We might get insurance

We have had some good things happen and some bad things happen this past week. The bad is that I got laid off of my part-time job. It was the job that I was able to use the computer a lot so it is going to be a bit harder for me to post for the next couple weeks. The good news is that my wife got a part-time job and they are going to give her benefits!!! This means when we do get pregnant we might not have to come up with all the money like we thought we would!!! Yeah!!! The new job has been good for my wife because it keeps her busy and keeps her mind off the baby stuff all the time. Well, gotta run. I will keep you posted on how this month goes for us.

NY Clinic Uses Wrong Sperm

So, my fear of having the wrong sperm used in artificial insemination doesn't seem so silly anymore. A couple recently filed a malpractice lawsuit against a fertility clinic they went to because the baby they had, by way of IUI or in-vitro, is physically darker in color than both parents. The case is in court and the parents claim that they have done an at-home DNA test and two professional laboratory DNA tests and all three confirmed that the baby's DNA does not match the father's. It will be interesting to see what the judge rules on the case. So far the damages the couple are seeking have not been stated. If you would like to read the news article about this case CLICK HERE

Remodel and a Vacation

It has been a little while since I posted last. The wife and I are working on a little remodel for our living room. It is nice to have something to take your mind off the baby stuff for a while. My wife has been dying to paint an accent wall in our living room. I on the other hand have been trying to talk her into just leaving it the way it is...mostly because I don't want to do the work. Needless to say, the hormones kicked in and my wife won. So we bought some paint and painted the wall. Now this is where we should have stopped, but because we were in work mode we thought, "hey, while we're at it, why don't we strip the white paint off the brick fireplace." BIG MISTAKE! I don't understand why people paint brick in the first place, but here is a little advice: once it is painted, leave it that way. So now our quick little paint job and remodel has turned into a big long process and we are thinking about tearing the brick fireplace down and having a stone-work fireplace done. We have also decided that since we aren't "with child" yet, we might as well take a vacation. We booked a trip to Los Angeles and San Diego next month. It is great to have that to look forward to.

Sorry again that I didn't post for so long. I will be better about it, I promise!

Damn!

Sorry for the long wait, but we were tricked...and what a dirty trick it was. You see, normally my wife is able to tell a few days before her period that she is probably going to start. She usually has some early cramps and whatnot, but this month there was none of that. Everything was going great and we were thinking this was the real thing, but the damn period came. So now we are preparing for yet another long month and another try at the artificial insemination. We are also going to try the OV Watch. Some good friends let us borrow the watch because it worked for them on the first month!!! Basically, it is a watch that has sensors that touch the skin and determine ovulation based on ions in the skin's perspiration...at least that is what I understood of the instruction booklet. My wife will wear it every night when she sleeps and it will tell us 4 days in advance when she will ovulate. We think she is ovulating around day 17 or 18 and not on day 14. Hopefully this will be able to help us pinpoint ovulation.

And how could I possibly end this blog without mentioning how excited I am for another month of Clomid...whoopdeee freakin doo!

Waiting sucks

I decided waiting sucks...for everything in life, waiting sucks! This long period of time in which we just have to wait and see if we are pregnant is not fun at all, and by not fun at all, I mean it sucks. Think about it...waiting for a table at a restaurant, waiting for the bus, waiting for work to end, waiting for recess, waiting for your ship to come in, waiting for your slow internet connection to load, waiting on hold, waiting for the first sign of summer, waiting for the first snow, waiting for the paint to dry, waiting for your food to digest before you swim, waiting for the next episode of Grey's Anatomy, waiting to open Christmas presents, waiting for a stall to be available in the bathroom when you really have to go, any place that has a "waiting room", they are all crap. So as you can see we are still waiting to see if this is our lucky month.

Artificial Insemination

Well, I discovered that there are some benefits and disadvantages to having artificial insemination on a Sunday. The big benefit was that the clinic was technically closed and so it was only us and the doc, so my worries of having my semen sample mixed up with someone else's was solved. When the doc called us to tell us to meet him, it was kind of like a drug deal conversation...He said, "Meet me in the east parking lot at 5:45." He showed up a little late and apologized, he had been out skiing all day and didn't know exactly how long it would take him to get to the office. I could just picture him up on the slopes saying to his friends, "Well, this is going to be my last run for the day. I have to head to the office and inseminate a client really quick before heading home for dinner." We entered the clinic and that is when we discovered the big disadvantage. They don't keep the heat on during the weekends and it was freezing inside. So my poor wife had to lay on a cold bed in a cold room with no pants on. The actual insemination process was super quick and easy...I really think it could be done at home! So, now it is just a waiting game again. I will keep you all updated!

And then there was one

My wife has three good friends that she ran around with in high school. All of the girls are married now and we often get together with these couples for dinners, game nights, etc. Last month we found out that one of the girls was pregnant and this week we just found out that the other two girls are too. So now it is down to just my wife. In a perfect world it would only make sense that we would be the next to get pregnant...so lets just cross our fingers and hope that it is a perfect world, or at least a perfect month!

Going along with our "great" luck so far it just so happens that my wife ovulates over the weekend. So this means that the clinic is closed and we have to page the doctor and inconvenience him during his time off to come in and artificially inseminate my wife. This leads me to my next great idea, an at home artificial insemination kit. The doc said that it was a fairly easy and quick process, so if that is true why can't we just do it at home and save everyone the time and money?? The semen "washing process" sounds like they spin it to concentrate it...well everyone has access to a washing machine so we could put the sample in a sealed container and spin away. As far as the insemination goes, I have seen some pretty long turkey basters in my day! Problem solved!

The Wife is Sick

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. My wife has been sick. I wish it was morning sickness, but it isn't, it is just the flu. I have been pretty busy trying to get her better.

Today we will be calling in to make our appointment for artificial insemination. I think we will be scheduling it for this upcoming Sunday. We are praying that this will be the answer to our conception problems. If it doesn't work than we will probably have to take a break from the Clomid for at least a month. I think it will be nice for my wife to have a break from the crazy Clomid, it has really whacked her out. I have also heard that taking Clomid sometimes kick starts your ovaries so even when you don't take it you can still ovulate. It would be our luck that the month she doesn't take it we get pregnant.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Last night my wife and I went out for a nice romantic Valentine's Dinner. We ate things that I couldn't pronounce and often felt bad for eating because they looked so pretty on the plate. It was a wonderful five course meal and we enjoyed every bite!

Now, earlier that day my wife took her first Clomid pill for the month, so I was a little worried about the side effects kicking in during dinner. There was one close call when my wife saw another couple sitting near us and the woman was pregnant. My wife said she desperately wished she was pregnant and I could see that her tear ducts were just about ready to burst. I quietly told her, "Please don't cry. If people look over here and you are crying and aren't holding some small box full of expensive jewelry or something like that, than they are going to think I made you upset on Valentine's day and I am a real ass." I realize that wasn't the most sympathetic thing to say, but it seemed to work!

During dinner we talked about how not having a baby made it easy to go out and have such a nice long romantic evening. The funny thing is that we are really hoping that next Valentine's Day will be spent at home changing dirty diapers and eating a heart-shaped pizza!!

To Artificial Insemination and Beyond.....

So it sucks that my wife started her period. I had to do a late night run to the supermarket to get some tampons. The punk-ass teenager at the check stand looked at the tampons and then looked up at me and laughed while he said, "I hope these aren't for you." So, I looked him straight in the eye and replied, "Yeah, they are." I don't think he was expecting that reply because he got quiet and hurried and rang me up.

So now it looks like I will be chaperoning my semen through a nice cleansing process in a about 14 days. Artificial Insemination actually sounds a lot worse than what it is. The doctor told us that it is a quick process that is not really painful, just uncomfortable. Now, I don't have a vagina, but the thought of someone sticking a catheter up my imaginary vagina and squirting some semen in sounds pretty awkward, doesn't it. So I guess what I am saying is that I feel bad for my wife because she has to go through this, but if it could give us a child than she is up for it.