6W2D

So today I am 6 weeks and 2 days. I still can't even believe it. Other than the sore b00bies and taking medicine 3 times a day, I really can't tell a difference between now and 6 weeks ago.

Oh except for 1 thing...I am not having morning sickness per se, but I am having this weird aversion to scraping food off of plates after dinner? In our house, the rule is typically if you cook, then the other one does the dishes. Dean has cooked dinner several nights this week, but every time I go to scrape the food off into the disposal, I start dry heaving like I'm gonna puke! I don't know if its me subconsciously thinking that the food going in a down forward motion is "like" me puking or what. But I can NOT do it. So now Dean has to cook and scrape - just so I can do the dishes!

We're going to Dean's 35th high school reunion on 9/13. Unfortunately, I won't be showing hardly at all in order to show off to his old friends and ex-wife that his young, hot wife is having a baby! I totally forgot that he and the ex were high school sweethearts and they graduated the same year. Maybe she'll come, maybe she won't. We ran into her and her new husband (Dean's ex-friend and also a musician) at a bar a few months ago. We were there to see his old (I mean like in his 80's) high school band director play in a jazz band there. They walked in, sat down, glanced around the room to see who was there (the musicians in the area all know each other) and the minute they laid eyes on us - SWOOOSH out the door. We still have no idea why. But someone we were there with got up and ran after them. They were so quick in leaving, that they were already out of the parking lot by the time he got out there. Weird. Anyway, I could go without any drama at a reunion , especially where everyone is over 50! Not to mention the stress on the little peanut!

Quote of the Day

Whatever you give a woman, she's going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So - if you give her crap , you will get a bucket full of shit.

Peanut's Photo Debut!!

Time for a Quickie...

We're leaving in half an hour for the first debut of the peanut/s! I am so very, very excited to see him/her/them. It will be the first picture of something inside my uterus that isn't my own eggies or D's swimmers! I know it will probably only look like a circle in there, but I am still excited!!

I have to share this. As I was walking out of the house this morning, D came over and said, "wait a minute." Then proceeds to (this is difficult to explain without you seeing my hands) lick 2 of his fingers and smooth out the peanut/s hair - both of them. HUH? His response, "It's their first picture. They need to look good for their first picture. I was fixing their hair!"

What a hoot my dear husband can be sometimes!!!

***ULTRASOUND UPDATE***

There is only one peanut in there and he is growing right on schedule! I am 5 weeks, 6 days today with an estimated due date of 4/22. I go once a week to see Dr. H until 12 weeks, then I "graduate" to my regular OB!!!

I do have 2 giant cysts (well they seem giant since they are bigger than peanut) on each ovary, but Dr. H said that was because the IF drugs created them and the prog.esterone was feeding them. He says they are small enough to not be concerned - 4mm - and that by 8 weeks or so, they should absorb and go away.

I have my first u/s pic of peanut, but it will have to wait until I can get home to scan it!!

Thirsty Thursday....

Nothing new on the peanut front. Just waiting for Tuesday's u/s! In the meantime, here are some random pics from the past week or so...

The Watermelon Cake

Yellow Cake dyed red with fondant around the outside

The Fruit Fountain

My hat at the Dynamo game when it was raining

Did you know Mr. T was not the only one with a Mohawk?

Date Night 2 weeks ago

3rd Beta Results

3rd Beta Results = 540!!

The 1st u/s is scheduled for next Tuesday. I can hardly wait to see little peanut or nuts, as it may be. EEK!

Tomorrow night is Bunko (rescheduled from the "Hurricane" cancellation!) Lots of yummy snacks coming for that. Maybe I'll take a pic of the cake I am attempting to make. It looks like a watermelon - inside and out!! I know, I am a dork. But I am learning lots of stuff in my cake class (postponed tonight because the teacher is tubin' the Frio!) and can't wait to try it. The outside is fondant - which I've never made before, but sounds pretty easy....

Other than that...just a laid back week planned. Boating Fun on Sunday with some friends. Should be a blast. I am sure there will pics to come!

HCG is Doubling!!!

Dr. H called me last night around 9:30 (Can you believe it? A doctor? Calling his patients? Late on a Friday night? He must really care!) to give me the results of my bloodwork from the morning. They were only checking for Estra.diol, Prog.esterone, and hcg. He said all the levels looked marvelous!!

8/13: hcg 128
8/15: hcg 304

And below is the results of the blood test from Wednesday. Can you believe the nurse saved it for me?

Wordless..Friday?

OK, so I missed Wordless Wednesday. But who could be wordless this week? Anyway, here's my POAS pic. It's not great, but you can at least tell it doesn't have the ugly word "NOT" in front of it...

Going for the first u/s and more b/w today. Hopefully we'll get our first little bean (apparently D wants to call it little peanut(s)) pic!

Have a great weekend!

***UPDATE***

Back from the RE's office and apparently the nurse was mistaken. No u/s today! :-( Just b/w to check estrogen, progesterone, and hcg. Speaking of, hcg was 128 on Wednesday so cross your fingers it has doubled since then! Doc says we'll probably do an u/s in the next 7-10 days.

UGH - more WAITING....

WOW

So I still can barely believe it myself. I have only told my family, a couple of people at work, 1 close friend, and of course - the blogosphere! I wasn't sure how many people that I know IRL were still reading me, but I got a little idea when I got a couple of unsolicited emails. Thanks guys!

As for the hcg number, Dr. H didn't tell me, and of course I was so excited, I didn't even think to ask. I go on Friday for b/w and another hoo-hoo cam. I am guessing to check the stats - determine how many weeks it is and how many there are! EEK! D still can't believe that there might be more than one! So I will definitely ask for the digits on Friday. Then I have another appointment on Monday for more b/w, probably also for an hcg check. I'm not real sure. I have never made it to this point in my life!!

Also, just for my benefit I did a Clear.Blue.Digital this morning and it said the famous word - PREGNANT!! I took a pic of it and brought my camera to upload it, however in my haste I forgot the USB cord. Can't exactly get it to morph itself from the camera to the PC without the cord.... :( so that's coming soon too.

And for all of you who I do know IRL, please don't spread the word too fast. I want to keep it on the DL for a few weeks before telling everyone. I couldn't help but tell most of those that know already, just because they know our story and when we had our procedure done.

Oh, one more thing. D had flowers delivered to the house last night. The card said this:

"I love you both.....maybe all of you."

Grateful for:

• My very first ever BFP
• Dr. H who had the patience to stick it out with us again this round
• Everybody who has sent me well wishes!!

Blood Test

The hcg blood has been taken. Results coming soon...

And the results are in....


I can't believe I just typed those famous words! My heart is beating so fast I don't know what to do with myself. Mom is about to jump out of her skin - literally - she was jumping up and down and chanting, "I'm gonna be a Grammie! I'm gonna be a Grammie!" (She has already given herself this name.)

More bloodwork on Friday and Monday to determine if I need to take any other supplements...

YAHOO!!!!

Just Another Manic Monday...

So the stuff from Friday cleared up by Sunday....so it looks like it could have actually been implantation bleeding!!! I was so relieved to see it go away! Only 2 more days to go. I can't believe I made it through the weekend without POAS! I am so proud of me!

We bottled the wine on Saturday. Now I have to come up with a cutie name and label for it. The grapes that we bought came with labels to use, but they are super gay - it only has the type of wine written on them - Cabernet-Malbec-Carmenere - but the picture? It's a friggin' armadillo. COME ON! I realize we live in Texas, but REALLY? Could there be an uglier animal? I also added more corks to the wine room ceiling....have I told you that is the most recent wine cork project? I have made everything possible with them already, so now they are going on the ceiling of the wine room. I will post pics of that soon. Oh - and hot glue from the gun = nasty blister on my finger!

Yesterday we took the boat out to Lake.Houston with some friends. It was their baby's first time on a boat and in a lake. She just turned 1 last month. She had a really good time and so did we.

I rode the vanpool to work today, but had to call D to come bring my medicine to me before we left. I have done so good this round with not missing or forgetting to take any of it. And I'm surprised because it seems like I am taking so much right now all day long:

AM: prog.esterone, estra.diol, met.formin, vitamin
noon: estra.diol, met
PM: prog.esterone, estra.diol, met.formin

Grateful for:

• 2 more days to test!
• that we made it to the test this time!
• that we'll make it beyond the test!

4 more days...

4 more days in the dreaded 2WW. I have been doing good staying occupied with my cake class, housework, and real work. But today is my Friday off....and also the 2nd day of taking Pro.metrium. I met some girlfriends for dinner and gossip catch up time last night and didn't get home until after 9. So I couldn't take my first pill until then. I took the 2nd this morning after breakfast. After watching DVR of Young & the Restless from yesterday, I watched today's episode also. Then gave Maddie girl a bath and dried her. All keeping myself away from the you-know-what's under the bathroom sink. I then decided (at 12:30) to finally take a shower, but had to potty first. Oh and to my surprise....what did I find but (TMI) brown discharge with a little bit of red mixed in.

Enter crying breakdown on the toilet complete with shorts around the ankles. I had already started the shower to get the water hot, so I went crying into the shower and finished up as quickly as I could. I got dressed still doing it, and sat in the rocking chair in the bedroom dressed, with a towel on my head, sobbing into a pillow. A friend had stopped by to drop off something for Dean so I couldn't go out there. He finally left and Dean came in....he was freaked and didn't know what was wrong with me. I finally got it out and he said to call Dr. H. When he called, we got the "after hours message." Yes, they close at 1:30 on Fridays and it was only 1:26. Technically I know they don't, but they don't answer the phones anymore and let it roll to the answering service. The options you have to press to get through to the operator to get them to page the doc ask if this is an emergency or you are in labor...really I could do without that statement right now. So he tells her that I'm bleeding and we need to know what to do/what's going on. Her final question....is she pregnant? O.M.G. His reply...maybe, we're not sure.

Doc called back and this time he made me talk to him. I told him what happened and what it looked like and he said that I ovulated so there is no way it could be my cycle starting and to continue the Pro.metrium until the pg test next week and to call him if the bleeding got any worse. So I was finally able to breathe a little bit easier. My eyeballs are still killing me, but at least I have dried my hair and look a little presentable.

We have decided to go on a date tonight to keep our minds off things. Thinking of a fancy restaurant in Gal.veston where we even have to dress up. I am looking forward to it.

Also looking forward to bottling our homemade wine tomorrow. If you recall we shelved it back in February so its been fermenting since then. I am so excited to try it, even if it is only a little swallow. I did, however, find some non-alcoholic wine at HEB last week. I haven't tried it yet, but I miss the taste so much. My friend S last night said, "NA wine? what the hell is the point?" I laughed. At least I get the essence of the grapes anyway...

And since I am feeling sad and haven't done it in a while....

Grateful for:

• My very supportive husband who has the right words to say even though he doesn't think he does.
• My Maddie girl puppy dog who can console me without words.
• My family who has called to check on me every day since the IUI.

Updates

A few things to update everyone on....and I'm in a "list-y" mood....

1. Tropical Storm Eduardo came by without incident. I worked from home on Tuesday and watched it rain with a little bit of wind. Nothing spectacular in our neck of the woods. As a matter of fact, this is about all the damage that was done. Pic sent in by my friend's dad.


2. The dinner course of our neighborhood Prog.ressive Dinner 2 weeks ago was at our house. The theme was lemon and we had smoked salmon on alder wood with a lemon cream sauce. Below are the "name plates" for the table.



3. I forgot to post a pic of my last cake from Course 1 so here it is. I had to take it quick before my team at work devoured it. It was funny, they know I always like to take a piece home to the husband, but they liked it so much they kept cutting and cutting and cutting a piece from the last remaining piece until only a sliver was left! Good thing I had taken a bigger piece and hid it at my desk earlier in the day!



4. Today I made a cake for a teammate at work. His bday was 8/2 so he probably thinks we forgot his bday since it has become a recently acquired tradition that I make cakes for everyone's bdays! Here is his cake.




5. And finally....the best update of all. I had my prog.esterone check yesterday and the nurse called me this morning with the results. The level was 5.4. This indicates ov.ulation! WHOOP WHOOP!! Doc prescribed Pro.metrium twice a day for the next 10 days. My first pg test is next Wednesday in....let me check the countdown....5 more days!! Please continue keeping us in your prayers.

Buckling down...

It looks like trouble for the Texas Gulf Coast this week....Trop.ical Storm/Hurri.cane (not upgraded as of yet) Eduar.do is going to crash into Galv.eston tomorrow. My office let us go at 3:30 today to go home and prepare ourselves and is closed tomorrow. (Lucky me, IT people get to "work from home.") Being the Gulf.Coasters that we are, we were mostly ready. A last gas tank full of gas for the truck, fill up the bathtubs with water, buy 5 gallons of drinking water and 80 pounds of ice. For all you Northerners who have never gone through a hurricane and are thinking all of this preparing might be a little excessive....let me share a story with you.

In 2005, the year of back-to-back hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, we evacuated the Hou.ston area along with my parents, grandparents, good friends and everyone's animals to our lake.house in Living.ston. What normally took us 1 1/2 hours, took 4 and this was only because we left the night before everyone else did. Rita was predicted to hit Hou.ston, thus the evacuation, however, she had a different plan, and changed her course. She stayed over Living.ston/East Texas for 14 hours straight, dumping inches upon inches of rain and very strong winds. Pushing the water across the lake hard enough to breach the dam. We had zero damage to the house, but the water pushed by the wind destroyed the deck, slide, pier, and yard. Below are a couple of pics....

Before Rita

During Rita

an 18 foot wave on a LAKE - shot from the 3rd story

After Rita

So believe you me, when the newscasters predict a hurricane in our area, we are on our mark and ready to go. The pantry is stocked and we are ready to settle in for the long haul. Please keep us, my family and friends and everyone else in Eduar.do's path, in your prayers this week.

P.S. By the end of this posting, it is now predicted it won't actually hit us until tomorrow afternoon because its slowing down. Slowing down can only mean one thing....gaining strength.

2WW Busy Work...

Stole this from Amy.... need to fill the time during this 2WW you know...

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your significant other? @ home
3. Your hair? down with sunglasses as my "headband"
4. Your mother? work
5. Your father? same
6. Your favorite thing? chocolate
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? sweet tea
9. Your dream/goal? mommy
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your hobby? baking
12. Your fear? see #9
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy family of 3-4
14. What you’re not? sad
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? baby
17. Where you grew up? Pasadena, TX
18. The last thing you did? work
19. What are you wearing? jeans
20. Favorite gadget? camera
21. Your pets? Maddie girl
22. Your computer? laptops
23. Your mood? restful
24. Missing someone? always
25. Your car? Zoe!
26. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
27. Favorite store? Bed, Bath, and Beyond
28. Like someone? husband
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. When is the last time you cried? last week

Have a great weekend!