The treatment plan for our IUI cycle included luteal phase uterine support. Dr. B had explained that the uterus needs to be "sticky" for the fertilized egg to properly implant. In order to ensure that my uterus was sticky enough, I was supposed to self-administer progesterone vaginal suppositories twice a day starting the day after my second IUI. If you've never used these before, consider yourself lucky...
The suppositories come as white tablets that are inserted vaginally using an applicator (kind of like for a yeast infection, but less squishy). The insertion part isn't bad - it's what happens about 4-6 hours after that is so disturbing. Basically, the progesterone is dissolved and (hopefully) absorbed. But there's all this discharge that is produced in the process and eventually, it starts drizzling out. We're not talking normal discharge. It's thick and white - and even a little bit chunky (gah... I just gagged a little when I wrote that - sorry!). It was enough that I needed to wear a pantyliner (or several). And it made me itchy and kind of dry down there. Gross.
BUT... you do what you gotta do to have a baby, right? I returned for a blood draw one week after my trigger shot. I secretly hoped that my progesterone level would come back so high that I would be allowed to quit the suppositories. Of course, that isn't how it works. But the good news was that my level was good, so I was at least allowed to stay with the twice a day regimen (as opposed to going up to 3 times a day). They also scheduled me for my pregnancy test the following week. The trouble with progesterone is that the side effects mimic pregnancy. So I was experiencing things like random nausea, hot flashes, and sore boobs. All of which could indicate pregnancy...
Needless to say, I was glad to have a distraction during the two week wait (2WW). My cousin was getting married in Texas and we were headed down for a long weekend to join in the festivities. Of course, that meant hauling my supply of suppositories along for the trip and having to mess with all that nastiness in a dress. But I survived. And I got to see and talk to Uncle K. I gave him the update on the situation, and he asked what the next step would be if the IUI didn't work. I told him we would be starting IVF next - assuming of course that I wasn't pregnant already. He asked what our clinic's policy was regarding how many embryos would be transferred at a time and what would be done with the remaining embryos. They were questions I hadn't really thought about a whole lot yet - mainly because I was hoping we wouldn't get to that stage. Nevertheless, it was a good conversation to think about.
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