Part 762
Period started today. Pain, headache, cranky, listless ... hello old friend!
And now, don't come back for about 12 more months, thanks.
Oh shit - Lucrin! I almost forgot. I better go and stab - back in a minute...
OK - a straightforward one. Does it matter if it's 3 hours late? Hope not. It's so funny this cycle - I keep forgetting I'm even doing it. Last time, I was thinking about it every second, wondering what was going to come next, nervously anticipating the injections every evening. I'm not exactly flippant, but I'm determined to continue as normally as possible this time. So much was put on hold before and it took a long time to catch up again.
My cousin phoned me today - she is coming to visit me (she lives in another state) and stay on Friday. Her baby is now 7 months old now and I haven't met her. I'm really looking forward to it, especially as she is, well, one of us ... you know ... baby conceived outside of the body and all that. The gentle touch of the surgeon's hand, the careful insertion of the catheter, the squirt of the progesterone up the lala. She knows. And she will be the first person in my family to know about us. I'm looking forward to telling her. I'm generally so private with this (in the real world, that is) and she and I have always got on so well. We used to secretly believe we were really sisters and our real sisters should have been siblings to each other. My own sister, whilst fabulous, is too self-absorbed to be able to share this effectively with.
I'll find out more about how she achieved success. Don't worry ... I'll share.
Seven books that I love:
- I'll start with the books I am currently re-reading right now. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 5-part trilogy by Douglas Adams. I loved this as a teenager and I have read it several times since. They are so absolutely brilliant and the cleverness grows even more with every reading. A shame he died so suddenly and prematurely.
- Bliss by Peter Carey. An Australian author and a very Australian focus - great visual imagery and the quirkiness and honesty of the story was a great inspiration to me in my early 20s.
- The Famished Road, Ben Okri. This was my first experience of the genre of magic realism with mature awareness and has inspired much of my own writing since. It also offered a window into another culture and other beliefs and I love the combination of reality and fantasy in the same world which characterises this genre. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is another which fills the same criteria for me.
- I also love a clever use of words. Umberto Eco is a master of this and In the Name of the Rose is my favourite of his. His story is so carefully yet brilliantly written and I particularly enjoyed the historical accuracy and integration of fact with fiction.
- I was a bit of a sci-fi geek as a kid and I absolutely loved the Dune series by Frank Herbert. I had (still have) the 6 books written by him and I re-read them every Christmas holidays. I used to haunt my local book exchange, swapping every few days to keep up with my voracious appetite for this genre.
- All of my gardening books, particularly those on organic vegie gardening. I consult with them regularly and they help me to know what to plant, when, how to fix problems and consider design and companion planting etc. I love my garden time and I love eating my own produce. Most garden writers, I find, are particularly passionate about their love of the natural world.
- Do I say love? I'm not sure. But I have certainly spent enough time with it over the past few months. I'd rather have never needed to read it, but Getting Pregnant by Robert Jansen (the director of my IVF 'corporation') is a really good IVF resource. It is extensive, comprehensive, medical, yet accessible and covers all sorts of stuff, including statistics, procedures, dealing with miscarriage etc.
posted by StellaNova @ 10:53 pm
7 comments
7 Comments:
How wonderful that you have a cousin who understands what you are going through. I hope that you enjoy your time with her and her baby this weekend!
I can relate to the first part of your post. With my first IVF I had an alarm set to make sure I took each shot at the exact same time each day. With the GIFT, I was lucky to remember I needed to take a shot. And I responded the same way to each cycle. Go figure.
Enjoy your visit with your cousin and baby.
I love Hitchhikers Guide, too. My little brother writes in the same fashion, but has no interest in pursuing it.
Hitchhikers! Of course!
Do let us know how your talk with cousin goes. It's good to find people who get it.
Bea
SN - Oh, our house is just the same with books.. it's getting a little drasic, to be honest... two huge messy piles beside the bed for ones that have no home. (note to self: buy bookshelves).
Your cousin sounds wonderful. As the eldest grandchild, I never had a cousin who wasn't less than six or seven younger. *sob*
PS Never got the Hitch-hiker's thing. A had a friend who was obsessed with it growing up, but the obscure pointless humour never appealed to me. ;)
Glad your period started and things are getting underway! That must be a major relief for you. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this cycle.
As to books, GAH! I'm with you! I live in an apartment held hostage to them. On shelves, beside shelves, on tables, by the bed, etc. There are also hundreds living in the attic. My dream is to someday have enough room to have a library. (And, of course, somebody else to dust it!)
I am a book geek, too. Too many books for even our big house. I loved Douglas Adams and can (annoyingly) quote long tracts of the books at anyone who will listen. Have you read the non-hitchiker books? Never managed to get through 'name of the rose' - do you think I should try?
Post a Comment
<< Home