CD16, 1dpIUI: Walkthrough

Here we are 24 hours later. If fertilization is going to take place, it has already happened. My nipples are angry red and horribly painful, all thanks to the trigger shot Tuesday night. I'm sore and bloated and have woken up nauseous from nerves the past four mornings. I'm praying that each and every one of these symptoms continues as the trigger leaves my system and our hopeful child(ren) takes up residence. Please, oh please, oh please!

May I state, for the record, that it didn't occur to me until Wednesday night that an IUI could be painful? For some reason, the whole thought about a catheter being threaded through my cervix didn't quite come together to equal pain. So, if you're ever wondering, I would like to tell you that it does, in fact, hurt. Ouch. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

I woke up Thursday morning at 4:22 AM and couldn't fall back asleep. I pulled myself out of bed at 4:30 and went upstairs to get some work done. I finally headed back to bed at 6:30 AM and probably managed another 30 minutes of sleep. When we started getting ready for the day, we were full of "ready to get knocked up?" comments and cracks about using the defrost button on the microwave. We are delightful.

We headed out at 9:30 AM and put on the playlist I prepared for the day, which took us from our doorstep exactly to the parking lot at the clinic:

• Endless Light by Hillsong
• White Flag featuring Chris Tomlin by Passion
• Our God by Chris Tomlin
• Psalm 62 by Aaron Keys
• Hope Now by Addison Road
• Let it Be Known by Worship Central
• All the Poor and Powerless by All Sons and Daughters

During the drive, we were flooded with texts of love, prayers, and excitement from our friends and family. The Lord has truly blessed us with wonderful people in our lives!

We arrived in the parking lot and R prayed for us, acknowledging that the Lord is in control of all things and His outcome is best for us. We signed in upstairs at 10:11 AM for our 10:30 AM appointment and, during the twenty minute wait, managed to crack ourselves up again in the waiting room. I sure hope that didn't make it awkward for anyone else!

We were shown to our room at 10:35 and Nurse M arrived to do our insemination. We signed a lot of papers and she told us that embryology said our sample was the best they had seen all morning at 17.5M after wash (well, it comes already washed but whatever). Woo!!! I put on my lucky socks and we were ready to go:

Five excellent egg retrievals and, hopefully, one successful IUI!

The procedure itself was painful, not only for the cervix stuff but also because I was (am) terribly tender and sore. Seriously, I don't remember being that sensitive before any egg retrieval. Ouch! We did have a special moment when Nurse M asked if R would like to deliver the sample. Aw! He did and that was that. The whole procedure took about five minutes and experienced zero spotting during or after. I'm taking that as a good sign!

I laid on the table for ten minutes after and we headed to finance at 10:58 AM. Back in the car by 11:10 and off for lunch. R was craving a cheeseburger and it just so happened that the place we stopped had a Hawaiian burger with grilled pineapple. Let's see if that old superstition works, hmm?

Nom nom nom!

We got home around 12:30 and I was completely exhausted. R and I laid down on the guest bed and didn't get up until 3:00 PM. Sweet, beautiful sleep!

Our neighbor called to see if I could watch her kids while she went to the ER for her vertigo, so I headed next door and cuddled with her 4-year-old for three hours. Back home by 6:00 PM, made cookies, watched a wicked storm blow through, took a walk after the rain stopped, and then popped in Star Trek. (Did you know that the celebrity face match for our donor is John Cho aka New Sulu? Hott.) In bed by 10:30 and asleep by 11:00 PM.

So, there you go: the entirety of IUI Day. I will say that, if success of an IUI is determined by the amount of time spent horizontal afterward, I think I win. Heh. I was going to go in for acupuncture today but the clinic I talked to had upped their prices since last time. So, instead, I'm taking myself in for a haircut. Yay!

R has a job interview at 1:00 PM today that we are super excited about. We would love your prayers, again!

Going to try to hold out on testing until 12dpIUI. Let's watch!