When my first IUI failed, I accepted the untimely death of my enthusiasm towards fertility treatments. I’ve had many people praise me for being brave and that they appreciate my positivity, especially other women that are trying to have a baby. I was afraid to be honest about my negative feelings, but what am I, if not honest?
I allowed myself to feel all those negative emotions and decided that I’m not ready to give up. I am here now with magically renewed hope that I will hold on to until this two week wait is up.
What is this ‘two week wait’ you may ask? If you did ask, keep reading…
After you have sex around the time when you ovulate or in my current case, have the IUI procedure done after taking fertility drugs to stimulate ovulation and go through bloodwork and an ultrasound to tell your doctor when you are exactly ovulating, it takes TWO WHOLE WEEKS for the conception process to occur and a hormone to secrete for a pregnancy test to read.
During the two weeks, the following happens:
1. One ovary ovulates and releases an egg that is “grabbed” by a fallopian tube
2. Sperm travels through the fallopian tube to the upper part of it to meet the egg
3. The egg is fertilized by one lucky sperm
4. The fertilized egg hangs out in that upper part of the fallopian tube for 3 days
5. The fertilized egg spends 3 days traveling down the fallopian tube while growing and dividing until it becomes a 64-cell blastocyst
6. The blastocyst matures into an embryo and implants into the uterine lining
7. The blastocyst/embryo releases the hCG hormone (This hormone turns a pregnancy test positive)
I hope that’s what’s been happening inside of me! On the outside, I’m self-isolated and social distancing because of the Coronavirus. Really not an ideal time to be going through this two week wait in solitary confinement. (John’s at work.) I’m also a little nervous about going to the hospital for my pregnancy blood test.
Since I already wrote a lengthy post on my first IUI, I didn’t want to bore you with a story about my second one. Just a few notes: I hope the fallopian tube test refreshed my tubes, I remembered the 2:00 position that my doctor used for that test, so she was able to put the sperm even higher this time, and I started taking progesterone pills after the IUI to help “improve the receptivity of the uterine lining and enhance the chances of implantation of a fertilized egg” which I wasn’t prescribed after my first IUI. I’m holding on to hope! It’s T-minus 3 days until we find out if I’m pregnant!
