The Road to Motherhood: Part 3

Last week the baby making kit arrived in the mail; two boxes from a specialty pharmacy filled with four different types of hormonal drugs and lots of needles to go with them. Up until this point in my life I have had needle phobia and could not stomach the idea of having to inject myself ever, let alone once an maybe more times a day.

The first injection was the worst. I did as the nurse said, pinched my belly fat, put the needle on my skin and then wanted to throw up. I just couldn't do it. I called for Charles to help, but he was on a phone call and wouldn't be done soon. I was still pinching my skin. I started and stopped a couple more times, skin still pinched. Then finally I just turned away and plunged. Sure it stung and was ooogy, but I got passed it, although a bit light headed. And I left myself a vicious bruise that is still there four days later...whoops...dont pinch your skin for 15 mins unless you want bruises...mkay?

Now I am a pro.

Slight hesitation the second morning, but now it is a breeze not even slightly uncomfortable, and even better no marks :) I know the needle gauge gets bigger for the next shots, but at this point I say to my needle fear...Bring it! I no longer fear your steely prick.

So far so good. Not feeling any real adverse effects from the drugs either other than possibly being a bit more sluggish in the head than usual (couldn't manage to open a single door the right way the first time last week).

As we get closer to the retrieval and implantation in about 2 weeks, the reality that the journey I have been on for the last 5 years might actually pay off in motherhood excites and scares me. But I know now that it will happen and when it does I will have the added benefit of being able to tell my child how much they really were wanted, and even exactly how they were made. No embarrassing "mommy and daddy got naked" stories for our Baby G! Oh no more like "Once upon a time there was this lonely petri dish...."

The Road to Motherhood: Part 2

A separation. A chance re-meeting of a handsome friend of a friend. Long chats and the discovery that we both want to be parents (amongst other common interests), a romance ensues. My divorce. His divorce, a whirlwind romance and overseas move that left shocked family and some shattered friendships in its wake. But what came of it was a wonderful marriage to my current and final husband and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

But still parenthood was apparently not just a matter of finding the right partner and forgoing birth control. Oh no couldn't be that simple for us.

In June of 2009 Charles and I were married and immediately started trying. When three months passed with no luck I started using a hormonal monitor, to make sure we were getting our timing right. (FYI...this strategy does not make for very romantic evenings) Still no luck after nine months and not being a very patient person and having already passed my 30th birthday by this point, I decide to see a doctor.

Well turns out doctors will not treat for infertility until you have tried for over a year. They did some basic blood tests to confirm hormone levels but then sent me on my way to return when a year had passed. After the year had passed and we had moved back to the States I was right back in a doctors office looking for answers. What could possibly be wrong with me. Had I made all these life changing decisions only to find out the catalyst was never even possible for me?

More poking and prodding and tests, and the doc suggests while they are running me through the ringer, they may as well check out my husband too, since after all the male is the other 50% of the equation. (Which you think would mean they would start with both spouses from the get go, but apparently women need more testing? Doesn't make much sense to me other than society simply being used to placing all responsibility for reproduction on us for some many millenia).

Well turns out a hernia surgery several years before threw up a barrier for my sweet husband's little swimmers and try as they might, they simply could not get past to assist in all our efforts.

But finally we had an answer and along with it a solution! IVF which stands for Invitro Fertilization. We shall make this baby with science! HUZZAH!

Even better, thanks to Charles' outstanding medical coverage through his company, the procedure is covered, which means we will not have to choose between a house or a child. Sweet!

Poor Hubby had to go in for a surgery. I also had a few more uncomfortable tests and exams before insurance was ready to give the greenlight for our first round of IVF. But it will all be worth it when I finally have a positive result on a pregnancy test, we are so close.

The Road to Motherhood: Part 1

(A Disclaimer to my readers: the next few posts will be a departure from my usual sewing related fare, but I promise I will return to sewing projects as well. In fact I have been working on some things lately, I will update soon. So feel free to ignore the mother related posts as you see fit as the costuming posts will not cease.)

If you had asked me at 22 if I wanted to be a mother some day, I would have told you "No thanks. Dogs are more than enough for me. Children are for other people who don't mind missing out on all the fun that the world has to offer." I liked kids, I just liked handing them back to their parents when they cried or got dirty or broke something, etc. This was fine though and my boyfriend at the time agreed as well. We were content with a life of careers and work and dogs and friends and bars and travel. All of our hard earned money went to us and our even harder earned time went to doing what we wanted and not carting anyone else around. what maternal instincts I had went to raising too very spoiled and pampered husky mixes, my furbabies whom my parents even came to affectionately refer to as their grandchildren.

Fast forward about 4 years to 26. That boyfriend was now a fiancee the dogs were no longer puppies and that biological clock started ticking.

Now I always thought the idea of the "biological clock" was a load of horse s*** created by society to guilt women of breeding age to just stop fooling around and do their biological duty already. But turns out there is some basis of truth to the old adage...not that we have to have children, but that your body may start producing hormones that sure make you want them. I still remember the first major sign that something was changing. I was walking through a store (either Homedepot or JoAnns since that is where my crafting and improvement led me most days) and a woman passed with a child of probably about 18 months in her arms, and my entire being cried out for that child. I am not kidding. there was no logical explanation for it, but I suddenly felt a physical ache in my heart and breasts and loins for a child. I had never felt anything like it before, but if yearning could be put in an IV and be flushed through my body like a drug in a hospital, that is exactly what this would be like.

I did my best to try and ignore that incident as a one time freak occurrence as my soon to be husband and I had agreed back when I was 22 that we never wanted children and would never have any as an agreement of our relationship, I had surly did not see any ticking clocks around him. But unfortunately it was not a one time occurrence, and as more and more of my friends started having children around me and I started noticing the others in various stages of growing up, I started to seriously re-think my stance on motherhood. Maybe I was missing something.

It started becoming more than just the hormones, and I started seeing places where dogs could not do what a child could. Didn't I want to raise someone that I would not be guaranteed to have to watch pass in under fifteen years? Didn't I want someone around who might look back at me with my same face, but with a mind completely of their own? Didn't I want to relive those Firsts of discovery of the greatest things in life through another person? My first time at a live play. Chasing and catching fireflies on a warm summer night. Backyard camp outs. Dance classes/ sports/ favorite books, etc. I have life lessons to teach and extra love to give and suddenly career and husband and dogs and hobbies, just don't seem to be enough anymore.

This was unfortunately not a good thing for my marriage. I foolishly told myself that maybe, just maybe I could start explaining these things to my partner and eventually he too would have this revelation that I did. That was not the case. We had a few discussions and for a while I thought he was coming around, but then a clear point would be made such as a firm "No" when I looked at him once whilst holding a friend's baby in my arms. It became clear that despite being newly married I was going to have to make a choice between motherhood and my partner and best friend of six plus years.

I chose motherhood.

But of course it was still not that easy.