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Saturday 26 April 2008

A jump in time

Skipping a bit to the present. Want to write this post before the new week begins tomorrow..

Finally last month I got my period which enabled me to start. To actually start with the insaminations! It took me about a year to get to this point, and of course I was very excited!
There are two main places involved in the process - a sperm bank and a fertility clinic. Some choose to do the insamination in the bank's clinic, I prefered not because it would involve too much bureaucracy.
Anyway in the fertility clinic they check to see when and if you are ovulating (done at about the middle of your periodic cycle by ultrasound that checks the presence and growth of your follicle and a blood test). When you are ovulating (or just about to) they send you off to bring the sperm and then, of course insaminate you..
Anyway two weeks ago, on Sunday morning, I was told by my fertility clinic to go fetch my "dose". I buy my sperm in city A and my fertility clinic is in city B, and oh, I don't have a car. The distance between the two places isn't too great, and on a good day (i.e on the weekend or in the middle of the night!) it can be done fairly quickly, but usually is full of traffic. And being dependent on a bus... well, at the sperm bank I asked them to fill my thermos with an extra dose of liquid nitrogen - the last thing I wanted is for the sperm not to arrive at the clinic in its best condition. Well, when I arrived at the clinic, they had a hard time fishing out the test tube with all that liquid nitrogen. That was a bit of a laugh, seems I was a bit too worried..
When I left the sperm bank, I was given a sealed envelope to hand in to the lab at the fertility clinic. Well on one hand Curious George is nothing compaed with me. I'm as curious as a cat! On the other hand I can be trusted, I'll bite my tounge but won't open something that's not ment for me. Well, surely a sealed envelope is not ment for me. But hey, it's about me, and they never told me not to open it or anyting of the sorts, and... well... what can one expect.. If it cotained such information that were not ment for my eyes, then they shouldn't have given it to the lab through me! So yes, I opened it. All they wanted is details of the lab's improvment on the dose for statistical perposes. But it also contained my donor's I.D number! Well no, it doesn't mean that I have anymore information than what I already know (annonymous donation - colour of hair & eyes; blood type; ethnic origin; height and one or two more minute details), and of course I can't find out who he is or anything of that sort. But it does mean that if one day I'll want to try and find my child's siblings, then it might be a bit easier!
The insamination itself was a little painful, but hey - what does one do to become a parent.. It was funny how they kept showing me the tube with my name, asking me to verify that I am the one.. After that was done. I have about two weeks to wait to see if I'm pregnant or not. The first week went by, I was sure I was. There were all sorts of "signs" - from getting that desired period on the first of April (me pregnant is a good joke!) and things like that. The second week I felt sure I'm not. I believe I got off the chair way too soon (was supposed to stay put for a few minutes, I hardly waited a minute or two), and can't be that my first insamination will be the successful one. So, the next few days will tell..

3 comments:

Michal said...

Wow, they really handed you the donor's ID? how irresponsible of them. How did you give them the envelope? did you seal it back? You copied it, right?

How brave of you to go on your own. Stay more than a few minutes the next time :-) (I remember lying there for at least 20 minutes each time... picking up the baby I want from the poster of babies on the doctor's wall...).

Billy said...

Yes, I copied it, and even asked them at the fertility clinic to photocopy it! (people sometimes do ask for various documents to be copied..)
Unfortunatly I couldn't seal it back, but the lab technician didn't care (I was even handed back the results to return to the bank as there was no fax no.)
When I phoned, stuttering to the bank about the results of the sperm count, she made no deal out of it (just was surprised that she forgot to add the fax no.).
Anyway as I undestand, donor's I.D is information that some banks give and some don't. I still cannot (and not sure I want to) track down the donor.

Thanks for thinking I am brave. Lying there with my feet wide open for more than just one or two minutes seems to require bravery (yes, the door is locked. so what..). Oh, well, hope next time I'll be a bit braver..

And thanks for commenting :-)

Michal said...

Did they have a blanket there (or at least a bed sheet or something to cover yourself with)?

If not - demand that they bring you one. I often make a fuss around that when I have an ultrasound. I demand a cover. The nurses, time and again, are surprised that the doctor forgot to take one. So don't be shy about it, you deserve to feel comfortable.
If they refuse, carry a light blanket with you, and have a 20 minutes meditation time imagining the sperms racing to meet the egg!

(and what are these annoying Captchas??? I hardly manage to make out the characters!!).