Rush Hour Aftermath

I described earlier what it was like to be in the Toronto clinic. This is what happened afterwards.

C and I left the clinic on the high. She was probably more legitimately excited than me only because she is more optimistic than me. Either way, we were smiley and starving. We headed to a delightful and classy little spot called Pizza Pizza. We were just in the process of ordering when her cell phone rang. It's the nurse. The nurse who laughed at my nervousness and told C to have fun with all the sex. The nurse had forgotten to tell her to use protection! She had basically outright asked for any restrictions to do with sex and the nurse had forgotten to mentioned condoms! Luckily, she realized the oversight and she hadn't accidentally become pregnant with her own child in the mean time! 

That afternoon we were headed back to my cousin's place and then back to our respective homes. We were trying to avoid rush hour but were a bit delayed because my cousin decided that she would also head our direction: roadtrip! We would get out of the city, stop at the Big Apple to stock up on treats, then take E to the family cottage, C to her home, and then me to mine. The drive out of the city was slow and we had ample time to tell E all of the news about the appointment: everything is ready to go, ducks are in order, exciting and we will be back soon! 

Once outside of the city we stopped for gas. I went inside to pay on my own. I came back and C looks at me and says "Nancy, the clinic just phoned with bad news." I honestly thought she was joking. She even looked like she was laughing a little bit. I looked at E for confirmation, she said it was not a joke. C again told me she had received a voicemail from the clinic with bad news. And, ever the pessimist that I am, I was not that surprised. I had been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Nothing just goes easily and smoothly, I have learned that. Baby making is not as easy as they made it out to be in high school! The message was from our fertility doctor who indicated that she had not fully reviewed blood work prior to our discussion in the morning. As it turns out, C has a "profoundly abnormal" thyroid. She will need to see a specialist and have it monitored on an ongoing basis. A prescription had already been called in to her pharmacy, but we would not be moving forward until this was addressed. 

It was disappointing. I had to adjust, but then, in my experience fertility treatment is always about adjusting. Poor C, on the other hand, she was so excited and invested and I think felt guilty - as if she had gone out and mucked around with her thyroid on purpose! I can honestly say that I adjusted quickly and did not dwell. I did not think that a thyroid hiccup was going to be a deal-breaker. (Fertility specialists play with all sorts of things in the thyroid and I have usually also been treated with thyroid medications, not because I have a problem with my thyroid, but because it is not as ideal as it could be). 

The rest of the drive we just enjoyed ourselves. I ate a mountain of junk food at the Big Apple and made myself a bit ill (so maybe I did not adjust as well as I thought I did!). When we stopped for a snack, E and I whispered about how lovely C is. And then E and I got to share some of our happiest childhood memories with C as we approached our grandmother's cottage - she got to know me a bit more in the quick visit we had while we dropped E off. 

We all made it home safely and intact, short of the information mishaps that were laregely a result of how hurried they were. I could not help but be concerned - do they hurry during egg retrieval (ouch!)? Or when they fertilize the eggs? I might end up with the wrong biological father! 

xx