Expensive Taste

My father has always joked to his friends that his daughters have expensive taste. Whenever I shop and see something I love, (often some item of clothing or shoes) I usually don’t love the price tag that is attached to it. It always seems that out of the entire store or options available I have gravitated towards the most expensive there. I will futilely search other stores or scour the internet for a cheaper alternative but nothing seems to compare to that fabulous little pair of Burberry gumboots (that I am yet to wear) or the striped cotton, silk tunic dress from Veronika Maine that would be just perfect for the upcoming summer.

More often than not I am back in the store or online the next day to get that item that I had first laid my eyes upon and just had to have. This time around however the Veronika Maine striped, cotton silk tunic dress with the contrasting belt is not nestled  amongst my overflowing wardrobe but rather it remains perched on its hanger in the store and will most likely not be making its way into my wardrobe this summer.

For now I have a new kind of expensive taste and it’s the kind every female would, I am sure, rather do without. It started when I first made an appointment with my GP to discuss the possibility of fertility issues. In less than what felt like five minutes, armed with a referral for a specialist and $70 later, the new kind of expensive had begun.

From my research on the internet I definitely sensed pcos was a possibility but still harboured the notion that there was more than likely nothing much wrong with me and that I would just come out of the specialist appointment with some tablets…… problem solved.

As soon as Dr C performed an ultrasound a month down the track and halfway through said, “Yes there it is, polycystic ovaries.” I was ushered back into his room and given a wad of fact sheets on pcos, all sorts of fertility treatments available and referrals for blood tests. Of course he was very thorough in explaining everything to me but I was still in a daze from having it confirmed to me that yes, I did have pcos and along with that coming to the realisation that having a baby was not going to be as easy as I had previously predicted.  It felt like I was retaining little of this information being thrust upon me.

However when I was handed the collection of blood test scripts and told that there was “over 700 dollars’ worth of tests there” I suddenly felt very alert. $700 for blood tests! Mr JR was going to have a coronary. Luckily Dr C went on to say most of that was covered, but I sensed this could just be the beginning of our expensive journey. I came out of that appointment, $278 later feeling rather overwhelmed. Of course Mr JR and I are willing to pay in order to try and start our family but being a young couple just starting out (and like I said in an earlier post, with bills and a mortgage to pay) there are limitations to how much we can afford. A friend of mine told me they are currently $50 000 less and still no baby. Another friend has said he and his partner are considering surrogacy in America but have to find a spare
$200 000. I’m beginning to wonder how the average person can possibly afford this. I understand that many are willing to spend what they can to have a family but if you simply don’t have that kind of money is that the end of it all baby wise?

So instead of just being problem free and being able to take the easy (not to mention cheap!) alternative of conceiving naturally it seems apt that I, as I have always done in my life, am travelling down the more expensive path. Hopefully for Mr JR and me it doesn’t get to the stage like my friends where we have to somehow come up with those large sums of money (I really feel for those who are in that position). We will just have to wait and see what happens, but for now the Veronika Maine striped, cotton silk tunic dress with the contrasting belt will remain on the store shelf, or in somebody else’s cupboard whilst we take on this new kind of “expensive taste”.

*Please note that as I mentioned earlier although I have a love for shopping and in particular buying clothes, my number one passion is animal welfare. I am a huge animal lover who despairs daily over the injustices committed against animals and I support animal welfare in any way I can. I just wish I had lots of money to impact in a big way in making their lives cruelty free.

Do I have a problem?

As I have said I had the idea to start a blog when I found out I had pcos (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Although I always knew I would like a child or two at some stage in my life I had never been in a big rush for one. My mum had always told me that your twenties is for "being selfish" and that I was, to a certain extent. I loved travelling (Europe being my obsessive love), socialising with my friends and spending time with Mr JR. I loved deciding at the last minute to go to dinner, movies, the beach... anything! I loved (and still do) having the freedom to do my own thing.

To me it felt as though I had all the time in the world to have children. I guess it was earlier on this year as I started to quickly approach the final stage of my twenties and babies seemed to be popping up on my facebook left right and centre that I began giving it some serious consideration. Have I really reached this stage? Do I actually need to start giving some thought to this next chapter of my life? Mr JR, being very laid back in that regard had told me he was ready whenever I was. 

As I logged onto facebook  one evening it seemed as though my wall was besieged with girls from my year at school who were about to give birth, just celebrated some milestone with their baby, announcing a pregnancy or onto their second. Wow, where had this time gone? It didn't seem that long ago that we had gone to our five year reunion where getting engaged or married was big news. Was I missing the boat? 

It was then that Mr JR and I began giving the whole parenthood thing some serious thought. Yes, I definitely didn't want to miss that boat. I loved my big family, our closeness and the companionship I had with my siblings and (although I do not desire a family as big!) it was definitely something I wanted for myself and my husband.

So I looked up some multi vitamins to take, bought those, was armed with my “what to do to fall pregnant” list (aside from the obvious) and was ready to go. Or so I thought. Naively speaking the fact that I had super long cycles hadn't really crossed my mind as being much of a problem. Given that my mother had children late and a fair few of them, I had just assumed that whenever I wanted babies, it would happen for me.

Once I began google investigating everything to do with falling pregnant and came across pcos and its relation with irregular cycles, in the back of my mind I thought, "Hmmm, I may have a bit of a problem here."

Did any of you have any experiences similar to mine?

Let's start at the very beginning

I'm not really sure how to start off a blog. Various sites have told me that I should open with a bang and share with you a little anecdote that will make you laugh. Coming from a large family there is always a constant flow of gossip, funny stories and mini spats but none of which come to mind as a fitting blog opener.

So instead I'll start with a little bit about me and how I reached this point of beginning a blog. I'm an amateur who doesn't know the first thing about blogging. I do however love writing and telling stories and I guess I feel I have something to say.

Since finishing high school I meandered through my remaining teens and early twenties like most twenty somethings. I slowly completed a degree I didn't particularly enjoy, body issues at times plagued me, I dated a nice boy but sensed it wasn't really going anywhere and I travelled. All the while I was surrounded by amazing family and friends who supported me in every way.

A few years down the track and I have met and quickly married Mr JR, completed a degree that I enjoyed this time, currently am employed, bought a cute little house that came attached with a not so cute and not so little mortgage that has severely clipped my travelling wings and along with my mother and sisters (who have all, like me had our animal activist instincts majorly kick in) have become vegetarian and campaign for animal welfare.

I have always had a love for writing and have containers full of loose pages and notepads that have been filled with stories I've written as a child growing up. It seems in adult life those little "luxury" hobbies don't get much of a look in when you have a full time job that keeps you busy with the steady flow of bills that need to be paid.

What gave me the idea to start a blog was when I found out I had polycystic ovarian syndrome and I began googling various forums to find out how other females were going with their journey of aiming to start a family.

It seems that lots of women out there do have pcos and that it does affect this next chapter of our lives so I decided to start writing about my experiences for everyone like me who is aboard the same train.

So whilst this blog is about Mr JR and my quest to enter this next phase of our life, it's also about us and our lives in general because I always enjoy telling a story or two.

Welcome to my polyperfect life.