250 Million Angry Birds

Compared to IVF, IUI to me was the most anti-climatic thing ever.  

We got up bright and early on Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving that we were supposed to sleep in.  We drove 50 minutes and arrived at my RE’s clinic.  I have been used to going over to the IVF Center for both egg retrievals so it was a brand new thing for us to do a procedure at my RE’s clinic.  Bob was asked to go inside to give his sample.  I said a little prayer that everything would go well in there.  He came out with a weird look on his face and his right hand holding his left armpit.  I guess he was told to hold onto the sample and he didn’t want it to get cold.  So he tucked it in his shirt under his left arm.  I couldn’t help but laugh.  He was to hold that container for another 20 minutes until Dr. E’s assistant was ready to take over.  So he sat there holding onto his own armpit while these women walked in and out of the clinic.  I offered to hold it for him but got rejected.  Fortunately football was on TV so he was distracted from the awkward position of hiding something under his armpit.  He said that the collection part of fine.  It was just that he entered into this little room with a sink but no helpful “education material” to help with his collection.  There was a TV and DVD player but again no “educational DVD” to come to his aide.  Oh well, kudos to him for managing to finish strong.  

I was basically useless from 8:30 until 9:30, the time that we were called to go into the room.  I sat there and watched all these couples come in and out of the clinic.  I could basically tell who was there for IUI and who was there for a monitoring ultrasound.  Finally at 9:30, we were asked to go into one of the exam rooms.  I did the usual shedding of my clothes from my waist down.  We joked a little until Dr. E entered with a syringe, A.K.A. turkey baster.  So there was no signing of paperwork, no anesthesiologist chatting with you about the risks and what not of the procedure, no changing into a gown and a surgical hat.  I just lay down, spread my legs, and let Dr. E insert the speculum.  She then asked Bob if he wanted to do the honor and push the syringe in.  I think she probably caught him off guard.  He almost had to ask for a repeat of the question.  Then he said, no thank you.  So she did it herself and the sperms went in.  Then we were done.  Nothing exciting or special about the process.  I don’t know why I was expecting something more magical or spectacular than what had happened.  But that was it.  Just pushing the sperms inside me.  That’s all.

Right before Dr. E did the procedure, she nonchalantly mentioned that his sperm count was 250 million and the quality was good as well.  I had no reference as to what is good for IUI so we just said okay that sounds good.  After the procedure, I updated my Face.book friends about the procedure and was confused on the count, if she meant 250 million pre-wash or post-wash.  One of my friends said she would guess it was pre-wash because 250 million seemed high.  To confirm, I wrote Dr. E an email and she responded with:

250 post
Pre slightly higher
Motility 85%

According to all of my friends, 250 million post wash is very high.  So I guess we have very strong swimmers, 250 million of them trying to get to my egg once it’s released.  My husband has been feeling great all day long about his swimmers.  He has been imagining 250 million Angry Birds jumping up and down, waiting for the egg to come.  I will let him gloat for another day or two.  I am surprised by the number.  We always thought that we had a slight male factor as well.  I guess he performed well on the day that matters the most.  His semen analysis has shown better and better results each time.  His morphology has increased from the usual 5%, to 8% during the first IVF, to 13% during the second IVF.  I am still surprised at the high count post-wash.

Now we just need to have that one good egg to match all the sperms.

My temperature has jumped this morning already.  Thankfully we did the IUI yesterday and not today.  My RE gives me the option of doing a beta 13 dpiui.  I could also POAS if I want to.  I am in the no testing camp. But I am going to start progesterone tonight.  So I need to find a way to know if I should stop progesterone.  Our insurance is changing starting tomorrow so a beta test will not be fully covered by the new insurance.  Do I really want to pay money for something that most likely will not give us a positive result?  I don’t really know.  I am sure I still have time to contemplate.

I really want to be hopeful.  I will let Bob do all the hoping while he gloats in his glory of 250 million Angry Birds for another day or two.