THE Day!

Well, if you have been following all of this, you would know that today was THE day for our IUI (Intrauterine insemination). What is IUI you ask? IUI is a fertility treatment that uses a catheter to place a number of washed sperm directly into the uterus. The goal of IUI is to increase the number of sperm that reach the fallopian tubes and subsequently increase the chance of fertilization. I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)...I don't always ovulate, and Allen has a lower count, so without an IUI our chances of getting this done the "old fashioned way" are next to nothing.

So, Allen and I left the house at 6am this morning, after I hurried home from work early. We arrived at the doctor's office at 7:30am, and was first in line. The office opened up at 8am, and we signed in, along with the other nervous people - I think one other couple was doing a IVF cycle, because they had a cooler with them. Anyway, Allen had to go back first and do his thing. We both had to go back and sign the consent form for the IUI procedure, and Allen had to show ID- that way I couldn't just bring the neighbor, or delivery man in. Allen got a kick out of that- he said I could get him a UPS uniform, and he could be "the delivery man". Well, I went back to the waiting room, and let Allen be. When Allen came back out, he said he looked around the room they had him in, and there was a cabinet with a folder in it with old "fun bag" magazines, he said he just put it back and thought that was disgusting- didn't know what all was on those. lol.. anyway, he came back out to the waiting room, and we were free to go eat breakfast for 45 min., then we were to go back for my part.

We didn't even go eat anything, I guess we were just to nerved up about it to really eat anything, so we drove a big circle around Evansville, and just went back to the clinic. Well, Kara, the nurse practitioner I really liked, called us back and told us to look under the microscope. I was thinking something was really wrong or something.. why would we need to look at something? I looked and it was Allen's swimmers, just a sample of what she had prepared. I asked her if something was wrong, and she said no, just most people like to see them, to know how mobile and healthy they look. It was really neat to see, and know that they belonged to Allen. I know, gross, but it was pretty neat.

So, she instructed us to go into the room next to us. I had my instructions, and Allen just sat down, and observed. Kara come back in the room, and showed me the vial, containing Allen's swimmers. The whole procedure was a lot like a pap smear. The thing they use to do the procedure some what like the thing they use for a pap smear, but this one had a built in jack to open my cervix. Belive me, it was pretty uncomfortable. While this was all being done, Kara asked us if we did anything interesting over the weekend. I recapped the HCG trigger injection at Bush Stadium with my neighbor, Reagan, in the bathroom stall. Turns out that Kara is a really big Cardinals fan too, so that made me feel good, that this is really going to happen - how can it not without the stories we have now? Before she started, I asked what my follicles looked like, since the ultrasound bitch wouldn't tell us. Kara said that we had a couple really good ones.. NOT 5. That made us feel a whole lot better. Anyway, she then stuck the catheter up, felt like it was coming out my ear, but, I was okay. She injected the swimmers up, and then, took all of the equipment..aka jack thing, out, and lifted the table top up that turned into an elevated ramp thing for me to relax on for 20 min. She gave us the post IUI instructions... basically, I cannot do much of anything for a while. When the timmer went off, we were free to go.

20 min. came and went.. the whole time I laid there, I just kept thinking about how this did not really seem like we were really doing this.... we have been waiting for this day for a few years now, and it was finally being done! I kept thinking of our wedding day, how it was soo surreal, just like today. I was in disbelief that I had just went through all of this, and that from here on out, if everything works, we will be having a baby, or babies, next early summer! Of course, I am an emotional person, especially with all of my hormones being hopped up and bouncy - I thought I would cry or something through this whole appointment. .... Still waiting to cry.. It is just to surreal right now. I'll let you know when I finally do break down- it will probably be a week or so.

So, we left the clinic, and decided to get something to eat for lunch, but, this was 10:30, so not many places were open, so, we decided to eat at Long John Silvers at Mount Carmel, and take the senic route home. Funny, everything big we have done, Long John's has been the place we eat at.. maybe this is a good sign. We realized this after we left Long John's. I rode the whole way with the seat reclined all the way back... it hurt to laugh, or anything like that, and I had been making a few phone calls to let people know how it all went. My dear friend Mia, had me laughing about her trip to the pool with Holden... I had to make it a short conversation, it just hurt too bad to laugh.

Ater getting back to Olney, we had to go to the store to pick me up some fresh pineapple and grape juice, per advice from Jamie :)... We went home, and I hobbled the whole way into the house and down to the couch, where I remained until about an hour ago. I had to take Allen in to his truck, so he could leave out tonight, so he could pick up piggies tomorrow.

I am still crampy, my back hurts, and I move very slow... better to under do it, than to over do it. I'm not complaining, I am enjoying being sore for the first time, and I am refusing tylenol.. it is the only thing I can take. I want to remember all of this, no pain, no gain - right?

I'll have some pics and recap up tomorrow about the Cardinals game from Saturday. In the mean time, keep us in your prayers! It is all in God's hands now!