The first of many disappointments

At the next appointment with the fertility specialist, we were given all the options. It was really quite daunting as we had absolutely no idea what to do. The doctor recommended starting with Artificial Insemination (AI). This is the lease invasive, least expensive treatment and they do get reasonable results with people like us who don’t appear to have any problems. It involves taking a course of injections to help stimulate egg growth. The injections are full of hormones and really made me feel very emotional and at times quite odd. Once the eggs are big and fat and look ready to be babies, they do the procedure. There is always a chance of multiple pregnancy with fertility treatment. The prospect of twins didn’t worry us too much but the idea of triplets boggled our heads – and not in a good way!! My husband had to deliver his sperm to the reception early in the morning. I then arrived at the clinic a little later. With a very long, thin needle, they inject the sperm straight onto the eggs. This way it doesn’t have to make the effort to swim all the way there. Also because I had been on the injections, my eggs were in perfect condition to be fertilized. After this rather painful procedure, I had to lie still for 20 mins. It’s quite odd what goes through your mind during those 20 mins. Of course, I immediately felt pregnant. I visualized all this beautiful connecting going on inside me. When it was time to leave, I got up slowly and trod carefully because I didn’t want to disturb my brand new children.

At this stage, we hadn’t told anyone about our difficulties to fall pregnant. All our friends and family assumed we were not interested in kids just yet. I walked around for the next 14 days feeling on top of the world. I felt pregnant and it was my little secret. No-one else knew that I was carrying precious cargo. After 14 days, I had to have a BHCG (Qualitative) blood test. This is an extremely accurate pregnancy test. The result came back good. I can’t remember all the numbers now but there was a chance I could be pregnant. I had to wait 3 days to have another test. If the next test had high numbers, I was preggy, if not…………..

The longest 3 days of my life followed. I counted down every minute. Finally I went for the test and waited, and waited………..the count was down. I sobbed for 3 hours. By the time my husband came home from work, he found me crumpled up on the bed and totally exhausted. I spent the whole weekend crying and wishing time away so I could start the next cycle of treatment!.