The Times In Which We Live

Last week I had to order some supplies for a project I was working on at work.  The deadline was tight and with two days to spare I found a well known online merchant with next day delivery for free!  Score!  As I opened the box barely 15 hours after placing the order I marveled (and thought very thankful thoughts) at the age in which I live.

This whole baby-making project is no different.  Regardless of all the bumps in the road, this isn't a path I could have even taken 20 or so years ago.  I marvel at the science, the innovation and the wide selection of choices I have to make my dream come true.  

Aside from the mental struggle to accept this alternative, the fact that I can still have a baby with the help of someone else's eggs, simply astounds me.  It's pretty damn amazing and I am so thankful that I live in times in which this is possible.

You know what else is astounding to me?  The price!  Gah!  I hate how this has a price tag attached to it at all, it seems really odd to have to weigh all these choices and think of money as a huge factor.  A factor it is though and an important one at that.

I cannot afford the $30-$35k that donor egg IVF costs in my area.  I could save up for it, but time, as they say, is money.  I've wasted enough time and it's more precious to me now more than ever.

So, I am moving forward with donor IVF outside of the US.  The more I researched, the more sense it made for me.  I'll have to further explore the flip flop of feelings I have had surrounding the known sperm donor and unknown egg donor issue, but for now, at the end of this day, I feel very at peace with my decision.

My top two choices for foreign DE IVF are Spain and the Czech Republic.  Although Spain would fit my ethnic background more closely, the cost would be $15k for the IVF alone, not counting travel expenses.  A cycle in the Czech Republic would cost $10k for the entire thing, including travel.

How crass is that, to weight such an important event, quite possibly the most important one in my entire life, on the number of dollars each will cost?

Realistically though, my decision has to be based in large part on this fact.  And so the decision has been made.  I am in communication with a coordinator to set a date in September.  This is the best time of year for me to take some time off work and by then I hope to be stronger and healthier, both mentally and physically.

It blows my mind that I have the opportunity to actually do this in this manner.  I hope to someday convey just how amazing this whole process is to my child.  I hope he or she will be just as thankful and impressed as I am.