It has been a big week for us!

We knew last week that we would be meeting with a therapist this Tuesday, March 13th, to take the next step to get to Snobbit.  I was super nervous, but Cami was much more calm.  We dropped Sally off with Robert and Hanna and headed to Gothenburg.  Our letter didn't really tell us where to go, so of course, we waited in the wrong place.   Luckily, the therapist found us and we got to our little room.  We had a translator, since I am still not 100% up to par with my Swedish. (I did, however, understand most of the Swedish!)  Both women were incredibly kind.  The session was very positive as we talked about how we met, how we live now and what plans we have for the future. We both spoke a lot about our families and the support we are so blessed to have. We talked about the importance of using a donor that will allow our children to learn a little about him and possibly contact him if they so wish, when the are 18.  We both agreed that is not a decision we make for our child and wanted to keep that option open for them.  That's good since Swedish law requires such.  

The whole thing was such a positive experience, I was almost sad when it was over.  The therapist said that we were more than qualified to be parents.  She also said she could tell that we had the strong foundation that a family needs and could see how strong our bond was.  She was all smiles and so very comforting.  She said she would be happily recommending us for the program when she attended her next weekly team meeting.  This thrilled us for a couple of reasons.  First, of course WE know that we'd make good parents, but it really felt great to hear it from a professional.  It also meant a lot to us that she could see how committed we are to one another.  We were also super excited that they have weekly team meetings.  It was possible that they only met monthly and we might have to wait as long as four additional weeks.  This meant we could be starting pretty soon!

Cut to today.  Miss Sally were out for a walk and decided to check the mail.  We had two letters.  The first was from the Red Cross, I assume asking for another donation, but I haven't bothered to read it yet.  The second had that telltale return envelope from our region, was addressed to both of us and used my first and middle name.  Well, Sally and I started running.  We ran all the way to the house and called for Cami to come and open it.  The letter officially welcomed us to the program and said we would be starting in about two weeks!  Needless to say, we are overjoyed.  If all goes according to plan, we will be inseminating in early April.  (The best kids in the world are conceived in April!  Just look at me!)  It seems like we have been waiting forever, but now it's happening so fast.  We are beyond blessed.  We have quite the roller coaster ahead of us.  I truly can't wait!

My (Cami's) first post!

Hi there!

This is Snobbit's mamma typing. A sick, sniffly mamma, but still.
4 days ago, we met with the doctor who will help us get our little munchkin. We talked about our medical history, thoughts around the process, and got a lot of information. We also got to see a lot of folicals in both ovaries, which is really good! What will happen now, is that about a month from now we will go to see a counselor. After meeting with her, the board will meet to officially approve us and after that we are good to go! :) Hopefully that means that we will get at least one attempt before summer. We will have 6 attempts, and after 4 failed attempts we can choose IVF if we want for the last two. I'm hoping we won't have to make that decision, but get pregnant before that. We have an exciting 2012 ahead of us! :D 

Travels and Birthdays and Letters! Oh My!

It has been quite the eventful few weeks.  We traveled to the US to celebrate the holidays with family and friends, met and adopted our new puppy, Sally, came back home and helped Sally get settled, helped Esme get used to her new little sister, which is a work in progress, celebrated my birthday three times for a whole week AND got a thick envelope in the mail.  We'll talk about that more later...

Saying goodbye to everyone in the US was tough, but it was so good to head back home.  The plan is to go back to the US in November, for Thanksgiving, per our "every other year" plan, but we're hoping that we won't be able to this year.  We're hoping Cami will be baking little Snobbit in the oven and we'll just have to stay put. Pretty much everyone knows this and is understanding, even though we're trying not to talk about it too much.  Traveling with Sally wasn't nearly as troublesome as either of us feared.  Our wonderful vet gave us some pretty good "stay calm" medicine for the trip.  In fact, I wish I had some of those for myself.  She slept most of the way and wore her little diapers like a champ.  Of course, the diapers have a cute little hole for her tail and because of that, they don't act like a typical baby diaper would and as a direct consequence, we had to clean poo out of the airport floor three times.  Fun.  We both agreed that we would never travel with a pet again if we could help it.  Hopefully, our next international flight will have a little munchkin in tow.  That's a whole different level of stress. 

My birthday was kind of fantastic.  I turned 29 for the 7th time.  :)  Our initial plan was to have Cami's mom, brother, sister-in-law and three nephews over on Sunday, the day before.  I was going to cook and make a cake.  Plans didn't work out, as Christian forgot about plans for a weekend house guest.  It turned out I wasn't feeling too great on Saturday, anyway, so that plan was scrapped.  Cami had to work Monday, but when she came home, I got my favorite pizza from Viking Pizzeria, a super yummy princess cake from Nordpolen, a bouquet of Marabou chocolate, and a gift certificate to cut my hair off!  In the states, she got me a super cool pair of grey and purple Skechers running sneakers.  I felt incredibly spoiled.  On Thursday of that week, I went to school and then to Cami's mom's house afterward.  She made my favorite Swedish meal, palt!  Cami's mormor gave me a card with money and her mom gave me some pretty napkins, candles and a gift certificate to a yarn shop in Skara.  This is AWESOME because I really want to get back into crocheting and make a baby blanket.  Now, of course, I have googled patterns for baby shoes and hats, too!  Then on Sunday of the same week, Christian, Lotta, Jack, Jonathan and Johannes came to celebrate with me again.  I cooked and made a really cool pink and blue coconut cake.  They got me a black and chrome slow cooker!  I got absolutely everything I could have wanted this birthday (that one could actually GET for a birthday!)  I feel spoiled.  I have looked up all kinds of slow cooker baby food recipes.  ;)  

After all the wonderful surprises the week of my birthday, the best thing came in the mailbox on Monday.  As we get every Monday, there was a pile of advertisements.  Additionally, there was one thick envelope, addressed to Camilla from Västra Götalandsregionen, which is the giant county we live in.  Anything with that return address could be any number of things.  I got something from school with that envelope and my medical information comes in the same.  In the back of my mind, I was freaking out, but wouldn't let myself get too hopeful as Sally and I walked back from the mailbox.  I placed it on the dining room table and waited while Cami said, "What's this?"  As soon as she had it open, I saw that the heading was the center for reproductive medicine.  Tears instantly sprang to my eyes.  It's finally our turn.  We are going to be meeting with the doctor on the 22nd.  We will talk about what's going to happen and I will be signing legal documents saying that the baby we are trying to conceive will be mine.  I think we can begin actually trying as early as March or April.  Needless to say, we are thrilled.  Beyond trilled.  More thrilled than I am able to put into words.  My plan is to chronicle the goings on here.  Fingers crossed.  

All About Your Grandbuddy (Password Protected. Ask if you want to read)

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A growing family! (No, not what you think!)

We decided this week that we will be bringing another family member into our home before we even begin working on Snobbit.  At present, there is just me, Cami and our beloved Esmeralda, who is of the feline persuasion.  She has been with us for a year and a half and couldn't be more a part of our family.  We honestly never imagined we could love a cat so much.  We've been discussing her life recently and we've both been concerned about her being lonely when we're away.  She's a very social cat.  She usually sleeps under the blanket, between our feet most nights.  She always wants to be where we are or where she can at least see us.  We had tossed around the idea of adding another kitten to our clan in the spring when they seem to be coming out of people's ears.  She had the opportunity to meet a friend's cat when she came to visit and it wasn't a roaring success.  Esme was very territorial and felt the need to keep an eye on this intruding cat at all times.  This could have just been a personality clash or temporary, but it worried us.  On the other hand, when she encountered the only dog she has ever met, she was very interested in him.   So, just last week we decided that for now, Esme would be an only child and in a few years, we would think about adding a puppy to the mix.  I mean, we're trying to add a baby.  Why not just go crazy?  Due to the overwhelming costs associated with purchasing a dog in Sweden (I have never seen an unidentifiable breed mix for less than around $600 here) waiting a few years seemed like the best option.

Well, cut to Thursday night.  My mom emailed me a picture of my brother with the cutest little puppy we had ever seen sitting on his tummy.  She was a tiny little black, tan and white Beagle.  I called my mom to find out what happened and discovered that my dad had found her and her sister out behind his shop.  A coworker took the other home, but this little girl stole my dad's heart.  They were actively trying to find a home for her (that Daddy approved of and he was apparently VERY picky) since they have a Shih Tzu, a Siberian Husky and a satanic cat. (long story)  Keeping her wasn't in the cards.  My first question was if we could have her.  That set the ball rolling.  It feels like it was all meant to be.  We found out what we needed to do and started making her plans.  Maybe we're taking the Snobbit thing too far?  lol    My parents started calling her Lucy (because Charlie Brown's sister was Lucy and since Snoopy was a Beagle... See where I am making all these weird connections?!), but that doesn't work for us.  You see, Snobbit has a new "cousin" named Lucy.  She isn't biologically related to our future bean, but we are her aunties and we love her as much as anyone has ever loved a baby they have never gotten to hold.  It would be confusing for our future brood to have a dog named Lucy.  So, we decided on Sally.

Unless there is some huge unforeseen roadblock that pops up, Miss Sally will be boarding a plane with us in Nashville on January 14th to come to Sweden.  She already has her passport and all of her necessary vet appointments are scheduled.  There are a few things she will need before we even head to Tennessee, so we will be busy.  People may think we have lost our minds, but we're incredibly excited.  I love the idea of Snobbit having a dog to pal around with and grow up with.  I also have a strong feeling that Esme is going to love and be totally annoyed by her little sister.  As it should be.

The Easy Part

Well, setting the blog up was the easy part.  I did this months ago.  Actually writing anything down has been a great deal harder.  There seems to be a lot to say and then again, not many details.  Since this is the first real entry, I guess I should give a little background information.  I won't tell our story, as I am hoping this will only be for friends and family that already know all about us anyway.

The first major realization Cami and I had together is that we were head over heels for each other and that we were made to be together.  The second is that we wanted children.  Dreaming of babies, terrible toddlers, ungrateful teenagers and the amazing adults they would eventually become has been a part of our tapestry since very early on.  Dreaming is one thing, but making it a reality is something else entirely.  Because we have double the ovaries and zero man parts, this could pose a challenge for us in this department.  We are very blessed to live in Sweden, where the national healthcare assists in the conception of your first child.   We got the paperwork and filled it out, and just waited to hear back from them.  In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that since I am the older of us, the initial plan was that I would try to get pregnant first.  We got a letter back saying that I would not be able to be assisted in conception because of my weight.  It was devastating, but not completely unexpected.  My weight posed several factors, despite the fact that I was otherwise completely healthy.  We decided to switch gears and take control.  For me, that meant tackling the weight.  Factoring in my age and weight and super slow metabolism, surgery was really my only option.  So, I began that journey.

This is where our double ovaries really works in our favor.  Two wombs, no waiting.  Okay, some waiting.  We reissued the paperwork, this time with Cami as the patient and were approved.  We discovered there was about a year wait.  This was perfect for us.  I could get through surgery and then we could get started.  That was October 2010.  In September 2011, Cami had to go in for a hysterosalpingogram.  Say that three times fast!  They shot her full of contrast dye and used an ultrasound to take a look at her ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus.  She was absolutely perfect.  Duh.

Now we have to meet with the doctor and then with a therapist.  (Uh-oh!)  My understanding is that the therapist wants to make sure you are prepared for the roller coaster that is assisted conception.  Just last week we made a call to check on our status.  We've been told that if the current schedule keeps up, we should be able to be trying in February or March.  Needless to say, we are thrilled.  We're spending 3 weeks in Tennessee with family and when we come home to Sweden, we should be able to actually begin the process of turning our family of two into three.  (Esme objects to that last statement.  She says we're already a family of three and she may or may not allow us to bring a baby into her home, but that's for another blog.)

So, now we're up to date.  It's Thanksgiving day 2011 and we bought a crib today.  Part of me thinks we're jumping the gun a bit, but both of us have faith that God is going to bring  us a baby, one way or another.  It may not be on our schedule, but it will happen.  :)