Bébé Maybe

We have a date!! Our egg retrieval and transfer will, if all things go well, be the last week of July. So far this week, I have -printed, signed, and scanned at least 10 different consent forms about various parts of the process (one involving a notary) -done an hour-long online training about the process and all of its risks -ordered, paid for, and scheduled delivery of my IVF medications -transferred a needed medical record -spent hours watching videos and reading about other women's IVF experiences -stocked up on IVF supplies (heating pads, ice packs, and more) There's probably more. I've felt very busy. I'm so happy the timing is working out so that I'm not working right now! Since Monday I've had a really hard time focusing on anything else. I've even had a hard time reading, which is normally a good escape. My feelings have alternated between feeling hopeful and happy that things are FINALLY progressing and nerves abou...

The title reminds me of How I Met Your Mother- Barney Stinson celebrated Not a Father's Day lol. People are weird about Mother's Day. I understand that for women who wish they had children but don't (like me), it can kind of suck. I can also understand that it could be a hard day for people who didn't have good moms (not me). The most humorous thing I've ever heard is that some moms think it's hard because it makes them feel pressured or like they're not good enough moms. I'm calling First World Problem Syndrome on that one. No one is a perfect mom, or human. Just sit back and relax and accept the homemade cards and breakfast in bed without making it into a pity party because your loved ones are celebrating you. Mother's Day has never been that bad for me because I've always thought of it as just celebrating my mom. I guess it would be harder if other people had kids in our family, but I only have one sister and she doesn't have kids...

We've made some progress! In infertility world, that's a big deal! In the last couple of weeks I made 2 trips to the Gurnee clinic. It's only an hour away but it felt like a road trip. These days I hardly drive my car to the grocery store. I don't even know where my keys are. Visit #1 was to do some blood tests and an ultrasound. I was stressed about the ultrasound. It was to do a follicle count. Typically every month you have a certain number of follicles, and only one matures into an egg. When you do IVF, you take medication that forces all of the follicles to mature. Then you have a surgical procedure to take out as many eggs as possible. The more eggs, the better the chance that IVF will be successful. Counting the number of follicles you have during a normal cycle can predict how successful IVF will be, and how much medication you will need. Since I had a blood test last year that suggested I don't have as many eggs as the average woman my age, I ...

I have honestly felt pretty happy lately. I like not working full-time and having more time for things I enjoy. I've been doing lots of reading, writing, picture projects (scrapbooking, organizing old pictures), and walks around the neighborhood listening to podcasts. I also like spending more time with David. And always getting enough sleep! My alarm for work used to go off at 5:40am. Now every day when I wake up (usually around 7:00), I am fully charged and relaxed. Yesterday, however, I was feeling some annoying waves of pessimism. An online meeting was scheduled for all of the aides at school. Pessimist me wondered if they were going to stop paying us. Instead, they want us to be more involved. And the meeting started with the principal holding me up and an example and praising me because I have already been helping a student. Why is my inclination to always assume the worst??? The scarier thing that I've been feeling pessimistic about is an upcoming test at th...

I've never really been someone to just let things go. I always need to know the WHY. So today I feel like wondering about the 'why.' Specifically, why are we going through this? And why do I feel like I can't tell anyone about it? Over the years we have come up with lots of (sometimes rather depressing theories) about why this was happening to us. -As a punishment (this is something we both periodically torture ourselves with... maybe because I did this, this is happening, etc.) -Because for the most part we've had healthy, happy lives... and everyone needs to have trials in life in order to grow from them -Because it will make us better parents in the long run... after going through so much to have kids, it changes your whole perspective about appreciating your children as miracles and blessings -Maybe our kid/kids will be really difficult or sick or disabled.... and by going through this trial it would help us see the positive in even having any chi...

Well, unfortunately the pandemic itself has not improved. It's only gotten worse. I don't think anyone (besides maybe a few really smart epidemiologists?) ever thought the whole world could shut down over a disease. In other news, I feel like we did make a tiny bit of progress on our journey. We met online with a doctor from the other clinic we were considering. It's never a fun process to slowly go over all of your myriad health issues that could prevent you from having children. I did NOT enjoy being reminded of all of that all at once. Wow, we are messed up. The first bit of good news is that this doctor seemed very knowledgable about our specific situations. She seemed to have experience treating the things we're dealing with, and already had a plan to adapt our treatment accordingly. I really like the other clinic because they're very nice and only 5 minutes from my house, but there was no plan in place to change any protocols to fit our unique issue...

Really??? After over 3 years, we finally came close enough to actually getting treatment that we could almost see it, almost be happy about it. And then some idiot in China ate a bat, and now who knows if we can ever even have kids. I swear, if that is the reason this never happens... Well, a lot has changed in a week. Literally the entire world is shut down. Schools, restaurants, stores, everything is closed. Indefinitely. That's the part that kills me, the fact that there is no end date. I get that no one can predict when it will be safe to reopen, but that just kills any tiny ounce of hope that I had left. We were already considering looking into doing our IVF cycle at a different clinic, and I was thrilled to see that they were just about the only fertility still open during Corona panic time. Our main concern about exploring this one as an option was the location- it's an hour away. But since I'm not working right now, that doesn't matter anymore. It s...