The IUI, Part II

So when I last wrote, it was with brisk and careful steps that I hiked over to Dr. Cuddles' office, with a teensy vial of my husband's washed sperm tucked in my cleavage.  I tried really hard not to make too much of a scene staring down my shirt while in the elevator with a clearly perplexed elderly man (it would have been worse if it had slipped out you know).

Once I got to the reception desk I was immediately whisked to a an exam room set up with an sonogram machine.  The IUI catheter was waiting for me on a metal table next to the stirrupt chair.  I breathed a sigh of relief, after a false start last month, we would finally get this show on the road. 

So, here's the meh and the good of the morning:

The meh:

• My suspicions were correct, I had ovulated just before the procedure.  Probably within hours (see description of mucus below).  My RE stated that ideally she would have performed the IUI right before my follicles burst.
• I didn't have the "ton of eggs" she was hoping to see, I had once follicle rupture on each side.
• My seemingly awesome weight loss didn't register as profoundly on the doctor's scale (which is clearly mocking me, because I lost 4 lbs darnit, not a measly 1).  Dr. Cuddles quite literally made the batshit suggestion that I "need to feel hungry" after my meals.
• Dr. C is wed to statistics and age is not a "fluid" concept for her.  Apparently since I am 39 right now, I am in a vastly different cohort than I will be in one month, when I turn 40.  In her world, my IUI success probability changes the millisecond I turn the big 4-0. ("Right now you're 39," she said firmly.)

The good:

• Husband had nearly 40 million swimmers, an excellent count, Dr. C was happy.
• My cervix was filled with "egg-white cervical mucus" (EWCM) meaning, 1.  I was at least in the right window of time for this procedure, and 2. The clomid wasn't having one nasty side-effect on me (i.e. drying out cervical mucus) that it reportedly has on other women.
• Both of my ovaries responded to the Clomid, even if not with superstar results.  Ovulating on both sides is good.  All you need is that "one good egg" right?

The future:  My next cycle will include a lot more monitoring.  We're going to do an ultrasound on Day 13 (this month I ovulated somewhere between Day 14 and 15) and probably perform the IUI on Day 14 (this cycle we didn't perform the procedure until Day 15). 

And here's another smidge of good news:  I may squeeze one more IUI in when I am still 39 (perhaps hours before I turn 40).  Since Dr. C really cares about this.

I am holding myself to some pretty high standards in my next TWW: 

1. NO GOOGLING of phantom pregnancy symptoms.  God help me.
2. NO PEEING ON STICKS (HPTs) until I am at least 12 DPO (as I am supposed to get blood work checking for HCG and progesterone on 14 DPO I shouldn't pee on any sticks at all, but I am only human).

Today I am 4DPO/IUI.  Eight more days.  Easy-peasy. 

(image stolen from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXnCMINtnihrYuWh5_LyK9XPTSq9PkslIz-Hy2p4UrzPOkUeWVmHqtGTSpQ5lMDnojQTFgIXbI9nIRnwWI62KoTi3IURaLPM6wKyCJi0iEq9Lbw_3SHU9uCe1LIcjbiis99DeiBkibmSI/s1600/Two+Week+Wait+Watermarked.jpg)