After the sperm wash was completed, we were ready for our first IUI. I was so sure that this was going to work. I would do this procedure one time, and then I would hold my baby in my arms in nine months. The nurse led me to a room and told me to make the same preparations that are used for a pap smear.

When the doctor came in, he expressed concerns about my husband's low sperm count. He asked if my husband had a fever recently, and I said yes: He had been sick a week or two before. The doctor said that his fever might have "fried" his sperm but that his sperm would be replenished after 3 months. So, we would move forward with the IUI today but, if it did not work, we would skip the next two months before trying again.

Dr. M showed me a scary-looking syringe with a very long, skinny tube that he would insert into my cervix. This did not look pleasant. My "hostile cervix" was not cooperating, so Dr. M had to use "the clamp" to open up my cervix. "The clamp" looked like long tweezers, but they felt like iron shackles as Dr. M forced my cervix to open.

Without going into the gory details, let's just say that having a long, skinny tube inserted into your cervix does not feel good. I have never complained about a pap smear after experiencing this feeling. I could feel the pressure of the semen specimen being inserted into my cervix and up into my fallopian tubes. It caused me to feel cramps - uncomfortable but not enough to make me cry.

After Dr. M was finished, he adjusted the table to tilt my pelvis and told me to lie there for 15 minutes. I wish I had known this was coming because I would have brought along a book to read. (I brought along a book or magazine to all subsequent IUIs.) I just laid there and prayed that we would conceive a baby.

This was October, so waiting three months to try again meant going through another holiday season without the hope of a baby. That thought was too horrible to consider, so I just knew that a baby was being formed in my body that day.

Related Topics:

• Reproductive Assistance: Intrauterine Insemination
• Artificial Insemination