2WW 2.0

CD23
1 dpiui
2 dpo

It’s been 73 days since my first two week wait. Is it weird that I counted that? I really didn’t think I’d be going this long between tries!

My IUI was yesterday morning. This go around went so much smoother than the last overall. After I got my surge, I called the cryobank storage and set my pick up time for first thing the next morning (they require 24 hrs notice). I called my RE and scheduled my IUI for 11am. I really wanted it to be a bit earlier, but they need at least an hour (they schedule an hour and a half) to prepare the sperm sample. So I planned to drop the tank off at 9:30 and wait around for the 11am procedure. It was SO NICE that this fell on my day off. The difference between last cycle and this one is palpable – last time I tried to cancel my AM patient and they were already on their way from a whole other state, so I just cut them off really early and rushed there, then had to rush back to make it for my PM patient … it was maybe not the most serene environment for fertilization :). This time, the only thing I had to change was my acupuncture appointment.

Of course, things can’t be perfect, and it wouldn’t be right if I wasn’t obsessing over something, right? So i use OPKs pretty much first thing in the morning. It’s hard for me to do it at work, and I know that I HAVE to test before noon because otherwise the cryobank can’t schedule me for pick up first thing (which is necessary for my clinic). ANYWAY, my test on Tuesday morning was negative, and Wednesday morning was positive. The internet cheapie looked almost totally positive anyway. Since my RE said that “even a subtle surge” counts, I was already raring to go for Thursday. I confirmed with a CB digital around 9am, which was positive. Anyway, around 4 or 4:30pm I started feeling major ovulation pain on my right side. I took this as mostly a good thing – I’m glad I’m O’ing from my right this month, since my left was the one with the cyst so I don’t trust her as much.

The thing that I then started to obsess about was whether I was ovulating too early. I thought it took 24 hours from the surge (but, of course, I could have started surging immediately after my negative test the day prior and only caught the tail end of it on Wednesday morning – putting a Wednesday evening ovulation within the realm of possibility). So then I was Googling things like “does ovulation pain happen before, during, or after ovulation?” etc. I tried to put my mind to rest about it and go to bed thinking peaceful thoughts. I was channeling my acupuncture sessions and even tried to sleep on my back with a pillow under my knees like I do in acupuncture. 

When I woke up on Thursday morning and took my temperature, it had spiked way up overnight. So I guess I did, in fact, ovulate on Wednesday evening. Despite everything else seemingly going perfectly, I was thinking about the timing thing all morning. The nurse who did my IUI wasn’t worried at all and said I should stop Googling things (fair point). I do feel very confident that I didn’t ovulate BEFORE 4pm at all. This cycle the ovulation pain/sensation was really clear and very obvious. It lasted at least until I went to bed, with the worst of it being between probably 5 and 7pm. So overall, I think I got the insemination in there while the egg was still viable, so I don’t think I flushed money down the vagina toilet this time around. My nurse said “I feel good about this one” – so take that with a grain of salt but it sure did make me feel nice 🙂

Also, the donor’s count was much higher than last time! 63 million sperm in that little vial! I think it was maybe 29 million last time, and 52% motility. The motility this cycle was 46%, but with such a high sperm count that’s still really good. 

SO anyway, now we wait (I’m sorry, aren’t we always waiting for something while TTC?). I’m still deciding whether I will drink while overseas or not. I’ve read a lot online (should I trust this?) that even if you are pregnant, those first weeks the embryo is not yet attached to your bloodstream at all, so drinking is a-ok. The whole “drink til it’s pink” idea. My nurse yesterday said, “just treat your body like you’re pregnant. Don’t smoke, cut down on caffeine, don’t drink … you know.” So I don’t know. I would only have a glass or two of wine here and there if I did drink, but I also don’t want to do it if there is any chance at all that it could affect my chances. Thoughts? I tend to err on the side of caution. 

I do like this two week period of being allowed to believe that I might actually be pregnant. Please let this be the one! Hey – it could happen.