Insemination day started off with a bang, literally.  I woke up early that morning because I couldn’t sleep.  I think it was a mixture of the excitement and the upstairs neighbors making too much noise as usual.  I closed the bedroom door so Jon could sleep in and proceeded to do something cleaning around the house.  I went to start my coffee in the Keurig, and of course I got the add more water message, ugh!  So I picked up the wate reservoir container, headed towards the refrigerator and there went it went, out of my hands and all over the floor.  I knew at that moment, I had broken it, and woken Jon up all at once.  Jon came out of the room, I apologized for waking him and he of course was the sweetest.  He helped me clean up the mess I made.  I filled the reservoir container with water and made my cup, because heck I really needed one at this point.  As I researched Amazon for a new one, Jon being the handy guy he is, assured me that the piece that broke off wasn’t important and that we didn’t need a new one, thank goodness!  He made himself a cup and we proceeded with the rest of our morning.

We talked about our plan for the afternoon, we had to be there at 2:30 pm.  It is of course difficult to plan getting your specimen done and there within the hour, on top traveling in LA traffic, and did I mention it was raining cats and dogs.  We came up with a plan and did our best to execute it, starting the process around 1:30 pm.  Jon took care of business while I made him a sandwich for the road.  After he was done, we rushed out the door with the hopes of making it there in time.

Luckily for us traffic wasn’t horrible, and we made it there with ten minutes to spare.  Jon was having a hard time finding a parking spot, so to avoid being late I jumped out of the car, specimen in hand (kind of) and walked quickly to the office.  I checked in, had a seat and waited for Jon to meet me inside.  Jon made his way in a few minutes later, and soon after I was called to the back by myself to sign consent forms (basically signing your life and fertility, whatever you have that is, away).  Whatever.

The nurse took the specimen, thank goodness because believe it or not, holding onto it is a lot of pressure.  I asked to speak to the NP (Nurse Practitioner) about the progesterone suppositories I was supposed to pick up at the pharmacy (during the 30 minutes or so between the sperm washing and the insemination).  I explained to her that I had an 8 day supply left and was wondering if she could prescribe me less this time with the option to get a refill if I needed it (this stuff costs about $175).

Basically how it works is that two days following the insemination you have to insert progesterone suppositories up your you know what to help support your potential pregnancy.  Essentially it gives you better odds.  This continues for one week, until you take your progesterone blood test.  If the test comes back at a 3 or higher, that means you ovulated and you keep putting those nasty suckers in for another week, until you get the results of your pregnancy test.  If you get a positive pregnancy test you continue until 12 weeks of pregnancy.  If you don’t you get to stop.

She explained that regardless if you get one box or two, that the price is the same but she was sweet enough to change my orders and get another brand that would be only $80.  This type was a once a day suppository (the other is twice a day), which of course made me a happy camper.  She explained that this one had to be ordered because it is made from a manufacturer other than Kaiser and would take about 7 days to arrive at the pharmacy.  I of course asked if there was a difference in results, or if one was better than the other.  She assured me there was no difference.

So while the sperm was being washed I grabbed Jon from the waiting room and we headed down to the pharmacy where I put in the prescription for processing.  I asked if it could be shipped to the pharmacy closer to home but it turns out that it wouldn’t get to my home pharmacy in time.  So I will have to make another trip to Downey to pick it up. That’s okay though because it is saving us about $150, and any little bit helps in the world of money and infertility.

After that we went back up to the waiting room, paid for the visit and sat and waited to be called to the back.  Not too long after we were called to the back where they showed us our swimmers under the microscope just as they did last time.  This time I made sure to ask about the count, because that is something I forgot to do during our first cycle.  The count this time was 40 – 50 million.  I pressed to find out whether or not that was a good number and she proceeded to tell us, “that it could always be better.”  Whatever that means.  Hey, we only need one, so 40 – 50 million is pretty good odds in my book.  I asked about last cycles count, and it was a bit better.  The activeness of the sperm however, was very good both times. The nurse instructed me to disrobe from the waist down and left the room.  With Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk playing the in background, the NP came in a few minutes later, feet were put in the stirrups and here we go!  They did the procedure much quicker than the last time, no real pleasantries at all, but not unpleasant by any means.  Just quick and to the point and to be honest, I think they had an appointment right after so that could be why.

Right after the insemination, she instructed me to cross my legs and put my knees to my chest.  Jon was to grab the pillow from behind my head and place it underneath my behind.  They moved the bed (for a lack of a better word) at an angle to have gravity help us out.  The chair Jon was sitting at to the side of me got placed in front of me.  He was told to sit and my feet were to be placed on his shoulders where they would stay for the next 15 minutes.  After that, we were free to leave.

While laying/sitting there for the 15 minutes, we got to see how they process the sperm which was an interesting way to pass the time, to say the least.  After the 15 minutes had passed we went on our way, hoping and praying for the sperm to swim, the egg to drop and the two to meet each other, in turn creating our miracle baby!

Please keep us in your prayers and thank you so much, really, for your support and following along on our journey to parenthood.