May 31st, 2010 was my last day on the job in Haifa and the  very next day, I started my new job in Jerusalem. I took no time off between the jobs; this was not one of my better decisions but I had only myself to blame. There is never an excuse for not spending  at least one day fully in pajamas between jobs; lesson learned.

My move signaled that our wedding planning was now in full swing. A couple of weeks later Tommy’s parents arrived in Israel from Budapest – that was the first time that I met them – and my parents flew in from Philadelphia. Tommy and I wanted our parents to meet one another before the wedding and an engagement party was the  perfect excuse (if you are asking yourself, ” hey, why wasn’t I invited?” you can relax, it was family only). Of course I was a little afraid that their first meeting would go something like this:

Amazingly, we discovered that we had the essential component to the perfect in-law relationship, a total  language barrier. Sure, at the end of the visit Tommy was sick of being a Hungarian-English translator, but that is a small price to pay for a total lack of minor disagreements that can become a whole lot of stress.  In most cases, Tommy would translate any bit of Hungarian to an English, “very good”. Of course, I had enough Hungarian to realize that the only thing my parents ever said to his parents could be summed up in two Hungarian words, “nagyon jó!” Everyone had a great time and we were all excited to celebrate in November.

There was one small hitch: I went ever so slightly bridezilla when my sister in the US called my parents during their visit to inform them that she was pregnant and would be 8 + months pregnant at the wedding! All I could think about was the possibility that she would go into labor the day of MY wedding and steal the spotlight. I also knew that there was a chance that she would not be able to attend the wedding. I was annoyed and irrational and in the end everything worked out wonderfully. My sister came to the wedding and her adorable son was born a month later.

In retrospect, I have to admit that what bothered me the most about my sister getting pregnant was that I had just been told that I would likely have difficulties in that area. In the midst of all the celebrating, I was somewhat worried that we would be in for a struggle when it came to starting a family. Tommy and I talked about the possibility quite a bit and we decided to take things as they come.  At the moment we would take the opportunity  to celebrate the engagement, wedding and time with our family.

Our parents went home and I made an appointment with a gynecologist; I asked around for recommendations from friends but figured he had to be better than Dr. Google. I showed him the images from the ultrasound and the new doctor could see all of Dr. Google’s notes. I explained that I needed a second opinion. After reviewing everything he gave me one piece of advice, “If a doctor ever tells you that you need to have immediate surgery, make sure that a different doctor actually opens you up”.  He may have overstated it as a hard-and-fast rule, but the point was well taken; my inclination to get a second opinion had been validated. Yes! This doctor wanted to monitor the cysts for a bit, especially since I was not in any pain. He told me to come back after the wedding and he will order new ultrasounds and blood tests. I left the appointment relieved and ready to enjoy the exciting few months that lay ahead.