Our Very First Blog Post



Our Wedding - October 30, 2010 - Columbia, SC

  Well thank you so much for following our blog. If you have read "Our Story" then you already know a little bit about us. I'm just going to jump right into the details because after all, that’s why we created this blog. My amazing DP(domestic partner) J and I have known for quite some time that we wanted to start a family together. Several years ago when we first talked about this we discussed having a KD (known donor) and we asked our wonderful gay male friend N if he would be willing to donate and he graciously agreed. Now that we are getting closer to starting our family we are having second thoughts about using a KD. We have done much research on the internet and to be honest the amount of information available online about TTC (trying to conceive) is consuming me. We have even found that people who are TTC have a language all of their own which is consumed with abbreviations. Through our research, questions have been raised about the legalities of using a KD and although we love N dearly, we are still cautious. We have also researched Northwest Chryo and Andrology and they are simply amazing and helpful. They even have a forum for clients to communicate and trade pictures and to discuss their journey with people going through the same thing. Everyone on their forum is kind and encouraging. Using N as our donor would certainly be cheaper in the event that it takes us multiple tries to conceive. There would also be a better chance at conceiving faster with fresh swimmers. There is a 20% chance of conceiving each time with frozen sperm and a 35% chance with N's little swimmers. It would also be ideal to use him because we adore him and he is such a genuinely good soul. I think we know which direction we are leaning, we just haven’t made the solid decision yet. Another factor that comes into play is that I may be a carrier of the genetic Cystic Fibrosis mutation and our donor will need to be tested for this. If our donor is also a carrier then our child will have a 1 in 4 chance that they will have Cystic Fibrosis and this is not a risk we can take. We are sending many prayers, hopes, wishes and positive vibes up that N is not a carrier of CF. There are a few things that we need to get done before we start TTC. Starting in January my diet will be changing. I currently eat a low carb diet and this has been successful for weight loss but I don’t think the amount of meat that I eat will be healthy for fertility. I need a more balanced died. I am concerned with this diet change because low carb has been very beneficial to me with weight loss and I still have weight to lose. I will also be completely cutting out the caffeine. I know that some people say this is not necessary but I want to do everything right, at least everything in my power to have the most healthy child possible. J will be finished with school in March and should not have a problem at all finding a job in her field in our area and then we need to buy our forever home and a 2nd car. Nothing extravagant, just a little piece of property to call our own. All of these things will be accomplished by early Summer of 2011 and then we will be ready for TTC. We aren’t certain of when to start trying. We are tracking my cycles for now and we plan on buying PNV(pre-natal vitamins) this weekend along with OPK(ovulation prediction kits) so we can really track everything for a good 4 or 5 months and be certain of when I ovulate. We are so excited to be able to share this journey with all of you. I hope that others on the same journey will be encouraged by our blog just as we are by theirs. Much love to you all!