dpo5

(days past ovulation-5) ok so i kept saying that i would blog about the insemination, i just wasn't feeling inspired and mom was in town. maybe it'll flow once i get started.

our package arrived on friday. we held off on opening the tank until we were ready. i did opks throughout the day, and by evening my test line was getting darker. saturday morning, it was much darker than the indicator line. woohoo! ovulation! my bbt had dropped significantly, also. i felt ready.

anna encouraged me to eat and shower before we did anything. i didn't want to:) i just wanted to stay in bed and get started. of course my lovely wifey was right. i would have gotten grumpy and hungry if i hadn't eaten.

first step was opening up the canister. it looked like it had been around the block a few times:) but hey the vials were nice and frozen. the vials themselves were sooo small! the amount of sperm inside measured to about 1 cc (looks like about a quarter of an inch). anna and i donned some winter gloves and sunglasses. we were told in the instructions that the vials should be handled with cryogloves and protective glasses. we stumbled around the internet for a while on friday night trying to figure out what to do, if these things were necessary or what. luckily on oneofhismoms.wordpress.com the author had posted her own instructions. they matched up perfectly with our official instructions with a few adjustments. thus, we wore ski gloves and sunglasses.

even with the gloves on, i could feel how cold the vial was. i held it, upright, in my hands for a while till the frost dissipated. then we set it in a clean shot glass so it was upright. we got our wee syringe, a plate with a paper towel, and a meat thermometer.

on to the bit more personal bit (don't worry becky it's not that personal!) :) after the vial had defrosted, it had cooled down enough to put in my bra. the sperm needed to be warmed up to body temperature, approximately. that was also the reason for the meat thermometer, but it was too large to use in the small sample we had. i set myself up with pillow under my hips.

afterwards, i stayed in bed for around an hour. after about 20 mins i tried rolling to my right and left side to move things around a bit. mostly, i just laid on my back. everything went very smoothly. we felt successful. i hope we were.

the second insem didn't go as well. we were cold and on an air mattress. also i think a little bit of the sample spilled out. oops.

now for how i was/am feeling. after the first insem, i had some mild cramping, as if i was going to get my period. i couldn't think of anything else it would be related to, and cramping does occur for some women after insem. the second time, i fell asleep soon after so i have no idea if i cramped. i haven't noticed much else. i have been rather grumpy in the evening the past two days. kind of snappy with anna. yesterday, i had a weird pinch feeling in my stomach/uterus area on my right side. it didn't go away with stretching, just had to wait it out. it didn't hurt necessarily, just uncomfortable. could be baby-related, could be gas haha:) it was a different feeling though. i'm trying to not obsess about it.

i'm going to post the "how to inseminate at home" instructions from oneofhismoms in my next blog cause this one is getting a little long :)