Monday, November 09, 2009

Making Plans

It's amazing how fast I've gone from mourning to being excited about using donor eggs. We have it narrowed down to two clinics (one in Czech Republic and one in South Africa), I even have selected a donor in South Africa. I haven't booked her yet, but I am pretty sure she is who I want. In Czech, you don't get to pick your donor. You send pictures of yourself and give your physical description (height, weight, etc) and they match you to a list of their donors. You do get to review the person's information and say yes or no to her. I am such a control freak, I don't know if I can give up that much control over this process.

I ran the numbers yesterday, in US/Canada all told we would be looking at paying
$20K to $30K (probably closer to the higher end). This does not include travel/accomodations etc for the donor, or for us if we had to go to the States. If we opt for the Czech Republic, we would be looking at around $13K including travel, accomodations and food. If we opt for South Africa it is around $16K including travel, accomodations and food.

From a vacation destination standpoint, South Africa is more appealing to me because of the day trips we could take... Safaris and beach trips. Czech Republic offers chances to visit Prague and Vienna.

From a time standpoint, South Africa requires a 14 day visit (add 2 days for travelling) while Czech Republic requires a 10 day visit (again add 2 days for travelling).

My practical side says that Czech Republic is a better option from a financial and time standpoint. And, I know H would look at the numbers and agree with me.

We have always wanted to go on a safari. I pictured it being one of those luxury tours and that we'd go for our anniversary some time in the future. Let's say that DE's do not work, will it matter to me that memory of our vacation would be connected to a failure? Also would we be compromising that dream vacation by combining it with this endeavour?

I guess that's something we'll have to work out. First things first though, we're supposed to be meeting with our bank tonight to talk about financing. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

5 comments:

Kate said...

Both sound like exciting options. I loved Prague, and we spent 3 weeks in Namibia for one vacation (including 3 days in a wildlife reserve nationl partk that were awesome, and that we wished we'd had more time at).
One thing to consider might be safety and health. Would you have to be taking antimalarials while in SA? Probably wouldn't matter that early in pregnancy, since even if you were there after implantation, you wouldn't be sharing blood with the baby yet. Depending on where the clinic is in SA, you might feel safer in the CR. Back in 2000 or so, my company was considering sending me to SA (I would have gone in a heartbeat) for a business trip. My boss's boss refused to let me go, because he thought I'd be more at risk there as a female.
Good luck at the bank!

Fran said...

I have everything crossed for you pet. Not sure what to suggest, a part from the fact that you may look at Spain also! I know a fellow IF who went there, the time you have to be there is actually very minimal, they are happy for you to get your scans done at home, you don't pay anything upfront (say your lining isn't good, they just move you on to a different month, timed again with a different donor). Not sure how it works with the matching of the donor. Let me know if you want to know more! Love, Fran

Anonymous said...

Oh these are wonderful plans! Two very different places. I hope everything goes well at the bank. I think it is really neat that you can turn this into a bit of an adventure while you go through the tough stuff.
Will you regret doing that if it doesn't work out, I don't know. I think it would be a special experience to share together during that time. You would be more than making the best of things. Does that make sense?

Lots of luv,

xoxo
Su

Phoebe said...

I'm glad the grieving wasn't too bad. It's great that you have your DH's support. I admire your courage to pick up and go somewhere else to do your cycle. I know I would not be so brave!

BeMiE said...

i agree