Timing

The next issue is timing. I've known the basic outlines of reproduction for a long time- boy meets girl, girl is hornier in the middle of her menstrual cycle, girl maybe gets lazy about pushing for condoms in those mid cycle days, and girl gets pregnant. I know about ovulation. But it turns out, it's all much more complicated when you are working with a 38 year old uterus and frozen sperm. The doctor put me on Clomid to insure predictable ovulation. I don't jump at the chance to take pills because I don't like how they make me feel. But I'm willing to give it a try. The frozen sperm only live 6 hours when they go into a woman's body, so the timing of the IUI has to be very precise. You need to know when the egg is primed. It feels like you need to know the moment it pops free! But there are issues. Clomid doesn't list any serious side effects, but I think it's making me crazy. I've been moody and had a hot flash. Essentially the Clomid throws your body into menopause and kicks your brain into producing more of the relevant hormones. But on the bright side, it makes very noticeable pains in my ovaries, so I can't miss ovulation. The clinic will see you when you pee on an ovulation predictor kit that tells you the moment is right. It still seems like timing is up in the air too much though. The ovulation predictor is supposed to turn red 24/36 hours before you ovulate, but you only pee on the strips once every 24 hours, so there is still a lot of room for error. I mean, lets say its negative at 8 am Tuesday, and postivie at 8 am wednesday. You would then go in for the iui 10am thursday. But maybe a pee strip would have been red at 11am tuesday.... One could obsess. Especially when each attempt, each IUI, costs $1200! (700 for sperm and 500 for dr) You don't want to time it wrong. And there are other complications. The dr said to test ideally between 10-2, but for women who work in an office, this is not an easy thing to do. I don't want to carry my little sticks and pee cup into the first floor ladies room at 10am. Not that I'm keeping my efforts a secret, but people at work are the last people I want to know what's up. And you have to be able to go to the dr at 10am the day after the test turns red, which is also not so convenient when you work and have a hundred meetings. I've already feigned sick and dentist, dr appointments for the 4 rounds of blood tests I did before starting this process! Ahhh, it seems so much easier to just sleep with one's husband.