First days back in Prague and first appointment

Have I mentioned how much I hate flying? All in all, my trip wasn't that bad. I had a meltdown in DIA but managed to pull though with some inspiring words from a friend and a sweet DIA therapy dog. I totally cried while petting this dog but I definitely felt better after. I managed to get about 5 hours of sleep on the long flight from Chicago to Frankfurt and when I arrived Sunday night in Prague, I felt pretty good. I checking into my Airbnb rental and dropped my bags and headed to the best burger place ever, Dish. It was every bit as wonderful as I remember. With a full belly, I headed to sleep.

Outside of the flat, the sunset with St. Vitus Cathedral in the distance

The best burger EVER.

To start out day 2 in Prague, I headed to one of our favorite breakfast spots, Monolok and then headed to my favorite park, Riegrovy Sady for a bit of exercise. It was a perfect day out. All of the trees are blooming and it smelled so good in the park. I met up with my friend, Jana, and her daughter at a playground near our old flat. It was so wonderful to see friendly faces. After, I headed to a small bread/pastry shop we liked to call "Free Bread" because it was so cheap it was almost free! While I was sitting there enjoying my yummy treat, I decided to try and see or do something new each day while in Prague. I headed the 100 yards over to this odd looking church that Jason and I probably saw most everyday while in Prague but never managed to make in inside as it has weird hours. The doors were open so I walked into Kostel nejsvětějšího srdce Páně.  Mass was going on, so I only stayed for a few minutes but I was definitely glad to finally see inside. I finished off the evening eating at Masala and had the best Chicken Makahni ever. Jason and I were just talking about this place last week. It is so yummy. Night 2 of sleep didn't come as easy and is probably the reason day 3 started off the way it did.

The classic view from Riegrovy Sady

 Later in the day at the same park. The flowers were electric!

Not the church i went into... This one is at Namesti Miru.

On Tuesday, I woke up with a bit of anxiety. I had a small breakfast at the flat and then headed out to get my public transport pass. When we were here last, Jason got our passes so it took me a little to figure out which station I could purchase a longer pass from -- which meant that I rode the metro to one stop and then was told to go to another stop and at that stop was then again sent to another. I ended up at the train station to get my pass and after perused a bookstore in search of an easy reading book. I am currently reading All the Pretty Horses but I wanted something a bit lighter as well. I didn't find anything and decided to head over toward Iscare for a quick lunch before my appointment. 

At my appointment, I first met with the travel IVF coordinator, Beatriz, which was a little funny because I had been there many times before but now that I am not living in Prague there was a little more hand holding. She started explaining to me what we were going to do. She is very nice but I was just ready to finally meet with the doctor. I was happy that my appointment was with Dr. Marika Jarzembovska. She was the one who I met with prior to my last transfer and suggested putting me on prednisone and blood thinners. She also did the actual transfer and said to me - be pregnant this time. She said this time I want you to stay pregnant. While trying to coordinate what medications to take from afar, there was a little push back from the coordinator and Dr. Hulvert regarding the necessity of me being on a blood thinner. I kept asking if they had consulted Dr. Jarzembovska and Beatriz said she had... During my appointment I asked about it again and mentioned the blood tests I'd had done which showed a +APA and Protein C deficiency and she immediately said, yes you need to be on Fraxiparine starting today. The coordinator looked a bit shocked and I was relieved to finally feel heard. Then she did a vaginal ultrasound and said my lining looked perfect and my ovaries were quiet (aka had not begun to develop follicles). She made sure I had stopped the Leuprolide injections (which suppress the ovaries) and gave me a rundown on all the medications. I take 8 different pills in the morning, one at lunch and two pills at night plus the Fraxiparine injection. It feels like a lot to manage with out Jason. I really wish he was able to be here with me. The other thing we discussed is the lack of donor eggs we have so far. They have another plan, there are several women who are coming in as part of the frozen oocyte program - meaning that they do not have someone they are specifically donating their eggs to and they want to possibly use one of these women for a fresh transfer in addition to the frozen transfer. She said though that she wants to decide which donor to use after they see how many eggs are retrieved. They will only fertilize if the retrieve a high number of eggs. There is one going in on Wednesday and one on Thursday. They will let me know that day if there are enough eggs.

After my appointment, I headed to another bookstore and purchased The Rosie Project as well as a Life After Birth: What Even Your Friends Won't Tell You About Motherhood. The latter of the two was in the used section and I thought why not totally freak myself out about this thing I have been struggling so hard to obtain - motherhood. I found a good bench to sit and read on while I ate my almond croissant. Then I wandered into the Jewish Quarter and visited the Old New Synagogue - my new activity for the day. Historically - impressive. Visually - simplistic. Then I headed to to the Rudolfinum where the Czech Philharmonic plays and inquired about tickets but the box office was closing. Then, out front, there were people arriving for a military concert. Quite impressive. I had dinner at new place called U Bulínů right next to the flat. It has good reviews and local Czech fare. My pancreas was a little irritated after the croissant, I think, so I had a simple soup and salad for dinner. It was perfect. 

Speaks for itself.

Franz Kafka monument

The Old New Synagogue

 Rudolfinum and the procession for the military concert.

Just another doorway in Prague. So beautiful.