Thursday, March 20, 2008

Insemination went fine ...

Hi! Well, after I charged out from school at a mad run, rushing to my car to hit 80 on the highway to get to the RE on time ... I got inseminated fine. I was still ticked at my boss (diarrhea of the mouth in front of 92 students promising something he just did not get), but I was able to SMILE. Maybe, just maybe, a wee one will come of this time.

However, in case one does not, here are my latest jewels ...

We go to injectables next time. Oooohhhh! What fun! Basically hyperstimulating, triggering, and inseminating on a much quicker, much more deliverable basis.

Now, I know. No one in her right mind should get excited about injectables, right? It's just that I am getting a bit discouraged by the lack of the IUIs to take. And since I am getting over the needle phobia, why not do it in a big way?

It reminds me of high school and the ASVAB. Let me tell you a story ... The ASVAB is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a series of tests designed to show the armed services what you would be good at if you worked for them. In high school, I was a rebellious child. (Echoes of sarcastic "Yeah, right!" are pounding away.) I was seriously considering joining the army or such for a few years to get the GI bill to go to college. So I took the ASVAB. And I knocked the socks off the sucker. (Who, me?) My lowest score was a measly 62 in mechanical, but I topped out at 99 (administrative), and 3 98s. Yeah, I was pumped. These were percentiles. I was basically better at mechanical junk than 61% of the other test-takers, most of whom were men and perhaps many of whom were mechanically inclined.

I got the call from the army recruiter who wanted to go over the report with me. So off I went to the recruiting station downtown (with my Mom's knowledge, God love her soul). I sat down and listened as the man extoled my virtues - or brains - telling me that out of everyone that entire month who had taken the test, I had scored the highest. (Of course.) He showed me all the jobs on the computer for which I was qualified to perform for the army. It was a long list! Yes! And there is paratrooper! I could jump out of airplanes! Then, he pushed another button and the list became markedly reduced.

He'd had to enter that I was female.

Back then, folks, women weren't allowed in combat positions. Still aren't in many cases. I was not permitted to have any job which required me to carry a handgun. (As an aside, this is the point where I tell you I am a crack shot, so good my own brothers forbid me from using the airgun because I was too deadly to the squirrels.) No gun? Why? And then I did what I always do ... I got mad. Are you telling me I can't be a paratrooper?

Man, I was ticked. So ticked I stormed out of that recruiting station and went home. I lit in to my mother about the unfairness of it all. It just wasn't right. Who were they to tell me I would be a great supply administrator? I wanted paratrooper and I was QUALIFIED to be one!

You see, I am a driven woman. I started out as one, only as a little girl. Swimming lessons, bullies, the bull, learning to read, I always pursued that which I wanted with a zest and eagerness that others could not imagine. There are no glass ceilings. I am a feminist raised by a feminist. While my brothers had restrictions, I had markedly few. And now the army was daring to tell me there was something I couldn't do? Of all the nerve.

So when that recruiter and the gentlemen from the other services called at my house, my mom was ready. No, I was not joining the (insert "navy"; "army"; "marines"; "air force"; "coast guard"). Until they let me jump out of airplanes, I was going to go to college. They could now leave ...

Well, I did go to college, as nauseum. It really is where I am at my best.

And the reason for this story? You see, I am terrified of heights. I knew it then. (It has a lot to do with falling off the roof when I was a child. Prickly roses, took hours to de-thorn my derriere.) And the solution was to address that fear. That's why I wanted paratrooper. I could conquer the fear. Well, bully for the army for doing that. It does have its good side, though. I look terrible in olive! And can you imagine me following orders? And I would have been correcting the grammar of sergeants ... good thing, huh?

SO ... like I was saying about the needle phobia (which is far more pervasive than the fear of heights), if I have to do injectables, it would be gone. Food for thought ....

Take care!

3 comments:

Amy McNaughton said...

I love to read your post. Too bad that you're so far away.
You make me laugh as I read your blog today.

Take care,
Amy

Susanna said...

Just finished reading your entire blog - the similarities are endless: going back to grad school, the long, drawn out affair with "the one," the orange cat and giving subcutaneous fluids with a needle phobia, being detail-oriented, disappointment that China closed adoptions to single women, etc. I even call my sperm vials "the swimmers." I'm in my 3rd IUI TWW, and I want you to know that I support your decision and cheer you on! You go girl! It will happen, and the wee one will be lucky to have you. Susanna

Leaping Hurdles said...

Thanks! Good luck to you with your IUIs. It's kind of eerie that there are so many similarities, isn't it? Are you by any chance the long lost sister my mother never birthed? :)