Since the meeting with Urologist #2, John Dear and I are trying to figure out ways to get an SA done. Given the unpredictability of his "donations," scheduling an appointment for JD to try and donate at the clinic is probably a lost cause; did you/your partner donate at home and then run it into the clinic? If so, could you tell me how that process worked?
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Notes of Quotes
There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.
-- Mark Twain
-- Mark Twain
101/1001 v. 2.0
Mission: Accomplish 101 discrete tasks in 1001 days
End Date: December 2, 2014
Green tasks are in progress.
HOME
1. Bring all wedding gifts from parents’ house to our house.
2. Choose wedding pictures to have printed and to make parents' albums.
3. Put together an emergency box (water, flashlights, etc.) for the house.
4. Put together “72-hour kits” in case of emergency/evacuation.
5. Put together an emergency box for both cars.
6. Write and properly execute wills.
7. Complete china service.
8. Complete silverware service.
9. Learn how to iron clothes properly.
10. Fully unpack house.
11. Set up guest room.
12. Set up office Lil Man's new room.
13. Set up “launchpad” in entry.
14. Put together a Task List/Control Journal for the house.
15. Back up computer.
16. Organize front-hall closet.
17. Organize master closet.
18. Plan and start an Evening Routine.
19. Plan and start a Morning Routine.
20. Start a filing system for paying bills and saving paperwork.
21. Hang pictures/paintings in house.
22. Get family room couch and chairs fixed.
23. Create a photobook of Lil’ Man’s art.
24. Create a photobook of Lil’ Man’s first year.
25. Hang and maintain a height chart for Lil’ Man.
26. Put clothes in hamper (not on floor) every day for 1 month.
27. Get a hamper for dry cleaning.
28. Get the kitchen to a shiny sink before I go to bed for 21 days straight.
FOOD
29. Start buying grassfed meat and pastured poultry.
30. Make homemade yogurt.
31. Join a CSA.
32. Follow a menu plan for 1 week.
33. Follow a menu plan for 1 month.
34. Bring lunch and snacks to work for 4 days in a week.
35. Bring lunch and snacks to work for 4 days per week for 1 month.
36. Make matzah ball soup.
37. Make a green smoothie.
38. Make jam.
39. Preserve a food by canning.
40. Make fresh pasta.
41. Bake a pie.
42. Go apple picking.
43. Bake 10 new things and blog about it.
44. Cook 10 new things and blog about it.
HEALTH
45. See a personal trainer to start a weight-training regimen.
46. Get eyes checked.
47. Take meds & vitamins every day for a month.
48. Floss every day for a month.
49. Exercise 30 minutes 3-4 times/week for 1 month.
50. Try Zumba.
51. Reach a healthy BMI.
52. Do the Couch-to-5K program.
53. Find a new foundation (makeup).
54. Put on makeup before I leave the house every day for 1 week.
55. Take a yoga/pilates class.
SELF/SPIRITUAL
56. Have Friday night Shabbat dinner at our house for family/friends.
57. Have a sukkah for Sukkot.
58. Make hamentashchen for Purim.
59. Make mishloach manot for Purim.
60. Go to a Tashlich service at Rosh Hashanah.
61. Go to Shabbat services at least once a season.
62. Have a dairy meal for Shavuot.
63. Write a list of 50 things that make me happy.
64. Make a list of 5 people who have positively influenced me and write them letters.
65. Contribute to our tzedakah box every week before Shabbat candlelighting.
66. Bake challah and freeze small portions for use over a month.
RELATIONSHIPS
67. Take Lil’ Man to the Zoo.
68. Take Lil’ Man to the Playseum.
69. Play in the leaves with Lil’ Man.
70. Send Mom flowers for no reason.
71. Send 5 friends flowers for no reason.
72. Bring JD breakfast in bed.
73. Create our own “Family Rules” and display in house.
74. Write an “If Something Happens to Me” Letter.
FUN
75. Learn how to play the piano.
76. Read all of Shakespeare’s plays. (9/36)
77. Ride in a hot-air balloon.
78. Take a golf lesson.
79. Learn how to play bridge.
80. Complete a needlework project.
81. Make/do 10 things on my Pinterest boards.
82. Read 10 books that I haven’t read from 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
83. Write a blog review of the 1001 Books… I read.
84. Have a picnic.
85. Take a picture of Lil’ Man at least once a week.
86. Write an article for my work newsletter.
87. Knit something.
88. Ask 20 friends to suggest one book and read them all.
89. Write a blog review of the “20 Books from Friends” I read.
90. Take a photo of the same place every month for a year and turn it into a calendar.
91. Host a dinner party.
92. See 10 classic movies I’ve never seen.
93. Go horseback riding.
94. See a play/musical.
95. Listen to a lecture online.
96. Write a blog post once a week for a year.
97. Pay for the person behind me at Starbucks.
98. Have a girls’ weekend.
99. Donate blood.
100. Do swab test for bone marrow donation.
101. Create and send out a family photo holiday card.
My Shelfari Bookshelf
Label Cloud
Some Infertility/Family Building-Related Awesome
A * indicates that current pregnancy or children may be mentioned
Other Kinds of Awesome
Cooking
Family and Kid-Related Miscellanea
Judaism and Faith-Related
Organizing/Crafting
Random Awesomeness
16 comments:
We donated at home, in a sterile container. The instructions were to return it to the clinic within 1 hour of the donation, so we swaddled up our little sperm-jug in a towel to keep it warm and drove like a bat out of hell to the clinic only to be told that the lab wasn't at the clinic (what were we thinking?), but across town. Which led to another mad drive. Once there, we were stymied by construction and bizarre one-way streets, so that we could see the building but couldn't get to it. Time was ticking down, so I jumped out of the car and ran, OJ Simpson-like, hurdling construction pilons, with a towel-covered jar of sperm, and made it to the lab within minutes of the hour cut-off.
What a lovely thing to have to plan, huh? We never have done the deed at home--we also would be pushing it with the time it would take me to get it to the clinic in time. We have, ahem, done it in the parking lot, and then RUN it in to the clinic.
Best to do it at home if you can-if you live close enough to the clinic? I think the added pressure on Mook to perform in such unattractive circumstances didnt help matters...
Oh, I am loving the stories. I will have to come back and read more of them when more people post.
I'm just glad ahuva didn't trip and spill it on some bystander. That could have been awkward. :-)
Grumps has done it at both. Usually he did it at the office. Goes in, does his thing, pushes the button, they come with gloves, bam! Last time they had us do it at home. They gave us the sterile cup in a little bag. He did his part at home. We drove it to the clinic. They took it and we signed papers. Very easy but nerve wracking.
Best of luck!
I worked at a lab for a long time and could tell you some stories! We would give the patient a sterile cup and tell them to collect the specimen in the cup and bring it asap to the lab. As odd as it sounds we would have either the female or the male to keep the cup close to the body to keep it as close to body temp as possible. One lady brought it in tucked between her boobies. If you have to pre register at your lab like we had patients do...we suggested taking the 'donation' to the lab first so they can start the tests. Some of my craziest memories surround the process, telling people over the phone, or the men that offered to step in our bathroom and produce it there! Some took less than a minute. Ohh the funniest was when a man called and asked if it would hurt the spermies if he scraped it off of the sheets...he missed! ahhhh memories.
You should call your lab and they can give you the details and the specimen cup. Good Luck!
My DH is very shy and has always preferred to do his thing in private at home and our clinics have not minded or made a big deal about it. We were told to bring it to the clinic within the hour and keep it warm, so during travel it is usually kept under an arm or in the waist band of trousers. Good luck with everything.
The lab we had to use only had a bathroom that was right next to the check in counter! The first time(yes there was more than one)Mr. Sparky was a little "nervous" and needed some help. So I went in with him. There was a blood draw station right across from the bathroom. When we went in there was a little old lady watching us walk in. She was still there when we came out and had this look of disgust on her face!
Needless to say the next time we did it at home. We took a sterile cup from the lab and Mr. Sparky did his thing in the comfort of home (which I highly recommend - sometimes guys can be so uncomfortable it leads to bad results). I stuffed it in between my boobs and off we went to the lab.
Good luck!
We've collected a sample at home twice, in two different cities. The first time was the easiest. We lived 5 minutes from the hospital. He called me when he was ready, and I carried the cup in my armpit to keep it warm and we drove together to the lab.
The second time was more stressful because it was the dead of winter, and the hospital was farther away. We did a timed trial run the day before so we knew we were taking the quickest route possible (it was still only 15 minutes). Once again, I carried the container in my armpit to keep it warm.
Since then we cancelled two IUI attempts because it was just too stressful for him to produce the sample on a timetable. VERY TRAUMATIC ALL AROUND. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this.
We "donated" at home for our SA as well. DH did the donating on his own because I was too afraid of contaminating it by "helping". We kept the sample in between my ta-tas to keep them at body temperature and drove together to the RE's office.
We had an hour to get it to the clinic, which was just enough time. It took us about 40 minutes to drive there and get it back to the lab. Thankfully, his results came back great so we didn't ruin it!
Wishing you lots of luck! XOXO
DH did his "donation" for my IUI that resulted in my DS at home and drove it to the lab. He was told to collect the "sample" in a baby food jar (which DH chose a jar of Gerber Dutch Apple Dessert - DS loves it still! at almost 4 years old) and carry it as close to him in his armpit as possible to keep it warm. Worked out well - I picked the sample up later that day and put the guys in my bra (the warmest part on the side between the armpit) in the testtube I was given, and brought it back to the doc's office for the IUI.
DH had no issues with doing it - and because he was a little "fluffier" at the time, had no issues keeping it warm.
We always did ours at home. DH has a hard time with the "on demand" thing and just felt like it would be too hard for him. Plus -- he wanted my help so that it at least felt like we were both playing a part in this process. Doing it at home wasn't always easy, though... During our last cycle, he was so stressed out and we fought so badly that I was afraid we would have to cancel the cycle because he couldn't do it...but he managed at the last possible minute and that happened to be our lucky cycle! Also, we live a good 30 minutes from the clinic and DH always has to freshen up after he does his thing and before he will leave the house, so add another 20-25 minutes to the 30 minute drive... We were always cutting it close, but we always got it there in time. Dh drove and I kept it in my pants next to my tummy. (It was winter during our cycles and I was really afraid of it getting too cold.) Good luck!
Surprisingly this was the part about IF treatment I liked the least. Even dildo cams were better than getting samples. We did at least 9 in all and we did them all at home. Our clinic didn't have a "donation" room on site so it was the only choice. They'd give me a sterile cup with a lid, a plastic bag wtih my name tags in it and a brown paper bag for modesty. After we were done collecting at home (I always attempted to help in the most sterile way possible) I'd put it in my bra and we'd race off to the clinic.
Dh ended up with severe performance anxiety after the first few failed IUIs and we ended up resorting to pharmacological help to get through the monthly trauma. It was horrendous. Good luck! And if your DH thinks he might need help to perform under such pressure, get it for him. It might save a decent amount of stress, anxiety, money (canceled cycles suck), and heck your marraige too.
We've always collected at home, and we've used both the standard sterile container and the condom collection kit. We preferred the latter; it made the collection process more "natural" for us, and we always got better results that way. You have at least an hour to get it to the clinic, and I second (third?) the idea of tucking the specimen container into your bra. But I always pulled it out of my bra in the car before walking into the clinic, so that I didn't have to reach into my shirt at the reception desk!
My husband MUCH prefers to do this at home. It's never been a problem, and we live about 40 minutes from our clinic. The office gives us a sterile cup and a little vial of mineral oil for lubrication, if needed. He does his deed and we get in the car (sometimes just him, sometimes both of us). If it's just him, he'll put the cup, sealed in a ziploc and wrapped in a platic shopping bag, in between his legs. If it's both of us, I slip it into my bra. And, LOL, like the prior poster, I always pull it out of my shirt before walking in, too!!
We were just given a container and told to bring in the sample within a certain timeframe from collection. Actually, they didn't have a room at the local lab where we had our first 2 SA's done at the start, and even for IUIs the clinic was happy for us to run the sample in.
It was my job to tuck the sample into the belt of a roomy pair of pants and get it to its destination either in the car or by train. I also wore a roomy top for the train trips. Didn't want anyone asking if that was a sperm sample in my pants, or if I was just pleased to see them...
Bea
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