Round 2

I'm a few days away from ovulation and the next round of IUI.  I'm finding it hard to keep positive and feel a bit low.  Of course, feeling low isn't a great boost for your fertility so am trying to look after myself.  Normally I'd share a glass of red wine with a friend (or a bottle), but of course - no wine!   So I've been trying to eat foods that can help boost the endometrium.  Lots of beetroot, red meat, fish and spinach.  After a bit of research I've also discovered that eating the core of a pineapple, from the first day of the IUI to day five after ovulation, is supposed to help an embryo attach.  God knows why, but pineapple core contains bromelain which apparently is a boost to the uterine lining.  It's worth a try I suppose; after all it doesn't cost a lot and it can't hurt.

I have also turned my thoughts to acupuncture,  a therapy that has had very positive PR for aiding fertility.  It's costly though, especially when you're doing this alone and saving every bit of cash for the actual monthly IUI.  However, I've found  a centre with an acupunturist who specialises in pre-conception and fertility and offers a low cost service for just £25 a session.  We will see if it helps, but I am sure it can only do good.

Armed with some prospects for helping myself, I am thinking ahead now to next week's IUI with more hope.  It is hard doing this alone, there's no question of it, but actually maybe there's something to be said for having the strength to do it alone.  I can imagine that some male partners might find the trial this can impose on a woman hard to grasp.  At least I can't have my expectations of support and understanding dashed!  Here's to keeping the faith...

The Consultation

The strangest thing in the world is discussing your most intimate details with a perfect stranger in a foreign country, but that's what comes with a consultation about donor inesmination via telephone in Denmark.  On December 29th I offered up statistics about me that not even my ex boyfriend knows.  Come to think of it nor did I know these facts before I actively pursued this.  When I examine American sites or posts relating to fertility and pregnancy it is clear to me that women over the pond know what's behind every fertility related abbreviation including facts, figures and what they all mean.  I put it down to the fact that we do not have gynaecologists here.  You go to your GP and you can get referred to one, but if it's a pregnancy you're after before you've found a problem, you have no chance of getting access to a gynae.  Unless of course you pay through the nose for it privately.  So, you will understand that this process has made be into a virtual expert.  I can now post on an American forum and know what I'm talking about.  I know that you need to get an FSH (hormone level ) under 10 to be in with a chance.  Mine came out at 7.  Phew.  You need all your blood tests to get the go ahead for insemination - Hep A, Hep B, Hep C, HIV, Chlamydia and often some clinics ask for more than this.  You also need to know that, here in the UK, a Hep B test will usually only be a surface antigen test and you will need the ANTI-HBc test for core antigens too.  This caused me more stress, so if you're going ahead check that your doctor asks for both.  You need to get all these off to the clinic well before your consultation and first insemination.  Get your doctor to do every test he can to determine your fertility and get an ultrasound.  You will need to know how thick your endometrium is and whether your fallopian tubes are ok.

So to the telephone consultation.  It's pretty simple really.  After the medical and health questions there are  lifestyle, food and habit checks.  Are you eating plenty of fish, veg etc. and have you quit the booze?  With a reduction of 33% in fertility if you drink, yes, I've quit the booze. And by the way, if you're a smoker that's a 55% reduction in fertility, so do the maths if you do both.  This is your chance to ask all the questions you want, so use it.  For me it was more about the ovulation tests and when to book flights.  This seemed the stressful part.  However, don't stress.  The Danish midwives at the clinic I used, Stork Klinik, are very easy to talk to, speak exceptionally good English and don't consider any question too stupid.  This is good, if you're like me and alert to everything that could go wrong.  Even at just £500 a pop, it's a stretch for me, so I do not want to be penniless for months without a proper stab at this.

Consultation over - now  I wait for ovulation.  I'm expecting it on January 14th.  The next time I blog, I should have had my 'shot' of Denmark's best.