How much papers did you have to fill out to have a baby??

Well, we picked a donor.  It was a lot like everything I do.  Stress about it for months and have a complete mental freak-out about it and then decide within hours. LOL.  Picking a sperm donor is a lot like going on match.com.  You get to choose the hair color, eye color, height, etc.  The first question people ask is ‘how did you pick?’ Honestly, no idea.  It just seemed like the right one.  Am I 100% sure we pick the right one? No, I guess not.  But I don't know if you can be 100% sure about a thing like this.  Besides the kid is going to be who we make him or her, not some random donor.  We will be teaching him/her right from wrong, introducing him/her to all the great things this world has to offer, and hopefully teaching him/her to love this world.  It will be our job to pass on our beliefs of living green, buying local, and being who you are.  Yes, Lauren we will even let it be a girlie, little princess if that is who he/she wants to be.  We picked three we liked and went from there.  It's done.  So there is no going back.  We are not giving details about the person we pick, so please do not ask.  But we are now the proud owners of a whole lot of sperm.  I really never thought I would be happy to have a storeroom housing sperm for me.  We still have several things to do before we can actually ‘do it”.  LOL We have to get a couple more papers notarized and have our doctor authorize the shipping of sperm to their clinic.  Back to the bank this weekend to get these papers notarized and then fax the authorization form to the doctor on Tuesday.  And maybe, just maybe we will finally have everything in order.  It’s starting to get really frustrating.   Every time we think we have everything we need, we are told we are missing this or that.  I don’t understand why we were not given a checklist or something to make sure we get everything we need.   The amount of paperwork that is involved in this whole process is completely insane.  And the fact that just anyone can have a kid and we have to jump through all these hoops is getting old.  Hopefully, there is an end to this paperwork nightmare very soon.  

You need what...?

That is the question I've asked my nurse Kendra probably 15 times in the last couple weeks.  However, I think, we are finally getting close to having our baby making file complete after countless faxes, e-mails, and phone calls.  After our initial appointment with Shady Grove, I set up three doctor appointments two with our PCP and one with my OBGYN.  The PCP was to preform all the required blood work.  I needed to have my blood tested for 18 different things and get an updated OBGYN exam.  The real test was not the blood work, but making a million phone calls to get all the results faxed from my doctor's office to Shady Grove.  It went something like this.  "Hi, may I speak to my Nurse Kendra.  Hi, Kendra. Do you have all the results?  No.  You need ....  Ok, I'll call the doctor's again."  Hang up and immediately speed dial the doctor's office. "Hi, yes this is Nicole Vitelli.  Shady Grove is still missing ...  Yes, I understand you faxed everything.  But they still need ... Could you please fax it over?  Thank you."  This exact exchange took place no less then 10 times.  I've decided that this process is all about learning to be polite and patient.  The good news is there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Today we completed what I believe is finally the last of the required paperwork.  It did require sitting at a bank waiting for a pile of papers to be notarized.  The titles of the paper included 'Request for treatment waiving CMV testing, Waiver to utilize CMV positive sperm, Consent to ovulation induction and insemination treatment, and Consent to accept sperm.  Basically, all these forms make sure I will not sue Shady Grove for anything.  I'll be dropping the forms off Monday in hopes I'll get the ok to move forward with the next step, which is the actual insemination.  I can't decided if I'm looking forward to this or not.  But it has to be better than the paperwork step, right? I am trying to stay cautiously, optimistic about the first cycle.