Beertje
09-13-2007, 09:30 PM
Ok, so DH & I went to the RE for the big injections class today. But it actually was more informational than just practicing with a needle. Did you know that when you're born you have approximately 2,000,000 follicles - half of them empty? By the time you're about 18, most of the follicles have been absorbed into your body. The remaining follicles of 250,000 are what we have to work with for the rest of our productive life. There is no way of knowing how many of those follicles actually carries eggs.
I was informed that when they monitor the follicles growing, they also test how much estrogen we have. When your cycle first starts, your estrogen can be anywhere from 0-100. When your follicle has a mature egg, your estrogen is at minimum 200. If you have a follicle measuring 17 mm and your estrogen is only 100, it shows that the follicle is not carrying an egg. If you have multiple follicles and the bigger ones show low estrogen, the RE can control your injections to have the bigger follicles dissipate and then start up again to check on the remaining follicles towards maturity before giving an HCG shot. I was fascinated in learning this because it explained possibly why my follicles dissipated the past 2 months.
They also told us to go on baby aspirin as it thins our blood to help with flow. She also said NOT to lift your hips after intercourse as it increases the chances of the sperm not even entering the cervix, rather entering our body cavity thus reducing your chances instead of increasing. Rather, you should be lying flat for at minimum 20 min - hour as the sperm is conditioned to go only one direction. She said that once ejaculation occurs, it takes 18 hours for the sperm to reach the fallopian tubes, but with an IUI it takes only 20 minutes, using only the good sperm. I thought that was interesting.
She also recommended that all dhs should "empty" himself at 3 days before an IUI or the date that intercourse is needed to occur after a trigger shot. The reason for this is that the sperm dies if older than this and is some is still being carried rather than absorbed, thus reducing the odds of the good sperm to swim through the muck.
And do NOT take caffeine right before ejaculation because while it may stimulate the swimmers initially, they all poop out before they reach their destination because the stimulation is worn off by then. She gave the example of how we feel when we drink say coffee or mountain dew to wake us up, etc. but within a few hours one feels very tired, wanting an afternoon nap. The sperm reacts just like that. Not good. She recommended no more than one can of soda a day for both men and women.
There was lots more of information, but that's the main points that I could think of that applies to all of us. Oh wait. There's one more thing. Did you know that the harder it takes to crack a chicken egg, the older the chicken was that laid it? When a chicken lays their first egg, the eggs shell remains soft. The more she lays eggs, the more the shells harden. She said that our eggs are similar to that. The more we age, the more we absorb our environment, the more we can affect the eggs. What can I say, the instructor's dh is a farmer so she used many analogies with what she knows on the farm.
Oh... and another thing... if one smokes, they're turning all their eggs black instead of iridescent. Nasty!
I was informed that when they monitor the follicles growing, they also test how much estrogen we have. When your cycle first starts, your estrogen can be anywhere from 0-100. When your follicle has a mature egg, your estrogen is at minimum 200. If you have a follicle measuring 17 mm and your estrogen is only 100, it shows that the follicle is not carrying an egg. If you have multiple follicles and the bigger ones show low estrogen, the RE can control your injections to have the bigger follicles dissipate and then start up again to check on the remaining follicles towards maturity before giving an HCG shot. I was fascinated in learning this because it explained possibly why my follicles dissipated the past 2 months.
They also told us to go on baby aspirin as it thins our blood to help with flow. She also said NOT to lift your hips after intercourse as it increases the chances of the sperm not even entering the cervix, rather entering our body cavity thus reducing your chances instead of increasing. Rather, you should be lying flat for at minimum 20 min - hour as the sperm is conditioned to go only one direction. She said that once ejaculation occurs, it takes 18 hours for the sperm to reach the fallopian tubes, but with an IUI it takes only 20 minutes, using only the good sperm. I thought that was interesting.
She also recommended that all dhs should "empty" himself at 3 days before an IUI or the date that intercourse is needed to occur after a trigger shot. The reason for this is that the sperm dies if older than this and is some is still being carried rather than absorbed, thus reducing the odds of the good sperm to swim through the muck.
And do NOT take caffeine right before ejaculation because while it may stimulate the swimmers initially, they all poop out before they reach their destination because the stimulation is worn off by then. She gave the example of how we feel when we drink say coffee or mountain dew to wake us up, etc. but within a few hours one feels very tired, wanting an afternoon nap. The sperm reacts just like that. Not good. She recommended no more than one can of soda a day for both men and women.
There was lots more of information, but that's the main points that I could think of that applies to all of us. Oh wait. There's one more thing. Did you know that the harder it takes to crack a chicken egg, the older the chicken was that laid it? When a chicken lays their first egg, the eggs shell remains soft. The more she lays eggs, the more the shells harden. She said that our eggs are similar to that. The more we age, the more we absorb our environment, the more we can affect the eggs. What can I say, the instructor's dh is a farmer so she used many analogies with what she knows on the farm.
Oh... and another thing... if one smokes, they're turning all their eggs black instead of iridescent. Nasty!