Uncertainty of a Family

This is a "rant"... more like a 
"get it out there to get it off my mind so I can write my damn final". 
Feel free to skip over.



I know it's a silly thing to be thinking about right now with graduation and my wedding coming up, but after a weekend of being with my in-laws I've started thinking about when David and I might start a family. Being around my pregnant sister-in-law really brought home the reality for us.

Many of you know there's been some question about my fertility and the health of my reproductive system. I won't get to far into it, but the general idea is that I got the crappy genes in our family. Much like my late grandmother I'm having a lot of issues early on with cysts and related problems.

This weekend I heard "get your eggs frozen" multiple times.

Let's break this down, using various fertility clinic's information to get our averages.

A single cycle of "harvesting" is on average $10,000
Most women need 3-4 cycles to get enough eggs to be a viable freezing so actually $30,000

The cost to store the harvested eggs varies but about $500 a month
Ideally we would wait 2 years until David graduates, or more because we should wait until we're settled into the new area. That comes to $12,000 if we go with exactly 2 years of storage.

Then we get to the actual cost of IVF averaging out at $12,400 per cycle
It usually take a few cycles, so lets go with 2 for the sake of being optimistic (there's only an 85% success rate for implantation) so $24,800

Our grand total for "just freeze your eggs" comes to $66,800
Insurance doesn't generally cover these things.

I can appreciate the sentiment of trying to give me a solution, its something I've thought about a lot. But its not a viable option.

In the end, David and I will have to decide if we want a child, and then we'll need to get a couple of opinions from doctors about what my health dictates needs to happen. That may mean a million things, but what it comes down to is that David and I will be making some tough choices and we hope our family will be there to support us no matter what.

Nargles

Pretty sure my house is infested with nargles... they like to steal things you know. Its like a game to them. Hide something, drive the home owner crazy, laugh their little heads off.

Wish they'd give me my stuff back.

I need to give the missing wiimotes to a friend.

I can't quilt until I have my rotary sheers back.

Who knows what else is missing that I haven't realized yet! Silly nargles.

Give me my stuff back!

I'm finally graduating!

After 5 years in University I am finally graduating on May 4th!

It's been 20 years since I first started school, and have basically only known academia for the majority of my life. 

Graduating is the next step in my journey. 

It is absolutely terrifying but I am so very, very excited too! 

My family and friends have been so incredible in helping me on my journey.

I can't even tell you all how much you've helped and inspired me on each step.

I know I'm not done with academia quite yet, I'm hoping to get a graduate degree in the next few years, but from where I stand right now this graduation is the biggest thing to happen in my life.

It may be beat out by my wedding in June... probably.

But none the less. 

I'm three week and a half weeks from walking in commencement.

and all I'm feeling right now is gratitude to those who have helped me.

Thank you.

Thank you,

Mom, Dad & Lars- for supporting and inspiring me

David- for sticking with me through everything and loving me no matter what

Katie- for being my bestest best friend no matter how far apart we are and always being there to support me

Kimberly & Saber-  for being there to help me with my moments of panic

My teachers, professors & TA's- for putting up with my classmates and I

There's probably a thousand people who deserve my gratitude, and I hope they realize how much they have helped me. 

Go Cougs!

Change isn't bad!

Things are changing quickly in my life!

On Thursday I left my job at Pizza Hut for good.
To be honest it might have been one of the best choices I've ever made for myself. My stress levels immediately dropped, I have time to focus on the things I need to. It is a wonderful thing.

I graduate in 4 weeks with my Bachelor's degree.

I'm getting married in less than 8 weeks.

Life is pretty awesome right now!