In the Beginning...
After attending my company’s annual party with Cheri a co-worker reported that it was nice to meet my wife and that his 17-year-old son who had attended with him had asked him, “So, just how did Kimberly get her wife pregnant?” He reported that he had told him, “I don’t know. We will have to ask you mother.” I am not sure what enlightenment she provided them but they seem to have had their curiosity satisfied.
The discussion reminded me that many of you were not on this journey with us two years ago when we began this process towards motherhood. Naturally, the same-sex nature of our partnership poses certain infertility issues. Although I have always dreamed of having a family, Cheri has always dreamed of carrying a child so she was the natural choice for carrying our baby. We chose to use frozen sperm which was shipped from a cryobank in California. We chose this cryobank because they have a program to facilitate contact between the child at age 18 and the donor. As with adoption, we felt it was important to provide a forum for our child to explore their origins should they have the desire. We spent hours combing profiles looking for personality characteristics we hoped our child would emulate as well as biological features that resembled Cheri and me. We affectionately named our donor Dan and wonder if his hazel eyes, thick brown hair or cleft chin will materialize. He is described by the interviewer as, “A warm, outgoing man with a gentle sense of humor.” And she states, “I was struck by his general can-do competence.” When describing his interests and talents Donor Dan reports, “I am very interested in science and nature. The world we live in is a wonderful thing and the more I learn about it the more incredible it seems. I like gardening, woodworking, cooking and just about anything where you can take a step back and say, “wow… look at that! I also enjoy running, lifting weights, hiking, tennis and scuba.” When stating his life ambitions he writes, “To enjoy life to its fullest. Learn, explore, experience and share along the way. Doing the right thing in any given situation has always been important to me.”
We tried for many months to thaw the little swimmers and set them free to find and fertilize Cheri’s egg but to no avail. In the end, we used the services of a fertility clinic and the wonders of invitro fertilization to join a single sperm with Cheri’s egg. And the rest, is the future…
The discussion reminded me that many of you were not on this journey with us two years ago when we began this process towards motherhood. Naturally, the same-sex nature of our partnership poses certain infertility issues. Although I have always dreamed of having a family, Cheri has always dreamed of carrying a child so she was the natural choice for carrying our baby. We chose to use frozen sperm which was shipped from a cryobank in California. We chose this cryobank because they have a program to facilitate contact between the child at age 18 and the donor. As with adoption, we felt it was important to provide a forum for our child to explore their origins should they have the desire. We spent hours combing profiles looking for personality characteristics we hoped our child would emulate as well as biological features that resembled Cheri and me. We affectionately named our donor Dan and wonder if his hazel eyes, thick brown hair or cleft chin will materialize. He is described by the interviewer as, “A warm, outgoing man with a gentle sense of humor.” And she states, “I was struck by his general can-do competence.” When describing his interests and talents Donor Dan reports, “I am very interested in science and nature. The world we live in is a wonderful thing and the more I learn about it the more incredible it seems. I like gardening, woodworking, cooking and just about anything where you can take a step back and say, “wow… look at that! I also enjoy running, lifting weights, hiking, tennis and scuba.” When stating his life ambitions he writes, “To enjoy life to its fullest. Learn, explore, experience and share along the way. Doing the right thing in any given situation has always been important to me.”
We tried for many months to thaw the little swimmers and set them free to find and fertilize Cheri’s egg but to no avail. In the end, we used the services of a fertility clinic and the wonders of invitro fertilization to join a single sperm with Cheri’s egg. And the rest, is the future…
posted by The Ladies Briar | 9:45 AM
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