17 - More blood (June 18th, 2008)

The next appointment was getting blood drawn for both my husband and myself. I got a lot of the blood testing done through my ob/gyn in Michigan (my husband get has done through his general practitioner) because, at the time, we did not think that our insurance company would cover any costs at CCRM (they eventually did - see "What we learned at the work-up" post). However, CCRM requires all communicable testing (HIV, HEP B, RPR) be done in their lab...we did not realize this until we arrived in Colorado, so I had to get these tests done again at CCRM.

One thing that I have learned through this ivf process is that I have really small and difficult veins. On several occasions I had to be poked in both arms before they could get any blood. Word of advice - if you know you have bad veins, ask them to use a butterfly needle. This worked every time, first try.

After we had our blood drawn, we got about a hour break...thank goodness. This was about 1PM in the afternoon. It wasn't that we were starving or anything- we were just overstimulated by all the information we received in the morning and needed some time away from the clinic to breath and reconnect with each other. If they try to push you through the day, insist on a break (they will be happy to accommodate this).

**After I finished lunch, I remembered to take 800mgs of Motrin (over the counter) for the hysteroscopy that I would be having around 3:00PM.