Nobody’s Fool; a Story about Love

Posted on April Fool's Day, there were some skeptics. Who could blame them?

I enjoy a good joke. I love to tell them to see everyone laugh. It was April Fool's Day after all. It was a chance for a cleverly executed prank with great timing. Bummer is, I often falter on the delivery of the punch line. April Fool's Day was no different. 

Yes, what you see is a real ultrasound. Yes, the clinic spelled their name wrong. Yes, it belongs to me, but not of what your mind may have lead you to believe. What you see in the photo is my left ovary, and for your viewing pleasure, I can share scans of my right. 

Both Left and Right.... the right one is the overachiever this month

Sure, some of you may have thought they had a view to my womb, and any self-respecting mommy could justify it by imagining the dark circle amidst the static-like surrounds as an implanted embryo of 4 weeks within it's protective sack. However, what you actually saw in that view was one of two ovarian follicles, the larger somewhere around the size of 6mm- 1/4 inch. 

Who could blame you had you thought that it was the previous?  Most anyone can agree that what you see on ultrasound takes a stretch of imagination to discern anything.  Lucky for me, my ultrasound tech knew what I needed to see during the exam and gave me a guided tour. 

So why the snapshots of my interior gonads you ask?  Why get everyone worked up in a dither for hours on end? Before you flog me, I have a reason, and no, it's not just to orchestrate a well timed April Fool's prank. Those of us with younger kids are about over it by 11am the day of. 

We're counting follicles. Ladies, have you counted your follicles lately?  -Probably no need. For me, it is a necessity. Each follicle has the potential on it's own to ripen a single egg. With a bit of special medical attention, I could achieve a couple eggs per follicle. In my case (say "40-something"), I plan on taking advantage of every intervention possible to increase follicle count and egg yield. 

The truth be known, my husband and I are *expecting* to bring our first little one into the world with the understanding the pregnancy will be of somewhat prolonged duration. Ummmmmm, Like 12 to 15 months prolonged. We all have wondered about the world famous, chronically-in-labor April the Graffe from New York? Yep, like her. Thank heavens it won't be a pregancy like an elephant!  - Go ahead, Google that one! 😉

Tired? I think she looks like she is exhausted! A giraffe is pregnant for 13-15 months
Photo from WDIV ClickOnDetroit

Needless to say, I'm not going to complain because I'm not the one that has to be the literal burden of such a long gestation and unpredictable due date (EDC for my nurse friends). Luckily no human has to either. The prolonged duration will be due to the process of getting pregnant. So yea, 12-15 months, then a baby. We are expecting to be expecting.  It's making me feel a little sorry for April because she actually has to live it. 

I know, like seriously Sinthea....... What's the deal?

It's really, really, really true. My husband, David, and I are going to have a baby together through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), or IVF, aka "test tube baby". Or at least we are going to try.

Try is the operative word. This is HUGE - scratch that word. I mean, it's a G-R-A-N-D endeavor. There are a billion variables that can work against our favor. Just 1,000 of those stem from the average monthly loss of eggs from a woman's ovarian reserves. Plus, in my case, the absence of a uterus. 1,001 variables.  This alone leads us to rent a womb. 

Yep, you heard me. So have many of my dear friends and family heard me shamelessly pose to them over the past year or so if I could borrow their vacant womb to nestle an embryo or two. I had a couple of loving offers but it wasn't to be. 

I did stick my neck out and place ads on a couple (ok, a few) surrogacy websites, and make contact through chance encounters which I received two very sincere offers.  The first retracted because she and her husband decided to have their own precious bundle- but great for her, right? She finally can carry a baby for herself once again! With the second gal, we were very close to pulling together a solid plan - and might I say, it's not easy when it's two sets of state laws that have to be considered. However, her father was diagnosed once again with the "c" word. She definitely needed to focus her care and support on him. And when the timing is right, she's going to make one heck of an amazing surrogate.

How then will we do this? Stay tuned. I've decided to be brave and share with those of you hat are interested about our journey. I would love the support because there are going to many big hills that we'll have to climb along the way. If you are one of those that doesn't have anything positive to offer, just keep scrolling and read elsewhere, you won't miss anything but a bit of my babble. 

Mostly, we are thankful for each one of you and your show of encouragement. This was not an exercise in who's the "April Fool", but rather a way to show unconditional friendship and love.