The Two Week Wait (2WW) is the agonizing period of time between the big O (ovulation - didn't "big O" mean something much more pleasurable before IF?) and the expected arrival of AF/date when HPT can be taken.  The acute awareness of your bodies every bubble and ache is hard to describe.  Nature makes this a mockery by making symptoms of early pregnancy almost identical to symptoms of approaching AF.  During the 2WW you will feel with great detail exactly how your breasts ache or itch, how your ovaries and uterus feel.  Am I more tired than usual?  Am I peeing more than usual?  Oh my goodness!  I think that was implantation cramping!  Our minds swirl with images of the fertilized zygote (a few cells past fertilization) bouncing down our fallopian tubes, reaching the uterus, and safely attaching to the uterine wall (implantation).  We can FEEL it.  The excitement of feeling pregnant produces hope which makes you worry that you shouldn't get your hopes up...which makes you nauseous with worry....which...hey! nausea! maybe I'm pregnant!

The cycle is vicious.

It is no wonder the ordeal of peeing on a HPT stick is so agonizing.  We have built up so much hope in it that it is devastating to see only one pink line.  Worse yet, AF arrives before a HPT could be taken.  Most women hate AF but only the infertile will see it as unalienable proof that once again their bodies failed them in the worst possible way.  A whole month of hopes and dreams are washed down the toilet.  It is traumatic.  And, since it is repeated monthly the trauma accumulates. 

There is nothing to do but cry and cry and hope that next month will be better.

A Hysterosalpingogram (HSG) is one of the primary tests for female factor infertility.  This tests allow the doctor to see the basic anatomy of the uterus and fallopian tubes.  An HSG can identify problems with the uterus such as fibroids and it can identify if one or both tubes are blocked.

The procedure only takes about 10-15 minutes.  It begins similar to a pap smear with the insertion of a speculum.  Then a device called a tenaculum is attached to the cervix.  This part causes cramping.  Then a catheter injects dye into the uterine cavity.  The doctor takes a series of pictures while the dye is injected and a final one that should capture the dye "spiling" out of open fallopian tubes.  If there is no spill then the tube(s) may be blocked. 

My HSG came back normal - open tubes no fibroids.

Learn more and see some pictures here.

Human life is always segmented into discrete time pockets.  Maybe you work in sales and your life is driven in monthly sales goals.  Or you are a teacher and your life is divided between school time and non-school time.  For IF couples life is divided into cycles.  Ask a woman suffering from IF what day it is.  She may not be able to tell you the day of the week or the date but I gurantee she will tell you her cycle day - where she is in her monthly menstral cycle or assisted cycle (more on this later). 

Maybe she is charting her Basal Body Temperature (BBT) to determin ovulation through an increased temperature created by the hormone progesterone in her blood. 

Maybe she is taking hormone therapy injections multiple times per day so  her doctor can control her cycle. 

Either way she knows exactly where she is, what her ovaries are currently doing and what they will do in the next 2 weeks. 

What day is it for you?