Unwelcome Distraction

I’m back in the land of little to no internet access. My cousin died yesterday. They aren’t sure why and we’re awaiting autopsy results. She was only 15 months older than me. It’s really upsetting. I should be down here until at least Friday. I have found that trips or vacations help the insanity of the TWW. Unfortunately R is at home with the furry kids being tempted by the sticks! She’s not allowed to POAS until I get home. That doesn’t mean she won’t.

Moving and much more

I’ve decided to put off graduate school for one year. I need to work and save up some money. Also, assuming that R gets pregnant in the next few months, I didn’t think a newborn during my first year of graduate school was a good idea. We will probably be moving by the end of the summer. There aren’t really any jobs in my field in our area and I need to be closer to an actual city. We really wanted to move out to CA, but there’s no way we can afford to move across the country right now. Being unemployed for the past 4 months ate up any savings that we had and we don’t want to go into debt while TTC. The two cities in the running are Pittsburgh, PA and Raleigh, NC. We used to live in Pittsburgh. It’s where we were living when we first met. R was a student at Pitt and I went to CMU. We’d love to go back there. We have a friend in Pittsburgh that has an apartment but really wants to get a house but can’t afford it on her own. She really wants us to move in with her even though she knows we’re TTC. I’ve applied for 3 jobs in Pittsburgh. As for NC, my family really wants me closer. My dad has offered pay to move us down there if we can find jobs. A very tempting offer. I’ve applied for 14 jobs in the Raleigh area. The odds are in NC’s favor. There are just more jobs for me there and I don’t know about living with someone with a baby. There I go making decisions based on a nonexistent child again, just trying to think ahead.

Does anyone want to weigh in for or against either city? I don’t know too much about the GLBT community in Raleigh. It’s close to where I grew up, but a much larger city than my hometown. I also haven’t lived in NC in years so I don’t know if things are still as bad as they used to be. I don’t know how long we’d be down there but I have to start thinking about how our future child will be treated at school once it gets out that they have two mommies.

Just to complicate things R just got a call today for a 2nd interview for a job she really wants and is a little bummed that we may have to move. She’s still going to the interview but knows she may not be able to take the job if it’s offered to her. There is only one job in my field within 50 miles of our house and I don’t want it. I know it pays well but I didn’t go to college to wash dishes (laboratory glassware) for a living.

My internship is going well. The prof that I’m working for is a lot of fun and a great teacher. I am also working with one other student so I don’t get too lonely in the lab. I do miss the sun though. There aren’t any windows in the lab or the instrument room. We’re trying to develop a nanosensor to detect pesticides but so far all I have done is spend three days shopping for chemicals. The enzyme we were looking for was back-ordered until November so we basically had to redesign a portion of the project to work with an enzyme we could get our hands on. Not too exciting yet, but I get to work with instruments (SEM & AFM) that I haven’t ever used before since they usually don’t let undergrads touch them (they’re really expensive). I’m also learning new techniques. There’s also the possibility that, as long as we get good results, we could be published once it is all said and done.

Not too optimistic

We’re not all that optimistic about this try. R just got a positive OPK today & has loads of EWCM. That means that the swimmers would have to be alive for 4 days to do the job. We knew it was a long stretch when we tried, but since we were so close to our donor somewhat near ovulation we had to give it a go. Maybe this is what we need, lack of optimism. The other times we were certain that our timing was perfect but nothing ever happened.Who knows, we’re not too excited. I’ve already started trying to plan our next try. We really want our donor to visit us this time. He just got his first real job and is still living with the ‘rents so he has MUCH more expendable income than we do. I think I can sweet talk his boss into giving him a few days off. He works for the family business, so the boss is our Papa. I’m the first born and, as much as I don’t want to admit it and we really get on each other’s nerves, I’m still a daddy’s girl.

The meeting of our families went so well that my family is talking about taking their annual vacation up here this year. My dad is a hardcore rεdnεck C1v1l War buff (recreations and all, Southerners just want to keep fighting that war) and wants to tour Gεttysburg and see some of the historical sites in the area. Maybe the whole family will come up and the timing will be perfect for our next try. If there’s a next try and I’m completely convinced that there will be.

Our donor wants us to be a bit more secretive with his identity (oops, maybe he should have told us that a year ago) so some of my future posts about him will be password protected. I think I’m going to go back and password protect any previous posts about him too so contact me for a password if you’re interested.

We’re back

We insemmed at 9 pm last night and waited an hour before we got in the car to drive home. We left about 9 hours ago and just pulled in the driveway. I hate driving all night. We were supposed to leave much much earlier but we couldn’t work it out with our donor to get a sample in the morning before work so we waited until dinner and family things settled down.

Will update more later. I need a nap before the first day of my internship.

Headed Home

R and I will be driving south tonight. We’re visiting with family and then will be meeting up with our donor on Sunday. Technically it will be too early to insem, but we want to go ahead and give it a try. If you believe the whole “fresh spεrm can live for 5 days” thing we might be OK. We know it’s a reeeeeaaaaaaallllly long shot, but we figured since we’re near our donor we should go ahead and throw some swimmers up there. The whole point of this cycle was to see of the Cl0mid would work so an insem is a bonus. I talked to our donor tonight and he says he will definitely be able to visit next month.

R is on day 2 of Cl0mid. No noticeable side effects (yet?).

I am officially an unemployed college graduate. I got a job working with one of my professors for 8 weeks this summer. At least I can put off getting a real job. The meeting of the families went well. Our grandmothers got along. My crazy family members all behaved themselves and it was a success!

There’s not a reliable internet connection where we’re going. Have I ever mentioned that my family lives in the middle of nowhere? I’ll update on Monday when I get home from work.

Rant Withdrawn

Looks like I ranted too early. Spotting tonight, should be full on AF tomorrow. Still doesn’t mean our timing next weekend will be any good, but we’re going to try to get our donor to come visit us the week after. It looks like we’re in for a May insem after all!

I hate being told…

not to worry & that I need to be patient. Worrying is what I do best! R called the nurse at our RE’s office and let them know that stopped the pr0gesterone one week ago today and still hasn’t gotten her period. The nurse said that it can take up to 3 weeks to get a pd after stopping the pr0gesterone. That’s something I’ve never heard before. I’ve been on pr0gesterone to give myself a cycle for 4 years and the longest it’s ever taken me was 4 days. Granted I’m on a higher dose than R and take it for 4 more days, but still! We were hoping to insem when we were in my hometown (near our donor) next weekend, but even if AF shows up in the next few days it will be way too early for an insem. Maybe we can convince our donor to come visit in a few weeks. Who knows, he may just say yes. He will be an unemployed college graduate by then so there’s a chance. I should have known our first medicated cycle wouldn’t go that well. R has Cl0mid and she just wants to use it!

On the job front, I have one. It’s not really a job though. It’s a paid internship for the first two months of the summer. One of my professors got a grant for her research and has enough money left over to pay 2 students to work with her. It doesn’t pay anything close to what I was getting at BBV. At least I’m doing something in my field and I’m learning two instrumental techniques that I never used during my undergrad career. I can look for another job while I’m working on campus.

Speaking of campus, I have 2 more days. I have 3 lab rewrites to do tonight & take the MFAT tomorrow and I am done with all my undergraduate work. I have to pick up R’s brother at the airport tomorrow afternoon between my exam and graduation practice. I’m really glad he’s coming up. He is hilarious! I wish his boyfriend could have come with him but he’s in a show that closes this weekend. The rest of R’s family live in the area. My family will be showing up around 5am Saturday. They’re attending my brother’s graduation Friday evening at 7 and are driving up as soon as it’s over. We have the cookout after my graduation where the families will meet. Hopefully all goes well. I’m more nervous about that than I am about my last exam.

No AF

R finished her pr0gesterone on Thursday. Expected to see AF by Sunday and still no AF! She’ll be starting Cl0mid on days 5-9 if she ever starts to bleed. We will be visiting our donor the 16th – 21st so hopefully the timing is good.

In school world, I have successfully defended my thesis. It has been submitted. I have the first of two finals tomorrow and one more lab report to do. On Friday I take the MFATs (major field assessment test) and then I’m done! Graduation is Saturday and the whole family (minus my brother who will be graduating the same day) will be here. It’s the first time my whole family will be meeting R’s whole family. Her mom has met my dad, mom, step-mom, and siblings. My mom has also met one of her brothers & grandparents, but this is the first time all of the extended families will meet. We’ll see how it goes…