The Procedure

I was amazed at how calm I was leading up to the actual IUI. Normally I worry and obsess over every little medical thing, but I was relaxed and confident.

Since we live so far from the OB/GYN office, we had to decide when to "collect". It finally occurred to me that there was a men's restroom in the main lobby of the woman's center where my Dr's office is. Since we needed to be there early and since it was a woman's center, I was confident that there would not be a huge crowd for the men's room and the Husband would have privacy to do his thing. He wore cargo pants and tucked the little specimen cup into the side pocket and I waited in the car until he came out and bagged the "collection" in the paper lunch bag we brought just for the occasion.

I was told that someone would be in the office by 7:30 am, but when I got to the door it was locked. I could see lights on in the reception area so I knocked and Little Bo Peep (did I mention that it was Halloween?) came to the door and whisked the Husband's little swimmers away to be washed and spun. I questioned the fact that they wrote nothing on the label of his specimen cup to mark them as ours, but they assured me that we were the only ones there with sperm for the day and it would be fine.

We had breakfast and walked through Target until it was time for the procedure. When I told the receptionist that I was going to run to the restroom, she told me to hold it and to drink more if I could since a full bladder was better. I wish someone had mentioned this sooner.

Within 15 minutes of my second arrival, I was taken back to a room by a pregnant nun. I was told to strip from the waist down and sit on the funky reclining table with the paper sheet over my naked parts. I usually am left in these freezing cold rooms forever, but I only waited about 5 minutes before Dr. Wonderful (Yay!) came in with her sexy vampire assistant and got down to business.

I put my feet in the stirrups and scooted down to the edge of the table. The actual procedure took about 2 minutes from speculum to done. I felt a slight cramping sensation when she inserted the long, skinny tube thingy, but no actual pain or even discomfort.

The vampire quickly tilted my table back until I almost slid off head first and then adjusted the head part back up until I felt like I was sitting in a big baby carrier. Dr. Wonderful asked if I was cold and then told me that she wanted me to stay like this for 20-30 minutes and then a nurse would come back and let me know when I could get up and get dressed.

I didn't wear a watch and there were no clocks in the room, so I have no idea how long I actually stayed there, but it felt longer than 30 minutes. Longer is better I guess. I had brought a book to read, but opted to just lay there and concentrate on getting pregnant.

Finally the nurse came back and I cleaned up and got dressed. I was very surprised at how much liquid there was. When I told the Husband, he asked if I was worried that everything got to where it needed to be. I told him that Dr. Wonderful had mentioned the wet factor and that I am sure it was normal, but I still worried until I came home and researched it.

When I was cleaning up I noticed a slight hint of pink and when I got home it was a very light shade of dark pink, like old blood. Just the slightest bit and no cramping at this point. I went back to bed since I had to work that night and when I woke up I felt fine. About 9 pm that night, 12 hours after the IUI, I felt a cramping feeling in my right ovary area and back. I am wondering if it was ovulation. I drank some water and the feeling went away. It lasted about 1 hour total time. The next morning I had slight cramping in the same area, but milder and it only lasted for about 15 minutes. I have felt completely normal since then.

Dr. Wonderful said that I can test 2 weeks from the day of the IUI. Anything before that could read false positive I guess. I am trying to be cautiously optimistic, but I have a good feeling about this cycle. We will know soon enough I guess.