Jimmi

Whew! Blogger.com is back up and running, so I can finally post about yesterday!!

Yesterday was a good day. It was a day that made me laugh and smile, and I haven't done that in a very long time.

Yesterday, Jimmi was the star of the day.

We arrived at RMA at 11 am and waited for them to call Jimmi's name. We sat nervously in the waiting room wondering how weird and uncomfortable this would be. But, hey, if they're gonna fertilize the eggs I'm making with 11-14 days of injections into my stomach, we need something to fertilize them with! We were there to produce a "sample". Jimmi's swimmers needed to be analyzed, counted and approved before we could proceed. Oh, and he needed a blood test too. Did I mention my overly tattooed fiance is terrified of needles?? Yes, really.

I looked around the waiting room at the other men. Some with their partners and some without. The only thought that was going through my head was, "Well, I know what you're gonna be doing in there!" Will I ever grow up??

"James K?"

I guess it's our turn. Do I go with him? Doesn't look like they're stopping me. Ok, I guess I'll just follow him until they say something.

We walked into the lab and they had Jimmi initial labels for his blood work and, ummm, specimen cup. I giggled at the little stuffed sperm dolls sitting on top of the computer.

I've never done this before. I have plenty of friends who have had problems with infertility, and they've told me about the process, but I never thought I'd be in this position. And then I remembered, I don't have a problem with infertility. I'm there because this evil disease is going to steal my reproductive system and I need to save whatever I can NOW if Jimmi and I ever want to have a chance at having a baby with both of our DNA.

Ok, FOCUS, Suzanne. You're in a sperm bank. I thought of the joke I made to the receptionists at the desk when we walked in. It's more of a visual and verbal joke, but picture me keeping my mouth mostly closed and saying unintelligibly, "Where should I put it?" Yeah, bad joke. But they laughed!

Ok, she's leading us to the room now. Why am I nervous? Why can't I stop giggling?

The room is small and white. There's a brown, leather loveseat on the left with a folded wee wee pad on either side. I guess they don't want any naked butts directly on the leather. On the far wall was a urinal and a sink (thank GOD!), and a TV with a VCR and DVD player. Next to the TV were vials of clear fluid (I'm scared to ask), and on the back wall was a magazine rack.

"Here, James, fill out this form completely. Here are some vials of mineral oil..." I interrupted, "Why do we need min...oh, forget it. Duh." She continued, "When you're done, leave the door open and bring your sample back to the lab." And she was gone without looking me in the eye at all.

We were alone. We looked at each other and laughed. What else could we do? Everyone knew what we were doing in there. How WEIRD!! I checked out the materials they offered without touching anything, because, EEEWWWWW!!!

The magazine rack was full of Playboy and Penthouse from 2009. There was a copy of Maxim. Honestly, if you're getting that turned on by Maxim, you're either 13 years old, or you really need to get out more! I turned to the TV. There was a VHS tape with the written word "Openings" on it, and a DVD on top called "Strip Tease Then F***". Oh, how classy! I read the sign on the wall that I hadn't noticed earlier. It gave instructions. The Do and Don't list of sample collection. I giggled again.

I looked at my amazing fiance, who should not have to do any of this. The man, who just last year, was really still a boy. Here he is in this incredibly uncomfortable situation. Here he is, though he doesn't even know when and if he wants kids at all. Here he is...for me. The only reason he's doing this is because I asked him to. He's doing it because he loves me.

I'm going to leave the rest of the details to the imagination, but after the sample was produced, we walked back down to the lab. It was like the walk of shame in the college days. I had my head down, was bright red and wouldn't look at anyone. I was giggling like a school girl and thinking that this was just the analysis. We're gonna need to do this again in a week or so! Ugh!

What an experience THAT was!

I figured the least I could do was buy him lunch. :-)

On to our next endeavor...

At Back To School Night in October, Justin's 2nd Grade teacher told us the class would be doing a unit on music in May, and if any parents wanted to come in and play an instrument, she'd love to have them. I volunteered Jimmi, and today was the day!

We loaded up the car and headed over to school. Jimmi was so nervous! He said, "I don't like being in front of people." This coming from my super-ham, "look at me!!" fiance who THRIVES on being on stage in front of huge crowds. He said, "I don't like to TALK to crowds!" "Jimmi, they're 8. I think you'll be ok."

He was better than ok.

He talked to about 100 2nd graders and teachers. They asked him questions, they cheered and screamed, they jumped up and clapped and they were so excited! Jimmi even had my little boy come up and play the drums. But my favorite part was Justin's introduction:

"This is Jimmi. On September 3rd, he'll be my step-dad."

September 3rd. Yes, we're still shooting for September 3rd. I will marry this man who spent an entire day doing things that were totally uncomfortable for him JUST because I asked him to. He never complained. He never argued. He just said, "Ok."

Here are some videos from the school performance (No, I don't have any from his earlier performance at the lab!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17ZjqdiIo4A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYgEB9KiFy8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jQx95X1iAI