Hm... DPO 9 and day two of unbelievably sore breasts, mild nausea and dizziness and being more tired than usual.  Either PMS has started a couple days early for me or I'm pregnant.  Negative on the First Response test but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.  I'll wait until the weekend and test again...

One week until we move into our new place. We both cannot wait for April 1st. There are so many reasons why:

• Woken up early in the morning on a Saturday by loud hip-hop music from upstairs (sister)
• Woken up by the dog banging the dog door about ten times in his attempt to get through it, also upstairs
• The vegetable side dish always come in a can and the usual side dish is Rice-a-Roni (which is really good but SO fattening).  I consistently blow my budget each week buying Jules and I healthy food to eat.  Basically I've spent more money here than when we lived on our own.
• The fridge and freezer are so small I cannot make batches of healthy food to store for later days.
• My youngest sister is an immature spoiled brat who cannot talk at a normal level but must shout everything she says
• My parents and youngest sister swear like sailors and fly off the handle at everything.  The sad thing is, is I grew up thinking it was normal to flip out at my family like we were having a normal conversation.
• My dad uses derogatory terms for a lot of people and it is hard listening to it in the evenings
• No control over the thermostat so we're hotter than we want to be most nights
• Laundry is hard to do because people leave their clothes in the washer and dryer for days on end.  There have been several weekends where I ended up doing double the laundry just to get ours done.
• Everything ends up covered in dog and cat hair.  I've gone through two sticky rollers in the past four months.  I guess it's different when its your own pet... I used to have two and not be bothered by it.  Then again, I used to wear light colours and now I wear a lot of black and grey and brown...
• Noise, noise and more noise... Whether it be from multiple televisions, music playing, people talking/shouting, the phone ringing A LOT... ugh... 

For the past three weeks, Jules and I have been spending time at the library on weekends reading, drinking coffee at the little cafe and just escaping for a few hours.  Once I finish the two loads of laundry I have started (I saw the washer and dryer empty and I HAD to act!) we will head over there and chill.

In other news, it's one more week until I can test for pregnancy. :)

Hi, it's the middle of March... take down your Christmas decorations!

I was out walking my parents' dog this evening and I decided to detour down a block I usually walk right by. It was like the block time forgot or something. FOUR houses on this block were still decked out in Christmas decorations. I'm not just talking about lighting (some people keep 'em up on the roof all year around and I don't blame them although the icicle lighting doesn't exactly look great in July) I'm talking about full size santas and reindeer and metal Christmas trees and candy canes on the lawn. It's the 13th of March for crying out loud! We don't have a ton of snow this year! It's not like this stuff is buried under three feet of snow or something! It's like one of the neighbours looked out the window and said, 'Well, if Bob isn't taking down his stuff, I guess I don't have to either.'

Weird...

In other news... Official Try #1 (because we're not counting the practice run as a real try) is happening later this week (Thursday - Sunday) and we're counting down the days until we move in to our new rental condo (April 1st). Looking forward to our own space again!!

Here's a bad pic of the 'back' of the new rental condo (I took this picture from the parking lot of another apartment complex).  It's kind of confusing... each building has four units and there are two in the front that are above the garages and then two in the back that have basements (like ours).  So ours is on the left and is the lower portion (so the lower left six windows - bedroom, bathroom, second bedroom, kitchen, patio doors, living room).  In the front there is a one car garage.

Punished by the Pope?

I had no idea there was a blogger app... Trying it out now and hoping it doesn't make me log in again (it has twice now in five minutes)...

Recently the Pope spoke out on alternate means of conception and how if people can't get pregnant the usual way (between a husband and wife having sexual intercourse) then they shouldn't try alternate measures.

I joked to Jules last night as I was enduring day two of The Worst Period Of My Life that God was punishing me for trying to conceive a child in an alternative manner. Seriously though, almost two whole days of brutal cramps and nausea so bad I threw up my vitamins in the morning. Sometimes I hate being a woman...

Official try(s) #1 later next week. This cycle's peak days are on the most inconvenient days schedule-wise but we're hoping to do four consecutive days. Two of the days I'm going to have to leave work early in order to meet up with the donor (his schedule is busy too) in a small window of free time. The other two days are the weekend but I have first aid re-certification 9-5 (three years goes by so fast) so we'll be meeting up in the evenings. That reminds me, I need to budget more for gas now that we're needing to drive 45 min to and from these 'tries'. :/

Alright, I've had enough of one finger typing on the tiny iPhone keypad... Time for bed.

Blah

After not getting sick for nearly two years, my immune system has been totally flattened twice so far this year.  At the end of January I came down with a virus that started with laryngitis, morphed to a head cold and then had a nasty intestinal finish that had me off work for a week.  It was brutal. Now I've come down with a cold and I'm absolutely miserable while I wait and see if I'm for sure not pregnant.  I'd kill for some cold medication right about now... sigh.

Watching Grey's Anatomy right now... getting annoyed with Altman and her getting Yang to repeat what happened to Henry in the OR over and over again.

Practice and other things

So, today we had two significant appointments.  The first was to Jules' doctor to find out more about what's going on around her ovaries.  I suppose I should back up a moment and fill in some of this story.  Basically, she's had what she thought was a running injury since last August.  An X-Ray, bone density scan and physical therapy did and/or showed nothing helpful so at the end of January she had an MRI for her left hip.  When the doctor called her in for the results, she started with 'Well, there's nothing abnormal showing in your hip area, but you have a tennis ball sized mass on your left ovary.'  Okay, talk about being stunned.  So, on Tuesday she went for an ultrasound and then went in to see the doctor this afternoon to find out the results.  The ultrasound showed a grapefruit sized dermoid cyst on her right ovary as well.  Lovely.  So, aside from causing her discomfort, they shouldn't be life threatening or anything but regardless, we're a little nervous about it.  She's being referred to a specialist and will require surgery to remove them.  There's never anything wrong with her so this will be her first surgery.  After being by my side for four of them in the past five years (one to repair my shattered nose/sinus after being hit in the face with a puck at a hockey game and three on my index finger) this will be a change.

So, once we left that appointment, we headed over to our wonderful sperm donor's place to take part in a 'practice run'.  All in all, it went very well with only minimal embarrassment on the part of the donor and Jules in regards to the sperm exchange.  I'm really glad we did a practice run because we will have everything perfectly arranged for next month when we really get into trying on my most fertile dates.  There's still a chance I can get pregnant from this practice run (his sperm motility test was well above average after all) but I'm definitely not holding my breath.  If it happens, it happens.  I'll wait to hold my breath next month. :)

Ready

It feels like forever since we started the journey toward trying for a child.  For most of the way, it was an abstract plan with several missing pieces and almost as many backward steps as forward.  Let it never be said that a gay couple does not want a child they are blessed with.  The amount of preparation and stress and planning and planning and planning... Well, I suppose it does no good to feel a little bitter toward hetro couples who can just try as they please.

On Friday we are doing what we are all calling a 'practice run'.  By 'we all' I mean myself, Jules, known donor and known donor's partner.  This practice run was going to be done in the small window in which I am fertile but sadly my body decided to have the shortest cycle in nearly two years so by Friday the chance the practice run could turn into a pregnancy is nearly impossible.  This practice run will serve the purpose of easing us into the whole awkward process of handing off the goods and hanging around whilst ensuring it gets where it needs to be.  Four gay people in a house performing what could potentially be a miracle.  It's pretty funny to think about once I get past all the nervous thoughts.

Next month will be full-fledged trying.

Holy fuck... We are actually at this stage.