Last night I went to accupuncture for the first time (thank you, Olive) and sat in a chair while the very sweet girl tapped microscopic needles into my shins, knees, wrists and of course right over my ovaries. Then she let me sit there watching the sun set over Brooklyn, trying to focus on sending warm, plump thoughts to my ovaries and uterus.
I didn't find it to be life-changing, but I have to say any excuse to lie absolutely still with soft music, watching a sunset and smelling lovely aromatherapy oils-- can't be too bad, can it?
Went home, had some wine, walked the dogs, ate some crackers and cheese (my standard dinner when Speedy's on the 4-midnight shift), talked to my best friend in California, and went to bed early with the New Yorker and my best-buddy cat, Lucas (aka, Lululululululu).
This morning Speedy dosed me with F0lli$tim and sent me on my own for my CD11 u/s and bw. She stayed home to give the dogs their morning walk so we could both sleep an extra half-hour.
At the clinic, it was the Russian nurse again, who is starting to grow on me. This time she didn't bother to give me instructions. "Ok, so you need bathroom? No, ok, get ready. I come back."
What she lacks in warmth, she makes up for in efficiency, and she is a master with the painless blood draws. I didn't even feel the needle go in (at this point I have lost track of all the sticks, and I thank whatever forces made me this way that I am totally nonchalant about needles. When Speedy says "This hurts me more than it hurts you," she's actually right.)
So then she leaves me with an extra pack of syringes (we're stocking up for next time) and has me wait for the doctor. I am looking at the pinboard full of holiday cards with pictures of clients' kids (with an alarming number of twins!) and wondering what is taking so long when there is an extra-authoritative knock at the door and Dr. B. comes in. I love Dr. B.! And he's the first one who has said to me (besides you-all, mwah!) that my ovaries are responding well. He probes me with the dildocam (used too much gel, and now I feel like I'm sliding around in my chair at work, but whatever) and says, "Looks like you're going to ovulate 2-3. They're all about 18-19 mm. I'm sending Julia in to give you the trigger and you'll come tomorrow for the IUI. See you then!"
So, boom and done. Julia comes in, shoots me with the HCG, hands me papers to bring with tomorrow to make sure I get the right sperm, literally slaps a post-it on my file that says "Done", and I am on my way. Poked, punctured, cocked and ready.
P.S. Is 24 hours post trigger too soon?
Can you believe you're at this point already? It seems like only yesterday that you were lamenting how many months until you got to try. I think 24 hours is pretty standard for the time between trigger and IUI. Are you doing 1 or 2 IUIs per cycle?
ReplyDeleteI know. I am shocked! But I am treating this as a warm up and fully initend to forget I am in the tww as soon as I get jizzed up...
ReplyDeleteI am doing one IUI. Although, we do have two vials. I could ask them if the think another one would be worth it.
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ReplyDeleteYeah! I love efficiency in RE's office. It instills faith that your chances are GOOD.
ReplyDeleteInstead of some of the bafoons I've heard about.Oof!
You're having a trigger for the first time? I wish I had. I'm pretty sure I'm not pregnant, and I think it was because of the timing.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the IUI! I hope you end up having a perfect first IUI and a bouncing Virgo baby. I'm hoping it's a 2010 Libra for us.
(BTW, I will try to post the timeline tonight.)
I don't know anything about trigger shots but I do want to say good luck!!! I'm sending lots of fertile vibes your way!!
ReplyDeleteYour timing sounds just right to me, and oddly mirrors the last one I did, right down to the number of follicles and the trigger/shot timing. Hope you have a great outcome!
ReplyDeleteHurray!!!!! Good luck tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you my thoughts on IUIs 24 hours past the trigger. Keep in mind, this is only my opinion. I think the official protocol is often to do the IUI 36 hours past the trigger. Every dr that I’ve ever met with (and since we were at the bigger place for almost a year, we met a dozen or so doctors) say that you ovulate about 36 hours after trigger (when you’re doing ivf, they retrieve about 36 hours later, just before you ovulate). Obviously, that didn’t work for us. But back when we were first starting, I read EVERYTHING on line that there was to read (CCB msg board, BabyCenter, anything I could get my hands on) and after awhile I started noticing that time after time, ladies would do the IUI 24 hours after trigger and it worked almost every time. Baointheoven, I think, did that, as did WaitingforMavis, I think. It’s really remarkable.
ReplyDeleteIt’s something that I started noticing a few months back, and for some reason, I never asked our dr for us to do that. After our last bfn, I asked V if we should try one more time and do it 24 hrs after trigger. She didn’t have the heart to do another IUI, but if I had my way, we would’ve tried it.
So that’s a long way around it, but it’s something that I’ve noticed a lot. I think 24 hours is perfect!
And you're ready to go! It does seem like it got here quickly, but I'm sure it feels like ages to you.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Adventures above in the 24-26 hour rule. It honestly varies. I did the 24 hours for 5 cycles and on the 6th cycle I insisted on 36 hours and got pregnant.
When you do IVF it's always 36 hours and that's what got me thinking.
So, really, I have no idea. I think timing is probably somewhere between the two and is so dependent on your body and your frozen sperm, yadda yadda, that it's hard to know exactly when.
I think you'll be just fine.
I'm so happy you're coming into this with your guns fully loaded. Def gives you MUCH better chances than doing au natural or Clomid. Wish I had done that!
Good Luck!!
Wow, tomorrow, this is wonderful! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI think everyone else covered it with the 24 vs 36 rule. The two clinics we've used both do 36. Our current RE says that it's extremely rare to ovulate 24 hours past trigger. But I think it's good to take any of those absolutes with a grain or 12 or salt. Because women are not all the same and no shot is going to make us all the same! If this doesn't work, you might want to experiment with the insem timing or do two insems. But I think 24 is a good, safe bet (after all, the sperm could still be alive at 36 hours post trigger if you do the insem at 24).
Our BFP came on a cycle with an IUI 24 hours post trigger. I wouldn't want to be earlier than that. We're happy with our results!
ReplyDeleteIf for some reason this doesn't work you should talk to your doctor about the timing. Sometimes the clinics are going by the same protocol for everyone and you may need to say you want something different. Although for a first insemination I would say 24 hours post is FINE. Only after a pattern would I be concerned.
Oh and I blew through so much $perm doing 2 IUI - I wouldn't suggest it. Our lucky try was on a single vial.
sounds like you are ready to roll! good luck!!
ReplyDelete(and my 2cents is that i think 24 hours is fine)
WOW - Here you are already. Ready to go! And thank God (literally) that Jesus man didn't get in the way!
ReplyDeleteI'll be thinking of you and wishing those swimmers a happy journey and you a speedy TWW.
Re IUI being too close to HCG - for some reason that I still don't understand (probably relating to it being a Friday and our doc not wanting to come on the weekend), I had my insem and then had a HCG shot straight after. I was concerned that insem happened at the same time, not 1 - 2 days later. But that was the cycle we got pregnant, so who knows?!
Happy first cycle!
Love the "Done" post-it.
ReplyDeleteWe did 24 hrs (and 48 hrs) after the trigger also. GOOD LUCK!
Sorry for the late comment. I also can't believe your here already! It does seem like yesterday that you were even contemplating giving up caffeine...That post was hilarious, BTW.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the 24/36 debate, it seems like something you'll have to see what works best for you. Sending you baby karma from the west coast!