Columbus, Ohio

We went to Columbus this weekend. We met up with some friends, checked out neighborhoods with a realtor, and caught a OWU soccer game.

Now if I could just fit this sculpture in our living room...


In our suite, yep, that's a 40!


I got the full but brief campus tour on our way to the soccer game. This is the Ohio Wesleyan University chapel. I just love old campus buildings.


This sign humors me, perhaps more than it should. No people allowed here in Ohio!


Overall, it was a much nicer city than I expected. I really liked one of the areas, Arlington. Go figure. Currently it's on the bottom of the short list. Warning: list changes regularly;)

The Nitty Gritty

This is our morphed child! I found a website that morphs pictures of two people. While I did morph myself with Brad Pitt, this baby is actually the morph of Chris and I.


I asked for opinions (thank you to everyone who emailed, called, and posted), but then I realized I didn’t really give enough facts to support much of an opinion. First, when you look at the statistics between doing injectables, 15% chance of working, and IVF, 50% chance of working it seems obvious to do IVF. Here’s the zinger…

One round of injectables = $200
One round of IVF = ~$12,000

Nope, you read that right. The zeros are correct! It's certainly financially worth it to try the injectables again but I'm not sure it's emotionally woth it anymore.

Now, for the second…

As for adoption, contrary to what people believe, there are not an abundance of babies out there. There are however an abundance of children that need homes. Cost to adopt a baby in the US ~ $10,000-$20,000. Cost to adopt a child in the foster care system ~ 0. At this time we want a baby (figures, I always want what is more expensive;).

An adoption worker recently told me that many people give there babies to people who can not have a child and who do not already have a child. This makes sense because they what to feel as if they are giving a couple something they could never have otherwise. So, with that said, if we do have a baby through IVF we could still adopt afterwards for baby #2, but it is possible less birthmothers would choose us. Another thing I was told is that birthmothers often choose young couples and in the adoption world we are as young as it gets (the longer we wait the less young we get;).

Also, when you pay the adoption fees you will have a baby in the end vs. when you pay the IVF fees you may have a baby. What if we spend all of our money on IVF and it fails will we have enough to move on to adoption?? Truth be told, Chris and I would work overtime and find a way but it wouldn’t be ideal.

So, why not adopt now and do IVF later? Turns out women in their mid-30’s are considered senior citizens in the IF world. In other words, the younger you do IVF the better your odds.

Yep, we are pretty much screwed either way. We don’t want an only child. In fact, we have considered adopting a baby and then moving forth with IVF right away. We think once we have a baby then we will be less stressed about having a baby…make sense?

What I’d really like to do is move ahead with the adoption process while doing IVF. However, it appears that many agencies do not allow this. There thinking is that you still want a biological child but you will settle for an adopted one. Really, I just want a baby!

One of my biggest hesitations with adoption is that I will be sitting around helpless while we wait and I will go insane…no literally, insane. As I was recently reminded, patience is not a virtue of mine (thanks Summer). At least with IVF I will have many, many appointments and procedures and I will feel as if I am doing something. On the other hand, all the appointments with my job…man oh man.

Anyway, we have our consultation with our RE next Wednesday and the adoption orientation meeting a day later. While, I still believe we will move ahead with IVF we both want to explore our options. This is offically my longest post ever....

Decisions - Decisions

The decision of the moment is that we are moving towards IVF. I feel so much better after making any big decision....now if we could only decide where to start our family I'd feel even better. But, the fact of the matter is we have to figure out what the baby situation holds for us before we can move forward. To get even further into this tangent, we are visiting Columbus Ohio in about a week in an effort to come closer to this decision. I know, I know, you are thinking 'Columbus Ohio! What?'...well, Chris lived there for college and it's like his Austin (which, btw, we have already looked at).

I digress. Back to the decision made. Tomorrow I will make a consultation appointment with our RE. I reserve the right to change my mind after said consultation! In September we are also going to an adoption orientation at a local agency...just in case. Best case scenario, we get pregnant all natural the old fashion way this month!

what's a girl to do?

Not pregnant. Went to the doctor today. Have many cysts on both ovaries. Can't proceed with treatments this month. Sucks.

Option 1: Wait a month and proceed with injectable drugs. Pros: Cheap, easy. Cons: 15% chance of working. If treatment fails I will get more cysts and be forced to take November off too.

Option 2: Wait a month and initiate IVF protocol. Have IVF in November. Pros: 50% chance of working. Cons: $$, time.

Option 3: Screw all treatment plans and skip right to adoption. Pros: will likely have a baby as soon as or sooner than by giving birth. Not having to actually give birth. Cons: not being pregnant, $$, scary, no little Chris or Jenn faces.

When I got home from the doctors office I read a packet of information on adoption and thought everything sounded great. Then I read the packet on IVF and thought everything sounded great. I'm so confused! Can someone else tell me what to do? And it best not be 'just relax' or you may get hit.

At the beginning of all of this, Chris and I decided to try IF treatments until the end of this year. At which point we would start the adoption process. In addition, Chris finishes his chief year next June and we are in the process of deciding where to live. That deadline is also by the end of the year (we need several months to get work licenses, sell our house, buy a house, etc). If we move down the adoption path we kinda need to stay put. Talk about decisions! Seriously, someone help!

Happy # 2

We decided to celebrate our 2nd anniversary this weekend rather than on the actual day. Tuesdays just don't accommodate a good time quite as much as a weekend. So we started off with a day trip to DC. It is a two hour trip (three if you count the inevitable DC traffic). We started off visiting Union Station. We got married in a train station so it made perfect sense. We shopped and got a bite to eat.


The train station has a food court, a few restaurants, a shopping mall, and some great architectural details (though it's not as pretty as our train station).


We then headed to a DC United/ LA Galaxy game. It had been raining the entire time we were in town (hence the dreary picture above) and the soccer game would only be cancelled for lighting. Needless to say, I was not excited with the idea of standing in the lightningless rain. And Chris was not excited about having to deal with me standing in the rain! But I traded in my dress for shorts, a tee, and a pancho. In the car I said to Chris "I wish we had a little hand towel so we could occasionally dry our faces and hands" but no such luck. However, as soon as we stepped in the gate there was a man handing out free hand towels...it's like he read my mind! Then to make it even better, when we got to our seats we realized there was an overhang over our seats and we were protected from the rain...hallelujah!


The game was fun, it rained during the first half but not on us! It was my first professional soccer game complete with Beckham...can't beat that view;) However, I was a little disappointed at the DC crowds constant booing every time he got the ball...very rude. The score: 0/0. You would think those boys could shoot and score at least once!

See the blur in white? That's pretty boy.


We then ended our weekend Sunday with dinner at the Melting Pot. It is always rated the most romantic restaurant in Richmond. The food was better than I expected. We started with a cheese fondue. Then onto the main course. I had no idea we would be cooking our own meat (if you haven't been you get a plate of raw meat and cook it fondue style). Pretty neat. We had chicken, sirloin, steak, pork tenderloin, shrimp, and lobster tail (and of course some veggies).


But the best part was the dark chocolate fondue with oreos mixed in. MMMMM. Dippers: brownies, rice crispy treats, marshmallows, strawberries, bananas, and cheesecake! Could there be anything better? I think not. Well maybe him;) Happy Anniversary Baby!

It's Official

I can officially use the MSN title! School is over!

A couple days ago I walked into work. Walked straight to the fridge to drop my lunch off. I opened the fridge the door which caught my left great toenail and somehow managed to pull it up. Not off, but about 90% detached. Not that I looked. It was a bit (ok- VERY) painful and bloody. Fortunately the ER nurse a couple offices over was there to examine it. An hour later I was in the ER. After 6 (yes 6) shots in the toe they removed the nail. Then they trimmed it up and put it back on! Who knew? The doc said it would naturally come off in a couple days. The doc did not say that water would get underneath the nail, cause an infection, turn red, and be painful! So, my darling husband said take off the nail. Problem solved. I can't get it off! I think the water is causing my nail to suction to my foot and the infection is producing sticky stuff that is holding in on. Gross I know. The best part is my toe drips water at random.


Oh and as if I shots weren't enough, I had to get a tetanus shot. The shot itself was fine. However, the next day was a different story.

Onto the next medical story. After 5 days of follistim injections I had an ovarian ultrasound. Turns out I responded very well. They did a estrogen blood test and expected me to be around 200 or 300. Each 200-600 indicate a good egg. I was at 1300 (what can I say, Im an overachiever)! Before getting the results back I took another dose of follistim so who knows what my levels got up to. Since then I have taken a shot of Ovadrel (to make the eggs drop and be useful) and started a two week course of progesterone (to make a nice cozy environment for an embryo). This is the fist time in 9 months of treatment I have actually had productive results! Keep your fingers crossed;)

Lucky 21

I had an ultrasound today and the cyst is gone! Yea! Thank goodness because my body was rejecting the pill as evidenced by the many massive headaches over the last month. So, I start on injectables tomorrow and I have another ultrasound next week to make sure the drugs are working. We are approaching the 21st month of trying, but who's counting! Ever since I was a kid I have used 21 as my 'lucky number'. Growing up it was my bus number, Coach Wall was my bus driver, bet not many people remember this! Anyway, with that said it is bound to happen this month, right?

On another note, I passed my test! Woo hoo! I have a paper due this Friday and a class test next week then I will be officially done. That's all for now....