Take 2 is a bit of a blur. I remember a holiday party for work. Leaving early and going out for Cuban food with Joey and Alex. Slipping down the stairs at said Cuban restaurant. Sleeping in the living room with their poodle Bridget. And then a New Years lunch with guests who had three surro-carried kiddos (who were utterly feral, by the way, even going by my Covid-reduced standards of parents and children). A stomach bug the day I went for my beta hCG. And then confirmation: the second transfer was a bust.

When it was time for our third transfer—St. Patrick’s Day 2017—I asked the reproductive endocrinologist to put superglue on the embryo he was transferring. He laughed and called, “Embryo glue!” to the embryologist in the next room, who gave him a thumbs-up. And then a positive home pregnancy test. And then positive and doubling beta hCGs. A few twinges of morning sickness.

And then blood again.