One Good Egg: An Illustrated Memoir Read Free Page B

were forms of happiness waiting for us to appropriate them by sheer recognition?
     
K ATHERINE M OSBY
Private Altars

As You Wish, Jellyfish

    Lorene and I bought copies of Taking Charge of Your Fertility and Alternative Families and an ovulation predictor kit (OPK). Having a partner added an element of accountability—no chickening out, no procrastination. We studied the books in bed and compiled a list of questions.

    I dug out the notes from the artificial insemination seminar I had attended back when Karen and I were together. It seems I had recorded everything but the answers to our questions.
    Lorene made an appointment with Liz, the woman who’d run the seminar and the Couples Considering Parenting Support Group. She was standing by a conference table when we arrived. There was a large bag on it, and a speculum and a syringe sitting on top of a folder next to the bag. She introduced herself to Lorene, and the three of us seated ourselves around the bag end of the table.
    “Well, how long have you two been together?”
    Lorene and I answered at the same time.

    Liz smiled and opened the folder. “Tell me about the dad. He’s a friend?”
    “Steve’s an old friend. He’s also a writer; we met on vacation in Greece. The tricky part is he lives in Australia, although his job has a lot of flexibility. He travels quite a bit.”
    “It’s great that he’s up for it. It’s going to be an adventure!” She uncapped her pen. Real Question #1: “Have you figured out how much contact you’d like him and his family to have with your child—in general terms? What’s the most? What’s the least? These are the kinds of things that go into your agreement.”
    I answered, “We want to start with the minimum. Whatever Steve thinks he can manage, that way he can always do more over time. We really just don’t want him to do less—disappoint the child.”
    Liz’s pen was still poised above the paper, her eyebrows expressing some difficulty in summarizing my answer. “What about the father’s financial responsibility?” She skipped down to the next set of lines.
    “None. We’re going to pay for all the insemination stuff. When there’s a real baby, I hope he’ll pay for his own travel, to visit . . . ”
    “Insemination expenses aren’t normally covered in a coparenting agreement. It has more to do with visitation rights and financial responsibilities once the baby’s born.”
    “Are there three-parent agreements?” I asked.
    “I know of one or two.” She gave me the name of the lawyer who had drawn them up.
    “All right.” Liz was forging on. “Shall we go over insemination?” We nodded. “You’ve been taking your body temperature? Have you tried the ovulation predictor kit?” We had. “And have you been watching your cervical mucus?” Gross. Do I have to?

    “You want egg-white consistency, clear and stretchy. You can record the amount and quality right on your temperature chart.”

    Liz unzipped the bag and set a woman’s midsection on the table. She turned her upside down and looked to make sure everything was in order. Then she picked up the speculum. Lorene was laughing at me. “You’re pink,” she said.
    “Don’t make me red.” I was nervous, not embarrassed.
    Liz inserted the speculum. “The cervix feels kind of hard, like the tip of your nose.” With egg white on it. She turned the midriff toward us. “Do you need a speculum?”
    “I still have the one we got in the support group,” I said.
    “Now, you want Steve to abstain for two days before you inseminate. No lubricants other than corn oil.A tall clean glass container works fine for collection.” She picked up the syringe. “You take up a little air first—the air helps you get every last bit, and then when your syringe is full, you insert it.” She positioned the syringe inside the speculum, which was inside the midriff’s hooey. “And that’s all there is to it. You can prop Suzy’s hips up on some pillows,