IVF#3 - HSG/Test Results

Today was my HSG. For any of you that are not familiar with this, it stands for Hysterosalpingogram. They inject contrast dye into the uterine cavity through the cervix and watch to see if the dye spills out the fallopian tubes via x-ray. This is done to determine if the tubes are open or not. One might wonder what matters when doing IVF since you bypass the tubes. Well according to Dr. Schoolcraft, if the tube is blocked, it fills up with fluid and this fluid is toxic to an embryo and significantly impairs implantation.

They started out by taking an x-ray of my pelvic area prior to starting the procedure. The x-ray is live on a screen in front of me. I asked what I was viewing and the nurse pointed out my colon and said all the white areas are air. Oh dear Lord that’s a lot of “air” is all I could focus on. The doctor came in and prepped me while I prayed for no pain as I’ve heard way too many horror stories of how painful this procedure is. He threaded in the catheter and inflated a balloon inside the uterus, the pain was a little intense. I closed my eyes and started singing a song we’ve been singing at church and instantly all the pain went away. Now of course I didn’t sing out loud, I’m pretty confident the doctor would have inflicted pain on me if he had to listen to that. He injected the dye as I watched it fill my uterine cavity and flow out my tubes. He said all looked normal and my tubes are open!!! Yippee! They removed the catheter and took one more x-ray and that was it… and thankfully the “air” stayed put.

All of our tests are now in… here’s the remaining results:

Jill:
Female Antisperm Antibodies: negative (yeah!)
Communicable Diseases: all negative (no cooties!)

Kerry:
Semen Culture: negative (no infections)
Communicable Diseases: all negative (cootie free!)
Frozen Backup Semen Analysis:
Count: 18.8 mil/ml (below normal)
Motility: 11% (way below normal)
Motility Rate: Twitching (time to get these boys some swimming lessons!)

2 weeks till injections!