My next cycle has officially arrived. I woke up at 4:20 am with cramps and knew that my period was here. Now my mind is full of planning how this cycle will work out.

Tomorrow morning I have to call the clinic to see what I need to do. First I'll have to use the principal's office so I can use the phone in private. Usually I use the phone in the secretary's office, but since this is something I'd rather not have her know, I'll use the other phone for privacy.

I'm assuming that the doctor will have me take the Clomid again and schedule an ultrasound for cycle day 11. Day 11 is a Wednesday. The best time for me to get away from school on Wednesday is at 11:00 when my students are in music class. Hopefully I can get that time. Then the kids won't even know that I have left them, and I won't need a substitute.

If I have my IUI on cycle day 13, it will be on a Friday. If so, I will have to get a substitute. I have to go to the main clinic for that, and it will take over three hours, including driving and the procedure. I'm not sure what the hours are that they do IUIs during the week, but if it's like the times on Sunday, I'll have to leave school sometime between 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. and return between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

Here's some sample scenarios:

Appointment at 10:00 a.m.:
Since school starts at 8:05, it wouldn't be worth coming if I had to leave at 8:30. I would return to school just before lunch and would only teach for two hours, 15 minutes!

Appointment at 11:30 a.m.:
I'd leave school at 10:00 (actually just before, since the kids have recess from 9:45 to 10:00). I'd return after lunch recess, at the end of my read aloud time. The total teaching time, before and after appointment would be 3 hours, 20 minutes.

The second option leaves more teaching time, but it doesn't give me time to eat. I might have to do that on the drive back!

This is all too confusing! Maybe I can get an evening appointment, or wait until Saturday. I don't even know why I wrote all that down. I don't even know what my choices for appointment times will be. It's just that I worry about having to miss school. I don't mind having to miss school once for this, but if it becomes a monthly thing, I wonder what my students and their parents are going to think. I really don't want them to know why I am going to the doctor.

I'm taking my personal day off from school on Friday, to entertain my friend and her husband who are visiting us for the weekend. I get one personal day a semester. I have only used my personal days twice, and they were both to travel to my sibling's college graduations. Last year I took no time off from school. I was never sick, and never used a personal day. That's really going to change this year!

Right now I am planning to skip part or all of the school day for two Fridays in a row. What are the kids going to think? Oh, I really hope the IUI will be on a Saturday!!