Friday, April 5, 2013

I know, once again I have left you, dear readership.  It's just been a very low-energy period for me.  I managed to go on the treadmill once, and outside once (which did wonders for my mood as per the Romantic dictum of the child in Nature), but other than that, I have felt like a complete slug.  I suspect it's psychosomatic.  A year ago we lost the second pregnancy.  I remember so well -- we were eating at מקום של בשר in Tel Aviv, a fancy meat restaurant, with S and E who were two months from delivering their baby boy, and S created a wifi hotspot and I received a bad news email.  It was before our food even came so I had to maintain a public face for the rest of the night.  Then we went back to the hotel and go figure -- what was on television?  Father of the Bride Part Two (just at the part where the two women have babies).  We switched the channel.  Fate was against us: Tali from the Israeli show Ramzor (רמזור) was having her baby in the episode that was airing.

But I made it through.  I didn't think I could possibly lose another baby after Baby A and my sweet Peanut.  But after we lost my Sweatpea, I finished internship, and now I have almost finished my second year of residency.  I don't even have another call month.  My evaluations dropped slightly but you know what, I made it through.  And that has to be a victory of some kind.  And while I hope and pray that I never deal with another trans-Atlantic miscarriage, I guess that if I survived before, I could survive again.  (And this time, I would not be afraid to make an expensive phone call if it made me feel better!)

But maybe I'll just have a BFN.  And who knows?  Retrieval and transfer must happen first, of  course.    we do have tentative dates for those but I prefer not to share yet.  I do know we plan on a two-embryo transfer and that once again, I probably won't be able to make it to the transfer.  I guess there's nothing much I would do there anyway, but it does feel strange to be so removed.

Anyway, that's the IVFun (not) update.

In other aspects of life, we had our annual mimouna party, where Husband and I pretend we are Moroccan Jews and whip of a huge batch of mufletot and other sweets to celebrate the end of Passover.  This year we had forty-six guests!!!  It was a bit of work but a lot of fun, and my beloved Mama Phyll and her best friend helped a lot.  My semolina cake was a big hit; I'll try to remember to translate the recipe into English sometime soon.  I hope everyone enjoyed him or herself but I was so busy trying to entertain everyone that I don't even know!

We also booked our flight to Israel today (we're going in June) and it will cost us only 400 total because we used miles.  Whoohoo!!!  We are looking at a boutique hotel in TA to use as a vacation from our vacation.  Husband wants to try the Diaghilev -- has anyone been or heard about it?

And in professional development: I think I have finally decided on a career in Infectious Diseases.  I still hesitate, but I think the decision was pretty much made.  I hope Dr. C wasn't joking when he essentially guaranteed me a spot!

I think that covers most bases.  I am hoping to get a full night's rest so will be going to bed now.  Goodnight, gut Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom, etc.  Will try to keep up better if I can.

2 comments:

  1. so good to hear an update from you! sounds like quite the fabulous party! so glad that residency is going well! will you move after your residency ends?

    glad the cycle plans are progressing. it is too bad that you wont be at the transfer, but in the long run that is such a small part of the story!!

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  2. Thanks as always for commenting, K! Sending you lots of hugs and support today.

    The party was definitely a lot of fun, although we are still trying to deal with leftovers. I made so much dough for the crepes that I used almost 5lbs flour! It took another family dinner to finish them off.

    We aren't planning to move when I finish my residency. We were really lucky and were able to buy our home, and it's about two blocks from thirty+ family members. It's a ranch, technically three-bedrooms but one is our library. We have put a fair amount of work into it (and as Mama Phyll is an interior decorator she designed the kitchen from scratch) so I want to stay and enjoy. Also, the best place in the area to do an Infectious Disease fellowship is right here at my home university. Lucky me!

    Funny tidbit: I have three sets of aunts and uncles, and between the generous hand-me-downs of them all, the only pieces of furniture I bought for the ENTIRE house were a coffee table and a highboy from Ikea. (Good thing my aunts have good taste!)

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