Two words...f**king period. Yes, Heidi got her period exactly when it was due. Contrary to the feelings of relief felt by a college student who "may" have missed her pill a couple of times before hooking up with that really hot guy from the Marshall Center (no references to Jessica here), this was not what we wanted to happen. Indications started last Saturday morning with a little spotting. I chalked it up to implantation, even though it would have been a few days late. I am the perpetual, if not unrealistic, optimist. The official start happened during the married couple's dedicated dance on the dance floor at a wedding reception where Heidi was playing a bridesmaid. A little upsetting to say the least. We spent the next few dances crying in the bride's dressing room. It was not the ideal situation to have to deal with our disappointment.
One would think that going through this so many times we would actually get used to it. Instead, it is becoming more and more difficult each time that that bloody bitch named "Merry Monthly" rears her ugly head. This time has been downright devastating. Heidi couldn't talk about it without crying. If you know Heidi, you know she's not a crier. It takes a lot to make her cry. I mean, a ridiculous lot (I, on the other hand, will break into sobs at the drop of a hat...just ask a good Publix commercial). She is taking it exceptionally hard. It took us a few days to even address what our next steps would be.
Back up a little...um, for the insemination challenged, you should know this is an expensive process. Maybe not expensive for the 1% of the wealthy, of which we are not, but expensive for the standard middle-class lesbian couple. Oh, and our insurance doesn't cover any of the fertility. So, each try has diminished our savings account. Oh, and the replacement of the roof last month took it's toll on our bank account. So, now, we're scraping the bottom of the barrel of disposable cash. I'm thinking about turning Heidi out...perhaps that will solve both problems. I digress.
When we finally got to discussing, oddly in my office at work instead of in the privacy of our home, we threw just moving into in-vitro into the options. Then we called the doctor's office and got some pricing. Wow. Seriously. Wow. Around $11,000. Per try. Yea, each time. Wow. This option is no longer an option. Well, not exactly. We then discussed trying to do one more IUI and if that doesn't work, we'd take a year off and save for in-vitro. That's it. That's what we're going to do.
Well, that's what we were going to do for approximately 17 3/4 hours. The next day Heidi talked with the nurse and asked what the doctor's normal steps would be after the fourth insemination if it didn't work. She said he would to a couple of laser surgeries to see if anything in the plumbing wasn't, well, plumb. He would do a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy. This involves out-patient surgery where three incisions are made in Heidi's belly and they insert a light, a camera and a laser and check out the tubes and uterus to see if there are any issues in there preventing success. Huh. Well, since we could stand to save a little money, why not do this first? Change of plans. Again. Now, we are scheduled to have this surgery done prior to our next IUI...mark your calendars, folks. May 9th is the next big day for us. Heidi's uterus wasn't happy just being on an ultrasound; it now wants a full on camera appearance. Fame whore, her uterus.
So cross your fingers that we find something and they can fix it. If they don't find anything, we're back at square one. If they find something and can fix it, we can hopscotch our little arses to the next square.
In the meantime, anyone know where we can get some really strong fertili-tea? We need to cover all of our bases. And squares.
