Trying IUI for the first time
Well, the day has come. Dun dun dun duhhhhh. I headed into the clinic for my first round of IUI.
Despite my fertility clinic at the time being in west Toronto, I was sent downtown to a centralized location. Things went pretty smoothly from there. I had to check in and was sent to wait in a large waiting room filled with other women, sitting 6 feet apart of course since it’s Covid times. The highlight was the large aquarium of fish designed, no doubt, to calm nerves.
IUI really is a pretty simple process once you get to this point. When my name was called, I was taken into a small appointment room and told to undress from the waist down and lay on the examination table. The doctor draped a sheet over me and up into the stirrups I went.
From there, she asked me a few questions such as my name, birthday, and donor number to verify they had everything correct. When it was all confirmed, she knocked on what looked like a little covered window in the wall. The window slid open to reveal a whole other room and team of people behind it. Gotta say, didn’t love that the end of my table faced directly at that little peekaboo window lol.
One of the lab techs handed over the vial of sperm and the window was closed again. The doctor verified it was the right sample and then it was go time.
The process felt much like a Pap smear. A speculum was inserted to expose the cervix and then a little catheter was placed inside me. She drew up the sperm sample into a syringe and injected it slowly into the catheter. Honestly, I didn’t feel much of anything. It took a few minutes tops before she was removing the medical gear and I was instructed to lay on my back for 5 to 10 minutes. She then knocked on the window again to hand the equipment back to the lab people and left the room.
And that was that. I was left to stare at the ceiling wondering if this round would work and staring at my timer. Once 10 minutes was up I walked out and went about my day.
There was no pain during the process and the most I felt later was a little light cramping. At that point, there was nothing to do but wait for my blood test in two weeks.
Now, it’s up to you how you want to adjust your lifestyle in those two weeks but I followed the rules as if I were already pregnant. No alcohol, a careful diet, no intense exercise, etc. Also pro-tip, be careful of your sugar intake during the two weeks as sugar can make conception more difficult.
The two week wait can be nerve racking for sure. You might feel a lot of feelings so I suggest talking about it with friends or family. While you can take a pregnancy test at home, it’s better to wait for the blood test as your results will be more accurate. You run the risk of a false negative with an at home test if you take it too early. Remember, sperm can survive for up to 5 days in the reproductive tract so you might not necessarily get pregnant on day one even if you’re counting from there to decide when to take a pregnancy test.
For anyone getting to this stage of the process, good for you! Becoming a single mom alone can be a real head trip and it’s an incredible feeling to make it to this step.
Now there is nothing to do but wait and cross my fingers. Wish me luck!