Hello!
Happy July 5th to all. What a nice three-day weekend. It was very much needed by me. Fhew. The Phoenix heat is blasting, and forcing me to hide inside under the cool A/C. Normally I feel I can handle the AZ summer heat much better than I am doing this year. It almost feels like the first two summers I spent here. I wasn't sure I'd make it! :)
I skipped yoga this morning because my stomach felt off. I really wanted to go, but I knew it would not make me feel better to go - only worse. So, we went to breakfast and ran errands. Now we're home. DP is taking a nap, and I can hear the TV and remote calling my name very soon!
We had some friends over to our new house yesterday for the 4th. It was great to see everybody. It was also nice for us to have actual room to spread out and not feel so jammed into our tiny little house. I really like our new house. I just need to figure out how to rent the old one. The Phoenix housing market sure has been on a roller coaster, but without that, there's no way we could have ever afforded this place. So I guess you pick up on one end what you lose on the other - if that makes any sense.
I've been thinking I need to do a little background on how we got here - 7 weeks and 1 day, officially. Well, our journey here wasn't as dramatic as many others. We were very, very, very, very lucky and blessed. Not that all families aren't lucky and blessed, but we got a positive pregnancy off our first insemination - a very rare and surprising feat. Not only was it the first one, but we also had an exceptionally LOW sperm count from the bank. We should have had a minimum of at least 10 million - or closer to 15 or 20M. But we got 5.9M after the thaw and wash. We also used two vials, so the count should have been higher.
In fact, I filed a complaint with the sperm bank because the count didn't meet their warranty on the goods. They supposedly give you a refund or credit if this happens - however the fine print of the warranty clearly states if you get pregnant they don't care what the sperm count was. No money back. And frankly, I don't really care at this point. I'm happy it worked. I don't want any refund. :) It's just a bit mind boggling for some of our friends that the count was so low and it worked on the first go around. It shocks me too. We know other women who have had +60M and +70M on ONE vial - let alone two.
So, I guess it just means what is meant to be is meant to be. That and I also think there's somebody trying to bust into this world. Uh, oh. Ha ha. We could be in for it!
Although our process with the doctor was somewhat short, this is something we have been talking about and looking at for a very long time. I started doing research about a year ago and have poured over the online sperm bank catalogues for at least as long. It took me a veryyyyy longgggg time to find a donor we liked and felt good about. I also flip flopped back and forth over which sperm bank to use and whatnot.
I read books and tried to do online research for a long time. I also had an appointment with an ob/gyn in December 2008 when we were thinking we'd have her do an in-office IUI. It would have been a lot cheaper, but it also would have required us to get the specimen shipped directly to our home. Something about that just felt really weird to me and not right. Heck, I get nervous about buying makeup online and having it ship and then sit in the heat here! Can you imagine me head if we were shipping the equivalent of liquid gold to the house????? Gahhhh. No, thanks. Plus, I decided not to go with the ob/gyn because I felt like there was a real lack of specific process. I'm not sure if that makes a lot of sense, but I felt like we needed a checklist and to know exactly what we should do and not do. Her approach felt very free and loosey goosey to me. It just didn't feel right. Plus, I knew the idea of DP driving around with a big ole tank of sperm in the back just wasn't happening!
I ended up calling quite a few doctors. It turned out I have infertility diagnosis coverage on my insurance, so that was helpful for the consultations and whatnot. Although I'm not "infertile" (and I hated that term when we were starting this) using that coding with insurance was very helpful in terms of saving tons of money on these appointments and tests.
Some of the doctors I called were flat out jerks. Some doctors, I'm told, won't work with same-sex couples. I went to one seminar at a clinic and they didn't return 7 calls from me. So I ended up moving on and fell into using a great doctor with an excellent staff. Plus, our doctor was in North Scottsdale, and not to sound like a jerk, but doctor's offices in that area tend to be nicer. I also think the staff is more responsive. I think they probably overall have more demanding clients, so they have to offer that kind of service.
Our doctor had me do a slew of tests:
-HSG
-Full Adult Physical
-DP and I had to go see a therapist to make sure we weren't crazy, I guess. I guess we had to do this because we used donor sperm. Whatever. It was ok. The lady was nice, but it was rather annoying to have to pay $275 to be told I'm sane. Duh.
-Trip to ob/gyn for more tests
-Blood work up the yin yang
Honestly, I thought we'd wait to try the insemination. I thought it would make more sense to do it after we'd moved and were settled. I didn't really envision us starting until July or August. But we had our last appointment with the doctor to go over the tests and talk about next steps. He had us do the ovulation predictor kit tests. I knew when I saw him that I'd be ovulating in the next one to three days. And I was right.
We sat on the doctor's couch, and DP said - maybe we should just go for it. And so we did on May 28 at 2 p.m. We waited the two weeks to test (torture), and we took the home pregnancy tests (two, no less) at 5 a.m. on June 11. I stared at them in total disbelief and shock. I was sure they would sat NOT PREGNANT and only have one line. But nope. I stood there crying and laughing at the same time with a wave of emotions pouring over me. DP didn't understand, because she didn't have her glasses on to see yet. She said, "Don't cry. It will be ok. We can try again." Then she looked down and stared in shock.
Ah, it was a miracle. I had prayed and told the "Swim Team" to swim, swim, swim. I guess they did! And one found the prize! I'll have to type more about the Swim Team later. But for now, that's some background.
