The Circle of Life.

They're in. Doc said it was a smooth transfer. We both felt so relieved we made it this far. Dan was in the room and was glued to the monitor as he held my hand. Felt so much better that he was in there with me. The lab technicians (embryologists?) needed reassuring by Dr. Li that it was okay he watch and when Dr. Li consented again, they nodded with befuddled looks on their faces and with trepidation handed Dan his surgical attire. To us, it just seemed natural that the husband would want to be in there--being an important participant in this whole process... my eggs didn't fertilize themselves. Isn't this just normal M.O. in the states? I found it sad that the husbands here are left in the waiting room.


Here are the lucky three that met me at 10:15 AM. Hoping they're enjoying the entertainment I prepared for them.

I drank too much water and despite the catheter they shoved (uh huh, painful) into my bladder to drain me after the procedure, I still needed the bed pan 3x during our 4 hour lock down. Even though I've read about plenty of women becoming pregnant after going home immediately following a transfer, our doc has his protocol, so I respectfully heeded his instructions to NOT get out of bed. Between my magazines and Dan's laptop, the time flew by. They even had internet connection there so we played my youtube womb soundtrack. It was really lovely, actually.

Bed rest until Tuesday morning = watching too much awful Taiwanese TV programming = intermittent naps. I guess all this progesterone is knocking me on my ass.

Since these are day 6 blasts (doesn't really give us any leg up, it just means they were slow and we had a patient, good lab), our fate's wait is only until the 9th, then we'll confirm the beta again on the 11th.

Meanwhile, we have reservations on Friday, March 6th at Diamond Tony's on the 85th floor of the Taipei 101. The timing was fortuitous as this will be the 20th anniversary of my mother's death and the 18th anniversary of my kitty's birth. So for the last 17 years I've put a hat on Miss Elysian Fields and taken our photo together. I've focused on her birthday, not my mom's death day. (On my mom's grave site the last line reads, "Peace at last in Elysian Fields" so I thought Elysian Fields was a special and apt name to call my kitten.) I don't think Elly will mind skipping the hat shot this year (I KNOW she won't mind), but I will. As we overlook the island of Taipei, halfway around the world from our home, we'll be toasting (me: Shirley Temple) to my loyal skinny little 18 year old girl, to my long-deceased mom, and to our potential baby.

Then we'll return to our apartment and to our temporary roommate, who has been championing us going through this procedure and waxes poetic about the joys of parenthood. And guess what movie he worked on? The Lion King. Circle of Life. Get it? An OCD gal has gotta love those full circles and serendipitous timings.