December 3, 2011

As the days pass, I will continue the sorted soap opera of how we came to the decision to do the right thing and adopt.

After we found out that I needed an egg donor, we were in denial about it.  We decided to seek help from an alternative source.  Basically, trying on our own and seeking the help of alternative medicine practitioners.  I did fertility diets.  Many people have recommended accupuncture.. which I have to say is quite helpful, I actually saw an improvement to my hormonal balance and it was directly related to accupuncture.  We eventually found a practitioner in Greenwich, CT that specialized in fertility treatments through the use of Chinese teas.  We would drive there for 3 hours on a Sunday to be evaluated, to pick up the tea mix, and sometimes take the train into NYC for dinner and drive 3 hours back home.  We were quite dedicated to this mission.  Honestly, I believe if I kept at it, the teas would have turned around a lot of my troubles, but we were not meant to give birth.  We were meant to be your parents.  I know this now.  Well after many Sundays, this habit started to be a little expensive.  The mortgage business was starting to go downhill.  The company I was with was not getting the business it was getting when I first started with them, and I was not in the business long enough to have a long client list that I could network through for referrals.  Not having a lot of cash to invest in personal advertising, I had a lot of decisions to make.  Of course there were other mortgage companies, word had gotten out of my performance and I was being actively recruited by some friends that had switched companies.  Meanwhile, your father was feeling a lot of stress and he wound up in the hospital with chest pains.  I remember hanging up the phone and bursting into tears.  My boss was kind and offered to drive me to the hospital.  I told him that I will be OK, but come Friday I will have some decisions to make.  He understood.  The fact that Thanasi was feeling so much stress made me want to try even harder.  I switched companies temporarily and negotiated good hours so that I can secretly job search.  In the summer I landed a temporary position with a company that was in the video on demand business.  I marketed my degree and landed in their accounting department.  I worked hard and in two months they were quite pleased with my output and offered me a permanent position.  I was truly very happy to have this opportunity, particularly given that they had insurance that covered the cost of an egg donor (which is quite high).  Immediately after hiring me, they hired a new Director of Accounting and Reporting.  I was working for the Accounting Manger at the time, and this new person was to be her boss.  The environment there was so nice and laid back.  People would bring their pets to work.  We had loads of fun.  I happened to sit outside of the new Director's office.  She and I became fast friends and before long she was trusting me with her work and everything else.  She started to trust me a little too much.  Pretty soon I was in there all the time listening to her dramas.  She eventually fired the Accounting Manager and took me under her wing... there is a lot to be told of this story, but today is Saturday and your father wants to go run errands.. have to run.. stay tuned for more tomorrow.