5/01/2016

Good News and Bad News

These last few days have been full of good news and pretty darn bad news. The good news includes the success of my, "Career Exploration for Introverts," workshop on Friday, with seven attendees and four free half-hour career consultations scheduled. I will let you know how many new clients come out of the consults (I recently signed two new clients separately, as well!). I also learned a lot in this first round of offering this workshop, and I plan to continue refining and offering the content in the future. And the participants really connected with one another; so much so that I had to ask them to leave. For Introverts, as you might imagine, this is definitely unusual and a real accomplishment. :)

In other good news, my campaign to become a mother through California Conceptions just passed the $600 mark or 10% of the goal! I know a few folks who intend to make donations and a couple of them are close friends and family. If you would like to contribute, I would really be grateful. I am also offering "perks" of career counseling and/or resume review for various levels of contribution, which you can give to friends if you don't need it. If you write a blog and are willing to support me by posting about the campaign, that would be wonderful and sooo appreciated! If you contact me here or on my campaign page, I will gladly share a pre-written blog post that you could change and edit. Or you can introduce it however you like. I also am glad for all positive wishes!

I had fun and informative conversations with both the California Conceptions program coordinator and one of the doctors, and wanted to share a few interesting tidbits from those conversations:
  • They confirmed that they offer a refund if you don't achieve a successful pregnancy after three tries, assuming you meet the requirements of 28% BMI and a clear saline sonogram. I meet the weight requirement but am a little too close to the line for comfort, so plan to eat more carefully and continue exercising. I'll get the sonogram with them probably in a month or so.
  • My next steps - in addition to continuing to work on financing - are to get a physical and complete the list of blood tests. I can also move forward on seeing an approved therapist for one appointment to discuss the psychological/emotional aspects of donor embryos.
  • The doctor said there is a 65% chance of success each try, using one embryo, and 75% using two embryos. The chance of twins, while in a typical pregnancy is one in a thousand or so, with this process (due to using 5-day blastocysts) is 1 - 1.5% chance. So using two embryos, there is a 3% chance of having triplets. I think I got that right, but any math majors, please feel free to correct me! In any case, there is a much higher rate of multiples, which makes me reconsider my original intention to use two embryos each try. What would you do?
Last bit of good news...had a great "coaching circle" meet up with a few folks from my EOL program yesterday. A guy from the program developed this curriculum, so we are acting as guinea pigs but reaping the benefits of the Theory U material he is using and enjoying having a reunion with one another. We will meet two additional times virtually and possibly once more in person.

Ending with the bad news, which as I think about is actually good and bad news in itself. Good news is I'm alive. Bad news is that when I got my oil changed yesterday, the automotive place did not fasten my wonky hood correctly and it flew up on the freeway, shattering my windshield and blinding me for a few seconds. The policeman and tow truck operator both said I was very lucky, and that most people swerve or slam on the brakes when that happens. For whatever reason, I didn't do that, but instead kept driving praying I was in the lane, slowed down, realized I could peek through a crack where hood connects to the car and work my way over to the next lane and then onto the shoulder, at which point I burst into hysterical tears that lasted a good 10 minutes. It was pretty traumatizing - just the shock of it and knowing the danger. I was fortunate that the glass did not break out of the windshield frame, but instead cracked into thousands of pieces and send little shards of glass onto the seat and onto my clothing; the rear view mirror also flew off. I walked away unhurt. Thank God. I'm having the car towed from my house to a shop tomorrow and it looks like my insurance will cover most of repair, minus deductible, and give me a rent-a-car.

Thanks for hearing all my news. I hope your weekend had as much or more good, and way less bad than mine did!

p.s. I have had a couple positive conversations (all things considered) with S and will share about these in my next post...

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your business's developments, impressive! From someone who put in 2 embryos and had twins, I wish I would have thought this through more myself. By putting in 1, you are pregnant and it's a matter of your body can sustain the pregnancy especially up front. I would have rather put in 1, and then later gone back to put in the other years later. It was too risky for me to put in 2 at once, I had major health complications that were so risky for my twins. Just something to think about, and I will be excited for you no matter what path you choose.

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    1. Thank you for your thoughts on this - I know you speak from experience. Your twins are so darling and special, but as you say, you had health complications that were risky for you and them...so yeah, I'm thinking just one at this point but there is some time to make the decision. Thanks for your support. :)

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  2. Oh and how scary for you in your accident!!! Agh!!! I can't believe you didn't injure yourself or someone else, what a scary situation!!!

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  3. OMG - that is scary. You really showed presence of mind to not slam the brakes or swerve. Glad you are okay!!

    Happy to hear about your business picking up and your moving ahead with CC.

    Reg embryos, I struggled with that a bit, but in talking with my RE and OBGYN I made the decision to only put in one. I was 43 years old and I did not want to take a chance of health complications for me or the baby. I preferred that if it did not work I would have gone back. Plus being an SMC it seemed a bit daunting to me to have two together.

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    1. Yes, the daunting part I totally relate to...one is challenge enough if I'm doing this single. Of course, I would find a way to do it, if I had multiples but it would be really hard and risky. The fact that I have three or more tries included in the program also makes me lean towards trying one the first time. Thanks for your good thoughts. :)

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  4. Wow, how incredibly terrifying! I'm so glad you came out of that unhurt (albeit very shaken up)!

    I don't have much of an audience on my blog, but I'd be more than happy to share your story and the link to your fundraising page. Would you care to write up a "guest blog" for it and I'll put it up? :)

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