Shit's gettin' real

I want to let you all know that I work, professionally, for a reasonably adult wage, in the sexual health education field. I no longer routinely demonstrate the proper use of condoms, extol the virtues of the IUD or pepper my language with penile-anal penetration, but suffice to say I am still frequently in the position of talking about risque subjects with people who are more than a little squeamish. Last year I had to bring a box of brightly colored silicone dildos (ahem, condom demonstrators) into the principal's office at a very conservative public high school and tell him exactly how his teachers would be showing barrier methods to his students, and I didn't bat an eyelash. Really, it doesn't phase me.

But man oh man if asking a few medical professionals about getting a sperm analysis for BFF didn't freak me the fuck out.

I was somehow under the impression that we would be able to get a semen analysis at Planned Parenthood, right alongside the usual HIV/STI tests. Having gotten quite a bit of my pre-insurance reproductive healthcare from good ol' PP, I assumed men were privy to the similar array of services. Not the case. Apparently, physical exams can only be scheduled if there is evidence of infection, and beyond that, only a panel of HIV/STI tests can be run. Since BFF is definitely un-insured, this means we are going to have to get creative about how to get this step done. I realize that the semen analysis isn't a must at this point in the game, but we might as well get all the medical stuff out of the way up front, right? Plus, BFF is 46 and while we know he managed to knock a girl up in his 20's, this doesn't mean the swimmer's are still in Olympic shape.

Thus, I have spent the afternoon calling various clinics, my doctor, and the public health department (that was one little tip I'm proud to have thought of myself!) explaining that I am a lesbo, and me and my lesbo lover and our gay BFF are gonna get together and make a baby and we need a little help getting all of our ducks in a row and did I mention we make crap for cash? Who do I have to fuck around here to get BFF's spunk looked at under a microscope?!

The biggest trauma is, of course, calling folks and having to come out over and over again, on the phone, to medical professionals - who I generally don't trust. Then I start thinking that maybe we shouldn't have access to low cost services because, I mean, isn't this making a baby thing a privilege for two dykes and therefore if we can't do it on our own and/or pay for it on our own, we should just be happy with our dogs? Why does 'reproductive health' almost always mean the option to NOT get pregnant when you don't want to, instead of the other way around? And if we can't shell out hundreds of dollars to make sure BFF's sperms don't have 6 tails, are we really adequately prepared to have a kid, anyway? Are we overpreparing or overthinking or overanalyzing or all of the above?

In other news . . .
Had the donor talk with BFF on Sunday and it was decidedly lovely. I ended up getting totally weepy and verklempt because OMG y'all, if we need a #3 to make a baby, I am SO SO happy its BFF. His heart is so big and he is so wonderful, and the smile on his face when we told him we wanted to do a ritual with all three of us to sort of affirm the roles we are each playing was magical. He is a totally dreamy donor BFF, and I'm excited for him to be Uncle BFF to our babies. Also, he is so strapping and really exceptionally healthy which I think spells good news all around.

Finally. My boss is pregnant and due at the end of January (there are actually two co-workers who are due a day apart! I'm hoping they tag me in when they go into labor!) which up until yesterday still seemed like a while away. But since I am now tracking time by my menstrual cycle, the only thought I had was, whoa . . .that's NEXT MONTH (because it is, in the cycle scheme of things) and whoa . . .I could potentially be (just barely) pregnant when the boss goes into labor. Assuming, of course, getting tagged in works.

And the blood gushed forth

And the blood flowed forth from my loins once more.

I haven't been this excited to get my period since I was 10 and ALL my friends already had theirs and I was still waiting. Its a little odd, as well, since usually in this trying to conceive business, bleeding is not a welcome sight. But since my cycle got all wacked out just as soon as we started getting serious about the babymaking business, I have been on the look-out for the good and the bad. With the arrival of my period 12 days after my suspected ovulation, within 3 days of my usual cycle length, makes me think that everything is probably a-ok, and it was the buying-selling-moving-travelling-sick month of September that screwed everything up.

Tonight we sit down with BFF to talk about donor stuff. In preparation, La and I made a list of stuff to be sure to cover: time commitment, expectations during the insemination times each month, legal understandings around parenting, etc.

It turned into a really, really wonderful conversation. It could sound like I am pressuring La into this baby stuff from the way I talk - but I not, I swear. I am definitely on the more expedited timeline and a little less apprehensive about the process, but we agreed on this timeline and this process and we are both looking forward to making, getating and raising a baby. La tends to go back and forth in the expression of how she feels - she makes us walk through the baby section at Target *everytime* we go, but sometimes when I start talking details she freaks out. Once she explained a little bit about why she has such bi-polar feelings about babies, it all made much more sense and we've been more able to find a middle path around planning while still each having our own space to process the experience.

Anyway, last night . . .after talking through our list of donor topics, we ended up talking about what it might look like for me to be pregnant, to have a baby. It was sweet, and it reminded me of the times before we sold a house and bought another and we just dreamed about having babies and being badass parents. Strangely, it was this conversation that actually made everything much more tangible and real to me - and inspired more anxiety than I generally have about it all. A healthy dose of reality (vs. research) is probably a really good thing for me.

When I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, La mumbled something in her sleep. When I said , "what?" she responded with some much more clearly articulated gibberish, and when I asked for clarification one more time, she said "we need to choose a donor for that!" Clearly, this process is getting into both of our heads.


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Reasoned and Rational

Yesterday during lunch I went for a walk and spent most of the time thinking about making babies. This isn't a shock. Most of my unoccupied thought time, and some of my otherwise occupied thought time, is taken up with baby making details. I'd like to think that I am a more reasoned and rational baby-obsessed lady, but I know myself well enough to know I usually think I'm more reasoned and rational even when I'm not.

It occured to me that blogging about my baby making thoughts might be productive for me - if an otherwise complete waste of internet. My partner, who I shall call La (because, side note, DP for "dear partner" makes me retch a little) is more on the nervous-excited end of the spectrum, and generally prefers not to plan and schedule and process detail. Planning, scheduling, listing and processing detail are some of my many type A influenced coping mechanisms.

 In this, we are not necessarily perfectly matched.

So the charting, temping, reading, discussion board research, herbal knowledge and lore, legalese makes her feel crazy and overwhelmed - I need it. And because I also need her to stay relatively comfortable with the idea of having a baby in the next little bit, its important for me to find an outlet. I'm hoping that once we do some additional processing about how we are approaching this whole adventure, La might decide to weigh in here once and a while. Until then, I will be the primary poster - and I'll let her choose if, when and what she wants to read here.

Do I sound like a creep? I promise, I'm not going to be spilling secrets here that La doesn't know about. If you're worried that you know me/us and you'll know shit she doesn't, please rest assured. La and I are process-core and I have a compulsion towards stark honesty in her presence. In this, we are exceptionally well matched.

So mostly, this is for me. A place to put the stuff I learn, to complain about the heterosexism of the damned fertility message boards, consider all the angles of this business - you know, the usual pre-conception litany. And if you're a queer who's trying to make a baby too, maybe this will be helpful. Or maybe you'll judge me and feel better about the way you're doing it - that's cool too, just don't be an asshole in the comments ok? Or maybe you're a straight lady who wants to get a different perspective, or maybe you just like reading gay baby making blogs? I don't know. I'm talking to a hypothetical and possibly only theoretical audience, and I'm ok with that. That's the point.

I'm also a somewhat obsessive chronologist. I like to record mundane details and have them to look back on. Mostly because you just never know what might end up being significant somewhere down the line. I like the idea that maybe in a year or two I can look back and shake my head or shrug my shoulders, or be able to add stuff to a baby book or weep over some stupid detail I obsessed about or . . .whatever.

Before this gets too cumbersome, I wanted to track a few of the fun things in the process for today, November 2, 2012:
1) First fertility acupuncture appointment with the fabulous gay acupuncturist who helped me deal with ym PTSD from a previous shitty relationship AND stop smoking almost two years ago. I LOVE her! I do think I may have fallen asleep and snored a little in the community room which is awkward, but whatever.

2) Ordered "Making Babies: A Proven Three Month Program for Maximum Fertility." I'm not too into books that promise results because usually that is a recipe for self hate when they don't, but I'm also really invested in making healthy life style changes that are NOT motivated by losing weight. Having a baby seems like a healthier target. Also, this shit is too pricey already to have to delve into anything beyond spermies in a cup and a needleless syringe, amiright? So, I'm going to try my best to make my body into a baby temple so we can save our $$ for when the kid arrives.

3) Am close to finishing charting my first cycle. Its been more anxiety producing than I would have guessed. I had a wakadoodle cycle last time ( a 36 day cycle as opposed to my usual 29 days) and this freaked me out more than it should have. But, I think I've been looking for problems in my charting since then, which is not the best thing to be doing. That said, I'm really glad to be almost done, because I'm feeling clearer on the process and how to understand it. And, I have a revised plan going forward to get more info, so that's awesome. My last little bit of anxiety is around my luteal phase length. According to my temperature charting, I ovulated on day 20, which is kinda late if my cycle goes back to the usual 29 days. So, now I wait for the blood to flow to get my last bit of information, and to get to start a new month with a new plan.

Yeah gayby blogging!