Ups and Downs

First of all, I am SOOOO excited about KerryW's new baby, Aubrey Lorraine.  She arrived on Monday, so she leads a charmed holiday life.  Kerry was one of my first friends on DS approximately 9 months and 2 weeks ago.  And look what happened!  Good for her.  This makes me really happy. Meanwhile, we've had some gains in the family relations department.  James's mother has never said a word to me about infertility specifically, and almost nothing even hinting at our struggles.  For two years!  This spring when we were doing IVF #2 she sent us a card saying she was thinking of us, and I was stunned. It was the closest she had come to "saying it outloud."  I was really touched. Now, since she reads my blog every day, I guess she's getting the message that I don't mind, or even that I like, to talk about it.  Explicitly.  So yesterday I went to the mailbox and pulled out an envelope from her.  It was a religious card -- something about going through trials and tribulations, and she had written inside that everything would happen in God's time, and that she was thinking of us.  Okay, very sweet, and a little bit more specific.  And then she included an article that she cut out from a newspaper.  The article was written by a woman who had been unable to have children.  She'd had multiple surgeries and treatments, and then she and her husband had decided to "treat" themselves by buying a little poodle to love.  And that poodle became their child and they were very happy for years.  I was horrified.  It almost knocked the wind out of me!  I mean, my MIL was telling us that we should get a dog, because that would be as good as having a baby?!  Horrified.  Fortunately, in almost a footnote at the end of the article, the woman wrote that after a year or two, they had a baby girl, and then a baby boy, without incident.  It turns out, this column was written on the occasion of the dog's death, in kind-of a eulogy about how the dog had really been a child to them.  It wasn't just telling people to adopt pets instead of children.  So whew.  It was just a mildly annoying, "Stop worrying; it will happen" message. And anyway, what does she think her grand-cat is, chopped liver?  No: that's what her grand-cat would like to EAT. So last night I had a very dramatic hot flash from the Lupron.  I can't wait for the really fun side-effects to start happening.  We start the other injectibles on Saturday.  Woo hoo!  Let's get these guns blazing!