After being two days overdue on my period and wondering if maybe I actually did get pregnant naturally following the polyp removal, I started menstruating. I was a bit disappointed, but not too much, since I knew I had the IVF lined up and ready to get started as soon as my period did. So I called up the IVF coordinator at the doctor's office and told her I had started my period earlier that day. She said I should come in the next day and have my initial blood work done. We were finally getting somewhere with this IVF project.

She scheduled me for a bit earlier than I would have preferred to go in, being a decidedly non-morning person and living about an hour away from the clinic. But my window for getting the blood work done was short. If I didn't do it this month, I'd have to wait another month to start the IVF and that was not something I wanted to do. I decided it was worth it to get up a couple of hours earlier than usual in the cause of making babies.

I'd been going to these appointments by myself, with the exception of the first one when my husband came with me. I kind of enjoyed the "me" time - the drive there gave me an opportunity to sing loudly to songs on my iPod that my husband, being a generation older than me, couldn't stand. To my surprise, though, my mother called me an hour before I'd set my alarm to go off the morning of the blood work and asked if she could come.

My step-dad, who at 64 had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's four years ago, had gone to an assisted living facility two weeks before, and my mom was looking for things to get her out of the house. I quickly realized what she really wanted was to see the beach, which she hadn't seen in years. We live inland, but the drive to the clinic includes a nice stretch along the coast with an ocean view. So, my mother in tow, I was off to see the wizard.