Dreams and Inspiration

What a weird dream … car chases, churches that turn out to be cults, slapstick humor, massive car troubles. What did I eat last night?

Anyway, it's the Fourth of July and it looks like we're going up to Rockville to a friend's for a traditional cookout and viewing of fireworks. Our other option was to bike up to the University of Maryland to catch the College Park fireworks. Evelin's not too fond of the mad scene downtown at the Mall, although the fireworks are always incredible; and the post-9/11 security checks do make going down there for big events like this more than a bit annoying.

The rains that came through over the past week have taken their toll on some of the trees around the house. None of ours (touch wood), but the neighbor behind us had people up in an old oak the night before last at 10:00 p.m. cutting out a large branch that had been dangling there for a few days and this morning our next-door neighbor has someone with a big woodchipper taking care of a huge portion of one of their oaks that fell over two nights ago. Last fall, the same neighbor lost a large part of another oak in a storm, so we're gradually getting a little more light into the yard, although I'm a little concerned about how it's happening. We have two oaks that reach over out house and two others that hang over neighbor's houses and/or driveways ... I guess we should get an arborist out to give things a look-see.

The big bit of news is that yesterday Evelin got the inspiration that IVF might be the way to go. We had been scheduled to give it a try back in January, but decided to take time off to give the acupuncture and homeopathy and TCM time to work; now that we've had two cycles of not not trying to get pregnant (assuming she isn't pregnant yet, there're a few days yet to go before it would make sense to test) we were planning to go back to the clinic for another medicated cycle/IUI. We know that such a cycle will work (at least, it did the last two times), the question is where is the problem that keeps the pregnancies from advancing beyond a few weeks. If there's a tubal issue that caused the ectopics, then IVF would help bypass them; if that's not the issue then IVF vs. IUI vs. timed intercourse cycle is all a toss up. I'm not sure what route I want to go with. Back in January, I agree with Evelin, neither of us was really ready for IVF. Now, I'm not sure ... I guess it will remove another variable or two from the equation and, if nothing else, might help ID the problem. Or maybe it'll work great and we'll end up with twins ... We have a few more days (at least) before we have to make a decision.