Smooth operators

IUI complete! Baby factory doctors are GOOD. Oh my god, was she good. It was so easy. No cramping, no waiting, no hesitation, no tenaculum. (If you don't know what that is google it and then protect your private parts.) I guess that's why it's a bona-fide baby factory. It makes my NYC inseminations feel a little...well...dirty. Dark abandon hospital room, Dr. carrying our equipment in his pocket, warming sperm in unknown nurse's coffee mug (yes, that happened!) without a thermometer or microscope, tenaculum present and used. As much as a loved Dr. K, I just didn't realize what this "should" be like.

So, I'm feeling good. Really good. 1 DPO good - we ALWAYS feel good during this part of the tww. I am going to try to remain calm, open-minded and relaxed over the next two weeks. I'm going to go to as many yoga classes as my body and wallet will allow. And...I'm going to Philly for New Years where my long-lost friend is going to take such good care of me and give me lots of lovin'!
-sp

Plump up the volume...

I guess S.'s ovaries responded to the Clomid, because she had a plump, juicy 22mm follicle ready to bust out of there. So, she had the HCG shot TODAY, which means we're insemming TOMORROW. I have to call out sick for school, which makes me sad. I did want to say good-bye, Merry Christmas, see you next year, etc., to my students. Plus I have like, no sub plans ready, tomorrow being the last day before Christmas vacation and me planning to do things like read "Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus" and analyze the deeper meaning behind it. Um, yeah. (I'm an English teacher, can't you tell?)

So, tomorrow is our day. First insem. at the baby factories--and with strangers. We always had Dr. K. do ours; it was personal and cozy and intimate, and now we'll be one of many passing through that day, hoping sperm and egg miraculously join while we sit it out for the next two weeks. Merry merry!

Plump 'er up!

We have been quite the slacker bloggers lately. Holidays plans have basically swallowed us whole and all we've been doing is shopping, cleaning, and planning. We decided to have Christmas Eve at our house this year--a move prompted by my missing of the traditional Italian Christmas Eve called Night of the 7 Fishes. No one knows why we crazy Italians eat 7 fishes on Christmas Eve, but it's a tradition that I whole-heartedly miss (FYI for those who don't know--S., my dad, and I can't be in the same room, house, or state together due to my father's lack of acceptance of my "lifestyle"--so no more family holiday gatherings for me, unfortunately).

Baby planning is going well. S. goes in for an ultrasound tomorrow to check the status of her plump Clomid follicles. Of course, with a new doctor's office, there's a whole new set of procedures to follow and forms to fill out. We finally got it straightened out, but not before I had a mini-nervous breakdown last night about taking care of all the details. I've been very emotionally fragile lately and little things have set me off. It makes me wonder what kind of mother I am going to be--will I always be so impatient with my kids as I am with life? That's not good.

But back to babies..looks like we may be insemming either right before or immediately after Christmas--we're going to learn how to administer the HCG shot ourselves so that we can do it on Christmas day if need be, putting us in a good spot for a Dec. 26th insem. We're hoping the higher doses of Clomid this cycle will make those follicles numerous and plump.

*deep sigh*

Not our turn yet. 5 days ago, I would have sworn I was pregnant. nope. This process f*cks with your head in a serious way.

Miracle of...ewwww, weird....

Not that we're there yet, but S. and I thought it would be fun to rent The Miracle of Life from the library to prepare us for what happens inside the body when a baby is growing there. You know, to remind us of what may be going on inside of S.'s body right now. The only thing either of us remembered from our 8th grade (S.) and 9th grade (me) viewings during health class was the lady's bush, following by her popping out a kid. And sure enough---that's pretty much the only thing we remembered after watching it again!

Not that it's "gross" per se--but S. definitely felt a pang of nausea after watching it. The woman filmed gives birth for all of like, 2 minutes, and without a scream to be heard. Aside from the "money shot" (as S. referred to it), it was fairly fascinating to see the sperm and egg interact inside the body, and then to see them on a molecular level. I had no clue what I was looking at half the time, but it was cool anyway.

We're almost done with the tww. We're feeling, well..I don't know. Inconclusive. S.'s boobs hurt a lot this week, following by not hurting today, so who knows. We're trying to hold out testing until Tuesday, then we need to figure out whether we should go in for a blood test at the baby factory--it would really suck if S. was actually pregnant and had stopped taking her progesterone supplements (aka "hoo-hah bullets") because we never went in for a beta. So that's our stat. No news yet, but soon to come!