CD 2 (now with photos)

Not those kinds of photos. Eww.

So, this means I need to get off my duff and make an appointment to start the whole infertility process in Israel.

Not much other news to report (umm … cramps anyone?), but I’m posting some photos from aliyah and Israel. The best way to see everything I post about our big move, etc., is on Facebook or my work blog (link is on the right). If you want my real name to be my Facebook friend, e-mail me at whattoexpect2007 at hotmail dot com and I’ll get right back to you.

Otherwise, here’s some photos!

Our plane at JFK. It was named the Galilee. 🙂

Disembarking at Ben Gurion Airport.

This year’s Nefesh B Nefesh logo.

Logo closeup. All the charter flights have this on them.

The hubby and Kirby.

My usual Israeli lunch. Cucumbers, tomato and cheese sammich and sliced plums for dessert. I’ve lost 16 pounds in the four weeks since we got here. Funny how not eating crap helps with that.

The Tel Aviv train station. Kind of nice how most signs are like little flashcards when you’re trying to learn Hebrew.

Israrail train. Very clean, very quick and safe, efficient, and I love taking them places.

Soldiers waiting to go home for Shabbat. You can kind of see the different uniform colors. And the guns.

IKEA in Netanya. I adore IKEA. If I could work there, I would. I even love it in Heeblish. And the Swedish meatballs are kosher! How cool is that?

We’re here!

Just a short note to say we made it to Israel a week ago. I’ll write more when we get Internet access at home.

Another reason I adore Israel

From the Nefesh B Nefesh Web site (for the record, there are roughly 4-5 shekels in a dollar, give or take):

Fertility

According to the Israeli National Health Insurance Law, insured persons (i.e. all Israeli citizens) are entitled to fertility testing and treatment including: treatments to increase sperm counts, medications, hormonal treatment, in-vitro fertilization. These treatments are an entitlement to a couple who do not have children in their current marriage (may have from previous marriages) for the first and second child and where the woman is under age 45 (there is no limit to the number of “attempts”). In general the treatments are given at no cost to the patient, apart from co-payments. These co-payments are minimal and may be for the physician visits (about 17 shekels for 3 months of visits), injections (12 shekels/treatment) and others. Health funds are only required to provide fertility services in conjunction with government hospitals. Private hospital stays and treatments may be covered partially under the health plans’ supplementary insurance or via private payment.

Supplementary insurance plans at the health plans include additional benefits including partial payment for services received in private hospitals, treatments for third, fourth, etc. child. There may be a waiting period of up to two years for these services.

Several private not-for-profit organizations provide support, information and services at no cost: These are Machon Puah and Zir Hemed.

On a different note, Israeli law allows a working woman to a paid leave of up to 16 days per treatment up to four times a year. Women may not be laid off during the time of fertility treatments.
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In other news, my hcg numbers say no preggo. The progesterone is inconclusive. So I am okay to fly, but the clomid appears to have had no positive effects.

And B”H the strike is off, so the airport in Israel is working again and we should be good to go. Just a couple days left…

Nothing to see here

I’m nearing the end of the 2ww.

I don’t have a lot of hope for this cycle since I’m not really sure I ovulated. But I’ve been very tired and had some wicked nausea for the last few days, so who knows?

In less than two weeks, all of our stuff will be on a slow boat to Israel.

There isn’t much going on right now in our place except preparations for moving overseas. We leave in one month. Our house is a disaster area and everything really needs to get sorted, sold or packed. So you’d think we’re very busy cleaning, etc.

But we’re not. We’re total bums. We really need to get it together for these last few weeks.

But enough about me!

Join me in welcoming a new little princess!

Home sweet home (hopefully)

I know, I know it’s supposed to be an infertility blog. But I’m so excited about us finally getting at apartment. Only a few more hoops to jump through!

Our real estate agent took some photos of the apartment we are hoping to rent. If all goes well, everything should be handled by the end of this week. Here are the pics!

The kitchen.

The two main bedrooms.

Bedroom No. 2.5. Very cute. I think we’ll try and make it into an office/reading area.

The pool and commons area.

The mirpeset (patio).

Three shots of the living room.

The kitchen again.

And the view from our mirpeset.

Over the pond

I think the vast majority of my Israeli readers are or are related to Rachel Inbar. But I do get some pings from around the rest of the country. If you’re here and just haven’t commented, that’s fine too, cause this post is for you.

We’re moving to Modiin on July 31, with the help of Nefesh B Nefesh. Since we are on a charter flight, there will be a big fancy ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport when we arrive.

We don’t have any family in Israel, and the only friends are those we have made inside the computer. Ergo, we are without anyone to come and meet us. Which really will be fine, but it would be fab if anyone wants to come visit.

Again, no pressure: But if you’d like to come see us at the airport, you need to register with NBN here.

My aliyah blog

The newspaper I work at has asked me to write a blog about moving to and living in Israel. The first post went live today. If you’re interested, you can find it at community.centredaily.com.

It’s official (sort of): an aliyah update

I gave my notice at work. My last day will be July 19 (probably – maybe a bit longer if we’re in good shape at that time). They were very grateful that I let them know several weeks in advance, since a goodly part of my job is working through a full Web redesign to be launched mid-July.

For the first time since at least high school, I will be leaving a job without other employment lined up.

In other news:

I can understand how people made aliyah without Nefesh B Nefesh. No insult, just that most of the help seems to come at the beginning and the end, with little in the middle.

And I can attempt to grasp how folks made aliyah without the Internet. Though I wouldn’t want to do it myself.

But I cannot begin to imagine how one would go about making aliyah without Rachel Inbar.

Try and wrap your brain around this for a second: Rachel has been not only calling – but physically visiting – apartments in Modi’in that might work for us. Several of them. And she even took pictures for us.

Having only ever lived in America, I cannot feasibly imagine such kindness. I don’t think prospective employers would have ever considered doing this for me when I was moving across the country. I have good friends here who would not do this for me.

I was lucky enough to meet Rachel’s acquaintance through the amazing Fertility Stories site she runs. I honestly don’t know what we would do without her.

So Rachel — there’s a limit to how much I can try and give back while we’re still on this side of the pond, but please know that you have our most heartfelt thanks for all your help.

From a recent discussion with the hubby:

Me: I guess this is infertility’s silver lining. A friend like this almost makes it all worth it.

Him: (reading Rachel’s bio page) Whoa. She has five kids. You’re going wherever she went. 🙂

Todah rabbah! We’ll see you soon!

It’s official

The big news is probably going to be anti-climactic if you regularly read this blog.

We returned our paperwork to Nefesh B Nefesh last night.

We are officially making aliyah (moving to Israel) this summer. We pretty much knew we would, but it took us a bit to commit. We were hoping we would hear from either Tel Aviv University or Ben Gurion University about the hubby’s grad school applications, but none such luck.

We are just going to go for it, pray for the best and make whatever adjustments are necessary to make it work.

Although it is kind of scary, it’s super exciting. We have gotten estimates on shipping and the rates looks really good. I am looking into retraining in technical writing for as early as August or after the chagim (holidays – specifically, the high holidays in September and October).

To my loyal Israeli readers, we are in need of an apartment in Modiin: preferably two bedrooms, 100 sq. meters if possible, near a bus line, and not that expensive. We are not picky about the neighborhood, but would gladly hear your suggestions. We are working on some leads, but would take any others you can offer.

When we get there, first felafel is on us. 🙂