Previously on Self-Made Motherhood Blog: Our heroine received a dud vial full of dead swimmers and then flew across the country to celebrate her birthday before she'd had any time to process. The birthday celebrationings were stellar, yay for amazing friends on that one. The next decision upon my return was whether or not to go forward with an insem for the next cycle. Should I take a break and give myself time to process? Should I switch donors after the dud vial? Should I switch sperm banks altogether??
Well, I decided to go forward using the same donor from the same bank and hope that lightning doesn't ever strike twice (especially since the home insem discrimination means that I can't even file an official complaint because they only accept those from lab technicians). It was definitely a risk. But I decided to do it anyway. I was pretty committed to staying with MCB (who has time/resources to get all new paperwork done for a new bank, go through that whole process again, and wait until everything clears?). I contemplated changing donors, but I didn't see any new (or old) donors of African descent that were Open ID. I discussed it on one of my ttc message boards and one woman reminded me that the Open ID isn't an iron clad guarantee, and that even a previously anonymous donor may decide to disclose his identity to a birth family if asked at a later date. I looked through a bunch of anonymous donors, but no one that I liked as much as my current donor. I didn't have time to lose. I forged ahead.
In light of my early ovulation on my last cycle, I made sure to get my box-o-sperm delivered two days earlier than my usual prediction. This worked out well because I got a smiley face on the digital OPK at 10am on CD11. That was a Thursday and I was working all day Friday, so the options were to insem CD12 early morning before work (less than 24 hours after my first OPK+) or wait until after work (34-36 hours after the +). I decided to do it after work. I kept testing all day CD12 and kept pulling up positives and smiley faces the whole day. I was able to leave work about an hour early and got home around 6:30pm instead of 7/7:30pm. Got another smiley face when I got home. I decided to check my cervix and see what was up. Overshare: I tend to get a metric ton of ewcm, so I try to swab some of it away before doing an insem to make a clearer path. I started having what I think were ovulation pains on my left side, so I did another OPK at 7:30pm and got a negative on the digital and a waning test line on the dip strip. I started the thawing process and did the insem right away (lots of swimmy swimmers when I checked on the microscope this time). Afterwards, I put in an Instead cup with a little body temperature Pre-seed in it just in case anything didn't make it in. I had some more pains on my left side and just lay with my hips/bum elevated for a while.
I had called my RE's office and asked if I might be able to get progesterone support for my at-home insem and was basically told that they won't prescribe me anything because I'm not doing the insem with them and they can't monitor me. Fine. Whatever. I'll use the cream as usual. No big deal. I swear these people are out for money and money alone, and they will invent new ways to part you from it at every turn. Case in point, just before this cycle, I e-mailed the RE and asked her to sign my medical release form for the sperm bank (it has to be renewed annually, and mine had expired at the end of April). I'm not doing any cycles with them, but they did all of my fertility testing and latest bloodwork (and reviewed my medical records from elsewhere), so it seemed logical that they could sign off on my being fit for a pregnancy should one occur. She rang me to tell me that the only way they would sign it is if I paid to meet with their genetic counselor and get genetic screening done for myself AND for my donor, even though I'm using frozen sperm from an accredited bank. What the fuck kind of bullshit is that??? It's from a sperm bank. Where they test for all the same genetic markers that the RE wants to test for. Why do I have to pay extra to have them test a sample that's already been tested and verified? And would I have to buy a vial just for them to play with??? And naturally, all of this testing would be out-of-pocket because their genetic testing firm is private and not covered by insurance. Fuck. That. She recommended I get the Rx from my regular ob/gyn. Luckily, the bank sent this shipment along and then just sent me a reminder to get the release done before ordering again. But the RE rang me at the last minute to tell me that she couldn't sign the release form because I hadn't agreed to doing the genetic testing. Yet another reason for me to hate the US healthcare system in general, and the infertility medical establishment in particular.
Anyhoo...I thought for a minute I might skip doing the progesterone cream this time around because it's inconvenient to have to apply it so often throughout the day when I'm working. But then I didn't want to wonder "what if?" at the end of my cycle, so I've decided to do it. This time I'm applying 80mg four times per day (6:30am/pm & 12:30pm/am). I also decided to take 80mg of bromelain from 1-5dpo. It's derived from pineapple core. I was reading up about it and discovered it's not just for helping to build your uterine lining for implantation. It actually contains an enzyme that helps to break down the wall of the corpus luteum once it enters the uterus (assuming that an egg was fertilized and made its way out of the fallopian tube) so that it can more easily attach itself to the uterus and implant. Sounded like a good idea to me. I also started taking 400IU of vitamin E during LP (not sure if I should have started it earlier in my cycle or not). It's also supposed to help prepare the uterus for implantation. In addition, I'm doing the moxabustion recommended by my acupuncturist when I was living in HK in 2012. As with most things related to acupuncture and fertility, it's meant to increase blood flow to the uterus. Other than that, just waiting around trying not to obsess over my body's every little twinge and eating healthy, nourishing foods.
I'm now at 6dpo. I had a little bit of spotting on 3 & 4dpo (not uncommon after an IUI). Very light and only when I wiped after going to the bathroom. I felt a little nauseous from 2-4dpo, but only really felt it on 4dpo because I had to work and function on a busy Monday that day, whereas the first two days was on the weekend and I could just lie down and take a nap if I felt like it (so I did). And it wasn't anything debilitating. Just uncomfortable. Woke up to slightly sore breasts this morning (which is one of my chiefest pms sypmtoms), and have been having odd little twinges/discomfort in the general uterus area today, but that's not really conclusive of anything. We wait. We wait. We wait.
Stay tuned...
