Ultrasounds

Wow, I am a terrible blogger. I have been meaning to update about my ultrasounds – I’ve had TWO since I last updated – but our scanner is broken and I kept forgetting to bring the pics into work to scan. No pictures still, but at least an update. Both ultrasounds went well (one at 7 weeks and one last week at 9 weeks). Baby is measuring right on track and had a wonderful heartbeat – 131 bps at 7 weeks and 176 at 9 weeks. I have now officially graduated from the RE and will have another ultrasound around 12 weeks at my regular OB.

The sickness hasn’t gotten any better. I took Zo.fr.an at 7 weeks, but that made me feel terrible, so switched to Ph.ene.rgan at 8 weeks. I have had maybe two days since there where I haven’t puked, but for the most part I only puking once a day (instead of 3-4 times before). I am so grateful to be pregnant and at the same time I CANNOT wait for this part of the pregnancy to be over! I started feeling better around 13-14 weeks with Grace – although I wasn’t this sick with her. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this ends right at 12 weeks, if not sooner!

I am 10 weeks today…and it still hasn’t quite sunk in that I am pregnant.

Haiti

My husband left for Haiti today. He was told to expect to be gone about a month. The call came at 2 am this morning that he was going. He does have a satellite phone so I hope to be able to talk to him at least a little. The devastation there is heartbreaking. I am really proud of him for going, but also a little scared for him of what he is going to see.

My ultrasound is scheduled for Friday afternoon. My mom is flying into town for it. We had not planned on telling anyone until after we heard the heartbeat, but neither of us wanted me to be alone for the ultrasound. My mom is thrilled for us and happy to come into town to play with Grace.

Queasiness set in on Friday. It comes and goes – worse in the mornings and at night. So far I haven’t gotten sick, but I am sure it is coming. I started throwing up around 7 weeks with Grace. I am a little over 6 weeks now.

Beta # 3

My third beta on Friday was 1124! Since I don't know when I ovulated it is hard to compare my numbers to my pregnancy with Grace or websites like beta base. The good news is that it doubled again! My ultrasound scheduled for next Thursday. I know the days are going to drag out until then!

No pregnancy symptoms yet, but I have a really bad pain in my low back on the left side - sort of near my kidney. It throbs a bit when I sit down but when I stand up it takes my breath away and I limp for the first few steps. I googled signs of an eptopic and it doesn’t sound like that. I have a call into my RE’s office. I am sure it is nothing but anything out of the ordinary, especially in early pregnancy, scares the crap out of me.

15 months

I can’t believe Grace is already 15 months old! She now weighs a whopping 19.5 lbs (5th percentile) and is 29 7/8 inches long (25th percentile). She continues to be a healthy little peanut, although a bit low on her iron. I’ve been trying to give her iron supplement drops for a while, but she hates them. The dr suggested we put the drops in chocolate pudding – no dice, she spit the first bite out. Trying to figure out the next food item to disguise the drops. Any ideas?

I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution, but I have been trying to cook healthier and more often. I find that my days with Grace run smoothly until about 4 when I start to think about preparing dinner and she starts to get clingy. She doesn’t really want me to hold her, but she also doesn’t want me to do anything where she isn’t the focus. I probably should start doing meal prep earlier in the day, but I have yet to get that productive. I did try two yummy big.gest los.er recipes this week – pork tenderloin and cauliflower. They were quick, easy and healthy – exactly the kind of recipe I am looking for. I am trying to build my recipe box with these types of recipes to if you have any please post!

Second Beta

Thanks so much for the support! You all were right – I must have ovulated late. My second beta today (cycle day 35) was 257! I am so relived. I know I am not out of the woods, but I do feel much better about things today. I have another blood test on Friday.

My husband left today for a week of training, so I told him the good news over the phone just like I did when I found out my betas with Grace.

Thanks again for all the positive comments!

Maybe?

My RE appointment last month went really well. He agreed with me that we should start were we left off – Fe.ma.ra – rather than doing any tests. He also said we could do an IUI the first cycle or wait until I am ready. I got pregnant with Grace using Fe.ma.ra and having an IUI.

I started Fe.mar.a this cycle. We were going to be at a ski lodge during the fertile days – day 14-16 based on my previous Fe.ma.ra cycles, so I wasn’t sure how often I would be able to use the OPK’s to test. It turns out zero since I forgot the tests and OPK’s are not in the markets on the top of a mountain!

I must have ovulated because this morning – cycle day 31, I got a positive! A light line on FR and a ‘pregnant’ on a CBE digital. My RE was even able to get me in for blood work this morning with results back this afternoon. They just called – my beta is 20. I was devastated, but the nurse said it isn’t bad since I haven’t really missed a period before. My normal periods are really long, but my periods on Fe.ma.ra are more normal. I looked back and on cycle day 32 my beta with Grace was 211. I go back in on Monday to see if it doubled. The nurse remained really positive and congratulated me, but I can’t help but be pessimistic.

Has anyone heard of such a low beta turning into a viable pregnancy? I know I could have ovulated late, so I am holding out hope that is the case here.

Tubes and more

Grace is getting tubes! While I am not looking forward to surgery, I am really glad that she will have relief from constant ear infections. The ENT said recurrent ear infections during non-ear infection season are a good sign that she needs tubes. I asked about side effects and he said one complaint he hears a lot is increased mobility! It makes sense that her balance gets screwed up with an ear infection but I thought it was a pretty funny side effect of surgery.

In other news, my husband had hernia surgery on Monday. What an ordeal that was! We were told to show up at 10:30. The surgery is a 15 minute procedure, so I figured we would be home at 3 at the latest – in plenty of time to pick Grace up from daycare. Wrong! We left the house at 9 and pulled back in at 9 at night! Other than that, the surgery went well. He is at home recovering. My new challenge is trying to convince him not to do too much. Some men are babies when they are sick/recovering, but he is the extreme opposite. He gets offended if he so much as thinks he is being babied and generally tries to do more than he is allowed to by the doctor. This should be a fun couple of weeks!

I am finally getting to go on a girl’s weekend, sans baby! I am so excited! Originally I was waiting until Grace was weaned. Then we found out about the hernia surgery, so I wanted to wait until he was completely healed from it before leaving him with Grace. Not only do we have the weekend planned, but I bought plane tickets so it is official! Yay!

Sinus Hell

I started getting sinus infections for the first time this past April. From April – July I was treated by our military clinic or urgent care centers. In July I finally received a referral to go to an ENT. They determined that I am allergic to just about every spring blooming tree. I am still unclear on why I have never had a sinus/allergy problem until now and how I got another infection in September (when all the spring trees have already bloomed).

Today was my follow-up appointment to see if the second round of antibiotics cleared up the infection. The CT scan revealed a fully blocked sinus. It was unbelievable to see the blockage on the left side of my face – from my jawbone to my eye socket. They took a culture and it turns out that this infection is resistant to all but 4 drugs, and only one of those drugs is in oral form the others are in IV form. The infection is a form of resistant strep, which apparently is not good at all.

I am on the oral medicine for a three week trail. If this doesn’t work he said they will have to put a picc line in to give me the IV meds. The other option is surgery. I was floored! I still can’t believe what I thought was a simple sinus infection has turned into a freaking nightmare.

He wants to see Grace immediately because he thinks there is a possibility she has it too – in the form of recurrent ear infections. Either way he thinks she is ready for tubes (6 ear infections since 4 months old) but he wants to see her soon to make sure she doesn’t have anything else. She has an appointment tomorrow afternoon. I am worried but since I am still so confused on everything I am not even sure what to google before the appointment - which is probably what is saving my sanity right now.

On the TTC front he told me to stop trying for now. This type of infection is something that needs to be completely cleared before getting pregnant. Plus the meds I am on now have not been tested for pregnancy. I am really glad I stopped nursing when Grace turned one otherwise I wouldn’t have any options for meds.

All in all today has been a huge shock for me. I hope to get more answers when I go back with Grace tomorrow.

Frustrated!

We still have not been able to get the seasonal flu vaccine for Grace! Her one year check-up was two weeks ago and the dr's office is still out of the vaccine. I just spoke to the receptionist who advised me to call back on Friday to see if they have received the vaccine. She said they are not even being told when to expect it. I am so frustrated!

Grace had her first stomach bug last week which gave me a peek into how terrible the flu could be. She was so sad and listless, even after she stopped puking. Thankfully it was just a 24 hour bug, but it sure was a crappy 24 hours!

Is anyone else having a problem getting the seasonal flu vaccine?

Starting Again

I can't believe it has already been a year - time really does fly by. We didn't have a big party for Grace, just a few friends and family. She HATED the cake, which I find very surprising becuase I love sweets and B has a sweet tooth too. He is really proud of her - thinks this is the start to good, clean healthy living for her! :)

I decided to make an appointment with my RE. I have been off the pill since Grace was about 3 months old, but we haven't been officially trying - i.e. taking temps, OPK's, etc. Since we don't know what was wrong in the first place we decided to start back with the RE. The appointment is Nov 2 and is a consultation. I hope he will just have us start where we left off - Fe.ma.ra and IUI. I really don't want to put my body through any more tests or meds when we know what finally worked last time. We'll see if he agrees with me.

Grace enjoying her cake!

Over

Thanks for the concern - I really appreciate the support. I started bleeding yesterday afternoon. The ob's office called today to tell me that the pregnancy is not viable. After finding out I already started bleeding they asked me to come in later this week for another blood test to make sure my number goes back to zero. Awesome.

I took another test this morning. This one was negative. I wonder when I will start bleeding. I am on day cd 48.

Confusion

I went to the doctor today to find out for sure if I am pregnant. Even though I have had four positive tests I was still nervous. Turns out I had good reason to be nervous - the pee test at the clinic came back negative...twice. They did a blood test and just called me with the result. She said my HCG is 15 - and congratulated me. Isn't this bad news? I assume she was giving me my beta. My beta at 18 dpo when I miscarried was 14. My beta at 14 dpiui with Grace was 211. I have no idea when I ovulated, but I still don't think a 15 sounds like reason to celebrate.


This was not my ob/gyn office, it was our crappy military clinic that I have to go in order to get a referral to my ob/gyn. I was pretty upset when I got the negative at the clinic, and given my history they were nice enough to give me a referral to see my regular dr this afternoon. The ob/gyn office also took bloodwork which won't be back until Monday. I am not feeling optimistic.

Car seats and more

We are now in the market for the next stage of car seats. We have narrowed it down to a Britax – either the Marathon or Boulevard. They are so freaking expensive! I’ve found a few places online to get them cheaper, but still expensive. Oy!

Grace is still well below the limits of her infant seat, but we will be driving to Boston in a few weeks and I thought she might be more comfortable in the bigger seat. Not sure it will make much of a difference to her, but will make me feel better about having her in it for so long!

In other news, my contract at work is expiring at the end of the month. After about a month of working full-time I decided I couldn’t handle it. Grace goes to sleep around 7-7:30, so I only got to spend an hour or two with her each night. Plus my husband is out of town about 50% of the year, which just made things tougher. I know people do it every day and my hat is off to them! My work has been great and offered me part-time on a 6 month contract. My boss says he still needs me based on workload, but has to go up two levels in the chain of command to get it approved. I should be finding out any day now. Keeping my fingers crossed – I am going with the ‘no news, is good news’ mindset.

And in still other news – I finally got my period at the end of May. The 16 months or so of no period was glorious! I still have not gotten period #2. My cycles were long and irregular in the past – at least 40 days. I realized that Sunday was day 41 and since I had a leftover pregnancy test and I love to pee on sticks, I decided to take a test. Negative. I repeated this insanity yesterday and had a VERY faint line resembling an absorption line. I thought I checked it in the right amount of time, but I couldn’t be certain. I promised myself I would wait to test again until at least Thursday…until this morning when I tested again. And again got a VERY faint line. This time I know I checked at the 2 minute mark. The line is no darker than yesterday and all but disappears when I fully extend my arm away from my face. So a foot away from my face I can see a faint line and 2+ feet away from my face (yes, I have very long arms) I can no longer see the line.

I have no idea what to think, so I am pretending nothing has happened since in reality no sane person would think anything really has happened. I haven’t even told my husband because there is no reason to get his hopes up if it turns out to be nothing. Long story short – I have three tests left and I am going to try to hold off on taking them for a few days.

MIA

If there was an award for the worst blogger of the year, I would probably get it. I have become the dreaded blogger who doesn’t update once the baby is born.
I doubt there is anyone out there who will check back in with me after 8 months of being MIA – but just in case I wanted to update.

Grace is truly the light of my life. She is almost 9 months old and is crawling all over the place. I can’t believe she has been in our lives for this long…it seems like just yesterday I found out I was pregnant.

This community gave me so much support during our TTC journey – I definitely would not have gotten through the process without it, at least not with my sanity. I still read your blogs all of the time, although I am about as good of a commentor as I am blog updater.

I have tossed around the idea of starting a family/baby blog – I feel a bit uncomfortable using this blog (which I started solely as an outlet for my IF problems) as a baby blog. Of course I will probably be just as crappy at updating there as I am here so I am not so sure. When/if I start a baby blog I will post a link for anyone interested.

Here are some pictures of Grace. She sure has changed since the last time I posted pictures!

Showing off her new teeth!


At her baptism


Playing in the pool with Molly:

My mom was in town all last week and it was wonderful! Grace has a very fussy period during the evening so having another pair of hands around was very helpful. She is sleeping pretty well at night thanks to this - it truly has been a miracle for us! She is sleeping about three hours before waking up at night and for the most part I can get her to go back to sleep after nursing during the night. Although last night she was wide awake after our 3am feeding!

Yesterday was my first real day alone! B left for out of town training yesterday morning and will be back on Friday. My pediatrician suggested trying gripe water to help with her fussy times (which at times can be most of the day!) I don't know if it was the gripe water or her being exhausted from screaming most of the day Sunday - but yesterday went pretty well. She was only fussy from 8-10:30 last night.

My mother-in-law comes into town today to help for the rest of the week. I am so grateful for all of the help! I don't know how I am going to do it when B deploys.

Home Alone

Yesterday was B's first day back to work. The day went pretty well - I even got a shower and a walk at the park in. Today has been a little more challenging but I have a sleeping baby now (even if it took an hour car ride to get her there!) so I am happy.

Has anyone ever heard of getting vertigo after delivery? Last Friday - a week and a half after Grace was born - I thought I was coming down with a stomach virus with upset stomach, dizziness, etc. I called the doctor and they confirmed a stomach virus going around and I was more susceptible because of being post partum. That night the dizziness got so bad I fell several times - which scared the hell out of B and I. Now the dizziness stayed and the other symptoms have pretty much gone away. I am not dizzy every day but when I am, I can't shake it. I am hoping this is just a hormonal issue that will work its way out versus actual vertigo which from what I understand has no cause or cure. Awesome.

If anyone has any advice on the vertigo I would love to hear it. Thanks!

She is here!

Grace was born at 1:01am Wednesday, September 24th weighing in at 5 lbs 12 oz and 17.5 inches long. My water broke on the way to the doctor's office 3 days before my due date. We are so in love with her! Here are some pictures:

Cold + 33 Weeks Pregnant =

Peeing on myself. Oy! I never thought at 31 one of my biggest concerns throughout the day would be sneezing and immediately peeing my pants. Even panty liners haven’t completely solved this problem. I have taken to wearing black pants and crossing my legs really hard whenever the urge to sneeze strikes – a little awkward if I sneeze while walking.

Our kitchen is still a disaster zone! B has done an amazing job ripping out the current tile and laying the slate tile we picked out. He should be done with the tile by the end of the week, paint over the weekend, and hopefully schedule the cabinets / countertops to be delivered next week or the week after. Once the cabinets/countertops are in we can start moving the contents of the cabinets/countertops from the nursery to the kitchen. Then we can move the extra bedroom furniture out of the nursery and actually move the nursery into the nursery (which is currently in the basement)!

I can’t believe that my due date is less than 7 weeks away!

Kitchen

Before B left for deployment we decided to renovate our kitchen. The reason being that we HATE our tile – glossy white tile (with hunter green grout!) and dogs do not mix – and the countertops are old white formica-type that are just cheap looking. We will be getting new cabinets, granite counterops, tile floors, and a new paint color.

This is what the kitchen looked when we first moved in (there are now pictures on the wall and blinds on the window):




We decided to use an Amish guy that several of our friends have used. They warned us that he does not work on what we would consider normal timeframes – more he does not work on timeframes period. We have two friends that have used him and while his work was beautiful, he was significantly behind schedule on both projects.

This was not a problem for us because we couldn’t do anything until B came home from deployment. I started talking to the guy in April – explaining what we want, having him come measure, etc. We decided on an August 15th deadline (knowing that our friends said to give a 2-3 week grace period on that deadline).

They are only doing our cabinets and countertops – B is doing the demolition of old cabinets/countertops, ripping up/retiling the floor, and painting. B started ripping up the tile a few nights ago. I had a message this morning that they are ready to install the cabinets tomorrow!

This is what our kitchen floor currently looks like:

– and we can’t use the beautiful hardwoods under the crappy tile because the idiots that put the tile in ruined it!

Holy hell!