Day 27

We've spent all day cuddling, staying inside, and dreading this moment. Jeremiah is saying goodbye. The heartbreak of having to be apart in such an important time in our lives is grieving us, and we both cry as he walks to the car, suitcase rolling slowly behind him. I stand on the patio, unashamed of the tears as they fall, and watch him load the suitcase into the car. He wipes his eyes, turns, waves at me, and blows me a kiss. I blow him one back. He gets in and passes the apartment as he drives away, waving at me from the window, as I wave at him, all the sorrow in the world seeming to be mine.

His flights home go smoothly. He flies from Thessaloniki to Istanbul to San Francisco to Denver. The only hiccup in his travels is that his suitcase is put on the wrong flight from San Francisco to Denver, and he has to wait for that flight to arrive to reclaim his possessions.

I'm instructed to rest by the doctor to help the rash on my leg that I obtained in Athens heal. I settle into bed with my feet elevated and binge-watch The Crown. At some point, I fall asleep.

Day 28

My alarm goes off at 01:00 for me to take my IVF medications. I have to take folic acid in a pill form, inject estrogen into my belly, take antibiotics in pill form, blood thinner injections which I have discovered are way less painful in the belly than in the thigh, a progesterone pill, and a progesterone gel that gets inserted into the vagina. The gel requires me to walk for thirty minutes afterwards to "activate" it, so I go on a midnight stroll. I discover a pizza place that sells by the slice right around the corner from me, and I find a place that still serves coffee that late. They look at me like I'm a bit crazy, but they serve me coffee nonetheless.

I get back to the apartment and fall asleep, waking up around 08:00 to wish Jeremy goodnight via video call. I get up, go get a coffee, buy some groceries, and then return to the apartment to rest, work, binge-watch The Crown, and wallow in self-pity.

Days 29 - 32

Same routines. Different days. I now sleep in, trying to get accustomed again to what my sleep schedule will be when I get back home. I wake up in the afternoon, go buy coffee, return to the apartment, cook food, work, watch The Crown, video call my husband, take my medications, grab pizza and coffee at forbidden hours of the morning, and go to sleep.

Day 33

I wake up at 11:30 and get ready for my appointment at New Life Clinic. Apostolos picks me up in the taxi and gets me to my appointment fifteen minutes early at 12:45. My scan goes very well. My doctor and Thaleia are both pleasantly surprised that my uterine lining is ready for the embryo transfer. Today is June 9. My Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) is scheduled for June 16. I finally know when I can go home. I'm also told that I don't have to rest as much anymore, I can start being a bit more adventurous again, but I'm cautioned to limit my walking.

I take the bus 3K down to Aristolos Square and go to the souvenir shops that Jeremiah and I went to in what feels like ages ago. I pick up a few final gifts for people back home, and walk back to the VRBO. The walk is about 2.1 miles (3.38 kilometers), which is more than I intended to walk. I got lost a few times. I really should have just called the taxi.

I return to the apartment and play Tears of the Kingdom on my Nintendo Switch. I start work in the evening, now binge-watching Vikings as I do. I video call Jeremy and my mother while I'm on my walk, get my slice of pizza and a cup of coffee that has become my IVF Medication Snack Tradition, and then return to the apartment to sleep.

Day 34

I'm so bored. I'm determined to get out of the apartment today now that I'm no longer confined per doctor's orders. I wake up at 13:00, eat breakfast, and walk to the One Salonica Outlet Mall. There's a Nike store there, and I'm hoping to replace my pair of white and lime green Air Force Ones that tragically died earlier on this trip. The store doesn't end up having anything like what I'm looking for. I decide to keep wandering the mall, playing Pokémon Go. I walk back to the apartment, stopping to purchase water on the way back.

I settle in to binge-watch Vikings and play Tears of the Kingdom. It's a Saturday, so no work for me! It starts to rain, and the floor in the living area of the VRBO starts to flood a tiny bit in one corner. I pick up everything off of the floor near the corner, mine and the owner's, and lay some towels down. No harm done.

Jeremy calls me. He's at home, getting ready for our nephew Zack's first birthday party. We stay on the phone until he leaves. He calls me again once he's at the party, and I get to see Zack open his gifts and eat his cake. I appreciate my husband so much. We hang up so that he's not on his phone the entire party, but he calls me a few hours later as I'm on my "IVF Medication, Pizza, and Coffee Stroll". I wish him goodnight after some time, and fall asleep around 05:00.

Days 35 - 39

I let the owners know about the water, and I'm moved to another apartment they own. It's just across the street, thank goodness. Otherwise, not much happens. I binge-watch Vikings, I play Tears of the Kingdom, buy groceries, and continue taking my "IVF Medication, Pizza, and Coffee Stroll" in the wee hours of the morning each day. I also video call with Jeremiah multiple times a day. He's very excited as the Denver Nuggets just won the NBA Championship Game. Tomorrow is embryo transfer day, and we are very excited. That also means I finally get to fly home, and I book my flight for the day after the transfer.

Day 40

I wake up at 11:15, eat breakfast, and relax until 12:00 when my taxi arrives. I take the taxi to New Life for the last time. I'm sure it will be the last time, anyway. They take me back to room three. I change into the thin hospital gowns, go to the same room where they harvested my eggs, lay on the same extremely revealing table with my legs spread, and wait. The doctor and the embryologist come in, and I get to watch the two blastocysts get placed on my uterine lining on the ultrasound screen. Oh, how I wish Jeremy was here. Now, it's up to my body to hopefully do the right thing, and I'm confident it will. After all, as my mother says, the one thing we don't have trouble doing in my family is making babies! Until me, that is.

I return to the VRBO and pack as much up as I can, video call Jeremy, take my stroll, and sleep. I leave early the next morning. I realize that tomorrow will be day 43 since I left home to come on this trip. It took two days to fly out here due to a missed flight in Istanbul. Those two days of travel, plus 40 days in Greece, plus my (hopefully) one day of travel add up to 43 - my lucky number. How about that.

After

To our great joy, we did get pregnant from the IVF. However, that joy lasted too short of a time. I flew home from the trip in Greece on 17 June 2023, and a miscarriage occurred on 11 July 2023. I barely had time to process the joy of being pregnant before it was ripped away from me. Jeremiah and I mourned the loss of our two babies, the dream of a family momentarily crushed. We still have one embryo in Greece.