Pocket Bebe

 This past week I hit the road on a one day whirl-wind trip to Miami to see the fertility wizard.  After having invested an entire year into this process, it felt surreal to finally start medical procedures; it was so exciting!  One of the medical procedures, a sonohysterogram, had to be performed within the first twelve days of my menstrual cycle.  Aunt Flo (AF) had made her visit the week prior which meant we needed to get our appointment scheduled pronto.  The plane hit the tarmac early Friday morning and I was off and running!

Both Lucy and I have the tendency to run a little bit behind schedule, so naturally we were late getting to our first appointment which was with the psychologist.  I was really nervous (and a tad jittery from the Starbucks caramel frappuccino I’d just inhaled) but sat on the couch and endured the onslaught of psychological questions tossed my way.  Thankfully, due to my obsession with thinking, I had already postulated questions and had an array of thoughtfully prepared answers for most every question I was asked.  Consequently, the doctor and I managed to proceed through the polite but stiff verbal assessment of my psyche at considerable speed.  When Lucy returned from T.J. Maxx to collect me, I had been stamped with a professional seal of approval.  Surprisingly, it was that simple.

We made a quick stop at Ricky’s office to say, “hola”.  Then we were off to enjoy almuerzo (lunch) at Pollo Tropical which I mispronounced in my very English way of speaking leading to Lucy’s inevitable giggling/ribbing.

Running par for the course, we arrived at the fertility clinic a few minutes late but were greeted warmly by the most glamorous office staff I have ever seen (this was Miami after all).  I was scheduled to have a physical exam, blood work (approximately 8 vials were collected), urine work, and a sonohysterogram.  A sonohysterogram is a sonogram of the uterus performed after a saline injection.  First a catheter is inserted through the cervix and into the uterus, then the lovely ultrasound wand is inserted, followed by saline solution though the catheter into the uterus (none of this was painful, seriously).  The saline helped to highlight the uterus and made it possible to see immediately if any irregularities such as structural abnormalities, fibroids, polyps, and scar tissue were present.  I beamed with pride as Lucy, the nurse, and the reproductive endocrinologist “ewwed” and “awwed” over my pristine uterus with its fantastic network of life giving blood vessels.  Though it pretty much looks like nothing, we’re providing you with a photographic image just in case you happen to want to “ewwe” and “awwe” over it also.

A Healthy & Happy Uterus

I was given four doses of an antibiotic to take in order to prevent any sort of infection from developing down in “lady town” and after swallowing the first dose we sat down with the third party coordinator to discuss the transfer schedule.  I will provide details of the schedule in a later post, but the transfer date we are looking at is Jan. 27, 2010; this day is the same day Lucy had her successful IVF transfer with Little Ricky.  According to FDA regulations all lab work is good for six months, so that will give us a short amount of time to repeat another cycle if a second transfer is needed and embryos are still available.

Once finished at the fertility clinic, we went to Lucy’s house.  I met Little Ricky for the first time.  My conversation with Little Ricky was limited considering I don’t speak Spanish but I smiled, waved, and we all did a little hip shaking to some Latin musica before we had to rush off to dinner and the airport.  Lucy had to pull out some Mario Andretti driving skills to get me to the airport on time so I could make my flight (even dodging a wheelbarrow, sans the wheel, in the middle of the freeway) and fortunately, unlike all our other appointments that day, I managed to board the plane on time…barely.  It was a very tiring but successful day.

Coming Up Next: Top 10 List: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory -2

© Pocketbebe, 2009.