Needle Practice

March 2003

I was 28 and Josh was 20.  He was in nursing school and working at the medical center.  We decided we wanted to try to have a baby.  For most people, that would be relatively easy.  Not us.  Of course, not us.
After meeting with my doctor here and trying several unsuccessful rounds of Clomid, it was determined that we would need to see a specialist.  Josh and I went to Atlanta to visit Dr. Toledo at Reproductive Biology Associates.  We had the option of invitro or intrauterine insemination.  We definitely didn't have the money for invitro so we opted for the latter.  We got approved with insurance, got a plan from Dr. Toledo so we were ready.
Our first attempt was made in the Spring of 2003.  We wanted to try to do as much as possible here in Dothan since we both worked and he had school.  May 1, 2003 we started the process.  Josh had to give me a shot in my belly every day.  The next day I would have my blood drawn, ultrasound and then a shot later in the day.  Again, he was in nursing school so he was lovin' using me as practice.  For 16 days I got a Follistim shot in the belly, and then it was time.  On Saturday and Sunday (May 17 & 18) we met Dr. Long first thing in the morning at the office for the insemination.  They do it two days in a row for a higher chance.  The dreaded 2WW (as infertility peeps know it- two week wait) was upon us.  May 30, 2003 we received a negative pregnancy test.
I told Josh I didn't want to spend money we didn't have to get pregnant.  I wanted to take a break for a little while.  So during the summer, that's what we did.  Until one night, I had a dream about two names.  Ethan & Emily Edwards.  I woke up Josh and asked him about those names and sleepily, he said "Yeah sure I like those".  We weren't doing anything to get pregnant at the time so the incident just faded away.
August came and we decided to try again.  The dream had faded but didn't disappear.  Those names were embedded.  This time, we decided to have the insemination done in Atlanta with the people that specialize in the process.  I kept a very detailed log of everything that happened during that time.  The next blog will be what I called..... The Road To Pregnancy.  Its a repost of the log I created.