Secondary Infertility: Medication and IUI procedure

I had my HSG test done in late January and I was told many people get pregnant after that. The procedure itself doesn't claim to clean out your tubes but coincidentally this is what happens to many people. I was hopeful. My tubes were clear and all our tests came back normal. I thought to myself this should do the trick, this is going to be my month, and I'll have my October baby. 

February came and I was diligent in doing my ovulation tests. The entire month of February and no rise in LH (luteinizing hormone). Because of this, it means I didn't ovulate. February went and no period. March started and I had an appointment to take my first dose of the COVID vaccine. Since I didn't get a period in February I spoke to my infertility Nurse Practitioner and she gave me the option of starting a medication to jump start my period. Because I knew I had my second vaccine in a few weeks we decided to hold off. I didn't want to be on all this medication and the possibility of being pregnant and get my second vaccine. I'm glad I waited because my period came naturally at the end of March. 

I called my Nurse Practitioner and I've never heard someone so excited for me to have a period. I was a bit confused because having a period meant I wasn't pregnant but she assured me that in my case, a period was a good thing. It meant my body is doing what it's supposed to do and I didn't need extra help. On the third day of my period she prescribed me Letrozole to help me ovulate. It was an itty bitty tablet (like birth control size) I took once a day for five days. During these five days I did get my second dose of the COVID vaccine and thankfully didn't have any major side effects. 

The next week I started testing again for ovulation. For four days straight I got nothing. Then I woke up Friday morning with a big SMILEY FACE, it was go time! I called my Nurse Practitioner and they wanted us to come in right away. 

Titan rushed home to produce his sample and drove our future hopeful baby to the lab. They performed a sperm wash (separate the sperm from the other stuff) and two hours later I found myself on the table preparing to "get pregnant". 

This time, my Nurse Practitioner was the one to perform the procedure so it was nice to have a familiar face. She came into the room bragging on how proud she was of Titan. I think she even called him a rockstar at one point (more on that later). She talked me through exactly what would happen and started the procedure. The clamp was used and a few cotton swipes to clean me out. She inserted a catheter and down (or up) went my little swimmers. She held it in place for a few minutes and next thing I knew we were done. She had me lay there with my hips elevated for 20 minutes just to allow the swimmers to do their thing. After the 20 minutes she asked me if I wanted to see a part of my husband I probably have never seen before. I agreed and she took me to the back where she had set up a microscope. 

She explained that there's always a drop left of the sample and she smeared this drop on to those clear things to look under the microscope. I looked in and saw my little swimmers! There were so many of them! According to the Nurse, Titan provided 38 million of them to be somewhat exact! She zoomed in closer and I saw the activity even better. Some weren't moving (dead), some were swimming in circles (crazy ones), and others were swimming in a straight line (those we like). She said there was a good amount of them swimming in a straight line so Titan had a good batch! As I left the office she reminded me to have a relaxing weekend and have lots of sex! Now for a blood test in a week and a pregnancy test the week after. Prayers are much appreciated :)

Future hopeful baby in that little tube!

Secondary Infertility: HSG x-ray

Two days after my pelvic ultrasound appointment I had the dreaded HSG x-ray. I googled the heck out of it so I knew what to expect and all I heard were horror stories. I even talked to a friend who had this procedure done and it got me even more anxious. Going into the appointment I took two advil pills because I heard it's good to take something 30 min-1 hour beforehand to possibly eliminate any discomfort. I got checked in and used the bathroom (the last thing I wanted was to pee all over the table while this procedure was happening). I quickly got called back and the x-ray tech was so sweet. We had some small talk and she even put on some music to help distract me. 

The Radiologist finally arrived and he talked through every step with me. First, he cleaned everything down there and made sure I didn't touch the towels they had on me since they were considered "sterile". He placed the clamp on (similar to what they use for a pap smear) and slowly inserted a thin tube all the way to the opening of my cervix. The radiologist constantly checked in on me and talked me through everything. At one point he asked if I felt pressure and I responded with a "not really". This somewhat concerned him because usually you feel something so he knows he's far up enough. He then squeezed a balloon type thing filled with dye into the tube. We watched as the dye spread through my fallopian tubes and how it spilled out on both sides. This was a good thing because it meant that there were no blockages in my tubes. 

All in all the procedure lasted about 6-7 minutes (if that). There was minor pressure but nothing really to write about (everyone has different experiences). I got changed and headed home expecting to feel cramping but there wasn't any. I guess after experiencing contractions and actually delivering a baby there's nothing that really compares to the pain I've felt before. They advise you not to submerge in water or have sex for a whole day to eliminate infection but nothing I couldn't live without. Next, we do the deed and try to get pregnant. 

Something cool I learned was that fallopian tubes don't really look like bull horns. They're actually small squiggly lines and not so much big round things we normally see in textbooks. Here is a photo of my x-ray with the tube inserted and the ink spilling out.