Precious.

Glenn and I got to meet Miss Ella Ann while she was still in the hospital. I forget how tiny Connor was when I first saw him. Miss Ella was only about 36 hours old when we got to hold her! So sweet and tiny.

I think she is all the more precious knowing what her mommy and daddy went through. If Glenn and I are the start of the infertility battle, her mom and dad are the victors. She is the result of years of nature and science never quite lining up. A tiny little test tube baby miracle.

Amy has been a sounding board and wealth of information for me and it doesn't hurt that she has an accountant's brain. She does ALL the research and I've been benefiting from it. :)

You haven't read many blog posts on our issues in the last few months because there isn't much to report. Waiting. More waiting. No doctors available. More waiting.

We've also been exploring adoption options since that is something we have always wanted to pursue but that involves a lot of waiting and even more saving. Saving money. Babies are expensive. Adopted babies are even more expensive.

It is disheartening and disappointing on a daily basis that we can't start the family that we want, but seeing little Miss Ella is reassuring to know that the time and patience is worth the wait.

Timing

I've been thinking a lot about timing lately. Moving. Orders. Schedules and babies.

Glenn and I are approaching our one year mark of attempting to start a family. I know for some, that is not a long time, for others, that is a very long time. For the impatient planner in myself, that is a very long time. Once I had the idea in my head, I wanted it to happen. Yesterday.

Japan had mediocre medical services at best so after a few tests at the clinic there, we were resigned to the fact that we would have to wait until we returned to the states for further help. That was fine with us, moving around the world without a place to live, a family could wait until we were more settled.

So I waited. Two weeks after closing on our house, I was in the doctor's office with a specialist and finally received the diagnosis that I had foreseen coming. A family can happen, maybe, but with a little assistance and medical intervention.

I bring this up because several weeks ago, I was at a spouses' club fundraiser and of the 4 of us volunteering at the time, all four of had or were undergoing fertility treatments. One woman called her son her $40,000 baby. Another quit her job recently because she couldn't stand working in a preschool after suffering her third miscarriage. It happens to so many, but so few talk about it.

So I came home with a list of further procedures to complete and fast forward another month, and I've got a drawer full of drugs to take.

And they sit in the drawer still. Why? Timing. The Navy is sending my husband away for several weeks which means that we wait. Again.

I was annoyed, but then my husband, as he does so well, gave me a little perspective. A fellow coworker who check in only a short time after Glenn, was assigned to be on the short-list of a potential IA. Meaning rather than be an instructor here in Virginia, like he signed up for, was being told to wait and see if he was going to be sent to Afghanistan for 7-9 months. Lucky for him, the job went to someone else. With the Navy, it's always about timing. Career timing.

So I wait. This time, for time to pass quickly.