Day 14

Fun day today.

Woke up early in time to go to Northampton to visit the CARE fertility clinic for 10:00am. Had no real problems finding it, thanks to Google maps. The lady I spoke to on the phone was in reception, so she went over the basic order of how things will happen, then showed Megan, my mother and I to the waiting room.

We waited for a few minutes. There were free biscuits and drinks there, first British biscuits I've had since I've been back. Good ol' digestives. I was the only man in the waiting room funnily enough.

After a few minutes a nurse came in to take me to a room upstairs, where I had to uh.. deposit a specimen. The help they give you to obtain this, in the form of magazines, were hilarious. There was also a chair AND a clinical bed in the small room. Something for all tastes, huh?

Anyway, I wont go into details in that. I did have to write the time of specimen on the little jar afterwards, though, then headed back downstairs to hand it to the nurse at reception.

Another few minutes of the waiting room later, the same nurse came to take my bloods. She had a much easier time than the nurse at the hospital the day prior, getting it on the first try. I didn't get woozy or anything. Maybe I'm getting used to needles? She told me they only take bloods to make sure they aren't storing any HIV/Hepatitis contaminated specimens.

Yet another few minutes later, another nurse (or was it an embryo specialist?) came to talk me through the consent forms that I needed to sign. All your normal stuff, that I consented to them checking my bloods, that I consented to my specimens being frozen for 10 years, that I knew exactly what was going on, etc. A few strange parts though: first of all, I had to specify my partner in the case that I die or go insane and am not in the position to offer consent myself at the time. Fair enough. The other was far stranger though, I had to consent to the fact that my name can be on the birth certificate of any child born this way. If I didn't sign that, it would show up as Father: Unknown. How spooky! I was tempted to leave it unsigned, but I decided maybe signing it would be for the best.

After signing everything, the nurse explained what would happen next. They would test my specimen to make sure I actually produced what I needed to produce. No point freezing blanks, right? And my condition may have caused my bits to stop producing. Once they've checked it, they'd phone me back to let me know.

With that, we left, after Megan filled in a contact info form in case the worst happens. We drove all the way back and pretty much relaxed the rest of the day. Went shopping, and I tried to mentally prepare for tomorrow. I don't think I succeeded very well.

Anyway, a few hours after getting home, they phoned back. Apparently what I left them was fine, and I had a 13-count of something something something, which apparently is a good number. Well, that's great. They did suggest I go back there tomorrow to make another deposit, as they like to have backups even if they have a good amount. So I'm going back tomorrow afternoon, after my morning appointments.

Hopefully after all those appointments tomorrow, that will be it until the surgery. I hope so. I am getting tired of this now.

Not to mention I picked up a cold somewhere along the lines, be it in Texas, at the airports, in the A&E waiting room, or just running around in the rain after almost forgetting what it looked like.

Ugh, let's just hope I don't sneeze while being operated on. That can't happen, right?!