Insemination tomorrow

[project_sunshine]

Sunday I went and was scanned again, this time by a woman. She didn't
offer to have a nurse present, and I didn't ask for one. She was kind,
but seemed a bit stressed, and she was not as gentle as the first
fertility doctor. While it did hurt a bit, it also seemed easier not
to have to deal with covering my lower body with a napkin, or the
doctor slowly searching around for where to put the scanner. More
matter of fact.

The doctor told me I had an egg maturing so that I should inject
myself with something to provoke ovulation Tuesday, and then go to be
inseminated Thursday.

She also asked me again about my preferences for the anonymous donor.
It's not completely reassuring that the first list was apparently
lost, but it was nice to be able to add a few inches to the height of
the donor, since the first doctor misinterpreted my "Average height,
like me" to mean someone a bit shorter than average height for a male.

My brother told me afterwards, when we were having coffee and I was
telling him about my plans, that I should have asked for someone
taller, and someone of a different race.I don't think there's really
any point in trying to have a "designer child" when I have no way of
evaluating the other parent, though.

After the doctor had scanned me, I had to talk to a nurse, who
explained to me how to inject myself using a pen-like injector. She
told me very seriously how important the timing was, and how they
suggested the timing of the injection in ten minute intervals related
to when the insemination was scheduled.

I was very nervous about having to inject myself, and accidentally
didn't read the complete set of instructions. I figured what the nurse
had shown me was what I was expected to know, and that timing was
important. So I read the pamphlet, then hurriedly jabbed the syringe
into my stomach skin, depressed the plunger, and pulled the syringe
out. I saw a drop of the medicine dangling from the tip then, and was
a bit concerned.

Then I saw that what I had read was not the actual pamphlet the nurse
had been referring to. There were two pieces of paper in the package,
and I had read the one about restrictions and side effects, which
pretty much said "if self-administering, do the injection the way it
was demonstrated to you by a medical professional". But then the other
piece of paper said to inject slowly, and to keep the syringe in your
skin for at least ten seconds after depressing the plunger completely,
to make sure that the full dose was administered.

I should have looked at everything, of course, but because of being
nervous and tired (it was after my regular bedtime), and because of
having to keep the medicine in the fridge until it was going to be
used, it didn't seem like the other piece of paper was anything
relevant and I hadn't had time to look everything over carefully in
advance. The actual pamphlet didn't look official and medical, the way
the one I read did, more like an ad.

Today, I think I feel the injection site a little bit. I don't think I
should be nervous about doing it wrong, though I will definitely
follow all the instructions to the letter if it should be necessary to
do this again.

Tomorrow I'm going to be inseminated. I have a good feeling about it,
as if it's going to work the first time, like it has for a friend of
mine, but of course I know it might not.