Page 28 of A Really Bad Idea

“Have you ever seen someone doing something obscene inside their apartment?” I ask Christian, knowing his living room window faces another apartment building.

“All the time.” He adjusts his tie as he rests his right leg over his left. His foot is bouncing over his knee. “The people across the way from me practice naked yoga.”

“That sounds kinda sexy.”

“Have you ever seen someone doing downward dog with their backside in full moon? It’s not sexy. At all.”

I laugh. While my living room looks over Central Park, the view out my bedroom window isn’t quite as interesting as Christian’s. “My neighbors are all boring. The most exciting thing they do is watch television.”

His brows curve in. “Do you want to see people having sex?”

“No,” I answer long and convincingly, which makes Christian smirk. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“You’re the voyeur. Not me. Maybe I should have bought you a pair of binoculars for your birthday,” he teases, causing me to slap him in the arm. He doesn’t flinch.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting,” Dr. Abbot says as he walks into the room. He shakes my hand and then turns to Christian. “Dr. Gallagher, it’s a pleasure to see you in here. I’ve been reading some of your published reports on valve-in-valve replacement going up through the femoral artery. Impressive stuff.”

Christian gives a hearty shake back. “Thank you. I’ve reviewed your articles documenting the high success rates of vitrification methods for oocyte and embryo cryopreservation.”

“Looks like you’ve been doing your homework for your girlfriend.” Dr. Abbot takes his seat.

“We’re not together,” I say.

“I’m lending support.” Christian lays a hand on mine, which is clutching the end of the armrest.

“Well, as long as I have your permission to openly discuss things in front of Dr. Gallagher, we can proceed.”

“That’s why he’s here,” I say. My knees shake under my skirt.

Dr. Abbot folds his hands on his lap. “The best candidate for this procedure is an intelligent woman who knows that time matters. The younger the egg, the healthier it is. Thirty-three is an ideal age because your eggs are still healthy. There is a major decline in egg health at thirty-five, which is when a lot of our clients come in. You can do this now, or you can wait, but if this is something you’re really considering, I’d suggest sooner rather than later.”

“What is the ideal age?” Christian asks Dr. Abbot.

“Between twenty-eight and thirty-four,” he answers. “Fertility drops quickly after age thirty-five, but the decision is highly personal, including how many children Meadow wants and how old she’d like to be when she has her last child.”

This is followed by statistics and odds. We cover everything from age, health, and demographics, to the overall health of future children. The number of eggs I should harvest to how many will successfully thaw is both fascinating and frightening. Christian is leaning back with rapt attention as he listens intently, absorbing the facts.

“We’ll take blood work and start you on the birth control pill. Ultrasounds will follow to get the follicles synchronized. Then, there’s a two-week supply of take-home hormone injections. This is where the support can really come into play.” He motions toward Christian, who nods, accepting his newfound role of supporter-in-chief. “The egg extraction will take twenty minutes under anesthesia,” Dr. Abbot explains.

“Sounds too easy,” I say even though I know from years of medical training that this is far more complicated than how it’s laid out on paper.

Christian looks at me with a grimace. “It’ll take a physical and emotional toll on your body.”

I raise my brows and run my hands over my knees and thighs. “If I was afraid of the pain, I wouldn’t plan on having children. Not to mention, the emotional toll of raising a human.”

Dr. Abbot laughs knowingly at my response.

Then, we discuss cost.

“Ten thousand dollars to harvest the eggs from the ovaries, and that doesn’t include the yearly storage fee and the cost of IVF when you’re ready to have the baby.”

I whistle at the vast amount of money. “And that’s hoping the eggs survive.”

Dr. Abbot rests his elbows on the table and lays his hands in a praying position. “That brings us to our next conversation. A fertilized egg has a better success rate of thawing than a non-fertilized egg.”

“I don’t have a willing partner, and if I’m going to go to a sperm bank, I might as well just wait until I’m thirty-five and do artificial insemination,” I suggest.

“You could,” Dr. Abbot says.