another reason is that my oldest sister was pregnant and everything was going just fine when she found out the baby had passed away when she was about 6 1/2 months along, I just remember what that did to my sister and it terrifies me. The last reason is that If it doesn't work I'd rather nobody but James and I know so we can just be sad together. I know these reasons are probably ridiculous, but that's why I'd like some advice from those of you who have been there and those who will be there soon!

By the way don't you just love the cartoon at the top, I was trying to find a good picture for this post when I found this and I thought it was pretty cute:)