Tuesday should have been an extremely exciting day. Instead, my poor IFs were stressed over a snag in the plans with our California lawyer. As it turns out, she's not nearly as experienced as she made herself out to be and wasn't able to get the PBO like we'd asked. Better to find out now than later, I suppose. The good news is that there's already a new lawyer in place and the contract is being drawn up as we speak. The absolute latest it will be signed is 15 OCT. Awesome!
We spoke more about logistics, including the move to California. The original plan was to move around 34 weeks, but the lawyer is concerned about the possibility of unstoppable pre-term labor and all of the hard work and planning going out the window in the event of a pre-term birth in Missouri. With the new lawyer, however, came a new area of comfortable jurisdiction. Much of my afternoon yesterday was spent researching hospitals and the new area Fat Kid and I will be living. I will admit that I had a terribly productive evening after Fat Kid went to sleep (as accomplishing much of anything is impossible while he's awake) and not only do we have a new hospital chosen, but I've bookmarked a number of possible living arrangements.
N comes home today. We've got quite a bit to discuss once he's home with the new information that's been brought up. One of the biggest decisions now is whether or not to continue with the plans to move on post. All of the original reasons are there, but because there's a minimum 1 year lease, we would be moving in with friends instead of into our own home. It's frustrating to say the least, but it definitely gives me a lot to think about until N gets here.
I've got lots of errands to run before his bus is due back so I'll keep you all updated as things progress :)
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Random Thought for the Day
I had a dream last night that I gave birth to the surrobaby. It was a baby girl named Katie and N was a sneaky pete and wanted to keep her because he's always wanted a girl. I still remember the look of disappointment (not to be outdone by my look of sheer joy) when we were told Fat Kid was a boy. A bit of foreshadowing maybe?
Also, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed today. Super excited about that! Fat Kid and I will be celebrating with cupcakes later :)
Also, Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed today. Super excited about that! Fat Kid and I will be celebrating with cupcakes later :)
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Another Successful Day
More progress on the surrogacy front! :)
Friday I met with an amazing woman for my psych eval. Tracy Birkinbine is a licensed professional counselor at Counseling with TLC, LLC in Des Peres, MO. She is certified to do evaluations not just for surrogacy (both IPs and surrogates), but also for egg/sperm donation, IVF and just infertility-related counseling in general. [/end plug]
Anyway, the first thing I have to say about Tracy is WOW! What an awesome businesslady. Not only was she extremely professional, but she was also understanding of my situation as the mom of a toddler and was more than willing to help me when it came to bridging the distance between my home and her office. Second, she made the evaluation feel more like casual chatter than anything clinical...which is always appreciated. We met at a bustling Panera bread. It had enough business people in it that we didn't feel awkward, but wasn't quiet enough that sharing things, like how I thought our sex life would be affected by the surrogacy, would be awkward if overheard. Definitely a successful meeting and I hope to keep in contact with her.
One of my biggest worries about the meeting with Tracy was leaving Fat Kid. I was slowly getting him acclimated to a babysitter setting over the summer, but he only lasted a few hours max before naptime hit or he'd want boobies and the meltdown would ensue :( When his sitter went back to work at the end of the summer, he stopped going once a week and was once again a 24/7 mama's boy.
In the last few weeks, I've had a number of random appointments that were a little more complicated with a toddler running rampant so I asked the wife of another soldier in N's company to watch Fat Kid for me. The first day, I was a nervous wreck. I left him for 5 hours and I knew it was probably going to be a disaster for her. Sure enough, she couldn't figure out how to get him to take a nap so she called another mom for reinforcements. Thankfully things got better after that and as I called on my way home to check on him, she told me that he'd happily climbed into her lap, closed his eyes and just passed out. Awesome! It's such a relief having a sitter that he loves and that can get him to nap.
In family, non-surrogacy related news, we're on the housing list to move onto post. N is in the field for the rest of the next week and Fat Kid and I are enjoying the quiet at home and the company of amazing friends who are our families :) Our lives have been harried and disorganized, less than desirable at times and chaotic, but right now, they're perfect and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Friday I met with an amazing woman for my psych eval. Tracy Birkinbine is a licensed professional counselor at Counseling with TLC, LLC in Des Peres, MO. She is certified to do evaluations not just for surrogacy (both IPs and surrogates), but also for egg/sperm donation, IVF and just infertility-related counseling in general. [/end plug]
Anyway, the first thing I have to say about Tracy is WOW! What an awesome businesslady. Not only was she extremely professional, but she was also understanding of my situation as the mom of a toddler and was more than willing to help me when it came to bridging the distance between my home and her office. Second, she made the evaluation feel more like casual chatter than anything clinical...which is always appreciated. We met at a bustling Panera bread. It had enough business people in it that we didn't feel awkward, but wasn't quiet enough that sharing things, like how I thought our sex life would be affected by the surrogacy, would be awkward if overheard. Definitely a successful meeting and I hope to keep in contact with her.
One of my biggest worries about the meeting with Tracy was leaving Fat Kid. I was slowly getting him acclimated to a babysitter setting over the summer, but he only lasted a few hours max before naptime hit or he'd want boobies and the meltdown would ensue :( When his sitter went back to work at the end of the summer, he stopped going once a week and was once again a 24/7 mama's boy.
In the last few weeks, I've had a number of random appointments that were a little more complicated with a toddler running rampant so I asked the wife of another soldier in N's company to watch Fat Kid for me. The first day, I was a nervous wreck. I left him for 5 hours and I knew it was probably going to be a disaster for her. Sure enough, she couldn't figure out how to get him to take a nap so she called another mom for reinforcements. Thankfully things got better after that and as I called on my way home to check on him, she told me that he'd happily climbed into her lap, closed his eyes and just passed out. Awesome! It's such a relief having a sitter that he loves and that can get him to nap.
In family, non-surrogacy related news, we're on the housing list to move onto post. N is in the field for the rest of the next week and Fat Kid and I are enjoying the quiet at home and the company of amazing friends who are our families :) Our lives have been harried and disorganized, less than desirable at times and chaotic, but right now, they're perfect and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
More Progress
Alas, life continues. In the two and a half weeks since my last update, there's been lots of chaos but minimal progress. The lawyer in California requires a psych eval prior to even drafting the contract. Finding someone locally to do said evaluation was another thing entirely. The closest for me is over two and a half hours away and with a toddler and a busy husband, traveling that far only to be there for two hours and then traveling back isn't an easy feat. The psychologist who will be doing my eval is fabulous. She was the only person willing to work with me and my schedule and even offered to meet me at our home. With that said, Friday I'll be dropping Fat Kid off with the sitter bright and early and driving 2 hours to ensure that I'm stable enough to endure the challenges that come with carrying and delivering a baby but going home alone.
I'm also finishing my will/living will. Such a humbling experience.
Otherwise we're just waiting on the psych eval and we can move forward from there.
In other news, we're likely to be moving on post for deployment. I'm still waiting on N to get me his orders from 18 months ago so we can get on the housing list, but I think it'll be better for Fat Kid and I in the long run. I'm toying with the idea of going back to school to finish my bachelor's degree as well. Lots of new and exciting changes coming! Stay posted.
I'm also finishing my will/living will. Such a humbling experience.
Otherwise we're just waiting on the psych eval and we can move forward from there.
In other news, we're likely to be moving on post for deployment. I'm still waiting on N to get me his orders from 18 months ago so we can get on the housing list, but I think it'll be better for Fat Kid and I in the long run. I'm toying with the idea of going back to school to finish my bachelor's degree as well. Lots of new and exciting changes coming! Stay posted.
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