Vacation decision

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on the big vacation decision! Despite advice seeming to trend to not going, we decided to pull the trigger last night and book the place. As recommended by several of you, I did ask the doc I saw for my OB appointment yesterday afternoon (how convenient). She thought we'd be ok, of course, caveat something coming up like high blood pressure or something, before then. She thought the 5 hour car trip would be fine and that we'd naturally be wanting to stop anyhow (It's Mr.Right who is the absolutely nazi about making me get out every 2 hours and walk around. He's worried about a DVT. I figure I'll be wanting to pee that often anyhow.) It turns out the particular doc we saw yesterday did her residency in Norfolk (we're headed to the Outer Banks) so, completely unprompted, she gave me the name of the head of the MFM department there who was her mentor and several other docs in the department as well as the names of docs in a practice in Chesapeake where she worked for 2 years. She thought we'd be very well taken care of if something happened while we are there.

We thought about it a little more again last night. We are pushing into the 3rd week in August because of the possibility of the stim/retrieval part of a donor cycle with my sister falling on the last week in July/first week in August (according to our current best guess and assuming she gets an 'all clear' from the biospy in early June). We were originally thinking the first week in August (which would have been 32 weeks for me), but wanted to give ourselves the best chance of avoiding my sister's cycle and having our vacation cancelled because of that. (I know, you're saying, but why do *you*, HopeB, have to be there? I promised my sister I'd be there to stay overnight if needed at her house every day during stims to help with my nephews/help her with injections. And, since we're hoping to freeze embryos, Mr.Right has to be there on retrieval day. And, I want to get my sister to/from retrieval so her husband doesn't have to take a day off work if it falls during the week.)

And, of course, if things go kerflooey with my pregnancy they could very well have gone kerflooey for the 1st week in August too. And we're prepared to eat the cost of the rental if they tell me ahead of time I can't go. I mean, what's $2,000? It's a complete and utter drop in the bucket compared to the multiple 10s of thousands of dollars we've spent on IUIs, IVFs, surgeries, etc. to get here.

As it is, I'm now having an incredibly boring pregnancy. And, without sticking my head in the sand, I've just got to start accepting that my body is (at least currently) pretty adept at handling this. Besides having old, most genetically abnormal eggs and ovaries that decided to do exactly the opposite of whatever the fertility drugs I was taking asked them to do, I've been super healthy (despite being overweight for most of my 20s and half of my 30s) for all of my life. And despite feeling tired, I'm still getting out for 3 miles a day (ok, sometimes just walking). This pregnancy has been marked by absolutely no sickness, great blood pressure and I'm measuring right on track (19" fundal height yesterday which is exactly right for 19 weeks and we'll see for sure on Monday at the anatomy scan). Of course, there are hurdles yet to jump. I know that.

And all of your comments - especially those who have lived through the 35th week! - are great because I feel like I'll be going into this prepared and with eyes wide open. I told Mr.Right last night, if I end up lounging on the couch in the air-conditioned condo most of the vacation, I'll at least have an ocean view and he and the dog can go on adventures. It will just be the 3 of us. No pressure to do anything with relatives or friends. No need to go out to eat (we'll have a kitchen). No need to do anything but waddle out the front door of the condo down to the beach in the mornings and the evenings.

We actually have another driving vacation scheduled for Memorial Day weekend and the following week. We're going to Mr.Right's 20th college reunion and then onwards to New England where we'll have 3 days on Cape Cod at a super cute inn near the beach. We'll spend one day touring another alma mater of Mr.Right's and then spend 4 nights in Boston where we'll be doing the historical sites and seeing a bunch of friends (in several groupings since they're from different parts of our lives) for brunches, dinners, etc. Oh, and we'll celebrate Mr.Right's 42nd birthday and my 41st birthday along the way! So, even if our Outer Banks beach vacation bites the dust because of something pregnancy-related, we will at least have had some vacation in early June - which may even include a little beach time.

All in all, I'm really starting to look forward to this summer! Despite the probability of being hugely pregnant in the hottest time of the year, I think it will be great!

Off to write the check and send it off for the first part of our rental payment........

Thanks again for all the great comments and advice!! What a great resource this community is.