No Austin Powers Mojo Room?

I'll first begin with my exciting visit to the ER this Sunday. Second time in my life I have ever been to the ER or to any hospital really at all except to visit friends who were there. And I have to say that the people who work there are incredibly nice. I have no complaints about it at all- they were professional and really made sure I was ok. It was a very pleasant experience. So why did I pop on over to the local ER this weekend?

Well yes, a bit of a story really-- I had had a headache most of the day and figured it was from the escalating hormones- I had done my HCG shot the night before- and I figured the headache was a side effect of that. I really didn't know. DH had come home the night I was doing the HCG shot and he was feeling poorly but I figured it was dehydration because he'd been in a race that day and he always alittle dehydrated when he comes home. The dog was sick that night too- but it wasn't until much later that I discovered why. The neighbor across the way gave me my trigger shot (barely a day goes by when I don't feel fortunate they are so close and so open to sharing our lives in this great of detail) I mean who woudl not want nieghbors like this? In any case, I got feeling worse as the day continued- but figured I'd just move through it eventually. I didn't and ended up spending a large portion of my evening huddled on a towel in the bathroom being sick. I called the IVF Dr. since I was undergoing IUI in the morning and I was unable to keep anything down and had been unable to for several hours. I admit that combo of hormones and being sick are not good for me. Lately I have been sick a few more times than I like and when the stomach is in a funky way I feel as though I am going to die, alone, and no one will find me. I am not a normally dramatic person (or perhaps I am and no one is telling me the truth?) and DH would eventually come home and find me- so I know this isn't reasonable. I mean it is not as if he leaves and only visits me weekly, the man appears each night for dinner and has consistently for 3+ years now. So being sick, and the whole dying thing when I am can be attributed to the hormones I think.

The Dr. I normally work with was not available but one of the other Drs. called me back and suggested I wander on down to the ER and have them look me over in case there is something wrong. It was a kind of yes go, wait maybe not, no,no you shoudl go kind of conversation. The neighbor rang at about that moment to check on me (can you believe her timing?) and off we went to the ER. DH was called on the way- since he was in the next town over. I know he really wanted to take me to the ER himself- but it doesn't make sense- I mean he is 30 minutes away and the neighbor is right here. The neighbors hubby walked me over the car and hugged me goodbye- he was very nice, I kept wondering if he knew something I did not and maybe I was not coming back home :). Why did he hug me goodbye?

So off to the ER and it was good I went - they stopped the stomach thing- and headache-- and rehdrated me with an IV drip. Also did a check to make sure the ovaries were still all happy and not over inflated. DH showed up and swapped places with the neighbor. They did a beta blood test which was 478. The ER doc had no idea what make of it. (It means the hcg shot absorbed into my system really well!) He called the IVF doc and my regular guy answered this time. They agreed on the protocol to address me and then he asked to speak to me. He said " Your fine, they will do an ultra sound and then you will go home" . I think he meant it to sound reassuring but it came off sounding more patronizing. This of course could be due to the fact that I was hormonal and throwing up- a lethal combo for interpreting behavior overall. And the thing about it is- his phone skills are not the best in normal circumstances- but he is quite good in person. Kind of a hip guy who wear sneakers, likes to shake my hands and do high fives. Male bonding at it's finest and I am warming up to him- he is a bit eclectic, but we are told he is very good and in the long run we don't really care whether he has the personality of a sponge (he doesn't) if he is good at what he does.

Ok, so the end of the story- yeah I am getting to it. We left the ER hydrated no longer feeling ill and by the time we left I think we were the only people in there who were not escorted in by the men in blue(police). How odd to work in an ER really-- One of the guys who worked there was telling me when he first started he didn't more than 1 beer for the first 2 months because he saw so much in the way of alcohol related illness!

Did I mention the dog ate was sick on saturday night at 4am? Yeah, I possibly didn't mention why he was sick? My poor sprinkler system seems to suffering the most from it all from these chewing bouts he goes on. He ate more of my drip irrigation- the part right near my lovely roses who won't look so lovely now that he has eaten their water supply. Aside from the drip irrigation tubing the dog has a affinity toward refrigerator magnets as well. We are beigning to think he like black palstic in general- though I have seen him consume a plastic toy motorcycle in one bite. I do wonder if one day we'll come home and he have hoover'd the whole outside of the refrigerator clean of magnets. I took out pet insurance on him when he was much younger figuring that with his hoovering skills he will possibly one day eat something that does not pass on through to the other side. I am not looking forward to that experience- but he is good practice for babyproofing the house.

Ok, so on to the good stuff. We did the IUI yesterday and everything went smoothly. Such a huge relief from the weekend- and the woman doing the IUI part was flawless in her technique. No pain, so bleeding, no cramping, no tears- much different from the past IUIs we have had. Though I mistakening thought that when we went to a larger fertility clinic that they would have a room dedicated for the men- you know, to offer their homage to us women to use in the process. A sort of mojo making austin powers kind of room with black furniture and a TV playing the porn channels. To ease the process along. No such mojo making room, no black leather sofa, no TV endless spewing the porn channel, no porn at all. We got a pink examination room covered with soft pastel flowers and a boom box playing rap music and we could not figure out how to change the channel on it. And they asked us to lock the door and put a do not disturb sign on the outside. Like no one knows what we are doing in here? I can't imagine they use that sign for anything else! Credit to DH for being able to handle it all so well. I doubt I would be able under the same circumstances were the roles reversed!

So now we are in for the 2 week wait. Can I wait 2 weeks for the blood test- Will I give out to the evil pee stick tests that I can not read half the time anyhow? We'll see. I had to start buying the exact same OPK's (that is ovulation predictor kits for those of you not into the lingo) because I found the different brands move the control line- so I am looking at the tests and I get a solid blue line- only to discover (several days later) that I am looking at the control line and not ouvalting but I have been keeping DH busy- and will now need to keep him busy because the corrected line says it is time. He was not complaining about it but it was a tiring month or two until I settled into one brand with the lines in the same place each time :)

The doctor was far more encouraging today when I went in for a check up --He initially gave me a less than 5% sucess rate with IUI's but he says that with my numbers the chances look higher than that. I have no idea how much higher- but with any luck this will stick and we'll finish this journey and move onto the next.