The Donor and IUI journey

**Any questions you may have on IVF/IUI, donors or anything to do with getting pregnant as a single mum, please contact me at my Contact page and I am happy to help out where I can**.

So remember, I said I would have made the top of the waitlist in February 2015 and remember in my last couple of posts I talked about Values and Priorities... well I didn't take my own advice back then.

So here I go, August 2015, over a year since my first appointment with IVF Australia. I have had the holidays and the business trips... now it was time to take this baby-making seriously!

I log onto the IVF Donor Support site and as I have found with selecting "men" on the many dating sites... not much choice :) I log back on a few days later and there are 3 potentials... I head off for lunch with one of my best friends and we make some critical decisions together and I whittle down to 2, then one chilly Sunday night I make my decision - BabyDaddy for me is selected.

So I start on the path to Motherhood with the injections, the numerous blood tests and scans. And approximately 10 days later - "babydaddy" is inseminated...Now that 2WW commences ( the dreaded 2 week "am I pregnant or not" wait)

Results come in and first round is unsuccessful, got my period and no baby.

So Day 4 of my period... start injecting again. I DO NOT give up easily whatsoever! And now my life is on repeat for another month.

You know how I harp on about balancing career and baby-making, well I really have no choice now - right? And this is the crunch of this journey, for a woman who is always in control of her life... I can't control this or the dates or my body and particularly fertility! I have to say it's tough for me! So as my cycle worked its magic and I continued to focus on my day to day working life, insemination day came round again. A friend told me, today, that laughter is supposed to be a postive contributor on the day you are inseminated, well my day didn't quite go that way, yes you guessed it... work got in the way.

I got to the insemination appointment as nothing was going to stop that happening, however the rest period and positive thoughts you are supposed to undertake afterwards, well they didn't quite happen. I was glad that I made the extra hour gap between meetings, for my acupuncture, as that is another positive reinforcement when going through IVF and insemination - always ensure you have acunpuncture before insemination and promptly following. So... I rush back to the office for two strategic meetings that I absolutely couldn't miss! Looking back I could have. Then I had to jump in the car for a 3 hour drive to Canberra, a last minute request from my boss who couldn't attend a dinner and we were one of the VIP guests at this event - now how did this fit into my values circle - bottom line is it didn't! I have to say the meal was delicious, even without the wine and spending the whole evening explaining to the table that I was on a health kick, it was a good night with some laughter thrown in there... so looking back hopefully that helped in some way to what would be a pregnancy.

Then it all just got more and more hectic, due to my cycle and the lack of control one has over this, (something very foreign to me) I had to move my planned annual business trip to Europe, I had to re-schedule around the insemination date and the progesterone injection 7 days following, which meant I was flying to Europe the day after that progesterone injection. I would have to do the pregnancy test whilst in Germany.

And so I did... POSITIVE! There is nothing probably as exhilarating, yet sad all at the same time, as peeing on a stick and being so elated, yet having nobody to share it with - that was my first reality check on being an SMC and what the future would hold for me. So I called my wonderful parents and there were tears of joy all around!

7 week scan comes around and there was definitely a little baby growing and a healthy heartbeat. That moment of reality sets in and my world began to change... as I walked out of that scan and I was headed back to the office and my afternoon of meetings, I realised that my baby was the most important thing along with my health and keeping that fetus safe... nobody has ever said stress and anxiety is in any way good for a fetus!

So here I am... pregnant... how will my values play out now...

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