Today is the first day of my renewed focus on health. I must make myself as fertile as possible prior to the IUI.
Here is the new groundwork I've laid out for myself:
1. Goodbye all refined sugar and white stuff (flour, rice, bread)
2. Goodbye caffeine and chocolate (except for the occasional dark chocolate)
3. Hello 30-45 minutes of exercise at least 6 days per week (this shouldn't be too hard as I usually do this anyway)
4. Hello herbal remedies - i.e. red raspberry leaf and nettle tea, various supplements to balance hormones, etc.
5. Hello positive attitude and newly regained appreciation for all the goodness in my life, especially D
In other healthful news, I've officially decided to reduce my work hours to part-time in the New Year. I want to focus as much time and energy on the baby thing as possible.
So you can pretty much consider me the world's foremost expert on all things IUI now. I have done a ton of research on the subject over the last two days and I think I now know what I'm in store for. First of all, the success rate is nothing near IVF. IUI's yield a success rate of about 25% tops. That's about the same as conceiving naturally. Also, did you know that when they "wash" the sperm to prepare it for insemenation, some clinics (on request) will perform a gender selection so you can have a pretty good chance of choosing the sex of the baby? I honestly don't care what we have, I'd be thrilled with either a boy or a girl. However, D wants a boy, and he wants to ask the clinic about it. I'm almost embarrassed to ask though, because first, I don't want the clinic to think we're superficial and secondly, I'm not sure how comfortable I am "playing God". Of course, the whole procedure kind of smacks of playing God anyway. And D says God invented IUI and sperm washing so let's not worry about it.
I took my last progesterone pill last night and my period will (hopefully) start tomorrow or Monday. Thus begins the non-TTC cycle before the IUI cycle. I'm ready to get on with it.
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3 comments:
Very exciting stuff! It's good to 'hear' you feeling positive again.
Hi, there! My name is Tiffany, and I found the link to your blog at the iVillage "Trying to Conceive After Miscarriage" site. I just wanted to write a note to say "hi" and wish you well with your upcoming IUI - I especially like the "5 steps" you're going to take - it seems like you're doing everything possible to get yourself on the track to a baby - that's awesome! Feel free to visit me back at my blog, which I started back in July, about 3 months after my miscarriage. I have a list of other blogs I link to for other ladies who are also trying - if want, I can add yours, too...just a little mini-support group kind of thing! :-) Anyhow, I enjoyed your blog and hope you keep writing and have good news to share soon!!!
hey there!
i had my first clomid+IUI cycle last month and it was eye opening:
1) make sure they draw your blood to detect if the LH surge is for real, i had false surges and 2 unnecessary IUI's which were not cheap. those OPK tests are notorious for giving false positives in PCOS girlies.
2) RELAX when they give you the IUI. the more tense you are, the more it hurts. i finally got it figured out by the third one and barely felt it.
3) ask for pain killers to take before the HSG. trust me.
best of luck for you this cycle!!
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