Blogging IRL

One of my absolute favorite parts about this past weekend was that I got to meet one of my favorite and long time blog friends, Leah, from Life According to Leah. I was more excited to meet her than I was for the appointment. She and I go way back and have shared a very special bond and friendship. I couldn't believe I was going to have the opportunity to meet her.

The second we met, it was like I was greeting an old friend. We talked the entire time we were together. We never ran out of things to say. I loved every second of it. I could have kept on talking to her for ages. She was every bit as wonderful as I knew she would be. I have to admit, she is part of the reason I wanted to have the surgery done at Mayo. I loved the idea of spending more time with her, and getting the opportunity to meet Tammy, since we didn't get to meet up this weekend. Tammy was off meeting her new adopted embies instead! (Tammy, I think you're pregnant! Just for the record.) I was really bummed when I found out Mayo is out of network.

Jill, in response to your comment, my out of pocket for out of network is only $3500, but once you add in travel, hotel, transportation, and food, the bill sky rockets to a gobsmacking $5-6k. Dr. Jensen said I would be in the hospital for 2-3 days, and then she would want us to stick around for a week after that just to ensure everything was going well. I just can't justify that cost when I can get it done here for less than 1/3 of the cost by a doctor who is equally as qualified. :( Its a total bummer.

I called my RE here and told him what the doctors at Mayo had said. Not about him being crazy overly conservative, but about how I had the opportunity to meet with a high risk OB and his thoughts on a pregnancy. He seemed to take it the way I intended, which was to give him information he didn't already have and in a very positive way. I did my dangdest to keep things very positive because I know I need him for this surgery. I could go to another doctor, but honestly, I'm tired of telling my story to doctors. I'm ready to get the ball rolling, and this guy has a history of surgeries similar to mine.

Toward the end of the phone call, Dr. D wished me the best with my surgery at Mayo. I told him that I actually wanted him to do it, if he was willing to. I stopped myself short of saying Mayo was out of network. :D He seemed really excited and surprised. He said he was definitely up for doing it for me. I figure leaving the Mayo part out would be an ego boost, and am hoping it means he'll do an even better job because I picked him over them. ;) ;) I intend to tell him that Dr. Jensen thought that he might be more qualified in this situation anyway (she really did).

In closing, I wanted to share a little about Baby Bean this weekend. The little doll is starting to pick up words! This weekend she learned how to say "more please" and she even signs it while she says it. She also says, "Mine!" "Night, night" and "Bye bye." In addition to that, if you ask her what a dog says, sometimes she will say, "Woof! Woof!"

She handled the whole weekend like a champ. She slept a little on both flights, and because she has tubes in her ears, she never had pressure build up. She didn't mind waking up at 6:00 a.m. on Friday morning, and was a perfect angel the whole weekend. We had sooo many comments about how adorable she is, how well behaved she is, and what a happy baby she is. *being modest* I know, she really is great, isn't she? Her mama sure does love her. Here are a couple of cute pictures I got of her this weekend, including a little video of her on the plane just after takeoff.

At the hotel - My best friend who offered to surrogate made this dress for Baby Bean's 1st birthday

On the way back to the airport