Since I got married last May, my husband and I didn’t begin trying to have a baby till a year later. But due to my eagerness or whatever, it still hasn’t happened yet, so I went and got some exams done, one of which is Hystero Salpingography (HSG).
Maybe I didn't do enough research before I went for it, but this is how it went down:
They sanitized all my private area, inside and out. Then they stick a balloon like thing into your vagina, that's when you'll feel the soreness and pain. When it's inflated, it hurts and sores even more, like REALLY bad cramps. Then they'll start injecting the dye into your vagina and ask you to turn left and right while they take footage of your Fallopian tubes and all that. All of which was bearable pain for me. Last, you wait for another 10 minutes before they take another X-ray of your lower abdomen.
Then, the nurse came in and told me that I should stick around in the lobby area, get breakfast and wait and see how I feel. If it gets too uncomfortable (aka painful) go to the emergency room immediately. Ok, that's when I got a bit scared but skeptical, I mean, I feel ok now, how much worse can it be? I was utterly mistaken.
The moment I walked out of the examining room, the cramps started to increase with every step. After I changed back to my normal clothes, the pain had doubled. Ignorant as I was, I thought getting at coffee at the hospital convenience store would help stop the pain, so I walked over and ordered my coffee. This 5 min of interaction felt like 5 hours because I started seeing white light, my ears started ringing and even though I couldn't remember how painful my cramps were, my body was getting cold from the outside as if someone wrapped me up with an icy blanket, then everything around me was turning fuzzy.
I got my coffee, the feeling of puking and passing out increased as I made my way towards the rows of chairs in the lobby. I finally made it, collapsed on my chair, my head in my hands, trying to get some blood flow into my brain while this 2-year-old kid is screaming her head off because her dad was teasing her. I had a sudden reminder of why I’m doing this and if everything is worth it. But was quickly distracted by the deadly cramps and thought to myself “If giving birth is worse than this…oh shiiiiiiit, I’m about to pass out!!!!!!” Within the 20 mins I just sat there, my back was soaked, neck was dripping with sweat, goosebumps starting to appear on my arms, in short, I was a hot (cold) mess. Meanwhile, I had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad. 
Looked around to find the closest restroom I finally mustered up enough strength to go to there. Got into the first cubicle and that was it, I wasn’t coming out.
There was a fear that I might be bleeding too, but alas, it was only the iodine that sanitized me that stained the pad. (too much info?) Tried to distract myself by chatting with my husband, telling him that no one should be doing this exam by themselves, hence I’m writing it down. Chat with my sister who’s bored at work as always. Hope that she doesn’t have to go through this when she wants a baby. Then slowly, I felt better.
I’m not sure what is there to learn, but definitely seeing all the sick and dying people in the hospital, and being in pain really puts life into perspective for me that I always seem to forget and tend to dwell on the tiniest, stupidest insecurities in life that I have no control over all the time and making me feel sad. Pain is good, that’s all I have to say. So yeah, can I have a baby or two already?
