Bumpy Road

Infertility SUCKS!  It really sucks the life out of a person.  I am not the same person that I was three years ago.  You always hear the saying, "What doesn't kill you, will make you stronger."  I really hope that is the truth and I will come out of this a stronger person.  Last week was really rough.  I finally got a hold of someone at my doctor's office to give us our test results from August...only she didn't have them, or know what they mean.  She said that she would talk to the doctor, and get back to us.  This gave us the impression that some tests that we paid out of pocket for (insurance denied coverage,) were not run, and there was a mistake made.  I was stressed over this all week long, because it appeared that they ran the wrong test, and since we paid out of pocket, it seemed that unless we were able to convince them that this was their mistake, we were probably going to be out a ton of money, with still no answers.  I put off dealing with this though because I was dealing with adoption stuff.

So yeah infertility sucks....but adoption is no picnic either!  I didn't think that it would be an easy process when we started it.  I was prepared for some bumps in the road...but I really thought that the paperwork would be the easy part.  Boy was I wrong!  Hubby and I were both born in a different state than where we currently live.  I ordered our birth certificates early on in the process, to make sure that I gave it plenty of time to get to us.  Turns out that they sent us the wrong one, of hubby's, and now we have to order new ones...only the process can take upto 8 weeks...meaning that my birth certificate could potentially "expire," soon after that.  So it would be an incredible time crunch to get our paperwork authenticated by the 6 month mark on not only my birth certificate, but also a few other documents that I got soon after.  So I still have to send out my birth certificate to get state certified, but I now have figured that it is worth the extra $60 to spend now, to get new copies in case they do expire, we won't have to start fresh.  I am okay with doing that, if it potentially saves us time in the long run.  My worry is if we don't get all of this completed fast enough, other documents will have to be redone...some that aren't so easy to get.  I am trying to not worry about that until we have to cross that bridge, but it really does give me a head ache just thinking that could happen. 

So last week, when I was finding out about the "mix-up" at the doctor's office, I was also trying to figure out how to send our birth certificates out for state certification.  Every state has a different process, with different fees, and different steps.  Some states, you send it to the state with a fee and they just do it...nice and easy!  We weren't so lucky.  The state Hubby was born in, you cannot pre-order birth certificates, you must order them and have them directly forwarded to the next office, and then the next and after all three processes are completed they will mail it back to you...or at least that is what we think is supposed to happen.  5 out of the 6 phone numbers on their website are no longer in service...so it was tough to get straight answers on what we needed to do.  For the state I was born in, we have to send my certificate that we ordered, if it didn't come with a county seal, to the county...luckily it did.  Then once we got it back, we need to send it out to another office so that they can verify that the county seal was legitimate.  Then it can be sent on to the state at that point.  And again...each step has it's own set of fees.  So it sounds like I know what I am talking about at this point...but it took several phone calls, emails, web searches, talking to our social worker, talking to people in both states...before we think that we finally have this all figured out. 

We also are waiting on child abuse clearances for my husband from other states that he has lived in, before our home study can be completed.  Our social worker's last day in the office was today, before she leaves on vacation.  She wanted to get it finalized today, so that we wouldn't have to wait until she gets back from her trip, to start our next step...but the clearances didn't come.  Hopefully they will come while she is gone, so that we can have our home study completed next week.  So that added to the stress, because not only were we waiting on those coming in, but hubby and I needed to finish our required training, in case they did come in, so that wouldn't hold things up.  We had finished all but one of our on-line courses, but Hubby was leaving on a business trip on Friday morning, and it can take up to 2 days for the certificate for the course to be issued, so we had to do it Thursday evening...only, he had to work late, and pack, and so...it added a ton of stress.  We did get it finished, and we did get the certificate, so that I was able to forward all of our certificates to our social worker...only now the clearances still didn't come in, so the rush to get the course done, wasn't necessary.  Oh well...at least it is finished!!!

Talk about a stressful week though!  We also had a few other personal family things going on to add to the stress, and so by this past weekend, I was wiped out and didn't feel well.  I really hope that this bumpy road starts to smooth out a bit, otherwise I am not sure I will survive this process!  I just keep focusing on the end game...at the end of all this a baby will be placed in my arms, and we will have the child that we have been hoping and waiting for.  It will all be worth it!

LypSyl Intense Protection LypMoisturizer

I received this product complimentary through Influenster!  I received several products in the box to test, and out of all of the products, this was by far, my favorite!!!  It went on smooth, and lasted for hours.  It didn't leave a sticky residue either.  Some brands of lip balm leave a residue, or feel really sticky.  This one felt great, and had a mild mint flavor that wasn't over powering.  I am pretty picky about my lip balm, and I have to say this one is great.  I will be looking for more when I go to the store, but you know me with my coupons, hopefully at some point I will be able to buy some with coupons.  If not, this may have to be one of the items that I splurge on!  Here is the link to the website, in case you want to check it out:
http://www.lypsylhome.com/

The Original™ Dish Drying Mat

First off, I received this product complimentary through Influenster.  As I said in my last post, I signed up to be a product tester.  This product is awesome.  It takes up very little space, and is very convenient.  The normal draining boards for dishes, take up so much space, and usually have a hole in the bottom so it can drain into the sink.  The problem with this is that if you don't want it to hang over the sink, it leaves a big puddle on the counter.  The Original dish drying mat is better in so many ways.  For one, if I am not drying dishes, it easily folds up and can be stored in the towel drawer.  It can absorb so much water, but will quickly dry, and is easy to wash.  No more counter space taken up by a big clunky plastic draining board!
Here is the link to the website for this product, in case you want to check it out!
http://www.the-original-co.com/default.html

So Many Hobbies...so I add another!

I signed up to be a product tester with Influenster.  I received my first box of goodies/products to test.  Blog posts are not mandatory, but I can win some cool prizes if I blog about the ones I like.  So while I wait for our next step in our adoption/family building journey, I might as well fill the time with trying out some cool products.  I got my first box a while back, and have had a chance to try the products.  So my next few posts will be about the products that I liked.  I figured not only will I have a chance to win more of these products, but I can tell others about them, so they can try them out and love them too!