Shortly after Dr. Williams arrived, they took us back to one of the examination rooms. I had to get undressed from the waist down and then put the lovely sheet of white paper across my lap on the examination table. While we waited, I introduced St. Gerard to the ultrasound wand and made my husband nervous that I was actually going to have it touch the wand. ;) Dr. Williams showed up with one of his residents and asked if it was okay if he observed. Of course I said it was fine. (When I told my sister that tonight, she was like - "Great - another guy checking you out down there." But the resident stayed up by my shoulder (close to my husband) - so it wasn't a big deal. Even if he had been down there, at this point - there's been so many procedures with various folks that I don't really care anymore.) The ultrasound itself took less than a couple minutes. It's an internal ultrasound - so Dr. Williams inserted the ultrasound wand (not sure if that's the technical term for it or not) and we were able to see the ultrasound results on the screen. Being a veteran to these ultrasounds - we knew that he was looking for big black blobs on the screen that are my follicles. Today we saw 3 big follicles and Dr. Williams said they were beautiful! :) Based on those follicles and their size, he scheduled us for the IUI on Saturday morning! I'm not sure if they are expecting all 3 follicles to release an egg on Saturday - but we'll have to ask them on Saturday morning. I did find this article that does a pretty good job of explaining the follicles in more detail. Dr. Williams also told us that he will be working on Saturday - so he'll see us then!
After Dr. Williams and his resident left the room, I got dressed. My husband told me I did a great job making those follicles and said, "Well, you did your part - now it's up to me." And I said, "That's right - then after Saturday it will be up to me again." McKenzie came back to get us and we met with her to review the plan. She mixed up the Novarel for us and told us to put it in the fridge when we got home. Tonight at 9:30pm my husband will have to dust off his nurse skills and give me the shot of Novarel. That shot has HCG in it - which will trigger me to ovulate in 36 hours. Then on Saturday morning, we have to be at the office at 7:30am for my husband to give his collection. As I mentioned before, they are going to give him a special medium to put in the collection cup. This medium is to help prevent the sperm from clumping together - which should help the quality of the sperm. After he gives his collection, we will have some downtime until our 9am appointment for the actual insemination. They recommend going to Bob Evans for breakfast in the meantime. The funny thing that we learned back in 2010 is that you see the same couples at 7:30am, then at Bob Evans, and then in the waiting room afterwards. We didn't really strike up any conversations with any of them - even though we all knew we were in the same boat. We'll see if we see any other couples this Saturday!
We asked McKenzie about what they recommend after the procedure for me. She said that after laying there for 15 minutes after the procedure, there's really no restrictions. I was going to put myself on optional bedrest just to be extra-safe - but I feel like if there was any reason to be on bedrest they would tell me to do it. For example, as part of in-vitro - they told me to be on bedrest. Since the artificial insemination is a slightly more "natural" way of getting pregnant (compared to IVF) - maybe that's why the bedrest part isn't needed. Ever since my procedure this morning, I've been debating about what to do this weekend. I know that everyone will understand and respect my decision and I've come to a conclusion. After the procedure on Saturday morning, I'm going to head to Pittsburgh to visit with my extended family. My sister and her family were planning on leaving on Friday night, but have graciously agreed to wait until Saturday so that I don't have to drive by myself. I figure a 3 hour car ride is close to bedrest anyway, right? I don't get to see my extended family that often and one of them lives in Vermont - so I think that some family time may be just what the doctor ordered. :) Alrighty, well I'm going to do some well overdue house cleaning until my shot of Novarel tonight.
Prayer Request: In closing, I'd like to ask for prayers as the Kortlandt family grieves and celebrates the life of Melba Cyphers. Special prayers for Aunt Pat, Uncle George, Aunt Diane, and Uncle Mike as they mourn the loss of their mom and mother-in-law. And for Heather/Rich, Craig/Heather, and Scott/Megan - Melba's grandchildren. And for Rowan, Cain, and Carly - her great-grandchildren. My grandparents (who have both passed) were very close with Melba and her husband - who also preceded her in death. They used to take lots of trips and travel together. My sister made a comment today that although it's sad to lose Melba, it is nice to think that the 4 of them were reunited again in heaven today.