You Came Out of My Vagina

You came out of my vagina, but that's not when our story began.

Seven months before you came out of my vagina, I got a positive pregnancy test on the day my grandmother died, and I hoped this time I was really pregnant so that my dad (your granddad? weird.) could get some cheery news. Also, it would make me happy. I guess. Yes, of course it would. Happy. Obviously.

Five months before you came out of my vagina, I saw you on an ultrasound and found out you're a girl. Bummer. I don't like girls. Don't get me wrong: I like women; I just find little girls to be annoying as shit - all that squealing and crying and frilly pink shit. It's so much easier to deal with boys' broken bones than girls' broken hearts. But hopefully you'll be an athlete or a lesbian or into cool music, and you'll hate pink, too.

Three months before you came out of my vagina, I was scheduled for another ultrasound to get a better picture of your hands because so far it looks like you have no fingers, and I don't know if I can love a kid with hand stumps. But no matter what the ultrasound shows, 50% of you comes from your dad's genetics, so I'd be stuck with you. I wondered if this would be different if you were also 50% me, and this is when it becomes clear that I may not have been the best candidate for using a donor's egg.

One month before you came out of my vagina, conversations with your dad go something like this: But what if I don't love her? Don't worry; you will. But what if I don't? I know you; you will. But what if I don't? Stop over-thinking it; you will. But what if I don't? Etc. etc. etc. You can see why this is a problem, right?

The day you came out of my vagina, labor was short, and during the last few minutes, I wondered whether I could stop pushing and change my mind about the whole thing, but there were all these people around me saying things like "you're almost there" and "I can see her head," so I plowed forth.

You were a gross, slimy, wrinkly thing.

When it was over, a gross, slimy, wrinkly thing was handed to me, and I asked, "is this her?" Considering that the other end of your umbilical cord was still inside me, it should have been obvious that I wasn't looking for an answer from the nurse as much as I was looking for an answer from myself.

"Is this her?" meant "Is this it?" It meant is this really happening and did seven years of wanting a baby just come to an end? It meant who will I be as a mom and who will you be as a daughter and what will we be to each other?

It meant that I really wished someone would help me figure out a game plan for what to do if I don't love you.

During the first couple weeks after you came out of my vagina, you wouldn't look at me. You just peed and cried and ate and slept and shit. No eye contact whatsoever, which - frankly - wasn't a great way to get started on your part, now was it? As it was, what with our lack of genetic connection, how did you think we could build a relationship if you wouldn't even look at me?

It was during this period that your dad asked me if I loved you. I said I didn't know yet, which upset him. I guess he thought that the reality of your existence would melt my heart, but he overestimated my capacity to adore people that come out of my vagina.

I felt fiercely protective of you, though. I got pissed when you were left unattended on the changing table for a millisecond as if you could somehow leap to your demise at 2 days old. I woke up several times a night in a panic that you'd been scratched or had a fever or died from SIDS. And every time I picked you up, I was terrified that I'd trip and fall and smash your tiny skull into a wall. My every moment was riddled with anxiety that something awful would happen to you, and that with that, my world would crumble. But anxiety is not the same as love.

You looking at me.

And then some time later, you looked at me. Not a passing glance with untamed eyeballs, but actual eye contact. And that's when I thought, "Oh, hi, baby. How nice to meet you."

Was it love? Well, let's not get crazy. I mean, we don't really know each other yet, and one can't rush into things like this.

But you came out of my vagina, and a little while after that, we met. And now that we have, and our story has begun, it's possible that I'll love you after all.

And as it turns out, you look seriously fucking cute in pink.

And Then There Were Three

SNG was born on Saturday, November 23rd, clocking in at 5 lbs 1 oz, 17.5 inches, and off-the-charts cuteness.

Labor was quick (not counting the weeks of hospital-bound preterm labor in September and October). I woke up with contractions at 3am, we got to the hospital at 4:30, and she was born at 6:01am. The delivery was unmedicated with the exception of half a glass of Asahi Black with dinner the night before.

Although petite, both mom and baby are healthy and in great spirits, but both get grumpy when not fed. One of us has been sleeping very well.

Dad is wonderful in every way.

The Pre-Term Labor Movement

28 weeks and 1 day

10:00 am - Arrive at ultrasound to see if baby is still measuring 11 days behind.

10:15 am - Baby is getting back on track at 7 days behind. This is good.
My cervix, however, is 4mm thick when it's supposed to be 4cm. This is bad.

10:45 am - I'm admitted to the Labor and Delivery ICU to see if I'm having contractions. I am.

11:00 am - Cervical exam #1: I'm not yet dilated. This is (relatively) good.

11:30 am - 3 IV bags in my veins and 2 fetal monitors on my belly attempt to stop the contractions. They aren't working.

12:00 pm - I get my first steroid shot to develop the baby's lungs because I might deliver at any moment. It hurts a lot.

10:00 pm - Cervical exam #2: I'm dilated to 1cm. They up my magnesium sulfate to 2.5 grams per hour. I spend the rest of the night throwing up.

12:00 am - I get a second steroid shot. It hurts a lot, too, but I don't give a shit any more.

28 weeks and 2 days

I lay in the hospital bed, I sweat, I throw up, I pee in a bedpan, and I try not to pass out.
That's all.
Nothing else.

28 weeks and 4 days

Bed rest continues with no foreseeable end. I'm now off the mag and on progesterone and nifedipine. With those drugs, they think it's under control. They think that my current pattern of contractions won't further compromise my cervix. They think I might stay at 1cm till at least the end of the month or 30 weeks gestation.

I've entered a world where delivering a baby 10 weeks early is considered a major success. I don't like this world.

29 weeks and 6 days

They insert a pessary into my vagina, which is a plastic device propped against my cervix that may delay early labor. Next to the speculum, it's the least fun device that's ever been in there.

But I don't really think much about it because instead I'm distracted by the news that I have gestational diabetes because of course I do.

30 weeks

I've reached 30 weeks, and I'm still pregnant. They're sending me home on Saturday, but if I have any contractions, then I need to get to the hospital quickly. The only problems with this plan are (1) I still don't know what a contraction feels like, and (2) I don't live close enough to get to the hospital quickly.

Otherwise it's a great plan.

Water Works: A Retrospective

For the past 2 weeks, this hospital bed has been my bubble bath of self-pity: a chorus of sadness suds popping at my ears and harmonizing in the key of poor me - a soundtrack that shuffles and repeats until long after my fingers are pruned by my tears.

I feel like saying this isn't fair, but then I don't believe in fairness. I want to cry that I don't deserve this, but there's no such thing as deserts. Yes, there's fear, but that's different from wallowing in self-pity, especially when the self in question is privileged, is healthy, and has insurance for those times when the body gives out.

The me-of-a-year-ago wouldn't feel sorry for the me of today. The me-of-a-year-ago would say, "You know what? You should consider shutting up a little because you're fine. You're still pregnant, you'll probably keep being pregnant, and even if you stop being pregnant and deliver pre-term, your baby will get the care she needs to make it just fine.

"Be grateful," I'd say to me. "Quit crying, be thankful that you got pregnant in the first place, and remember that things could always be worse."

I'm not sure if the me-of-a-year-ago is an asshole or not, but I'm fairly certain that the me-of-today could use something of an ass-kicking -- but perhaps a gentle kick, because I really want the me-of-5-weeks-from-now to still be pregnant.

Stunted

This blog isn't developing the way I thought it would.

Over the past 2 months, I've started two posts that have yet to be completed: one about the effects of this pregnancy on my sex life (short answer: not good), and another on how I feel about being pregnant with a girl (short answer: not good).

Truth be told, I may still finish these posts and predate them for purposes of chronology. Yes, I realize that's cheating, but I'm a woman pregnant with a donor egg baby, so clearly I'm an ends-justifies-the-means kind of girl.

Aside from this blog, another thing that appears to be stunted is my baby's growth.

All was well at the anatomy scan 8 weeks ago. No cleft palate, no incomplete organs, and no structural issues. They couldn't confirm 10 fingers, though, and I was told that either she was making fists (more likely) or she that had no fingers (less likely). In any case, we needed a follow-up.

Six weeks later, my baby was indeed found to have 10 fingers, but she was also measuring 11 days behind. This puts her in the 10th percentile of fetal development. This isn't good.

They say it might be nothing. That it could be a blip. That she could catch-up over the coming months, and none of this will have been an issue. On the other hand, her small size could be the start of a pattern that will mean a very risky third trimester of pregnancy, premature delivery, and/or developmental delays. They just don't know yet.

And they're making me wait 4 weeks for a follow-up. Their rationale is that the baby needs time to have measurable growth, but I'm pretty sure they're just fucking with me.

So I'm two weeks post-shitty news, and the only thing keeping me afloat is that I think my baby might be growing. My belly has gotten bigger, and I've also been feeling more movements. Like, a lot more movements. Like, the kind of movements where you see limbs protruding from the surface of my abdomen like something out of Alien. It's gross, but I'll take it if it means that my baby's stunted growth will prove to be an inconsequential blip after all.

Either way, it puts the whole "I wish I were having more sex and also not having a girl" thing into perspective, doesn't it?

Tiers of Joy

Admitting that I don't know what to write isn't the best way to up my readership, but what can I tell you? I have no fucking clue what to say.

No, I still don't trust that this is happening. No, I'm still not telling people. No, I'm still not excited. Nothing's going on, and no one wants to read about my continued reservedness, so what am I supposed to post?

I will tell you, however, that I'm not alone in this. Case in point: something a fellow PVED gal said over lunch last week.

I couldn't trust that I was pregnant until 20 weeks, and then I still couldn't get excited for several weeks more. Now I'm almost 34 weeks, and I'm still not at ease, but I am starting to believe that it might really happen.

I've heard other infertile women say similar things, so this timeline is the one I'm counting on. And since I'm 17 weeks today, I might be getting close.

But in the meantime, I got nothing, because you know what Bob Dylan says, ...

Therapy is Stupid

It's been months, and I still can't say it.

I can say, "I'm," and I can say, "pregnant," but so far I haven't managed to say them in sequence. Instead I default to, "I'm 14 weeks." Or to close friends I say, "I had a transfer at the end of March, and so far things are going well."

Or in the case of telling my parents, I just handed them my most recent ultrasound pictures, and I let them figure it out.

Unfortunately for me, my therapist picked up on my evasion the other day, and within minutes, she was trying to make me parrot her words: "I'm pregnant, and I'm scared."

She tried to make me say it, but she failed, and instead I spent the hour explaining to her why therapy is bullshit. I developed a very sound, four-pronged argument:

1. The more I let myself feel, the harder I'll fall if something goes wrong, so denial is a sounder approach in this situation.
2. If the Buddhist goal is to practice non-attachment, then isn't my way better?
3. Why bother feeling one way or another if it won't change the outcome?
4. I don't want to.

She had rebuttals.

1. If I do end up "falling," then my denial will only make the fall harder. She argued that if something bad happens, then I'll have to process both the pregnancy and the pregnancy loss at the same time, and that would make the pain more profound.
2. Non-attachment doesn't mean not feeling. Non-attachment means accepting the situation for what it is - including my feelings.
3. It's true that feeling one way or another won't change the outcome, but it will inhibit the experience of a positive outcome. I can only feel as much joy as I can grief, so if I want to open my heart to happiness (and love and bonding), then I also have to open my heart to fear.
4. Of course I don't want to. That's because I'm pregnant and I'm scared.

Ugh. Stupid therapy.

Belly Flop

A conversation at 8 weeks and 1 day.

Me [pointing to my double chin]: Do you see this?

Him: Your gullet?

Me: Just say "yes."

Him: Yes.

Me: Do you know what it means?

Him: That you're fat?

Me: Just say "what?"

Him: What?

Me: It means that we've been cooing at my fat.

Him: No, there's something in there.

Me: What's in there is the size of a grain of rice. The rest is fat.

Him: I thought it was a blueberry.

Me: Either way, it's not a cantaloupe.

Him: You never said what you wanted to for dinner.

Me: I told you.

Him: They don't sell Croissan'wiches at night.

Me: Then mac and cheese.

Him: Are you sure?

Me: Shut up.

One

So, I was certain there'd be no one in there, but it turns out there is.

One heartbeat. We saw it flicker. It was awesome.

I'm not the kind of blogger that's going to post pregnancy play-by-plays, although I'll be adding updates to this page just for posterity (also linked in the header above under "Pregnancy Timeline").

PS: Seriously, though. There's a heartbeat. Can you believe it?

Up's Tears, Down's Tears

I cried twice today.

Once from overwhelming sadness for my father's grief at the loss of his mother, and once when my doctor called to say that I'm pregnant.

They were very different tears.

Yes, my official test came back positive. Any number over 100 is considered great. Mine was 241.

Let's just hope whoever's in there sticks around for a while.

Death and Life. Maybe.

My grandmother died this morning. Also this morning, I found out I'm pregnant.

Yesterday my father learned that my grandmother was very sick, and within a couple hours, he was at the airport. They Skyped while be was waiting to board, and she didn't recognize him, but that wasn't unusual.

Her doctor originally predicted that she wouldn't make it through the night, but when my dad video chatted with them at the hospital, they assured him that she'd hang on to exchange one last hug and kiss before she went. With that, he told his mother that they'd see each other soon.

It was their last conversation.

She and I weren't close, but my father adored her, and despite their 10-hour time difference, they spoke twice a day. His phone's alarm was set for 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., but he never needed the reminders because he was always impatient to call her. Every time they talked, she would exuberantly share whatever was on her mind, and she would always sing. She loved to sing, and my dad would chime in with her for a few bars until their melody devolved into laughter. Then my dad would ask her, "Do you know who I am?" And she would say, "No, but I'm so happy to be talking to you!"

Four of her children were there when she died while my dad was stuck on an 8-hour layover in Germany. I'm sure he cried when he heard the news because my father is a man brought easily to tears, and there's no one he loved more than his mother.

My grief for this loss is heartbreak for his heartbreak. I think of him drying tears at some terminal surrounded by Hawaiian shirts and ski boots, and I shed my own. I hate that he was alone in that moment, and I hate that he's alone still now on yet another leg of an eternal flight punctuated by peanuts and turbulence.

When I was 20, my dad told me that I should get busy finding a husband because the only reason he had children was so that he could have grandchildren. I think of that now, and it makes me wish I could tell him about this pregnancy so that I might alleviate some of his pain from this death with the promise of life.

The problem with wanting to give him good news is that I have no definitive news to give. Realistically I have to wait until my official test Wednesday. Or more likely the second test on Friday. Or most practically another 2 weeks after that when they confirm the pregnancy with a sonogram. Or if I'm truly cautious, then maybe not until I reach 12 weeks.

But what am I saying? I can't possibly be truly pregnant, and to be honest, I'm finally at a place in my life where I don't need to be pregnant. I've already wrapped my head around it never happening. I'm prepared to start the adoption process. My career search has been incredibly exciting, and I have a job interview on Tuesday. I just bought a bunch of new clothes. I'd be fine if this pregnancy doesn't stick. I don't need it.

But God, oh, God, how I want it for him.

Beta Beta

The second beta was 11.32, which means that this pregnancy isn't viable, so I'm stopping meds today.

Good thing, too. I need a drink.

Pee Antipathy

Wednesday, June 20 – 8dt5dt. I peed on another stick this morning, and the line was darker than yesterday's, so I went back to bed and cried. The line was darker, which means I'm probably really pregnant.

Bummer. I was sort of hoping the line would disappear.

What if one of my other embryos is better than the one they put in me? I have 6 totsicles on ice, and if this pregnancy fades away, I could have another shot at a better-looking, smarter child. But none of that matters at this point anyhow. I'm already pregnant with whatever this is that's growing inside me.

If it does keep growing, that is. I can never eat when I'm depressed, and if I don't eat something soon, this baby might just whither away from malnourishment. Or I could accidentally miss a couple estrogen pills. Or stop taking my shots. Or maybe the yolk sac will be empty. Or the thing could just fall away on its own. This embryo is about the size of a poppy seed right now, so I'd never notice it go. And how much would it really matter if it isn't actually mine?

OK, it's mine-ish, I guess. And everyone keeps telling me that at some point I will absolutely love this baby and I won't give the genetic thing a second thought. That we'll bond. I believed it before or else I wouldn't have moved forward with the transfer, but now here I am again: wondering if I will love this child as much as I should. I suppose I could eventually, but all I know right now is that no one would have to assure me of these things if it were my egg.

But it's not my egg, and these aren't my genes, and maybe that's a good thing. I'm not that great. People think I'm a good person because I work at non-profits and volunteer and do yoga, but the truth is I'm vain. And I judge people. I judged a woman yesterday for wearing an oversized Elmo t-shirt, and I'm judging this baby for not being genetically related to me. I'm judging myself for being a shitty person, and I'm judging you for thinking I'm a shitty person. And if you don't think I'm a shitty person, then I'm judging you even more.

Maybe it's always like this for donor egg recipients. Or maybe I'm more fucked-up than the rest. God knows I've talked about all this shit before, but I sort of thought that the bulk of my grief was behind me. Granted these spiraling thoughts of gloom are fewer and further between, but what the fuck, dude? I'm pregnant now - so far, at least - and this isn't exactly the time to consider whether or not configuring a genetically-engineered child was a good idea.

A pregnancy 5 years in the making, and I'm upset about it. Ain't I a piece of work?

However Faint

Tuesday, June 19 - 7dt5dt. In infertility culture, the pee-on-a-stick mantra generally goes something like, "A line is a line, however faint."

And so it would appear that I'm kinda, sorta, a little bit pregnant.

Rule of Three

The Rule of Three is a writing principle that says things are funnier in threes. Three Stooges are better than two. Jokes are stronger when they include a rabbi, a priest, and an imam. And this third example, which isn't an example at all, but rather an empty sentence that serves to reinforce how good threes are.

The exception to this rule is in vitro fertilizations.

Most people who delve into the world of fertility treatments don't go in thinking that they'll have three IVFs. There's the multiple daily injections, the ultrasounds and blood draws, and an anesthesia-induced procedure that retrieves a dozen eggs from engorged ovaries -- all of which costs thousands of dollars and most often culminates in an "I'm sorry" phone call from a nurse.

No, three of those is a lot.

But for some reason, I was sure I'd have 3 IVFs, which is why it was strange that I was shocked when that first "I'm sorry" call came. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have gone to a friend's baby shower that day, but conveniently there were mimosas.

The rest of that afternoon went as you might imagine: I downed 3 flutes of bubbly, left the shower, bought 4 bottles of wine, restrained myself from punching a pregnant lady at the register, and drank myself to sleep.

The second failed cycle ended about the same, except instead of a shower and champagne, it was vodka and a bath.

The third IVF test result, however, was positive. It was my first positive, and with that the first set of happy tears since the baby quest started three years earlier. I even told two friends. "I'm pregnant," I said for the first time in my life. It felt like a lie, but I figured that was because I was in shock. It didn't occur to me that it was because it wouldn't keep.

Two days later, I had my second pregnancy test. The numbers weren't doubling like they should have been. After the third test, the doctor confirmed a chemical pregnancy. I was advised to stop my injections and let the fetus miscarry.

~~~

If I were to philosophize about the rule of three, I would guess that what makes the principle true is that the first two examples make you anticipate a logically sequential third outcome, and it's the unexpected turn that makes the third thing funny.

The exception to this rule is a false sense of relief.

I shouldn't have let myself be happy. I shouldn't have placed my hand on my belly and thought about my baby. I should never have exhaled because at the end of that exhalation, I was punched in the gut, and then there was no air left to get to my brain to tell me that it would be OK.

And it would be OK, but not for a while.