And So It Begins...(Sort Of)

Today was sort of a strange day for me.  It is one thing to talk to Dr. Heiner on the phone about starting this process all over again, but quite another to actually do something about it.  On one hand it was fun being a patient again in a place that has given me such profound joy.  But on the other, I am just not sure how I feel about all of this.  I am mostly just "going through the motions" because we agreed we would.  (Read: I am doing this because my hubby really wants me to.  It's not that I don't, it's just that right now I can't say I do, either...) 

So since we were already coming down to Utah for family stuff, we went to Reproductive Care Center to do pre-IVF tests.  First we both got our blood drawn for an infectious disease screen.  No biggie, I don't mind having my blood drawn.  (Good thing, too, because in March I get jabbed every other day for weeks!)  Then the nurse handed us cups for a urine sample.  Oops!  The first thing I did when I got to RCC was run to the bathroom, because I really needed to pee.  I sort of laughed and told her I'd try.  I did, and I handed her the cup with the tiniest sample in it.  I was feeling sort of sheepish until Rich came back with an empty cup!  He couldn't pee!  He had to drink a Sprite and wait awhile before trying again.  It was just funny.

The next thing we did was a saline sonogram.  That is where they insert a catheter into my uterus, use a balloon-thing to open it up a little bit, then fill it with a saline solution so they can examine the uterine cavity via ultrasound.  It makes you cramp a little bit when they do the balloon part, but really it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  (I remember it hurting worse last time....maybe I was just more nervous the first time around.)  I was totally expecting everything to be normal, but Dr. Heiner found some fluid in my uterus.  At first he thought it was a polyp (which would not be good--that would delay our cycle and require surgery), but once he really got looking he decided it was just fluid.  He said that it just happens sometimes....just some type of uterine congestion.  Still -- "uterine congestion" doesn't sound very good, does it?!  He said we had plenty of time for it to clear up on its own -- it only would be a problem if by egg retrieval day it hadn't gone away.  So I am not going to worry about that right now, and hope that it just clears itself up.  He also found 10 antral-follicles on my right ovary and 4 or 5 on my left.  Those are the "pre-follicles" which give an indication of how many eggs are possible.  It's not an accurate predictor as that number can change all the time, but with my previous two cycles that number proved to be right on. 

The last test we needed to do was Rich's Kruger test.  This basically measures the count, motility and morphology of a sperm sample from him.  Initially I went with him to The Room, but we quickly decided it would just be easier without me.  (Don't ask...when you take 100% of the intimacy out of certain actions, they just become very, very awkward.  That's all I am going to say about this. ;) )  So while I was waiting for him, I noticed a man in his office that looked familiar to me.  I stuck my head in and said, "Aren't you the anesthesiaologist?"  "No, I am the laboratory director, but you look familiar as well -- have you been here before?"  After we established that he had been the one to handle our eggs & embryos, etc., the last time, I was able to ask him something I have been wondering about.  "So tell me something, how do you guys select which sperm to use for ICSI? Because that person is basically determining the gender of my potential children."  He got a big smile on his face, pulled out a pad of paper preceeded to draw me pictures and explain stuff to me.  Then he turned to his computer and pulled up a PowerPoint presention that went though the entire IVF/ICSI process, complete with actual ultrasound video footage of the egg retrieval, ICSI and transfer processes.  It was fascinating!!  (For those who have no idea what ICSI is, it is where they select a single sperm and inject it into a single egg.  Some couples require this procedure if the male has low sperm count, bad morphology, etc.  For us, it is because if more than one sperm touches the egg, we will have cross-contamination of the DNA samples for the PGD testing...)  And just in case anyone besides me is curious, they really do put all the sperm in one end of a media strip and select the best-looking ones that reach the middle line first.  So it literally is the "fastest swimmers" that get selected!  I don't know why, but for some reason knowing that just makes me chuckle...  Dr. Reggio spent a good 20 minutes showing/explaining stuff to us. (My hubby had joined me after a few minutes.)  And when we finally thanked him and said goodbye, I was left with two main impressions: 1) gratitude that a person who is so very key in our cycle being successful is so very passionate about what he is doing!  I mean, he could have just waved me out of his office or given me a very brief, undetailed answer to my question.  But instead, he got very excited and took the time to really show us everything!  2) just that satisfied "ah-hah" feeling I get when I truly understand something in-depth that I previously only sort-of understood before.  

And then we were done, and we left.  Now I am just waiting for my next period to start, when I will start taking birth-control pills again.  Then sometime in early March I will start Lupron injections.  So today's visit was a "beginning--sort of."  :)