This is my first official week of summer where I have absolutely noth-ing to do. No doctor appointments, no summer school, no jury duty, nothing. It's Monday afternoon and I'm officially going a little bonkers. You just can't give a girl who has a brain that is constantly doing something a whole week off with nothing to even think about. It's torture.
I've been cleared from my regular ob-gyn (aka his rap name, "Dr. Tube Tay-Kah") and am officially on my very first period without two vital parts of the female reproductive system! Yay for a working uterus! I go back in August to the fertility doctor so they can start the first round of meds with my cycle (kinda like a test-run before the real deal). I'll have my first (and hopefully, prayerfully, only one!) round of IVF in September.
For those of you who are wondering, IVF stands for In Vitro Fertilization. In a nutshell, although the entire procedure would be better related to, "in a watermelon", very smart, geeky science guys will take out as many fertilized eggs that I can produce in a month and combine them with a sampling of Mike's finest sperm. Once fertilized, they'll take 1 or 2 and insert them directly into my uterus to hopefully implant and make a baby. Holla. This could work the first round, or it might not work at all. It's a crazy intense process that is only beginning, but it is one that is almost guaranteed. So why not?! Not like I haven't been through a crazy intense process the last few years. Might as well keep going.
Never in a million years when I started writing this blog would I have thought this was a route I'd be taking. I feel like it's taken three years to figure out my system, have the problem solved, and find a solution. I've watched other people who are and have gone through fertility issues along with me get pregnant and have babies, some even on second and third children. I've written for three years about recurrent miscarriage and I've often talked about how I get strength from the stories of others. While I feel like we are definitely on the road to a solution, I can't help but think of those women like me who will never find a problem and who will more than likely have even more miscarriages. It might make me weird, but I thank God every single morning for letting me have a problem that could be worked around, for I know there are women who will always wonder.
Many of my followers are going through situations like mine and I can't help but give y'all a shout out. There is always a little bit something good to come out of a little bit something bad. I refuse to tell you "it will all be alright" or "just hang in there" because that's advice I never wanted to hear myself. Even if you aren't religious, you have to keep a positive outlook or you'll be miserable. You have to believe "this WILL happen" even if there are days when you truly feel like it won't.
And who the heck am I kidding? I may go through 100 rounds of IVF and never get anything either. But I never thought I'd even have another option and look where I am now. It's most frustrating to me when others around me who've gone through their own issues gain success. That sounded REALLY mean. I didn't mean it that way--I swear! It's just like, they get their happy ending, when's mine? I feel like I'm already celebrating over the fact that IVF is a good possibility for us. I feel like I've gotten one step closer to "baby" while there are so many others out there who are sort of stuck in the same place. I ask those who are still going through tough situation to hang in there with me...you never know what possibilities are out there!
Okay, no more baby-talk for now. I love, love, love, going to conferences and meetings that I get paid extra for. Like, y'all will feed me, pay me, and all I have to do is just sit there an listen? YES, PLEASE. Even better, most of the time they will send you to these things with your co-workers that are your BFFs.
But sometimes, they won't. And you're the only one you know going. Which means you'll have to awkwardly look around and try to judge the person you're gonna sit beside for the next six hours and pray, just pray, that they are 1. Not annoying and 2. Not a vegetarian who will judge every morsel of the probably-high-caloric catered food that is surely for lunch.
You walk into the over-priced banquet room. In the front of the room, you look and see a large screen. Yes! This means a PowerPoint, which means they'll have it printed out, which means I can mark each slide off and know how much longer we have, and also, doodle paper. Always avoid the front, because 9 times outta 10, the speakers will try to interact with you at some point. They also like to pick on the people in the very back because they think "Oh they've avoided the front so they wouldn't have to do much! Hahaha, I'll show them". That means, it's best to sit in the middle, preferably close to a side wall.
Most of the people in the room are probably teachers. But there could be administrators. You can point them out because they are usually dressed the nicest and like they are going to a funeral. Avoid sitting with them. (Let me add, I'm not speaking of my admin. They know ((OH THEY KNOW!)) if I walk in a room and they are in there, I'm sitting with them.) Anyway, you never know when you might have to switch counties for some reason or another and you don't want to walk into an interview with said admin only to have them remember, "Oh shit, this is that really inappropriate girl from that conference that one time".
After identifying the higher-ups, you should be able to easily break down the other groups and decide where you will best fit for the day. There's always a group of men, probably history or PE teachers, who will talk your ears off about stuff you'll never understand. Avoid. There's probably a younger group of teachers who are fresh outta college and will drive you crazy because they've set up their areas with Mac notebooks, pens, highlighters, etc. like we're getting ready to find out the answers to the SATs. They'll also be the annoying "ask questions" group which only draws attention to your table and further makes the speakers think, "Oh they're really interested, let's eat with them at lunch". Avoid.
This usually leaves two groups that you have to be extremely careful over picking. Group 1 will be your "mature" group. Group 2 will be your "I've got 1 year left before retirement" group. They may look the same, but my friends, they are not. Group 1 is the "I know it all and I will try my hardest to convince you of that, all while saying things that don't make sense". Group 2 is the "I've been here the longest, I've done it all, this stuff you're presenting won't work, but I'm glad you think so, what's for lunch?" <--- This group, y'all, is the group you want to be with. You'll learn the most from listening to them, they are probably hilarious, and they share similar interests (that being, lunch and snacks). Also, they'll think you're super cool because you have all the answers to the "group work" that's been assigned. (Only because you're smart enough to look ahead in the PowerPoint packet for the answers that are surely already done for you).
I hope these tips have been most helpful to you if you find yourself in a summer meeting/conference. I have several more coming up so if you see me walk in the room, I hope there are no hard feelings if I don't sit at your table. It's not you, it's probably your "group".
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