I'm Back

Did you miss me? I missed you! I admit, I have been debating about whether to blog anymore. I even wrote a whole post about my dilemma. But, here I am. Obviously I resolved the quandary. Many thanks to a number of friends who encouraged me to keep going.  I will continue to share the ups AND the downs. Thank you for reading and for all of your support!

So, what’s new? Well, for starters, we’re officially starting IVF cycle 3. The injections resume on 11/1 - fun, fun, fun!.

We’re doing another frozen cycle, since we have one frozen embryo remaining, and it turns out that the Shared Risk agreement we signed says we have to use the frozen embryos before doing another fresh cycle. I wish I knew a lawyer who could review the agreement. Oh, wait. I’m a lawyer. Darn it. I must have skimmed that part.

On Monday we met with our new doctor (we're still with Shady Grove though).  To make a long story short, we were never very comfortable with our previous doctor. Let's just say that I always felt like she was speaking to us as though we were 12 years old. We met our new doctor at the last sonogram we had and although he had to deliver some really bad news, he didn't patronize us. We just got a really good vibe from him - which is pretty remarkable given the circumstances.

As he was talking to us, I was thinking "I really like this guy. It would be great if we could switch doctors." A few minutes later the doc made a little joke, and then apologized for "making light of the situation." The Knight told him it was absolutely fine and asked him if we could switch to him. Mind reader! The doc didn't really respond, so we didn't do anything.

Well, I realized that I needed to deal with the situation, despite the potential awkwardness, and ask to make the switch. I'm proud of myself for doing that. You know how it is. You don't want to break up with your hairdresser so you just keep going to her, despite the bad haircuts.

Now that it is done, I am relieved and happy with the decision.  Our meeting on Monday confirmed for both of us that we made the right choice. We are really on the same page with this doc. For example, back in August the previous doc suggested a number of tests. After a lot of discussion, we decided to refuse the tests.  It's a long story. Anyhow, when we brought these up to our new doctor, he said that he saw no need for the tests and if we wanted them we'd have to make a really good case to convince him to do them.

I share all of this to say that sometimes we need to suck it up and follow our guts.  The hard path can be worth it in the end.

I feel really good about our prospects going forward. We have about a 40-50% chance of success for this cycle, so keep those fingers crossed.

Finally, I feel like sharing an incredibly nice compliment I received in an email this morning. It said "I am still sending positive thoughts and prayers out to you guys for a future baby. I've never met anyone who seems more fit to be a mommy than you. And I truly mean that!!!" Thanks, M! You totally made my day!!!

Finally! My Wine & Dine Half Marathon Report

Oh, wow, it has been a while since I blogged. I knew I needed to do a Wine & Dine Half Marathon race report, but um, I was, uh, busy. No, really. I guess it isn’t too late, since one of my favorite bloggers, Run Faster Mommy, just posted hers.

So, “how was the race?” you ask. It was awesome! It was really, really great for so many reasons. This was my second Disney race – well, third, if you count the Disney half & full I did for the Goofy challenge separately. Disney does it right. From packet pickup to medals, everything is top notch. Yeah, I’m a Disney fan.

Okay, okay, so the deets. I’ll skip the packet pickup details and all and get to the good stuff. We arrived at the race site and had about 1.5 hours to wait. Disney did their best to entertain us runners as we waited.

First item on the agenda, a photo with Chef Mickey. The line was long but since there was no place else to go, we waited. The Knight and the lovely girl decided to try to save their legs while we waited in line, but eventually thought better of it.

Meanwhile, I wasn’t saving my legs… On stage they were leading a dance party. Oh yeah! Funky chicken, electric slide, and some groovy tunes…I couldn’t resist. The Knight and lovely girl just watched me. Whatever. Sorry, no pictures of that. You’ll have to imagine how much fun I was having.

We met up with our friends Dr. Keith and Krista. They are even bigger Disney fans than we are. They pretty much talked us into this, despite my concerns about the late hour of the race. Thank you, guys! I’m so glad we did it.

At 10:10 pm, our corral took off. The plan was to have a nice, easy run. 4 minutes running, 1 minute walking. I love 4:1 because it so easy to keep track of. You don’t really need to do any math while you’re running. You start walking at the 4 and the 9: 4:00 , 9:00, 14:00, 19:00, etc.

Anyhow, we took it really slow. We had planned to stop for lots of pictures, but I was kind of disappointed that there were not that many characters out for pictures. Definitely not nearly the number that were out for my previous races. They had bands, and costumed guys on stilts, and these three ladies who were dressed in lighted costumes [Krista later informed me that they were the three fairies from sleeping beauty].

We did get a few good shots.

I felt great the whole way. It helped that we were running much slower than my usual pace. But given the time of day, the fact that the race day was not exactly restful, and the fact that I had essentially done two training runs: a 5-miler in mid-August and an 8-miler in early September, I was thrilled with how good I felt.

I will admit that I may have been somewhat annoying at the end. The Knight and lovely girl were hurting a bit, and although I had tired legs, my endorphins and the Disney spirit trumped. As we headed through Hollywood Studios, about 3 miles from the finish line, we passed the point where I remembered I began my “sprint” to the finish line for the Disney Marathon. I was ready to get to the finish party and I know I sped us up. I am thinking that my running mates also didn’t totally appreciate me saying how great I felt and that I wanted to run another 13 miles.

Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, the three of us crossed the finish line, holding hands. It was fantastic! We got to run as a family which was way better than a PR. And it was lovely girl’s first race *ever* which makes it even more special.

Afterwards, even more fun awaited. The Wine & Dine Half Marathon is so named because it takes place during the Epcot Food & Wine festival. The kept the festival going until 3 am that night. Seriously the best post-race food ever. I hope that lovely girl didn’t get too spoiled. I tried to make it clear that you’re not going to get seared mahi mahi and margaritas at other races.

Much to my surprise, when they started shutting things down at 3 am I was still pretty energized. Tired, but happy. We got back to the hotel, showered, and slept just long enough to get us ready for another wonderful Disney day (which included a lot more quality time at the Food & Wine festival).

I didn’t take pictures of the food. I know, bad foodie. My camera battery was dying. If you’re interested, here’s a site that has the menus and lots of pictures.

Yeah, we hit most of the 26 countries. My mouth is watering just thinking about the escargot in brioche and the seared scallop with red curry. Mmmmm.

It was a fun Disney experience that none of us will ever forget. Who's with me in 2012???