Negative, Ghostrider

The pregnancy test came back negative, but I'm still awaiting my period. Going on cycle day 35. This happened once before, but this isn't the norm for me. I hope it's not an early sign of the end of my reproductive years...

Speaking of childbearing years, I am getting to the point where I am anxious to be past this stage in my life. I have been pregnant 3 times (4 if you count the early miscarriage), and I'm starting to feel fatigued at the prospect of having to do this 2-3 more times not to mention the fear of the risk associated with being pregnant. I'm especially reminded of this with all this swine flu news recently. Just the other day, I learned that pregnant women who contract this particular stain of the virus are 9 times as likely to die! Working in a daycare setting only increases the risk of contracting the disease. It's so easy to say that that won't happen to me, but my past experience leaves little room for that freedom of thought.

My parents were done having kids already by my age, and I feel like I'm in limbo waiting for the completion of our family. Kevin wants two living sons (he doesn't count Garrett in the mix). While I don't understand or agree, I do understand that it's important to him, and I don't mind trying to help him achieve his goal.

We've tried various ways to try to influence the gender at conception, and we've had mixed results with neither of us being convinced that those methods really work. But apparently you can guarantee the results with a method that also screens for genetic disorders. The embryo is then implanted via IVF.

I was initially put off by the idea of this especially with a price tag of $20k which would most likely not be covered by insurance. But the prospect of only having to go through pregnancy one more time with two implanted males is sounding more and more appealing. Not only would we be done with childbearing, but we would have the peace of mind that the children I will be carrying will not have any genetic disorders. While we've never had a problem with genetic disorders, having the peace of mind that we're carrying healthy children is worth it to me alone.

We still have a lot of research to do on this and still need to weigh the options, but it would be so nice to know I only have one more pregnancy to look forward to.

-- Post From My iPhone