Trying for a baby

November 2018: 

CCRM gave me a whole packet of papers. One of them had a list of sperm banks. One of the nurses had put a star by the Seattle Sperm Bank because she likes working with them. She said they are "in it for the right reasons and really want to help people start families." 

So I started looking for donors to help me have a baby at the Seattle Sperm Bank. There were lots of choices, with all sorts of facial features and characteristics and health background. I narrowed my choices down to about 25 favorites, and then looked at extended profiles with my sister and friends. My mom even came to work one day because she was going to visit Bible Study with me on Monday night, and she looked through a couple of profiles with my partner teacher and I. I knew it was strange for her. This whole process was strange for her. We all finally agreed on a donor named “Fredrik.”

Fredrik had brown hair and blue eyes. 

The staff impressions on the website said, “Fredrik is a statuesque donor with a magnetic personality. With his tall and well-built frame, full head of dark hair, tan skin, blue eyes, dimples, and a square jawline, he is strikingly handsome. In addition to being attractive, Fredrik is a well-rounded donor who is highly educated, confident, friendly, and approachable. He is hardworking in both his professional and athletic pursuits, competing in triathlons when his busy work and family schedules allow him to do so. We are excited to have Fredrik in our program.”

My nephew, B, actually looked briefly at his profile with me and I had to explain that, since I didn’t have a daddy to help me have a baby, I had to look at donor daddies on the Internet.

I bought three units from Fredrik to help me have a baby. They were shipped to the lab at CCRM. Then I started my first cycle to try to get pregnant in November. I had to track my ovulation by peeing into a cup and dipping the ovulation tracker in to check when I was ovulating. If I got a blinking smiley face, it was “high” ovulation, but if I got a solid smiley, it was peak ovulation and I was having a surge, which meant I should be inseminated the next day. I checked starting on a Wednesday, and got a surge on Saturday. That meant that I had to go in on Sunday for the IUI. 

Also, on Saturday I had to take a trigger shot. It was called Ovidrel and was a simple shot that went into the stomach. The medicine would make sure my egg dropped to be ready for fertilization. I had my brother-in-law do it, because he got all excited to do it, and because I couldn’t stand the idea of doing it myself. I was glad I went over there, because Ben seemed to know just what to do and gave me the shot professionally and easily.

The Denver office wasn’t open on Sunday, so they had curried Fredrik’s specimen to the Lone Tree office, which was about 1.5 hours away. 

SO, my lovely sister said she would come with me. We drove to Lone Tree on Nov. 18. The office was nice and huge. I had to go downstairs to a lab to sign out the specimen. Then I had to walk it carefully upstairs to the waiting room. A nurse called me back and the procedure was over in about 5 minutes. She put in a speculum, put in a catheter, inserted the specimen and said, “I know, least sexy way to get pregnant!” which definitely eased my tension and made me chuckle. She was so sweet. She also had great bedside manner and talked me through the whole thing calmly and sweetly.

Afterwards, Danielle and I went to IKEA to buy furniture for my bedroom.

I had to wait two weeks to take a pregnancy test. I went in for a blood test a week after the IUI (Intrauturine insemination) to check my progesterone level, which should rise in the second half of a cycle. My progesterone level was low, so I started taking a pill to help build the lining of my uturus. 

I took the pregnancy test. It was negative, and I was sad. Especially because the emotions of those two weeks was so much! I was so hopeful and optimistic and excited and nervous. My tummy would hurt a little and I would wonder if it was because my ovaries were working hard to get a baby started!

I called CCRM to let them know, and they said, OK, let’s start another cycle! So I had to do it all again. But, I did one thing differently. The nurse called me and said, “Do you want to do natural or medicated?” The first round had been natural, where I waited from day one of my cycle to day 10 and started checking ovulation. Then went in for insemination. The medicated round meant that I would take a medication to develop more than one egg for fertilization. This meant a small chance of twins, but also a more likely chance of at least one of them being fertilized. At first, I said, “Let’s do natural again” and I hung up with the nurse, but then I called my good frined from Westminster, A, and said, “AHH, WHAT DO YOU THINK?” And she said, “Go all in. Do medicated!"

I called the nurse back and told her I wanted to do medicated. She said this meant I needed to go in the next morning for an ultrasound to check my follicle size. 

To be continued...