WAITING AND WAITING...

Some big news: we did it! In other words, we inseminated! It happened a little earlier than we expected, but we're really happy and very nervous.

Rachel wasn't supposed to ovulate until the last part of the week, leaving us a window of time either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to inseminate. But earlier in the week, on Wednesday, she decided to go ahead and start using the predicter tests so we'd know exactly what was going on. She did this fully expecting a "negative", therefore she didn't pay much attention to the test results. She set the stick down on a table and hurriedly left for work.

Some time passed, maybe 15 minutes or so, and I walked by the table where the "positive" line on the stick caught my attention. I realized Rachel hadn't noticed the change as she left for work, so of course I had to let her know right away. I tried calling her cell phone -- no answer. I tried again and again -- no answer. So, I called the office where she works. I told the receptionist that I had a very urgent message -- to tell Rachel that "the line has changed" and she'd know exactly what it means.

Over at the school, the receptionist came over the intercom to Rachel's classroom and announced, "Ms. Roberts, Ms. Roberts -- I'm supposed to tell you 'the line has changed'!" hahahaha. So, Rachel called me in a panic but also very excited. We agreed that the doctor needed to be contacted, so I made my first call of what would become many, many exchanges between us and the doctor/staff.

It was determined that we'd need to come in on Friday for insemination. The only thing was, I still hadn't placed an order for the donor specimen or anything. I'd planned to do it late Wednesday so I could pick up the order on Thursday. So, I had to get on the ball and order right then. I placed our order and arranged to pick up the specimen on Thursday.

Fast forward to Thursday morning. Rachel wakes up, does another predicter test before leaving for work, and the test barely turns positive. In fact, the line was so faint that we thought it was giving us a negative reading. Rachel got really upset, but I assured her I'd take care of everything and all would be fine. A while later, she called me from work to say she was coming home. She was crying and was simply to worried and upset to stay at work. She said her gut was telling her to come home.

Rachel got home and we gathered up all the predictor sticks (we saved them, just in case we'd need them for the doctor) and headed over to the doctor's office. The nurse (and insemination coordinator) took a look at the tests and then our own personal charts. As it turns out, we'd mapped things out incorrectly and needed to do the insemination that day!

So, we left the doctor's office, drove 1 1/2 hours to Augusta to pick up the donor sperm, and then drove 1 1/2 hours back to Athens to make it happen. The whole morning Rachel had a lot of cramping, but as we approached the doctor's office from about 30 minutes away, the cramping stopped. She believes it was her egg doing its thing at the right time.

We arrived at the doctor's office and had to wait nervously for about 40 minutes while the specimen thawed. Talk about nerve-wrecking! Once in the treatment room, the doctor said everything looked great. We began procedure and the doctor let me inject the specimen through the syringe. That was kind of nice, but a bit uneventful and slightly disappointing. But it was still neat.

So, now the waiting game... we have a positive feeling about this, so wish us luck. I know a lot of people don't get pregnant the first time, but this just seems different somehow. We're trying to be realistic, however. We did have one thing come up and had a question, so we called the nurse/insemination coordinator. Her answer relieved us and she even said it was a "positive sign". So, let's hope it's true!

DONATIONS, DONATIONS! (OR FREELANCE OFFERS)

Now that we're officially in "trying" mode and looking to buy a new house, I'm in overdrive to earn as much money as possible to sock away into savings. We'll need it to help out with 2nd-parent adoption costs!

So... if you'd like to make a small (or large!) donation in our name, or if you'd like to hire me for freelance services (I build websites and draw/paint beautiful portraits), let me know! Just leave a comment below.

A VEGAN BABY FOR A VEGAN COUPLE

We mentioned in a previous post that we found out about a vegan couple who are giving their baby up for adoption. We'd thrown our name out there, even though we realized there was no chance of being picked since this couple was looking for another vegan couple to adopt.

The night we met our new friends, H and S, we learned that not only are they vegan, but they also want to adopt a child. Since they both met the obvious requirements of being an "alternative family" and being vegan, we passed the baby information along. To make a long story short, a month later now they are officially going through with this adoption.

I'm not sure to what degree I believe that "things happen for a reason", but going through this, it seems to be true. I mean, what are the chances? We find out about this kid who needs a home, then we meet them and help them get the ball rolling, and now they're going to have a new little baby in just four weeks. And, it's all happening within eight weeks total time.

Anyway, we are completely thrilled for our new friends and glad to be included in all of this. In fact, we're going over to their house on Saturday for dinner and to help paint the new nursery. How exciting!

Oh, and the great thing... when our baby comes along, we'll have access to all of their hand-me-downs!

MORE ON TELLING MOM

In addition to preparing for and having a baby, we're also looking to sell our house and move into another one. The whole thing has me stressed out beyond belief and I called my mother to blow off some steam. In the process, I let it out that we were preparing to have a baby. I gave no details as to when and where and how this would happen, but I at least put the thought out there.

I was waiting for a negative response and to get the whole "You know how I feel..." speech, but all she said was, "Well, that's a lifelong endeavor and I think you should think about it for a long time." My response -- "We HAVE thought about it for a long time!"