First PRIDE class is finished!

So we're driving along to our appointment last night, and my husband, the man who has been ready to quit treatment for months now, says he thinks we should pursue the adoption as one path, but keep our other paths open. The loss of the genetic connection is finally starting to hit him. And who can blame him? If it weren't for my fucked up body, he could have a biological child. We discussed the surrogacy and donor eggs. If we did a surrogate, he would like to ask his sister to be the carrier. I think I would prefer someone anonymous, but he feels very strongly that it should be a family member. So I told him he could ask her if he wanted to, but keep in mind this is a huge burden, and she will always feel connected to that child and it could be awkward. I also don't think I could see someone else pregnant with my baby. The egg donor option is very expensive, and the child would be genetically his and not ours. I've always said if it couldn't be both of ours I'd rather adopt, but if it's important to him, I could do that route. But you know, the funny thing is, I can't fathom cycling again right now. If someone offered me a free IVF cycle right now, today, I would have to say NO.

After dealing with a minor traffic accident on I-45 (idiots didn't clear their cars to the shoulder as required by law, and snarled up traffic for a few miles, making us 10 minutes late), we arrived for our pre-adoption counseling appointment with our social worker Cindy. First we did our paper exchange, and turned in our application, marriage certificate, divorce decree from my first marriage, and our vet records. In exchange we received an employment verification form, a health certification, and fingerprint cards. Afterwards we talked about why we were adopting, and infertility. She asked when my last cycle was, and said that since it was still a very raw, fresh wound that there may be some sessions in the class that will be hard on me. She gave me a copy of "The Long Awaited Stork: A Guide to Parenting after Infertility". She seemed concerned that the process may happen too quickly for me, and that we should take this at my own pace. She also seemed rather emphatic that doing a nursery was a bad idea. Hmmmm.

Then we drove over to DePelchin for our first PRIDE class. We signed in, got some food (pork sausage but I had corn and potato salad), and sat with the minister and his wife from Cutnshoot TX who we recognized from orientation. The class was mostly introductory stuff, but the teacher was wonderful and energetic, and had a lot of class discussion. We talked about our respective roles in the process, how we need to work as a team, what would be expected of us in class, a little bit about the history of foster care, and the differences and similarities between foster and foster/adopt. We also watched a movie about a foster family and two of the kids they had taken in, and what the possible resolutions of a foster situation were. We didn't get home until 9:30, so it's going to be a long few weeks. And we have homework! I didn't look at it but will get it done for tomorrow's class.