Tuesday, April 13, 2010

forever learning on our journey to become parents

The waiting continues. Our attorney went on spring break so it took longer for her to draft the agreement and there are still a few blanks to be filled in.

Little did we know we would be faced with questions such as who will get the embryos should my husband and I get a divorce. Not really something we'd given any thought to before now.

In addition to our legal agreement with the donors, we also have a legal agreement with the lab where the embryos will be kept.

Who knew?

Nothing about our journey has been easy, yet I'm still surprised when something takes longer, doesn't happen when I think it should, etc.

One of my friends is really concerned about me being pregnant at my age. I tried to explain that a large part of the risk of being pregnant at my age has to do with the old age of the eggs. I am not getting pregnant with my old eggs, I am getting pregnant with 33-year-old eggs that have already been screened before they were fertilized. Therefore, a lot of the risk has been removed. Yes, there is still some risk when one is of "advanced maternal age," but it is significantly lower when using donor embryo created with the eggs of a 33-year-old woman.

I have been on prenatal vitamins for 11 years now, so I'm well prepared in that respect! And I've been caffeine-free for ages now in preparation for pregnancy.

We have a crib from a family member ready. We will be the third family within our family to use it, and we are very excited about that!

And yes, we do realize how very, very, VERY lucky and blessed we are to have these donors in our lives now and forever. They have already become like family to us. It's so much more than I ever dared dream for. I still pinch myself on a daily basis. I hope my body will come through for all of us and carry a baby (babies?) full term, but, no pressure.

As with the adoption leg of our journey, I am sharing this with you, dear reader, in hopes that you will learn something from our journey. Maybe someone reading this will decide to donate their embryos to another couple unable to have children. Maybe this will simply cause you to walk around with a big fat smile on your face for the rest of the day :) Who knows.

Feeling closer to my child(ren) every day!

4 comments:

birthmothertalks said...

I wish you the best of luck. I find this pretty interesting and exciting.

Christine said...

I get goose bumps when I read your updates and yes a big fat smile too.

I never made it 40 weeks with any of my pregnancies. 37 weeks is considered full term and my babies are strong and healthy.

God places many paths for you to choose and while he knows not the path you will choose, he knows that at the end of the path will be the child(ren) that belong to your heart and your family.

While the paperwork is taking what seems to be forever. Remember that this new path began just weeks ago. And by the turn of the year you will have a child(ren) in your arms keeping you up all night.

Alicia (aka "Yaya") said...

Don't ya love how others go on vacation with no regard for how quickly we'd like for papers to get processed?

I think of you lots and am praying your babies come into your life soon.

Bethany said...

can't wait to follow your journey!