IUI #2

We had the insemination yesterday afternoon so now we wait. It was very uncomfortable as usual but luckily no spasms which I am grateful for.  Murray was there as well and held my hand through it which was nice.  He isn't often able to be with me through our fertility treatment so it was a really 'together' moment for us.

The clinic didn't tell me when my test date is, so I am going with Saturday 10th December (13dpiui). 

Progress

No sleep in for me this morning, I was off to the clinic for an early morning blood test and scan - just the way I wanted to start my weekend! Scan showed a couple of follicles, one at 25mm, one at 17mm and one at 14mm. 

Having a scan this cycle and last has helped to identify that perhaps ovulation for me is more of a problem than we initially thought. I seem to grow follicles well but my body doesn't trigger ovulation by itself- go figure. 

Anyhow with all of those follicles, it looks like I will be triggering tonight and the insemination tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Charlie

My poor little puppy is in the wars at the moment.  We came home from work today to find Charlie with one of his eyes closed and swollen. We took him to the vet where they found that he had an ulcer on his eye, which they had to scrape off and give him a local anesthetic. He also appears to have a skin allergy or dermatitis as his skin is quite red and he can't stop licking and scratching himself which isn't normal behavior for him.

Anyhow, he has to have eye drops, antibiotics, pain killers and special shampoo and a check up on Monday to make sure he is okay, but we are very glad it wasn't something worse.

Besides that, I want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all my US based friends. For the rest of us - Christmas is not far away! I've been busy getting my shopping done, and now I only have my Mum and brothers to buy for.

I can't stop thinking about Daniel deploying. I know he is going to be fine, but I keep having this daydream of going to his funeral, and it is freaking me out. People telling me he will be fine is not reassuring me, only frustrating me.  I think it is something that I will just deal with when the time comes.  I went past the post office today and bought 20 of the right size boxes that we can use to send care packages over. I'm going to address them all and then hand them out to his mates and our family so he gets a constant flow of messages and goodies. It will probably embarrass the heck out of him, but I want him to know we love him and are thinking of him. Oh dear, I'm getting weepy and he hasn't even left yet!

I've had a bit of work drama this last couple of weeks, which I think will be okay now, but it has been exhausting and upsetting.  I'm looking forward to a week off at Christmas, and then our trip to Bali next year! 

In fertility news, I am off for my day 10 blood test tomorrow, hopefully the clomid has done its job again and we will do a donor insemination early next week.

Anyhow, I should probably head to bed.  Now I have my new iPad gadget (OMG it is awesome! Best early Christmas present ever!), I've been going to bed early but playing on the iPad until far past my bedtime! 

Night all x

Family

Family
 
I just got a call out of the blue from my brother. Daniel is the baby of the family and at the ripe old age of 21, he has been in the Australian Army for nearly four years. We were really lucky that after his initial training at Kapooka, he was based at Swanbourne, so even though he lived on base, we could still see him and catch up with him fairly regularly. 18 months ago he was transferred to Brisbane, so we have been restricted to Christmas visits and the odd drunken phone call when he remembers his dear old sis at 11pm randomly.
 
I think you know where this story is heading.
 
The call today was prefaced with 'you are going to hate this'. Instantly my brain went to pregnancy news (cos that's how I roll). Of course I was wrong. It's better, yet worse. My brother is going to Afghanistan. He is thrilled to bits, and is glad that he is going to have the opportunity to be involved in the efforts there, and put into action all the things he has trained for. But I am in shock. I knew it was a possibility, I mean -it's the army, it's purpose is war. But still… he's my baby brother. I still see him in my head as the baby faced 13 year old who shows me tricks on his skateboard. I know he is an adult, and I have no doubt of his awesomeness - come on, he is my brother afterall. But I can't help being scared.

No luck

No luck this round. Test results were negative. Will wait for period and then start again.
I'm disappointed but putting my faith in God. It's all I can do right now.

results

Today is 10dpIUI and of course I couldn't hold out until a reasonable time to test. Negative of course. I don't know why I did it to myself. The logical part of my brain says it's too early anyway, but even if it's not, I knew the odds were low of this being successful. Especially because it's us - we never get things right the first time.

Still, my heart feels like it has been run over by a truck. You can't help getting your hopes up.

Official blood test is Monday, which is a day earlier than normal as I wanted to get the results over and done with.

hot

I have no idea if it is because of the Clomid or the weird weather we are having, or my hormones playing up, but I am constantly having hot flashes. Probably once an hour I feel like I am standing in the sun and my face and arms feel extremely hot. It usually passes after five minutes or so, but I am feeling menopausal! I thought it might be the clomid, but I only took it for the five days at the beginning of my cycle so I doubt it is that. Oh well... hopefully it disappears soon.

In other news, I am 5dpIUI and besides feeling a little crampy, I am doing fine. Even though logically I know the odds are low for success, I can't help but feel happy that we have a chance this cycle to fall, and I am really hoping and praying that it is going to happen. It's nice to feel this hopeful.

Winning!

I'm feeling good today. Actually, I feel downright awesome. Not only did we have our IUI this afternoon, I also won the sweepstakes for the Melbourne Cup at work, and won a separate bet on the winner, netting me $130! To celebrate, I brought yummy asian takeaway food for us and our neighbours.

The IUI went pretty smoothly. The lab had to thaw two straws to make up the sample, but the sample was very strong - 15 million sperm, 10 million motile (66%) and 90% of that 66% were forward motile. The procedure went okay, although my cervix did spasm after the catheter was inserted (ouch!). But all in all, very easy and it was nice to lie back for 20 minutes afterwards and think happy thoughts about it all.

I am doing my blood test on Monday the 14th, which is good as I have the day off work, so I wont have to leave early if I get upset at bad news. I am feeling really confident. I figure if I can tip the winner of a race with 22 other horses in it, why the hell can't I fall pregnant as well!