All Aboard the Baby Train!

You may have noticed that I've checked off a few items on my "How To Make a Baby" to-do list over to your right.

This week, we took the first concrete steps toward making our baby dreams a reality.

We still can't really get to work until I've got a job and health insurance, but the ball is beginning to roll.

As you can see from the list, I've got several doctors that I need to visit before we start, because I have some previous health issues that have to be taken into consideration.

In 1991, I had idiopathic glomerulonephritis, which has been completely resolved for about fifteen years now, but I still follow up with my nephrologist annually (more or less). Of course, given the added strain on the kidneys from even the most uneventful of pregnancies, I'll want him to sign off on the plan.

(Don't worry, I've seen Steel Magnolias, and I don't plan on doing anything stupid!)

In December 2004, I had Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. Since then, I've lost about 200 lbs and my weight's been stable (at goal) since June 2006.

Of course, I'm much healthier now and in much better shape to be considering a pregnancy, but I will have some special nutritional concerns, both in terms of getting enough calories for myself and the baby and in terms of getting specific nutrients, since some of them (eg. Calcium, B12) are not absorbed very well after the surgery.

Assuming I'm employed and insured in time to have labwork done by then, I have appointments for my 2-year surgical follow-up, dietician consult and nephrologist consult on April 17.

I had a "talking-with-my-clothes-on" appointment scheduled with my OB-GYN for this past Monday. I was going to postpone, waiting for the insurance, but we decided that it was worth the $60 to go ahead and talk to her and get things started.

She gave me a list of labwork that she'd like to see (in addition to the other stuff for my surgeon and nephrologist) and explained a bit about the process.

I will also need to have an hysterosalpingogram (HSG), in which they inject dye into the uterus and take X-rays to look for polyps, tubal blockage, etc.

I'm scheduled to go back to her on April 20 for a Pap smear and the other tests that happen on that end of me.

I asked her what kind of time-frame we're looking at, from when I have insurance and we can start the testing until we can actually start trying. (Assuming no problems turn up that have to be corrected first.)

She said "Oh, a month-and-a-half."

Holy crow! If all goes well, on both the employment and medical fronts, we could be inseminating by June, and if we got lucky on the first try, could have a baby with a year.

In the meantime, we've decided that since insurance won't pay for the cost of the donor profiles anyway, we might as well go ahead and start screening them more in-depth. More on that in the next post.