We had our follow up ultrasound 5/23. Our little follicle had grown so much!! The mean size had grown to 17.5. Our NP said to let it grow again overnight then we would IUI Thursday morning. We set our appointment for 0830.

We set the alarm for 0645. I woke up before that. It seemed like the minute the sun rose, I was awake. We got ready and went to the office. When we arrived another couple was at the window, and I saw another box sitting next to ours. One of the girls had a helmet in her hand. Did she ride a bike to the ob/gyn? We all waited in the waiting room for the NP to arrive. Soon after, the nurse came to the door and put the other couple in an exam room, and us in the one next door.

The NP opened our box and asked me to get her 12-15 paper towels. She opened the dewar and pulled up the vial. She took it off the metal clip and put it in the paper towels and handed it to my Wife and told her to hang on to it until it was liquid. WOW! I was thrilled my Wife got to be such a HUGE part of the process. The NP left the room for about 15 min. I got undressed and took pics of the vial when my Wife would check it.

The NP came in and asked me to lay back. She put gloves on, got the speculum out, and put it in. She got what looked like a 3 cc vial and sucked up the liquid out of the vial then attached a 3.5 french catheter. She pulled about 1 cc of air in the back end of the syringe to make sure it was all out of the catheter.

She said here we go...she inserted the catheter into my cervix. She immediately began saying how everything looked great and then said my cervical mucus was PERFECT. She asked my Wife to come around and look. She pointed to what must have appeared shiny. She slowly injected the sperm then sat there for a moment with everything in. She slowly took the catheter out then the speculum. The told me to close my legs, keep my head down, and lay there for 30 min. The NP said she was going to look under the microscope at our sample and asked my Wife if she'd like to go, too. Of course she did!!

When she came back she said it looked okay. I said "just okay?" She said "yeah, I've seen worse, but I've seen better". It was a little disappointing, but she told me not to focus on it. My Wife had created a IUI playlist so she put ear buds in my ear and I listened to that while they were gone, then when my Wife came back I asked her to come close and she listened with the other ear bud. We were wishing the fluorescent lights weren't on, but oh well.

30 minutes passed and the NP came in to let us know we could leave. We headed out the door. I stopped by the restroom on the way out of the building. I had a huge wet spot in my panties. When I came out, my Wife realized she forgot her cell in the office so she ran back to get it. Along the way she saw our NP who was leaving for the day. I stopped her quickly and asked her if the wetness was normal, she assured me it was. She said the sperm know where to go and stay there.

We went to the UPS store and dropped off the dewar that is shipped back to the cryobank. We went home and laid down. We ended up falling asleep for 4 (yikes!!) hours. The sleep was so restful, and peaceful. When we woke we laid outside for a few minutes but it was too hot. We went inside and watched our favorite documentary "The Great Sperm Race". It's a 60 min look at the path sperm takes to get to an egg and fertilize it. It's put into a life sized storyline. It's one of the best documentaries I've ever watched. Love it!!

I've had cramps most all day. My left ovary has had some twinges. Some pressure in my abdomen. I've had a headache but not sure if that is from sleeping too long. I drank a lot of water when I got up hoping that would help.

I go back to work tomorrow. It's going to be strange thinking about the possibility of walking around preggo!!

I sent our clairvoyant a message asking her to send us good fertility thoughts and if she saw anything to let me know. She wrote back tonight that she sees 2. GULP!!!! I told her I hope she is seeing 1 for now and 1 for later. Ha!! But my grandfather was a twin...so it could easily happen. I would be fine with twins...except financially. Not sure what we would do, but I suppose it would work itself out.

If I did conceive today our due date is Feb 15, 2013.

I am so happy with how involved our NP wanted my Wife to be. I loved that. My Wife has been so good to me...she cooked me dinner, babied me all day, and tended to any needs. She has constantly asked how I'm doing. I love the attention. Super sweet. I love her so much and am so happy we have decided to do this together.

Cheers to IUI and here's hoping it worked!! I feel it did....I FEEL pregnant.

Ultrasound and Dewar

We had our CD11 ultrasound today. My left ovary appears to have a dominant follicle of 13 mm. We went to the NP's office after the ultrasound to get our report. She wants us to come back Wednesday for a 2nd ultrasound. I wish I could eat something to make my follicle grow!! Our NP is going out of town on Thursday afternoon for the holiday weekend so here's hoping it grows a lot in the next 3 days.

As we were waiting to see the NP, the UPS man delivered our dewar!! 

More updates to follow on Wednesday....

Order Placed

I plan to frame the invoice. We ordered our vial. This is the first month of TTC. Donor #xxxx. He sounds beautiful. I know our baby will be, too. Our ultrasound is scheduled for 5/21 @ 11:30. They will check my follicle size, and endometrial lining. Depending on those #'s is when we will inseminate. I am hoping it will be Tuesday or Wednesday. The dewar will be delivered Monday, and we have access to it for 7 days. Since Memorial Day falls in that 7 days, we actually have 8 days. The vial is guaranteed for 7, tho.

I am so excited. Is that the right word? Not really. It's surreal. It doesn't seem 100% real just yet. Maybe it will Monday. I have a calm about it I didn't expect. I am usually lying awake at night when I worry. I haven't. Everything has fallen into place... especially aunt Flo's arrival. She came on the PERFECT date. Who knew I'd be wanting to see her so badly?

I can see him, feel him, and almost sense his presence already. He is still just a follicle...nothing even remotely close to fertilized. But he is there...I just know it.

This time next week I could potentially be a mommy.

WOW

Nervous

Aunt Flo is supposed to visit this Thursday. When I think about it, I get butterflies in my stomach. When AF shows up, I am to call our nurse practitioner and she will schedule our ultrasound. She had mentioned CD 10 or 11. Well both of those days fall on a weekend, AND we are out of town. We could have an ultrasound on CD 9, or wait until CD 12. I am going to rely on the expert, but I REALLY am not liking giving someone else the control.

I am about to burst at the seams. I am scared to death but in a good way. It's the biggest decision I've ever made in my life. It's been a little tense around here for the past few days. The mother in law moved out this weekend. It was time. The constant butterflies in my stomach make me even more anxious that I'm not going to get a visit from AF on Thursday. I hope it doesn't come sooner...but if it comes later maybe it will be Friday. That would make my CD 11 on Monday.

I've never wanted a visit from Aunt Flo so much in my life. I'm on pins and needles to see her. It could potentially be the last time I see her for 9-10 months!!

Now...the Biebs is on the Voice. I'm going to watch. I wish we could get a donor that looks like him, if he were about a foot taller. 

1 year anniversary

We flew to NYC for our 1 year anniversary. Quick documentation:

Friday--get up at 3:55 am. Fly to LGA. Check-in at hotel and check our luggage at baggage counter. Grab a hot dog and italian sausage from a street vendor ($16 yikes!) and head to the subway. Go south to the Museum of Sex. HOLY SMOKES--that was a cool museum. So much info!! Went into basement for a drink and chocolate. Fun.

Went to Little Italy. Ate late lunch. Not very good. Went to Ferrara's for cafe mocha/latte and sample desserts. WOW. Some of the best italian desserts I've had. Napoleon was our favorite. Went to Chinatown. Bargained about purses. Went into back alley shop...didn't have what we were looking for but sure felt like we were doing something illegal--especially when they pulled back the black curtains in the "nail salon".

Caught the subway to the Stanton Island Ferry. Rode over at sunset. Got beautiful pics of the state of Liberty. Gorgeous. Stayed at Stanton Island about an hour in the terminal then rode back over to Manhattan and saw the skyline at dark. The new world trade building is breathtaking. So beautiful, and so many emotions.

Tried to find the right bus out of Stanton station...talked to a cop who led us in right direction. We missed bus time and another wouldn't arrive for 20 min. Took taxi to the Stanton Social. 2nd HOLY SMOKES this was delicious. We had drinks upstairs before we were seated. So trendy and I didn't feel dressed appropriately, but my Wife didn't mind. We were seated then ate some of the best food ever. Tuna, pierogis, cashew chicken rolls, and kobe philly cheesesteak. Dessert was doughnuts with three dipping sauces. They brought us champagne for our anniversary, and a cupcake with dessert. So sweet.

We got back to the hotel late...got to our room and they had assigned us 2 double beds. Not working. Went back downstairs for a king bed. Key card didn't work. I sat at door of hotel, my Wife went downstairs to discuss. She came back with key that words. Fell asleep QUICKLY...very long day.

Set 9 am wake-up call. Ordered room service coffee/mocha. I surprised my Wife and brought a BITE of our wedding cake. She loved it. Got ready and went to NBC experience store. Walked to Central Park. Had a wonderful time watching people. Rented a paddle boat and floated for an hour. PERFECT. Loved this a lot. Walked back to hotel, stopped in bar for a drink to take upstairs for getting ready. Opened our gifts to each other for our 1 year anniversary. She gave me a sweatshirt I had been DYING for since last year. I.LOVE.IT!! Before we went to NYC she had given me my main gift--a canvas of my favorite wedding photo and a card that made me cry. I LOVE it SO much!!!

We were hurried to get ready...made it to the Brasserie on time. Had dinner--escargot, french onion soup, scallops, and steak. We walked to Times Square before cutting over to our play. We saw the Book of Mormon. HILARIOUS!!! Not for the faint of heart---such a religious satire. Afterwards we walked through Hell's Kitchen. Walked to the Yotel--the place was dead. I drank some water then we walked to the XL Club. It's attached to the new hotel called the Out--they deem themselves straight-friendly. We were told to get in line and have our ID's ready. As we approached the bouncer/security checking ID's he asked how many were in our party. We said two. He said he was sorry but on Sat nights we must have a male escort to enter. WTF???? We couldn't believe what we were hearing...AT A GAY BAR!!! We turned away and even had another security guy shaking his head in disbelief. A woman stopped us just a few feet away and asked what just happened. She said she lived just down the street and had been wanting to go to the bar. After we told her what had just happened, she couldn't believe it. She was shocked. I tweeted Chely Wright about it, and she retweeted it to her 27K+ followers. I had four others retweet it. Such discrimination. I hear that the women bars sometimes do the same thing in NYC. Crazy!

We finally gave up and went back to our hotel room. Got a drink at the bar then went up to our room for some sweet time.

Sunday morning we were so tired but we got up and got ready. We headed down to Ess-A-Bagel and got some DELICIOUS bagels (cheddar cream cheese for my Wife, and cream cheese lox for me + a chocolate cream cheese to share) Lovely. We walked to Times Square and took in all it has to offer. There were SO many people!! I've never seen it so packed. We saw the Naked Cowboy!!! We grabbed a passion lemonade at Starbucks and headed back to our hotel to get our bags and leave for the airport.

We had a layover going and coming in Baltimore.

I cannot thank my mother in law enough for this perfect two day trip. We are so blessed to have her support, love, and desire to see us happy. We spent more than we intended to, but we are both so very grateful.

Happy 1 year anniversary to us!!