Life Begins

Does the power of positive thinking work?  Why not?  Everyone please focus on happy, healthy fertile thoughts.  We are transferring two embryos to our one incredible surrogate on Friday afternoon.  She has a nice fluffy uterus ready for embryos!

Here's the stats on  our embryos:

• 23 eggs were retrieved from our (generous, intelligent) anonymous egg donor
• After one day, 20 eggs fertilized (10 mine, 10 my husband's)
• On day 3, 16 embryos (8 mine, 8 my husband's) made it!
• Of the 16 total embryos our doctor expects ~ 8 to 10 to make it to day 5
• We will implant two embryos on Friday afternoon!

I continue to be excited, nervous, thrilled.  It's going to be a fun journey!

It's Time

Six months and six figures later I was clobbered with the sudden awareness today that we're a few days away from creating life!   After many months of trying not to think about July, in order to avoid the restlessness of anticipation, we are now living ten days into July.   The exact moment on the calendar I've been trying to avoid thinking about no longer can be avoided.  The question I have been asking myself this afternoon, can I ease into this moment without walls around my emotions?  Is it time to be giddy about baby making?  I'm scared.  I'm excited.  I'm nervous.  I'm impatient.  It's a complicated web of emotions covering my individual self at the moment.

I could hardly focus this afternoon after reading the email update from our agency coordinator;  the anonymous egg donor is flying to the clinic tomorrow.  Tomorrow.  The anonymous egg donor will be checked daily until our doctor finds the ideal time for him to perform the egg retrieval.   The moment the eggs are retrieved they will be fertilized.  Hopefully they'll all grow into healthy embryos that will be transferred into the loving womb of our surrogate as early as Tuesday, July 21.

That date, July 21, also happens to be the day in 1980 my 24 year old mother gave birth to her gayest son!  What a gift it will be to transfer embryos on my birthday or during my birthday week.

It's time.  This is starting to feel tangible.  And away we go!

Let Freedom Ring

America turned 239 (years old) while my husband was 103 (degrees Fahrenheit) and the 'sac was 100 (percent fun).

Yes, our neighbors rented the newest, best water slide bounce house thingy.  It was spectacular for the neighborhood kids (and a few non-sober adults).   We have lived in this area since we purchased our first house in 2005, however this is the first time we've stayed around for July 4 weekend.  Since the Lakewood Country Club puts on a thirty minute firework show our neighborhood is hub of activity.  There's lots of block parties, tailgating, and a parade.  I love a community that parties together.

QOTD

"Larry, when I was 14 I thought I was going to have to hide who I was for my entire life.  Three days ago my black President turned the White House rainbow."

- The Nightly Show, June 29, 2015

Biscuits

Via my Instagram.  Why not follow me?

3,331 Days Later

It's been 3,331 days since my husband and I united in vows of love and commitment among our closest family and friends in Austin, Texas.  That was a perfect day on May 13, 2006 and today is another perfect day, June 26, 2015 - the day the Supreme Court of the United States of America strikes down bans on same-sex marriage.

I love the U.S.A.  More post will follow on this blog, but for now I want to exhale and enjoy this moment.

Justice Kennedy said it nicely:


"No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

Father's Day Is One Year Away?

Sunday was Father's Day, and all day I kept thinking: I really hope next year we're celebrating this day as two fathers.  After spending 34 Father's Day as a son and grandson honoring my dad and grandfathers, next year we might be able to celebrate our own fatherhood unfolding.  I hope.