So, if you'd like to continue to follow our family-building journey - and trust me, there will be more! - visit http://bartafamily.livejournal.com
The only thing I ask is that if you read, at least say hello every once in awhile! Sometimes I feel like I'm just talking to myself and didn't you hear? Comments are the new hug :)
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12w umbilical cord |
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12w foot and toes! |
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12w front of body |
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12w bent leg |
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12w somethin' poppin' out... |
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12w five fingers! |
-I've been wondering when my mom was going to go all first-time-Grandma on me and start buying things left and right. Well, yesterday she e-mailed me and is doing something that I absolutely love: They are paying for enough Shaklee vitamins to get me through breastfeeding! You have no idea how awesome this is. Shaklee is the #1 natural nutrition company in the world with very high quality vitamins. Of course, with high quality comes a higher price and even as a distributor of the product, I haven't been able to bring myself to buy the vitamins. I grew up taking these products and could tell a difference when I moved and didn't have them any more. When I became a distributor I had planned on getting some but between the cost of me not working and fertility treatments and then moving and our new bills, I still haven't done it. Hopefully me getting back on these will help me feel better and by the time I'm done breastfeeding, our money situation will be better and I can start buying them on my own. Yay! Totally awesome gift. Seriously.
-Speaking of the word "Grandma," anyone have any cute suggestions for my mom to use?
-And I think I'm getting sick. I don't feel nauseous or anything like that, but the past few days I have been doing a lot of blowing my nose and sneezing and extra napping. I didn't get up until almost noon today and then went back to sleep two hours later and took a two hour nap. I only got up after Max made me feel guilty for sleeping so much... especially since I knew it was like 50 degrees out today. I got out of bed and planned to take him to play with Hoover and wouldn't you know it it was raining. :/ It's supposed to be nice again tomorrow though so hopefully I'll feel better and have some energy to do something with him. For now I'm on the couch and feeling headachey and a little achey all over and just sort of blah. I really hope this isn't the beginnings of something more icky than just allergies.
-However, I did hit my carbs today! 50g of carbs exactly with 104g of protein and 1500 calories. Much better. However the day is not over and I'm sure I'll be hungry again before I go to sleep. I think what helped the most was that I ate half a pack of sausage for breakfast: 720 calories, 44g of protein and 0 carbs. There's no way I could eat that every morning though... it'd make me sick.
-A week from tomorrow I go in for my next ultrasound! Hopefully we'll find out what we're having then and that evening Neal's parents will be here! We want to surprise them and are going to line the driveway with balloons: Blue if it's a boy; pink if it's a girl! We may even get a banner to put on the garage door.
-My Pampered Chef party kind of bombed due to no one being able to come and money being tight. I did hit the $200 in sales mark though so I was able to get some free products and a discount. I got the trifle bowl, a veggie peeler that I was in desperate need of and a melon baller which I always thought was a useless product but have come to covet since I've been eating a lot of cantaloupe lately and struggle to get the meat out.
-While talking to the consultant, she told me something that totally made my day. When she had come to my house to go over planning the party, she was shocked to see all the kittens running around and freaked a little because she's "very allergic" to cats. I put them downstairs and had just vacuumed but I figured she'd still end up having some sort of reaction to them because she hadn't taken her allergy medicine. We had somehow gotten on the subject of Shaklee and their products and she had asked for a Get Clean dvd but I forgot to give it to her. Well, when I talked to her tonight to close my show, she said that she really wanted to look into ordering the products because even though she had been in my house with 9 cats, she did not have one sign of allergies! Yet, a week later she was at another ladies house, which was also clean with ONE cat running around and she ended up having a severe allergy attack that turned into a sinus infection! That's right: Shaklee rocks beyond belief. So I'm going to mail her the dvd!
-Mama cat is gone! Woo hoo! I took her to my great uncle today and he loves her. He called later and said that she is right at home, exploring and playing with him and the new toys he bought her. She really is a sweet cat... she just doesn't like my two cats so it was getting very annoying constantly having to shuffle them around so they avoided each other. So... one cat gone, four to go. The babies get fixed on Thursday and we still need homes for two of them. Workin' on that.
-Speaking of the babies, Dexter, one that we're keeping, is hilarious. He's the runt of the litter but very bold and not afraid of anything. Last night he hopped in the shower with Neal and did the same with me today. (He slid and got soaked with Neal which did cause him to run off but he was enjoying playing in it with me and he didn't care one bit when I pinned him down to dry him off.) While all cats I've ever known or met have been terrified of the vacuum cleaner and scatter when it comes out, he's very curious about it and follows it around trying to bat at it or sits in its path staring at it. He loves to sit on the edge of the door of the dishwasher while I'm loading/unloading it. Doesn't care one bit if he gets water dripped on him. Mollie's not thrilled about the babies but have gotten used to them... probably in part to Dexter's pushiness with her. He constantly tries to rub up against her and cuddle and she'll hiss and spat and growl at him but he doesn't care and just keeps on cuddling. I believe she's almost to her breaking point and giving up. He's completely fascinated with plastic bags... especially when I'm trying to scoop the litter boxes. And he loves to sit on the back of the couch and "eat" my hair. He cracks me up. (I'm trying to document all of these things for a future picture post.)
-I'm still struggling to get all of my calories in. Yesterday I had about 60g carbs (supposed to have 50g) and 1200 calories (should have more like 1700-2000). (I did however get in the recommended 100g of protein thanks to my whey protein stuff I have left over from IVF.) I believe that I have once again lost weight, which is not cool at all. Last night I made a sausage/mushroom quiche, which sounded fabulous until it was ready to eat and then the thought of eggs made me want to puke. I once again forced myself to eat some and ended up feeling queasy the rest of the night. I think I just need to give up on the whole egg thing. I just can't do it right now, which sucks because not only have I always loved eggs, but they are a huge staple of the Atkins diet. :/ I was nervous about today because it was my grandparents' Christmas dinner. I suffered after Thanksgiving even though I had small portions but was pleasantly surprised tonight when just about all of their choices were pretty low carb. I had ham, taco salad (minus the chips), ziti (minus the noodles) and lots of fresh veggies. I even treated myself to some of the banana pudding - minus the actual bananas and vanilla wafers. I'm feeling pretty full still and not feeling run down at all yet, so yay! However... I'm home now and know I'll want to eat before going to bed but don't want anything we have. (Although a slice of cinnamon raisin toast with butter sounds divine... carbs, carbs, carbs.)
-Speaking of my carb issues, how come after more than two years of knowing that I have PCOS, not one doctor, nurse or website that I ever read about it ever mentioned that I should try a low carb diet? I was researching it last night and it all makes perfect since.
-Speaking of Christmas at Grandma's today, it was fun. The highlight was probably the fact that three of my younger boy cousins who have always kind of been hoodlums and typical teenage boys, are now all in their 20s and have small kids. One has a 1 year old, one has a 6 month old and one has one who is due in July. It was nice to watch them with their kids and see how much they've finally grown up and matured. You can see such a difference in how they interacted with their kids and their parents... it was neat. And then I got a little teary-eyed while I sat there watching them and realized that not only will I have a 6-month-old next year, but our children will all be close in age and therefore playmates at those types of get togethers. :::tear:::
-I found this crib-to-toddler-to-full-size-bed and love it. (In espresso.) My mom said she found it online for $469 which really isn't that bad for what you get. I was looking at just getting something from Target or Babies R' Us but from experience I know that the actual products (at least from Target) aren't really all that sturdy/long-lasting. I'd rather spend more money up front and know that the product will last through years of abuse... hopefully until the baby is getting married and needs a bigger bed than full size! (Edit... Just realized it only goes to a twin, not a full. Don't like that so much.)
I love Wendy's chili. (Low carbs!)
I'm having a difficult time realizing that I'm allowed to eat more right now. I keep finding myself limiting my portions and watching my condiments like I always have. I need to weigh myself but I really don't think that I've gained any weight since my last doctor's visit. I have noticed that lately I'll eat and I'm still a little hungry... I need bigger portions! I've just always ordered smalls and limited things like dressing, butter, sour cream, etc. I'm finding it difficult to break that habit. :/
I had a great workout yesterday at the gym which included some swimming time. That was nice and I'm going to look into their aqua arobics, as well as start taking yoga again.
Pictures!:
These are some of my recent clearance maternity finds, as well as something I didn't need but couldn't resist: A reindeer snowsuit type thing for baby! I got the 9 month size because by November, he'll be 5 months old so it should fit him throughout next winter. How friggin' cute!
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my maternity finds Clearanced maternity finds, plus the reindeer outfit I just couldn't resist! |
And here's me in my other recent clearance find. It's not maternity but it's stretchy so it'll last me awhile and I'll be able to wear it after:
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belly! And my new favorite sweater. |
Dexter and Lily chilling under the Christmas tree. They're the two kittens that we're keeping:
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Dexter and Lilly chillin' under the xmas tree! |
Max cuddling with Neal. He adores him and is always trying to sit on his lap:
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Max and Neal |
Muki and Emma at the cheerleading compeition the other day. Love Emma's lipstick!:
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Muki and Emma |
Emma on top of the pyramid during their routine:
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Emma on top! |
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13w belly shot! it's looking more rounded! |
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getting our xmas tree '08 |
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our xmas tree '08 |
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our fireplace '08 with kittens River and Sparkles. |
I've been reading "Pregnancy for Dummies," which I like much, much better than "What to Expect When You're Expecting." I think I'm going to send out an e-mail to all of my friends who are moms to find out what their labors/deliveries were like, what their birth plans were, as well as what their favorite baby items were and which ones they thought were a waste. Yup.
I need to do a belly pic today as I haven't been documenting it like I wanted.
The crappy thing is that I haven't been sleeping well the past couple of days, which makes me feel like crap. I have a hard time going to sleep at night and then it seems like I wake up every couple of hours wide awake and just lay there. Sucks. So yesterday and today I've been all nauseous and icky feeling. I had a migrane yesterday even. I tried eating and resting to get it to go away and then finally broke down and took some Tylenol and had a nap. Felt better when I woke up, but of course then couldn't sleep last night. Blah! Today I had planned on going to the gym and running some errands but I'm feeling crappy again so I may just take it easy again today.
Other pregnancy-related things: I'm totally clumsy and so forgetful! Example: My cat Mollie has a severe bladder infection which we had just been to the vet for on Thursday. On Friday we realized that our other cat Siren was injured. Got her an appointment on Monday and when the vet was asking me how Mollie was doing, I totally couldn't even remember what was wrong with her! And that was after like a week-long invesitagation into why she was sick, x-rays and a $250 vet bill! Craziness. I keep losing my keys, forgetting to do things and just basically feel like I've lost my head. And the clumsiness - Lordy. Getting comfortable in bed, getting out of bed, getting dressed/undressed, basically doing anything I am totally uncoordinated. I keep hitting my head, bashing my limbs, tripping over things. I've told Neal that he needs to be extra diligent in keeping pathways clear for me. Twice now I've tripped over stuff of his that he's left laying right where people walk. Not cool, man. I can only guess that my clumsiness is due to my equilibrium beginning to change. I can only imagine what I'll be like when my belly starts getting bigger!
We got our Christmas tree the other day which was cold, but fun. I've got pictures but I haven't downloaded them yet. The only non-fun part was when Max was doing a mad dash around the tree field and knocked me over. He knew he was in big trouble and came over with his head hanging to get yelled at. (I'm okay - I landed on my butt with my wrists taking the brunt of the fall. They are still a bit sore though, mostly my wrist that I've had problems with for a long time.) The tree is up but we haven't decorated it yet. I'm hoping we'll decorate it tonight after Neal gets out of bed. (He's on midnight shift now.)
I've gained 2 pounds and as mentioned before, Cubby was super active and doing great! I can't find the cord to download the video we took, but I did finally scan one of the pics in. It's the best one we got - the other ones are kind of blurry:
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11w5d ultrasound Still doing great! |
Hopefully I can find the cord, because the video is just amazing. I love watching it!
I am officially in love with my maternity jeans. Oh, so comfy! The Bella Band worked wonders for awhile, but I was to the point where that just wasn't cutting it any longer.
Thanksgiving went well.* There was lots of baby talk and yummy food. My cousin was there with his son, who is 5 months old, and Neal kept eyeballing him and grinning. My cousin who is a nurse saw the video and agreed that it's a bit early. She kept saying that what we see is probably the umbilical cord, but I know exactly where the cord was, which was going straight up past his head. So... I still think it's a boy :) Hopefully at the 16 week check-up, the baby will have gotten big enough for a more definitive answer as I will be asking the doctor his opinion.
*The only downside was towards the end of the night when my two aunts were asking me about why I was doing the low carb diet thing. I explained about my insulin resistance and how that was part of the reason we couldn't get pregnant. They then continued to joke about how now that I'm pregnant, I'll start "popping out babies left and right." It is no secret that we also have male factor so apparently these grown adults do not know how conception works. It's just frustrating. While I'm totally enjoying and savoring every moment of this pregnancy, and want to adopt in the future, I am mourning the fact that this will be my only pregnancy and we will not have any more biological children. People just don't get it. And when adoption is brought up, they like to tell us horror stories. I also was struck by how much oohing and aahing I was getting over my belly and all that. I'm thrilled that everyone is thrilled for us, but where was this support when we were struggling? Oh, wait, that's right. They tried to support us by telling us all the things you shouldn't say to someone who's infertile. Relax, take a vacation, pray, I hope you don't have a litter! :::sigh:::
The nurse gave us info on getting the AFP blood work done to screen for Down's Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis and Neural Tube Defect. I know when Neal had his karotyping done they screened for CF and it was negative, so we're good there. I need to find out if they checked for other things too though and call the insurance company to see if they cover it.
The doctor didn't say (and I didn't ask because I know it's early) but I'm still thinking it's a boy. There were a couple of shots where you can see a little something extra in that area that made me go - Oh! Neal saw it, too. I'm going to take the video camera with us to Thanksgiving dinner at my grandparent's house to have my cousin take a look at it. She's had four kids and is an OB nurse, so I'd like to get her opinion!
I'll be 12 weeks on Thanksgiving - one more week to go and I'm out of the first trimester! This is hugely exciting to me. :) I cannot wait to eat TDay dinner. It's not so low-carb friendly, but that's okay. Because I'm a grazer, I plan on having three small plates of food throughout the evening, so I'll be treating myself to small portions of potatoes and stuffing and pie and rolls and - I love Thanksgiving.
I just have two more kittens to find homes for, so if anyone lives in Ohio (I'm near Columbus) who might be interested - they are free! They are getting fixed 12/18, are dewormed, will have their rabies and distemper shots, are litter trained and love our 70-pound black lab. Did I mention all of that for FREE!!!!! (Not to mention they are stinkin' adorable and would look oh-so-cute under the Christmas tree!)
Speaking of Christmas - I'm so excited to decorate this year. Christmas has been very hard these last few years while dealing with infertility. Last year was particularly depressing because we weren't cycling and didn't know when/if we'd be able to. We were stuck in limbo at that point more than we had been throughout the entire ordeal. Now that we've finally moved to where we wanted to, bought a house we love and are actually pregnant, I am totally going to enjoy this. Neal was supposed to work on Thanksgiving, but he's not now so I may drag him to get our tree before we go to dinner at the grandparents. It'll be my first time actually going to a Christmas tree farm and I am so excited to do it.
Name your top six TV shows right now, before reading the questions.
1. The XFiles
2. Firefly
3. Gilmore Girls
4. Friends
5. Dexter
6. The Office
1.) Who is your favorite character from #2? (Firefly)
Ooo - that's a tough one. Umm... probably River. Or Kaylee. I don't know!
2.) Who is your least favorite character from #4? (Friends)
Ross. I used to like him but then he went all crazy and started really getting on my nerves.
3.) What would a crossover between #1 and #5 include? (The XFiles and Dexter)
OMG! That would be an AWESOME episode! Mulder and Scully would go investigate a murder that Dexter had done. Ooo - or maybe Dexter finds out about some of the people that Mulder has killed and decides that some of them weren't worthy of death so he goes after Mulder! Or Scully! Oh, the possibilities!!! I'm going to have to look for some crossover fan fic now for that one!!!
4.) Who is your favorite ship from #6? (The Office)
That's easy - Pam and Jim.
5.) If you were to set one person from #3 and one person from #6 on a blind date, who would they be? (Gilmore Girls and The Office)
Hmmm - interesting. Um, Angela and Kurt. Kurt's a big pushover and Angela is very demanding.
6.) If you could meet one person from #4 and spend the day with them, who would it be and what would you do? (Friends)
- Who: Chandler
- Why: Because he's hilarious!
7.) If you could change one thing about #2's plotline, what would you change? (Firefly)
Well, first, I wouldn't have cancelled the show after one season! WHAT THE HELL??!! As far as the plotline goes - that's easy: Wash wouldn't have died! :( :( :(
8.) Explain a relationship between two people (not necessarily romantic) from show #5 and why you like the relationship between them. (Dexter)
Dexter and everyone else on the show. If you've seen the show, there's no need to explain. If you haven't seen it, well, what are you waiting for!?
9.) If the lead title characters (first names in the credits) from #1 and #3 were both drowning, and you could only save one, who would it be? (The XFiles and Gilmore Girls)
Oh, well, that makes me really sad to think about. I have high loyalties to XF though, so I'd have to say Mulder.
10.) If you could change the title characters' order in the credits for #4, what order would you choose? (Friends)
Don't know the order they are in...
11.) If you were able to add a new character, any kind of character you wanted, to the storyline of #6, what would the character be like, and what would their role be? (The Office)
How about bringing on Michael's mom. That could be interesting.
12.) What happens in your favorite episode of show #2? (Firefly)
I really liked the one where it flashed back to how they all met. Funny, touching, sad, scary. Very good.
13.) If you could kill off one of the characters in #1, who would it be and how would you do it? (X Files)
Well, my answer would have been Fowley, but they killed her. I believe everyone I wanted dead is dead. lol!
14.) If you got the chance to visit the set for either show #3 or show #5, which would you choose? (Gilmore Girls or Dexter)
Oh - that's hard! Um, probably Gilmore Girls.
15.) If you could date anyone from any of these shows, which show and which person would it be?
Easy - Mulder. love him!
I've been eating a lot of turkey pepperoni with colby jack cheese - which has always been a fave snack of mine anyway. Berries. Grapefruit. Pork rinds. Hard-boiled eggs. Atkins shakes and bars, which actually aren't that bad at all. But, I'm getting tired of all those things and need new ideas. I made myself scrambled eggs with cheese and veggies and bacon for breakfast yesterday and that didn't go over well at all for some reason. I think it was the texture of the eggs. :::gags::: I forced myself to eat about half of it (while plugging my nose so not to taste it) and then spent the afternoon feeling like crap and run down. I took a nap and ate some pepperoni and cheese and felt better. I did find a recipe on the Atkins website for Rosemary Chicken and veggies which is quite yummy. I made it last night and Neal ate the entire chicken! So I made it again tonight and have been grazing on it this evening. Yummy. Oh, and I can totally dig the sugar-free jell-o with cool whip on top - double yum! The Atkins website has tons of recipes so hopefully this diet will continue to help me keep my energy up and I'll be more willing to do more cooking.
At least I've been sleeping well.
We go to the doctor on Tuesday for another ultrasound. Over the last week or so I've started getting nervous about it especially after the news that some of my fellow IVF cyclers whose blogs I read have miscarried. It breaks my heart and terrifies me. Lately I've been having some cramps. They aren't awful but they are there and while I know that can be normal, it scares me and I hate going to the bathroom for fear that there will be blood on the tp. I'm 11 weeks now so I'm almost out of the scary first trimester, but you just never know. My cramps were bad enough last night for me to dream that I was in labor and when I woke up my muscles were sore all over from tensing up during labor. I was terrified to go to the bathroom, but I did and everything was fine. (And TMI, but it also doesn't help that the stupid Progesterone suppositories constantly make me feel wet like I'm on my period. Icky. I'm almost done with them and can't wait!)
Anyway, Neal wants to bring the video camera to this ultraound which is fine with me as long as he doesn't start recording until after we see the heartbeat and know everything is okay. We haven't gotten a doppler yet and need to get on that as the sound of the baby's heartbeat is being incorporated into Neal's parent's Christmas present.
I love my bella bands but can no longer where my skinny jeans and have noticed my size 12s are a bit uncomfortable too. Today I'm wearing a 13/14 jean with the bella band and it seems to be going okay.
Not much else baby-related is going on.
- We're keeping two of the kittens and have homes lined up for all but two others.
- My oldest cat, Mollie, is acting strange and is going back to the vet tomorrow to be watched and have blood work done. I'm hoping she's just in the beginning stages of arthritis, but we're afraid maybe she has kidney failure or something. :(
- Max knows the words "horses" and "cows" and got to meet two horses yesterday. He was thrilled. And last night we had a big buck show up in our back yard about 100 feet from our house. I believe Max thought it was another horse and he was dying to go outside and play with it. His muscles were so tense he was shaking - it was cute.
- I'm having a Pampered Chef party soon which should be fun as long as I'm feeling well. Let me know if you'd be interested in ordering and I'll send you the e-vite for the catalog party.
- Still haven't worked much on my Shaklee stuff. Bad distributor.
- As of Dec. 2, Neal is done with his probation at work and he goes to midnight shift. This means I can finally get back to having a more normal schedule instead of staying up until 2 a.m. and getting up at noon. He'll get home around 8 a.m. so I've got to work on getting myself to bed by 10 p.m. to get my 10-hours of sleep in. Even if I only get 8 hours of sleep, I can take naps with him in the afternoon :) I may actually see more of my husband again!
Kay, I'm done. Off to find more food to graze on.
Anyway, here's his other skit, which was quite amusing as well. He rocks:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_L
So the food I ate that day was:
A bowl of cheerios. (220 cal; 31 carb)
Half a grapefruit. (20 cal; 3 carb)
1 slice of leftover chicken quesadilla. (300 cal; 26 carb)
1 cup of watermelon. (45 cal; 11 carb)
bowl of salad. (?;?)
2 slices of pumpkin roll. (600 cal; 80 carb - bad, bad, bad...)
1200-ish calories; 160-ish carb.
:::sigh:::
I'm supposed to be limiting my carbs to 50g a day. I'm not sure how many calories I should be getting, but I think more like 1700-1900 or so.
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Okay, so I wrote all of that yesterday but never posted it as my computer keeps dying because the power cord connection is too loose and pissing me off. I've had this laptop for about five years and would love to get a new one but don't want to spend the money...
Anyway, yesterday only got worse. My headache never went away and I started getting nauseous later. I did have a period where I started feeling okay and we decided to go visit my aunt and uncle so Neal could see my uncle's homemade furnace that he wants to duplicate and I could check out their week-old Scottie puppies. By the time we got there, I was feeling crappy again but after we ate some KFC, I felt better for awhile.
I woke up this morning without a headache but feeling nauseous. I ate breakfast then fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours. When I woke up I spent some time in the kitchen trying to make myself something to eat but spending most of my time with my head over the sink, convinced I was going to puke. Never did and I choked down a grapefruit and half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
My point is, I'm having food issues and it's pissing me off. I really wanted to go to the gym today but I just feel like crap. Poor Max wants to go play so bad, but I do not have the energy to be standing out in the freezing weather (it snowed last night) so he's sitting at the window moping and sighing.
Okay. End complaining. It'll get better.
I go back in three weeks for another appointment and the doctor said that since we did IVF and I have PCOS, he will do at least two more ultrasounds during my first trimester just to monitor things closely and make sure all is well. And at 18-22 weeks, he'll send me to St. Ann's for a Level 2 ultrasound that is more high tech and detailed. We're thrilled about that and should find the sex out then at that time!
Things I learned that I've gotten many different answers to:
-No flu shot at all during pregnancy. I don't work outside the home and am not really around that many people, so no need really.
-He wants me to try to lean towards an Atkins diet because pregnancy increases your insulin levels and mine are already high. He said he doesn't want me to end up gaining 80 pounds during this pregnancy - me either, dude! So, low carbs, high protein/fiber for me. Of course, I just went to the grocery store yesterday and am now realizing how many carbs are in the majority of the foods that I bought. :/ He wants me to cut back on my milk (sad!) and should avoid bananas and apples (sad!) and oatmeal (sad!). He suggested Kashi Go Lean plain and a bunch of other things to try to limit my carb intake to 50g a day. Fun.
-I can stay on Metformin since it helps my insulin levels so much. (Yay!)
I got my maternity clothes in the mail today! Love my bella bands and the cute tops I got, are, well, really cute! I look like a pregnant lady!
Um... I can't think of anything else right now and want to take a nap, so I leave you with Cubby's newest picture:
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9w0d u/s Head down, butt up. Cubby was doing a little happy dance! |
This is my excuse as to why I haven't done the grocery shopping yet today and why my house is messy.
Neal and I got up this morning and went to vote. Aside from finding out we were in the wrong line once we got up to the check-in people (the people in the right line were nice enough to let us ditch in front of them), the whole process only took us 40 minutes. Not bad at all.
One cool thing that happened was that while we were waiting in line, I found out something about my husband that I never knew: He'd never voted before!
He enlisted in the military right after high school and between never finding time to pay attention to elections and never bothering to request an absentee ballot for wherever he was at the time, he's just never done it. This election, he has been listening non-stop to talk radio and watching CNN whenever possible. So, it was neat for him and I'm happy that I got to be there with him. I wish I had known prior to going... I could have brought my camera and at least gotten a picture outside of our polling place.
In other news, my late fiance's mom stopped by today with a bag full of clothes for me. I was expecting her to show up with her daughter's old maternity clothes, but she surprised me by saying, "I went shopping." She bought me five shirts and two jogging-style pants. They aren't actually maternity clothes, but large and x-tra large stuff that will work well enough. (Well, I don't think the x-large will actually work - they are way baggy on my shoulders and I don't plan on gaining weight there!) The shirts are really cute though and I was definitely needing them. I went through my closet today and realized that only about 1/6 of my clothes still fit me. I've got four pairs of pants that fit but are getting a bit tight, and one pair that is still way too big. I can't wait for my bella bands to get here - should be by Thursday.
All of my life when I have dreamed of having kids or of being pregnant, the dreams always involved a daughter. I've had multiple dreams over the years and was convinced that that is what I would have. But, to be honest, something is telling me this is a boy. I find that I only use "he" when referring to the baby; when looking at baby stuff online, while I look at gender-neutral things, I noticed that I'm drawn more to the blue stuff. I find it very strange.
But, then again, I've also always wanted to adopt and we are still leaning towards adopting from the foster care system. I think I would do much better helping an older girl than a boy; I could relate more and understand what she would need compared to a tween boy. So maybe that's always been the strange draw that I've had to thinking that I would have a girl. Maybe that girl will be adopted.
I basically got the shirts for free because if you spent $50 you got free shipping ($9 off) and I found a coupon code at www.retailmenot.com for $5 off. The shirts were about $14, which is what I saved so yay!
No seriously, retailmenot.com rocks. You type in the online store you're shopping from and it lists coupon codes that you could use. I've used it a lot recently - for curtains from JCPenney, the maternity clothes from Target and some new bones/balls for Max from PetSmart. I highly suggest checking it before buying anything online!
I finished my PIO injections yesterday. The doctor said I could continue taking the shots if I wanted, but he usually switches his patients over to vaginal suppositories. I opted for the suppositories because the thought of the shot was starting to make me nauseous, plus, my butt has just had enough of that.
A newer pregnancy symptom I'm having is dry skin. Holy crap! I've been using cocoa butter and am going to pick up some extra hydrating body wash. I've had to coat like three layers of lotion on my face twice a day. If I don't, I end up feeling like I have a sunburn. Very strange.
I am sooooo friggin' tired. I slept in until noon today then forced myself to take a shower first thing and ate a big breakfast. (Two eggs, two pieces of bacon, a piece of toast, some pineapple and a big glass of milk.) I'm seriously thinking about starting to have like half a cup of coffee each day because I am just so exhausted and have no energy. Max is being majorly neglected and acting out because of it. I'm tired again already but am forcing myself to take Max to the dog park in a little while.
My main concern about not having energy is that I don't think I'm eating enough. I just have no desire to leave the couch, let alone try to hunt down and fix some decent food. (Hence me forcing myself to make a good breakfast this morning.) Usually I just end up eating a bowl of cereal and snacking on random (not so healthy) things throughout the day. Not cool.
No seriously, I'm going to go make some coffee.
First, now that we know that only one embryo made it, I want to officially give the baby a nickname so I don't have to keep referring to it, as well, "it" or "the baby."
I think I'm taking a cue from a recent episode of Dexter. (Spoiler alert!) No, not Deb's eloquent name of "a mother fucking rolly polly chubby cheek shit machine" - although it does have quite the ring to it. Dexter spent an episode coming to terms with his impending fatherhood and acting like a Lion being very protective of his cubs.
So my little Cub (Cubby?) is doing amazing! He is measuring right on schedule at 7w4d, is implanted in my uterus and had a great heartbeat - which was seriously the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and heard.
Neal is in absolute shock. As soon as we heard the heart beating, I started crying and after the doctor left the room, I looked at Neal whose eyes were glazed over and who was practically stuttering and sort of swaying. I thought he was going to pass out. He kept just mumblingthings like "that heartbeat!" and "Wow!" and "there's really a baby in your belly!" We went to lunch and he couldn't concentrate on the menu. Now he's freaking out about my safety... afraid I'll get in a car accident, afraid I'll carry something too heavy or fall down the stairs. His plan is to come home from work tonight and order a fetal doppler so we can listen to the heartbeat all the time.
So I graduated from the RE today and see my OB for the first time on Nov. 6. I have four more days of the PIO injections and then I switch to progesterone supplements until I'm out of the first trimester.
I admit that I am sad that it wasn't twins. It makes me sad to think that the second embryo didn't survive - although incredibly grateful that Cubby did and is apparently healthy.
The ultrasound picture does show a second black spot. The doctor said it was probably a blood ... clot? I can't remember what exactly he called it, but he said I'll probably pass it and spot a little bit. I didn't think to ask at the time because I was so distracted by the obvious baby, but I'm wondering if it could have been the second embryo and a vanishing twin.
Anyway, I give you Cubby's first picture and a picture of my belly:
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7w4d ultrasound One healthy baby measuring right on schedule with a beautiful heartbeat! |
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7w2d pregnant |
Like:
"Milk is really bad for you. It is contaminated with cow's blood and pus and actually causes things like cancer and Crohn's disease. Also, it actually can cause osteoporosis because the high-protein content leaches calcium from the body." WHAT? And this same dumbass started going on and on about how vitamin D is bad for you as a supplement and you can get all you need from standing in the sunlight for 10 minutes. Huh?
And oh so many other things like people freaking out that they're baby is going to have fetal alcohol syndrome because they had one glass of wine before they found out they were pregnant... or being terrified that they've killed their baby because they inhaled secondhand smoke the other day... or that they now have mercury poisoning from eating a tuna roll.
And don't even get me started on the naive ones who are on the due date message boards but are ttc and don't know whether they're pregnant or not yet. Dude - if you don't know, then don't come on the Due Date boards spouting your symptoms then crying that you're "out for this month." Go to a ttc board.
Egads. People are dumb.
And I think maybe some pregnancy hormones are kicking in. :/
Check it: This is a post at a LiveJournal community called A Day In My Life (In Pictures) that I did of Halloween costumes past. It was fun to dig all of those up. Anyway, it's here.
And I never got around to posting this pic. I'm squinting a little, but oh well.
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3rd anniversary 2008 Dinner at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse. Yum. |
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