HSG Finale

As many of you know, this morning I had my HSG. I'm going to try not to make this too long of an update, but we both know I can be a bit wordy. If you don't feel like reading, just know that it went well and things seem to be ok.

I was instructed to be at the hospital at 8:45 for my appointment at 9. I walked in to the outpatient area and got checked in. Half an hour later, I got called back to talk about insurance and payment for the procedure. Now, I knew the hospital had my primary insurance as the one I'm on with Keegan because that's what I've been using for all of my appointments with Dr. B. However, I wanted to use the insurance that I have with my dad because that was the one who said they'd pay for the HSG in full if it was coded as diagnosing infertility. Well, that turned out to be somewhat of a hassle. Since that insurance is out of state, they had to play phone tag with the insurance company to make sure that they would agree to pay for the procedure. I got sent back to the waiting room and waited for another 45 minutes before I was called back again. The financial person told me that they had contacted my dad's insurance company, and that I had a $250 deductible, but that my procedure was pain in full. I let out a huge sign of relief knowing that I didn't have to fork over $4000. However, I will only breathe fully once I get the bill from the hospital and the insurance company saying I don't owe anything.

After that almost-fiasco, I was lead back to the radiology department. I was greeted by an extremely nice nurse/assistant who told me to strip from the waist down and put on a gown. I nervously asked her if I had to take out any of my earrings and  she laughed and said only if I had any jewelry "down there" which I don't (TMI anyone?!)  I was worried because I have an ear piercing that would require pliers to get out. Thankfully when I sent Sarah a message on Facebook last night, she put my mind at ease, as did the nurse. The earrings got to stay.

Dressed in my sexy gown, I sat down on the x-ray table and waited for the doctor to come in. He arrived shortly, shook my hand, and explained what would be going on that day. I was then instructed to lay down on the table and scoot my butt towards the end. The table didn't have stirrups so I had to awkwardly bend my legs in a position that wouldn't be in the doctor's way. He strapped on a headlamp and got to work.

Can I just say how having your doctor sit down to look at your lady bits with a headlamp on makes you feel like your ho-ha is an undiscovered cave? That was certainly a first for me.

Google Images

Many of you ladies know how the HSG goes, (and if you don't, you can go here,) so I'm not going to go into all the details. The assistant had said that if I had any blockages, the doctor was going to try and force them out which would be very painful, so I was extremely nervous about that, but the pictures showed a clear uterus and tubes. I definitely had some cramping, especially when the dye was inserted. When the balloon was inflated, it felt like period cramps, but the dye felt like a sharp stabbing pain. The procedure only lasted about 3 minutes and I was shown the images afterwards. The doctor said that I have all of my lady bits and that things look open, however, I still want to talk to Dr. B about what he sees.

I've had some cramping throughout the day, but not enough to stop me running a few errands. I didn't go to work today, so I've just be bumming around the house all day. There was a few minutes where I had some stabbing pains in my right ovary area, but besides that, it feels similar to period cramps. I didn't take any pain medications before the procedure, mostly because I forgot, and I haven't had to take any afterwards. I do feel like someone has kicked me in my lady bits, but I'm assuming because the doctor was a bit rough with the speculum.

If you're here because you're about to have your first HSG, here are some suggestions:

- Wear comfortable clothes. I wore yoga pants, a t-shirt and flip flops. I'm glad I did, I feel like jeans would have been too restrictive.

- Take some pain reliever, especially if you're not used to having period cramps. I typically get bad period cramps, so the ones I've had today haven't been that bad, but if I wasn't used to it, they'd be quite painful.

- Bring a pantyliner or a pad. Remember, what goes in, must come out. If you're like me, you'll also have some spotting so a liner/pad will be handy. I totally forgot one, so the nurse gave me one (can you see the trend of my forgetfulness this morning?)

- It might be helpful to be cleanly shaved down there. I wasn't aware that the dye was sticky, so I wish I had trimmed a bit more...if you get my drift.

- Try not to psyche yourself out too much. I was really nervous beforehand, but it was an easy, fast procedure.

Hopefully this'll be the little bit extra that we needed to get pregnant this cycle. I'm going to start OPKs tomorrow on CD11 just to ensure I don't miss ovulation like I almost did last cycle. I'm not one to look too far into the future, but if this cycle works out, we'll be able to tell not only my immediate family, but almost my entire extended family in person during our vacation to Canada at the end of July. It would be too perfect, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

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Go give Amber some good wishes that she'll heard her second baby's heartbeat on Wednesday, congratulation Egg Timer on making it to the double digits, and celebrate with Sarah that she only has 35 days left of her pregnancy!  Also, send some good wishes into the universe that Ana gets some good beta numbers.