Hello, Hilton!

It's booked!  We will be taking a hit in the wallet, but I couldn't pass on the Hilton for the amenities, the cleanliness, the guaranteed hot water, the pool, and the mall.  I don't think I'll REALLY understand what summer in India is like until I get off the plane in June.  But, I am choosing to believe those who have walked this path before me, and make arrangements to have things to do inside.  

I got a room with 2 beds in case my mom is the one who comes with me.  If Harris is along, it might not hurt to have a separate bed for those last few days on the shots when I am packed with grape-sized follicles.  I tend to get a *little* touchy the last week of these meds and appreciate my space. 

It's nice to have a "home" in place!  Tonight, I'm going to go online and register my trip with the State Department just in case.  Anytime we travel abroad, we send them locations so that if there's a need to evacuate Americans quickly, we're on the list.  I'm hyper-vigilant that way.  So far, I haven't needed it, and I'm hoping by continuing to register, I'll continue not to!

On another front, apparently I mis-calculated my June cycle's start date...by 11 days.  Oh joy.  Three months to move it where I need it.  Come on biology!

Giant Squid or Octopus???

Updates:

HOTEL  I am still vacillating between Clark's Inn and the Hilton Garden Inn.  I did contact Svelte a few days ago to see if they would price match the Hilton.  Is that even an option???  I don't know if it is or isn't, but I figured I'd give it a whirl since so many things in India are negotiable.  If they can't do it, I'll cross them off the list and be back to the two choices.  One thing that I am still a bit confused about is the laundry options available.  Maybe someone can help me with these questions: 

• Do either Hilton, Svelte, or Clarks Inn have places for guests to do their own laundry?  
• If not, do I have to pay per piece that I have washed?  Or is it per load?  This makes a difference in packing.  Plus, I don't know if I could pay someone the same amount to wash my socks that I pay for them to wash my dress or my pants.  
• Anyone remember the prices for sending out laundry?  I have called a couple of times to ask these questions and I manage to totally confuse the people who answer the phones. 

ROOF  My roof is coming along nicely, although we're having to keep watch over every little thing more than planned.  After the first day of work, I came home to find that the metal roofing panels had all been installed incorrectly.  Yeah, that was fun...sarcasm.  Being the person I am, I downloaded the installation manual and read it before calling the contractor to inform him that I KNEW the panels were not put on correctly. 

CYCLE  This may be TMI, so stop reading now if you're sensitive or have a high ick-factor.  I am trying to shift my cycle to line up with my departure dates.  It's not been a good start to the transition as I have had breakthru "issues" and am wondering how to handle that.  I've emailed Dr. Shivani and am waiting to hear back from her.  With that in mind, I did start thinking about whether to go to my reproductive endocrinologist or to my regular OBGYN for something like this.  My RE said there was basically nothing they could do for me at this point in time - which is when I sought out surrogacy in India.  My insurance won't pay for anything if they think its related to doing surrogacy - which means I'd have to go in with just the complaints of the breakthru "issues" and not bring up the surrogacy.  That means even sitting in consultation or having an ultrasound to check for cysts would have to come out of pocket.  It's a fight I don't want to have so I've avoided working with anyone other than SCI during this entire process. 

It's just all so touchy, these infertility things.  There's not one thing that comes along with any of this that doesn't grow octopus tentacles and try to latch onto something else in your life.  

A Snail's Pace...

Progress is being made on all fronts at this point including the roof!  Materials arrived on Tuesday and we are set to begin work the first of the week!  Harris had his interview in MD and (yay for Bernadette!) it went really well.  We're waiting to see if they can afford him before we make any further investigations into housing, etc. 

I am also thrilled to say that I purchased my ticket back to India earlier this week.  My arrival date is very early on the morning of June 13th (like just after midnight) and I am scheduled to depart on the 27th.  If anyone else is going to be there, let me know! I have started looking for accomodations and am considering staying at the Hilton Garden Inn that's over by Select CityWalk.  As it stands now, I am going alone (Yikes!) so I want to be somewhere safe and have access to whatever I may need while I'm there.  I'm thinking that I would only try and use Rahul's services on the days that I have appts. with Dr. Shivani in order to keep costs down.  The Hilton is cheaper than Svelte, but still pricey by my standards.  On the other hand, it has everything I want (including laundry facilities and a fridge in the room).  Still though, I'm going to have to find a way to wrap my mind around paying $115 per night IF I decide to stay there.  We'll see!

In thinking about returning, I am glad that Harris and I did the tourist thing the first time we went because I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable doing tons on my own.  I do want to go back to Central Market one day during the week (the crowds on the weekend were terrible!) and also to Dilhi Haut (not sure that's spelled correctly).  Those two places were fantastic for finding bargains and I want to do some shopping while Harris isn't there to hold the wallet!  LOL! 

I am excited about the trip, the travel, the possibility of success.  Those are the things I'm trying to keep in mind at this point...I'm trying to not think about being lonely, the heat, more needles, and going thru this process without Harris at my side.