Meeting an SMC and AI Orientation

Today I visited Abby and Calliope, who are in the Boston area visiting Abby's mother from Brooklyn. You may know Abby's blog - True Confessions of a Single Mama to Be. It was so nice to meet Abby and get to know her, and hear more about her experiences becoming an SMC. And it was great to live vicariously and get my baby fix holding and playing with little Calliope! She's absolutely beautiful.

Tonight I went to an orientation program for a local place that does alternative insemination. It's called Fenway Health, and it does all kinds of health care, and has an AI program that started as being for lesbian couples, but has expanded to include single women. Orientation is a required first step for this program, and it costs $50. It was pretty good, but most of the information that was provided was stuff I already knew from all the extensive research I've been doing. They went over how to track BBT, use OPKs, pros and cons of known donors vs. anonymous or ID release donors from a sperm bank, types of insemination (home, ICI, IUI), etc. They also presented info about how their specific program works, the specific tests they require, the limitations to the program (no REs, just basic unmedicated insems). I think I might want to start with this type of program, and only move to the more intensive infertility stuff if I end up needing it.

A couple of cool things about their program:

* While you can use any sperm bank you want, they have an ongoing relationship with four of them. This means they have all the long profiles of the donors available at their office for women who are a part of their program to view. There's no additional fee for this. So, as long as you're enrolled in their program and want to use California Cryobank, The Sperm Bank of California, New England Cryogenic Center, or Xytex, you don't have to pay to view any long profiles! I don't think they have pictures, though.

* If you want to order multiple vials of sperm at a time to save on shipping, they provide free storage of extra vials while you're inseminating with them, and for a year after you're finished inseminating. Then, if you want to continue storing any extra vials for having a sibling, they start to charge a long-term storage fee. While this means you don't have the buy-back option if you stored vials at the bank, it's free!

The most annoying and frustrating part of the night that I just need to vent about... I was running late getting to the orientation (but it was due to hanging out with Abby and Calliope, so it was good!), so pulled into the first parking lot I saw, since there were no meter spots. The sign said it was $8 to park, but the guy working there said it was $20 due to a concert going on at Fenway Park (which is right near Fenway Health). I said I didn't even know about the concert and just needed to get to a meeting, but of course he didn't care. So I paid the $20. Then, when I was leaving the lot, I didn't see anyone working there, so I just went to pull out, and the bar was down blocking the exit. The guy had put a card on my windshield when I got there, so I put it into the machine, thinking it must need the card to open the gate. But the machine told me I had to pay $8. WTF? I have to pay 20 to enter AND 8 to leave?!? But I didn't see a choice, and another car was pulling up behind me, so I just paid the damn $8 with my debit card. Just then, the guy who had been working earlier walked by, and I asked him about the $8. He said "no, you just had to tell me you were leaving, and I would let you out". Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that? He didn't tell me that when I came in, just took, my $20 and put the card on my windshield. He wasn't around when I was getting into my car and driving to the exit. So I asked him to refund my $8, and, while holding a stack of bills, he told me he couldn't do that because my debit card had already been processed! I was SOOOOOO mad! I mean, I know it's only $8, not the end of the world, but I just didn't understand why he couldn't hand me $8 out of the stack of bills, since I hadn't actually had to pay it! And if he needs to let people out of the lot, then shouldn't he be there keeping an eye on things so people don't have to hung him down? Meanwhile, another car was behind me, so he told me I had to move. So instead of paying a few quarters for a meter spot (had there been one), or $8 to park in the lot (on a non-concert night), I ended up paying $28 to park, on top of the $50 for the orientation fee! GRRRR!!!!