• Photos from Our Travels
  • Blog of Our Travels
  • Photos of Our Annual Events
  • Life with Ripley
  • Masks of the World
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Grant and Luke

Our Life in Photos and Words

  • Photos from Our Travels
  • Blog of Our Travels
  • Photos of Our Annual Events
  • Life with Ripley
  • Masks of the World
  • Older Travel Posts
  • About

Stopped Before Getting Started

This is not a positive update so I am just going to speed through it as it’s not great. After Zila’s 3rd unsuccessful attempt, we were unsure of what to do. So we spoke to Dr. Kumar who recommended continuing with Zila for a 4th attempt. Having done a bit of research, this was a little unusual as most surrogates have three attempts before it is viewed as being incompatible. To hedge our bet, the doctor agreed to fertilize additional eggs and be on the lookout for a new surrogate if anything happened.

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tags: 2022, 2023
categories: Surrogacy, Year
Friday 01.06.23
Posted by Luke Martin
 

3rd Time is Not The Charm

Have you ever heard the phrase, “third time is the charm?” Since this was the third attempt at insemination we heard it quite frequently. As I sat to write this— I wondered where this notion came from. Why three and not four? After doing a Google search I came to find that the origin is relatively unknown.

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tags: 2022
categories: Surrogacy, Year
Monday 09.26.22
Posted by Luke Martin
 

At Least We Have Insurance Attempt 2

If at first you do not succeed…try, try, try again. You learn that phrase as a kid and it resonates. Your gaining life experiences so these minor obstacles so in most situations the problem can be easily overcome. With each successful hurdle jumped your kid self's confidence rises. The more life experiences you have the easier it is to avoid these obstacles. Until one day you run into a problem as an adult that you have no life experience in. You hit a proverbial wall that seems so high that you have no idea how to traverse it. Jumping doesn’t work. Free soloing this wall has failed. Going through it isn’t an option. You are stumped.

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tags: 2022, Surrogacy
categories: Surrogacy, Year
Sunday 06.05.22
Posted by Luke Martin
 

Road to River (Aka Ripley Oliver) Part 1

Grant and I want a child. Grant and I can’t have a child naturally. We have tried…repeatedly. However, we have recognized our physical limitations.

We attempted adoption and that was a complete mess. Finding an agency, doing the training, smiling, babysitting scared kids (respite care), telling the agency what we are looking for, and being provided the complete opposite was beyond frustrating. Telling the agency we want to adopt the child and being told that you are nothing more than a glorified babysitter was even worse. We were told the goal of fostering is reunification. Never mind the trauma the parents have caused, the visitation that opens old wounds, and the inability to discipline the children because they have rights. Did you know you can’t pick a child up who is trying to light a fire in public? Found that out the hard way.

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tags: 2022, Surrogacy
categories: Surrogacy, Year
Sunday 04.10.22
Posted by Luke Martin