Journey to Maya (Part 1)

Today is actually a big day for us; an anniversary of sorts. It was one year ago today that Courtney and I submitted out adoption application to the Great Wall China Adoption agency.

So how did we get to this point in our lives? C and I both wanted kids and we had started to try about two years before we submitted our application. We weren't really pressing it, just thinking that if it happened, great, if not there is no pressure we have plenty of time.

After multiple attempts and failures Courtney suggested that maybe introducing a third partner into the picture would help things out. Of course I got excited until I found out that the partner's name was Twinlab's ovulation cycle detector and response kit. It was as sexy as it sounds. Basically it was a packet of strips that reacts to your urine stream (hers not mine) and would indicate when the ovulation would occur or was occurring. They made for great foreplay as you can imagine.

In addition to the Twinlab Courtney went to her OBGYN at the time and she started her on a Clomid cycle to help increase her fertility. Of course at this point we laughed about how easy it was going to be and that we would be "that" couple with triplets and a third mortgage. This didn't work out so well, the OBGYN was a dud, the chlomid wasn't working and I got my first glimpse of what happens when you jiggle a woman's hormone levels (more on that later). Not pretty or advisable.

We were both starting to get a little freaked and had a little wine therapy and discussed what could be the problem as we cobbled a mental checklist of possible explanations.

Including:

• Tighty whitey constriction was not an issue (just boxers no unfinished basement)
• I had an America's Funniest Home video moment with a tennis ball in my formative years, (doubtful, but possible)
• The tick incident (If you already know about it keep your mouth shut, if you don't I may tell some time if you share an equally embarrassing story)
• Three hours of commuting a day with a hot laptop (Hmmmm if this was the cause I wonder if I could expense the adoption to work)
• Were we tracking ovulation correctly (Yep, have the strips and Courtney has good aim)
• Were we doing it right? (That's the final question the OBGYN asked. "Believe it or not," she said, "this is an issue for some people." I wanted to play stupid and see if she would bring out the anatomically correct dolls so I could make up some crazy position to illustrate in great detail what methodology we were using, but I played it straight.)

Courtney had her own concerns as well and we both felt like we had run into a wall and didn't know where to turn. Eventually we turned to the good book for answers....

Read more in part two: The Good Book- Unicare's HMO/PPO Guide to what you can and can't afford for infertility treatments (vol II)