A Ready Egg & Real Estate February 27, 2008

Today is CD19. I definitely thought I would be in the TWW right now. I had predicted that I would ovulate early.  As I wrote last post, I’ve been mainly basing our inseminations on CF/CM, only using OPK’s sporatically because of the negatives I’ve been receiving, OVER AND OVER. Not only didn’t I ovulate early, I also am now going to ovulate LATE.  I’ve had EWCM for several days.  I figure that means I’m at least in the “fertile window”, so we’ve been calling our donor up often.  We’ve done 3 inseminations in less than a week (yeah, I’ve gotten A LOT of action lately!).  We did them on CD14, CD15 & CD17.  I’d been waiting for Fertility Friend to show ovulation, or a dip in temperature to tell me that O was at least coming soon.  ANYTHING to show me our inseminations weren’t for nothing.  This morning, glancing at my boring chart, I was starting to wonder whether or not this was going to be an anovulatory month.  My temps have been hovering around 97.71 for the last four or five days.  No major dip, no spike.

This morning, around 11:30am, I pulled out what I’d hoped would be our lucky charm, the Clearblue Easy Digital OPK.  I was expecting the empty circle, but surprisingly saw a dark (and beautiful I might add) smiley face gleaming back at me.  In the past, with the cheapy OPK’s I’ve used, I’ve squinted and debated whether the test line was as dark or darker then the control line.  No guesswork involved this time!  I was so excited, that I actually ran to show K.  I excitedly told our donor about the smiley, and asked if he would mind helping us out (again) for a 4th time this month (AND in the last week!).  He is such a good guy.  He said it was ‘no problem at all’, and just to call him when we knew what time we would be by his place tonight.  I thought that by the fourth time in a week, he’d be so completely unmotivated! Not so at all.  So, as cheesy as it sounds, today I am full of hope.  Tonight’s insemination will be perfectly timed.  I know we only have a 1/5 chance, even with the timing being perfect, but I can’t help but feel like this may be it.  That smiley was my good luck charm (at least, this is what I’m telling myself).

In other good news, K and I just reserved a brand new condo unit being built in downtown Richmond.  We decided against the other house.  Although we loved it, we didn’t think the area would have been ideal for raising a child.  A safe area is number one in our criteria.  I’ve posted a picture of the condo units below (a sketch of what it will look like, as it’s still in the building stage right now) and also a picture of what they ideally see for the kitchen.  The other wall with all the cabinetry will probably not be included….but that’s a general idea of what the kitchen will look like.  They are estimating a June completion date.  It is adorable.  It’s being designed very Euro-style – clean lines, white and with open space.  It is smaller, sq footage-wise, but we feel that it will perfect for us and our future little one.  We won’t have a yard to worry about (gardening is probably my LEAST favourite thing to do, although I admire those who do it!) and we will be in a safe, secure building with a buzzer system.  We are going to be on the 3rd floor, on the right end (next to an awesome exposed brick façade).  It will be quiet, with no one above us, or to the right.  We are honestly so excited; this smaller place will be cozy and warm and it will make us pare down to only what we really need.  (This won’t be difficult for K, but I’m a bit more of the pack rat of the bunch.  I still have a blanket from when I was 7.  It’s been through many years of being dragged through grass, used as a play toy by the dogs, and a very long winter left out in the cold, frozen in our pond when I was a child.  We had to get it out with an axe!).

The condo is one block from a park with a tot area and our building is in between two major universities.  We met the developer and selling agent yesterday and he was giving us ideas of what he wanted to do for the interior of each unit.  He has decided against carpeting (yay!) and is going with a new no-seam European vinyl flooring (great for the pups!).  We gave our reservation deposit today for the unit we want.  Can’t wait for June!  Wow, that was a long blurb. Are you still with me?

I’ve posted my chart for today.  I don’t know why my temps have been so similar every day for the last little while, but hopefully tomorrow or Friday they’ll start climbing right on up to show ovulation!

 

Life is Peachy February 22, 2008

We had an early-in-to-work day today. 4am. BUT, that also led to an early-out-of-work day, or rather, early-to-leave-work day. If that makes sense. That sounded more confusing then it should have. So, K was feeling much better today – aside from being tired from the early morning. We had a great-tasting lunch (unfortunately with terrible service) at O’Charley’s. We called our donor up, and arranged for a early-afternoon “deposit”. I wasn’t really expecting us to insem this afternoon. I was thinking it would be this evening. So, we’re on our way home from work, early. I wasn’t really prepared. I didn’t have my pre-seed to give our donor, and I’d left the sterile collection cup in the bathroom. Before realizing it, we found ourselves asking the server… “Could you possibly get us a large to-go container – WITH A LID? Oh, and just empty please? And plastic?” We walked out with a styrofoam soup container. Hey, it still got the job done people!

So, I am now blissfully in bed. Did the hips-elevated-thing for 20 mins or so. I have a piece of delicious chocolate cake beside me (the way I figure it….I’m just trying to make my body as HAPPY as humanly possible right now! Sex + chocolate + warm blankets + movies. That must increase chances of getting pregnant, right? I feel like I may be trying to convince myself of this.) My girl is snoozing and I’m watching “The Jane Austen Book Club”. . . . I think I see some lesbian characters here!

I renewed my Fertility Friend membership. I had let it go for 3 days….and couldn’t stand not having the VIP features. I’m such a sucker. Makes me feel like I’m doing something to increase our chances of success. Also, I just really like having other girls to obsess with! So, I’ve posted my chart on the bottom … I still struggle with “reading” it though! I’ve just been sort of guessing about when we should insem by my CM/CF. Thanks again to fellow Richmonder Notes From Two Moms for the help you gave us! Also, I wouldn’t have thought you were creepy! Ha! But, we probably wouldn’t have been here We’ll definitely have to get together soon!

We are thinking we’ll insem tomorrow and Sunday, depending on OPK results, FF, and CM/CF. Our donor is very willing to “help us out” 3 days in a row, so why not, right?

Posted another song, “Peachy”, below for you guys, and especially Sarah, who loved Missy Higgins as well!

K and I are going out for dinner and drinks tonight with a big group of friends, and are just lovingly embracing this weekend. So glad we’re trying again this month; the possibility of what could come of it is actually pretty exciting. AND NOW, back to the cake.

Where I Stood February 21, 2008

CD 13 today.  EWCM.  We were going to insem tonight, but K is sick in bed….so, we’ve decided to pass.  We’ll see how CM/CF is tomorrow.  My guess is that it will still be good.  I think we’re gearing up for another CD15 ovulation.  How odd! We shall see though! Most likely will be insemming tomorrow night!

Thanks again to Lynn for helping me out with Fireworks! Here are a few of the shots I’ve played around with (the first 3 of the dogs, the last one is one of my good friends eating dippin’dots ice cream):

I’ll post a video soon of our singing beagles, but for now, I leave you with an awesome song by Australian singer Missy Higgins – Love her stuff!

I’m Still Alive February 15, 2008

I’ve been lacking in the blogging department. It’s bordering on neglect. I know. I realized this several days ago, but didn’t have anything blog-worthy to write about. I feel like life is just rolling along, day by day, and nothing overly interesting is happening in our lives. I’ve missed checking on all of you. Thanks to the girls who asked how we were doing. I haven’t forgotten about you all!! We have just been so darn busy at work; we get home exhausted. By the end of the day, I just haven’t even had the energy to be on the computer. Karli had to fire a screenprinter at the shop this week, and hire and train a new guy. We’ve had early mornings into work. One day this week we even went in at 2:30am (the usual time is 9am!). It’s sort of been going like this: 1)Go to work 2)Come home 3)Sleep 4) Repeat. I promise I’ll come and check on you guys soon. I am hoping you guys are having great luck in the TTC dept.

AF came and went (thankfully). Tomorrow will be CD8. I’ll start doing the OPKing in 2 days. We WILL NOT miss our fertile window this time, that is for sure. We just want it to work…. and it’s hard to realize that this just may take a long time. I know you guys know how it goes all too well– especially those who have been trying and trying for months, maybe even years to get your baby. Non TTC-ers we’ve spoken with about our plans just assume it will work instantly because we’re in our mid-twenties. Not always the case people! I want to limit the number of people we tell for that reason … I just don’t feel like I can deal with “no….it didn’t work this month”. I imagine months of that could become emotionally draining. It sucked after one month! I’m trying to just be excited for this next cycle and not nervous and dreading the wait. I know this is beyond our control at this point. We have let our donor know that we will need him 3 days in a row. Day before ovulation, day of, and day after. I’ve been contemplating just doing insems whenever I have EWCM, but will most likely just stick with the OPK plan. If I ovulate early this month (CD15ish) that will fall on next Saturday. One week from tomorrow. I AM excited. I just want this so badly. And only you girls know where we’re coming from!

I hope you all had a nice Valentine’s Day and have an awesome weekend. Hopefully, if you’re in the TWW, it’s going by quickly for you and this will be your last one for a long time! I just want this blogging community to be a big lesbian TTC success story. I want this is just work, for all of us. Is that too much to ask? I’m hopeful.

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Responding now to Nashville Liz, who commented on my last post and asked a few questions:

First off, thanks for stopping by and good luck on the TTC road! I hope it happens quickly, and with as little effort as possible for you!!!

1) Thanks for the congrats on our engagement! Also, yes, it’s crazy where we met, and it was GREATLY TESTED indeed. That’s the understatement of the century!

2) Curiosity about home inseminations – do you have to have a special “sperm shooter”? Do you use a turkey baster??
No special sperm shooter! Just an oral syringe (like one for children’s cold medicine). The turkey baster would get the sperm caught up in the ball end of it, and it would be wasted in the process. You just draw up the small amount of sperm in the syringe, insert in, inject, and lay still!!! It has to swim, just like in a heterosexual relationship!!!!

3) a. Is our sperm donor being compensated??
Actually, No!!! Our donor is doing this out of the goodness of his own heart!!! No monetary gain whatsoever. He’s just “helping us out”. But, don’t get me wrong, we make it worth his while – we get him lots of gifts too, just to show him HOW much we appreciate what he’s doing for us. It is an unbelievable gift.

b. Will we still be doing periodic STD screens?
Yes! We will more than likely do one next month (one every 3 months). He always practices safe sex.

4)Screenprinting sounds cool; do you design your own stuff?
Thanks! Screenprinting IS a lot of fun! We have designed some of our own stuff in the past, just for kicks. The customers usually have pre-created logos, or have an idea of what they want. We then help them along with the process – making their ideas come to life on a t-shirt!!! My girlfriend has great artistic ideas and we have some friends that are in the design field – so we have lots of fun creating things just for ourselves or friends!! I’m actually looking at starting a baby clothing line later this year and selling them online

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We are going to a pet expo tomorrow with our beagles, so maybe I’ll post some pictures from that next week. We always enter them into a contest for their singing. Nerdy, yes, but fun. We’re catching The L Word again on Sunday – whole lotta drama there of course – it’s TV – but, you can’t NOT watch it. Ya still gotta love it. Or, at least, I do. Other than that, we’ll be enjoying a little down-time this weekend.

Last, but not least – below is what happened to my glasses a few days ago. It was TIME to get rid of them. The prescription was old, the style outdated, not to mention our youngest beagle decided to make the ear pieces her chew toy a few years back:

And, my new ones – a vast improvement, wouldn’t you agree? (Many apologies for my lack-of-makeup)

The One That Got Away February 3, 2008

K is laying down watching the Superbowl. I’ve tried to get interested in football, but I can’t. It’s against my nature. I just don’t understand why guys just want to run into each other. Plus, all that starting and stopping of the game, drives me crazy. So, with a few minutes on the computer, I thought I’d write. I haven’t blogged in a few days. It was too depressing really. My body, as I had thought, ovulated EARLY. Since I normally ovulate CD18 or CD20, I was only using one OPK per day on CD12-15. Not smart on my part. I did the usual POAS early in the morning on CD15, saw a faint line, and discarded it as NEGATIVE. I didn’t use an OPK for the rest of the day. The following morning, I did the same thing and saw NO LINE this time. Hmm. I didn’t even think at the time that I may have missed the surge and should do an insem ASAP… no, I just kept thinking that I would get a dark OPK test line around CD 18, or closer to it. I mean this was way early for me. I kept waiting, and that dark line never came. Fertility Friend confirmed my ovulation on CD15. It’s so frustrating. Of course my body had to throw a curve ball at me this cycle, when we were so ready to try again. So, now we really have nothing to do but wait. I’m 8DPO today. At least I don’t have my mind telling me that these “symptoms” mean I’m pregnant. Funny how I just shrug off the weird things that go on with my body when I’m not in the TWW like they’re nothing at all. My brother (who has no idea that we are TTC) just emailed me and told me that he and my sister-in-law are pregnant and due in September. I’m truly happy for them (no sarcasm here at all, for real), it’s just typical that life would throw that at me on the day I find out we just missed our chance!! I think God has a sense of humour. Ahh, this TTC timing though…! It’s enough to make you crazy. Alas, we are getting through it and waiting waiting waiting for the next cycle. We are just so ready. Sometimes it’s hard to be patient. I am out of the city for this week, house-sitting at a friends place with our 3 beagles and watching their 2 big doggies. It’s a nice distraction right now. Just what I needed to take my mind off the TTC stress. We haven’t put a contract on the house yet. We’re not sure what we’re going to do. We found another house that may work out better, so for now, we’re holding off until we feel 100% about what we’re doing. Hoping you all had a great weekend, football or no football, and are having lots of luck in the TTC dept.