Slight Change in Plans

Two days after returning from three weeks of adventurous travel for the wedding & honeymoon, we found out that we'd be leaving for India 18 days from now.  We initially planned on shipping the "stuff" to New Delhi to save a good bit on flight & hotel costs and because Brent didn't have the vacation time, so it was really going to hit us in the bank.

baby?

Jump back to a month ago, we went to make our semen analysis deposits.  Every guy going through surrogacy knows how uncomfortable this is and I won't complain because it's nothing compared to any medical procedure that women go through when trying to conceive.  It was just a nerve wracking experience before, during, and after.  I blame the before on my uncanny ability to worry myself to death before any medical anything (this is one test that you don't want to fail!), I blame the during on the bright fluorescent lights and medical diagrams on the wall not helping me produce sufficient goods, and I blame the after on having all eyes on me as I came out of the little room walking a cup of junk into a waiting room full of blue-haired 60-somethings.

And even through Brent and I went to the same Dr on the same day for a referral to the same lab for the same test, we both got totally different metrics reported back in the results.  Long story short, we emailed the results to Dr. Shivani and she reported back that the results weren't favorable enough for shipping and she'd rather us come to India during the egg collection so that we can provide fresh samples.  Nothing to really worry about (who me? never), there were healthy swimmers in the results, but we'd be better off being a part of the baby making on-site.

So we booked flights from Florida (ouch), booked a hotel on points (whew), got our visas, cleared the absence with our offices, who are going to let us work remote a bit so that we don't lose $ on unpaid leave (whew), and bought a Delhi travel book.  We're set!

In the end, this trip wasn't what we planned, but we are excited about it now.  From the beginning, I wanted to go to India so that we could explore a bit, rather than see it for the first time with a newborn (i.e. see only the hotel and the airport), and so that we could meet Dr. Shivani early on and meet the woman who is going to try to carry a human for us for 9 months (kind of a big deal).  We just didn't want to spend thousands of dollars if there was an option not to, since we don't know how many attempts this will take. Eventually the money will run out and I wanted to be conservative, but now that we have no choice but to make the trip,  we're embracing it and very excited for the adventure.  I think that having this experience in India will make us feel much more connected to the process and makes it all feel much more real.

We shouldn't have unpacked the suitcase!