Too Busy for a Baby

I think we might be too busy to have a baby.

This past month was a wash--after getting the HSG test, I never got an LH surge, and we actually kept waiting for the LH surge before having a really good go at it, so conception certainly wasn't going to happen from our July chance.

I got my period yesterday, which meant a whole new round of planning. And guess what? All online ovulation calendars confirm that it's likely that my next two most fertile days will be next Friday and Saturday night--the two days that D and I have planned to be apart. He's going to a frisbee tournament, and I'm going to the Catskills with some friends.

I can't cancel, because my friends (one family coming from Buffalo, the other friend coming from Boston) have all taken time off and we've been planning this for two months. D could theoretically cancel, but he hasn't offered to.

I wouldn't ask him to cancel, but there's part of me that wishes he'd think about it. It's about weighing taking every chance we have (and the first, second, and maybe third month after the HSG are more likely to be successful) against the importance of this particular frisbee tournament. He used the excuse that I needed him home for babymaking to get out of a tournament he DIDN'T want to go to--even though babymaking was not on the agenda that weekend. So....now that it should be....

Now, the other possibility is that my LH surge comes two- to three- days later than the ovulation calendar predicted: which was the case during the two months that the ovulation tests actually worked. So if he did cancel the frisbee trip, and the LH surge didn't come until three days later, I would feel terrible. Sometimes I wish he were the kind of guy who would drop everything and come running the minute the test strip showed a surge....The place in the Catskills is three hours from Philadelphia, so maybe I can convince him to either come with me on Friday and leave from the Catskills on Saturday morning, or come back early from the tournament if the surge says: "go!"

That said, the last thing I want to do is be seen as a ball & chain.

I haven't even asked him yet. Let's see what he says.

WTF.

So I had the HSG test on July 28, where they shot radiation goo through my innards to see what was goin on all up in there (everything was all clear!) and I leaked for like a day and a half. I did ovulation tests every day since then (19 days now) and no freakin' LH surge. WTF. They say that this HSG test has a chance of resulting a smoother journey for the sperm, so there are some women who get pregnant after the HSG test. Well, we didn't take advantage of this extra boost this month, unfortunately. We should be doing it like bunnies right now, but instead, I waited for a positive LH test, and heat, exhaustion, and other diversions kept us from the job at hand and the LH surge never came. I totally don't understand it, and I am getting very frustrated with how little I know about reproduction, and how little it actually out there in a coherent, public way about conception. July-August was a bust. My doctor says not to worry, try again next month, but I feel really stupid. Not only did I waste a huge amount of money on these ovulation tests which were all negative, we also kept getting ready for the right moment to have sex, which never came. I am going to have to try to plan for less stress this coming month and just get myself ready for sex 24-7.

"No Sex Allowed"

I had an appointment with my OB/GYN today who did an ultrasound to check my innards and see if there was anything to be concerned about. He also wrote out a "prescription" for my husband to get his semen analyzed, and a referral to a radiology diagnostic center for me to get that HSG test next Wednesday.

Things I Didn't Know Before Today
1. That I wouldn't be able to have sex between now and when they shoot the dye up into my body
2. That there would be some "dye leakage" and bleeding after the HSG
3. That they would recommend a mild pain reliever before the procedure
4. That I have a small, tiny 2 cm cyst on my left ovary (doctor says not to be concerned about it at all)

Things I Still Don't Know
1. How they're going to go about getting semen from my husband (will a nurse named Vanka or some such be "assisting"? Will pornography be involved?)
2. How badly will the HSG hurt during and aftewards?
3. What color is the dye they'll use? Will I be leaking neon green all day?

Kitten update: Two nights ago at a dinner with friends, my husband said for the first time affirmatively that we are getting a kitten! We've made plans to go and pick her up next Tuesday. Yay!

UPDATE:
1. My husband was able to "produce" at home and bring the sample in.
2. The HSG didn't hurt even a speck. I felt like I had metal in my mouth all day, though.
3. The dye was clear; lots of leakage, but it was all invisible.