I have worked at the clinic for some years now. When I first came through these doors I was a young medical student about to donate my sperm. I was nervous and shy but driven on mainly by my need for some extra money earned quickly and, well, easily. I little realised that this place would become such an important part of my future professional life. Within this specialist unit we deal with all aspects of fertility and human reproduction including full fertility treatment for couples who have problems with pregnancy and also the increasing numbers of women who need our discrete skills for donor insemination in a sympathetic personal service.
The patient I am about to see is a typical case, a professional woman in her early 30's who does not want to leave starting her family any later and who came to us searching for trustworthy and discrete donor insemination. After a detailed but relaxed consultation and full examination by one of our gynaecologists, she eventually decided on a course of anonymous natural insemination as the most direct and suitable route to motherhood.
After showering and changing into a fresh theatre gown, I settle down to carefully trimming and filing my fingernails, removing any hard skin and working cleansing cream into my fingertips and hands while refreshing my memory with the patients file. I carefully note her sexual and reproductive history along with her questionnaire answers and finally I take a look at the gynos exam report. I notice from this that the patient has relatively small external genital features and a curved vagina that will not be ideal for my technique, so I will have to be especially careful and proceed cautiously.
As I walk through into the insemination room I can see that Senior Procedure Nurse Debbie Colinson and her nursing assistant Sandra have already prepared the patient. Sandra is just leaving for other duties, and gives me a knowing grin as she passes. I have worked with Debbie for several years and we have developed a mutual admiration for each others professional skills and become a very efficient team As usual Debbie is wearing a neat white uniform that reflects her reassuring manner with the patients and looks every inch the capable professional that she is.
I kick off my sandals and pad barefoot across the warm rubber floor of the insemination room which is a clinical tiled procedure area equipped with everything we might need for virtually all fertility treatments. The insemination couch is similar to the examination table used for internal exams but instead of stirrups for the patients feet there are adjustable pads and rests so that she may arranged in various positions to suit the practitioners needs. Knowing my methods well, Debbie has placed the patient kneeling on her front with her knees on the pads, her naked buttocks up in the air and thighs spread apart. The top half of the patient's body is hidden behind a small screen at the top of the couch and Debbie is standing talking to her in quiet reassuring tones.