Treasure

I had my first normal-pregnant-lady OB appointment today!  Here are some bullet point highlights:

• I got the H1N1 vaccine - meh: why not?
• I get to have the 24-hour urine experience (Yahoo!) because I had preecclampsia when I delivered Katie so she wants to monitor me closely in the 3rd trimester. She wants to see what my "baseline" 24-hour urine specimen shows to evaluate any changes later.
• I got an order for the normal pregnancy lab draw - blood typing, Rh factor, HIV test, baseline platelets & stuff.
• Because I am a chubby-momma, I should only gain 15-20 pounds over the pregnancy.  I'm supposed to make "good food choices". I shall do my best.
• She did an ultrasound "for fun" even though I had one at the RE on Friday.  The baby looks all awesome & stuff, so that was fun to see.  She showed me both hemispheres of his brain with the CSF in between - that was pretty kick ass!
• I get to stop the Lovenox!!!! She said that she's just not into it, she never would have put me on it for an MTHFR mutation - it hasn't been demonstrated to have a benefit and it could cause problems later if preecclampsia becomes an issue. So, I am DONE with the burning, painful, bruise-causing torture shots!
• She is in concurrence with the RE's recommendation to discontinue the progesterone on Saturday, at 8 weeks.  So I only have 2 more PIO shots - one tonight and one on Friday! And only 9 more icky vaginal suppositories.  I hate them.  They have caused quite a bit of external irritation (sorry for the TMI) and I hate them (did I already say that? well - I DO!).
• I got a bag of treasures! Like magazines and pamphlets and what-not.  Actually I don't know what all is in it because I haven't started digging into it yet (that's next on my agenda for the evening).

So that is my update. Next appointment in 4 weeks on January 13th. I am very happy. :)

Cooler than I thought

The ultrasound today was AWESOME! We could see our *giant* baby in its gestational sac as soon as the wand went in.  Forest saw the heartbeat immediately.  It was sooooooo cool.  His heartbeat is 119 bpm. That's right - I've decided it's a boy. I'm sure I have a 50% chance of being correct :)

Tomorrow

Think Little Orphan Annie...

The wand'll come out...Tomorrow
Check here for an update sometime tomorrow...
There'll be one.


The purpose of the scan...Tomorrow
Is to see the heartbeat of our daughter
Or our son.


Though the ultrasound screen may
be gray
and grainy
When he sticks the wand in
My head will spin
And we'll pray....


Tomorrow, tomorrow;
A heartbeat!...Tomorrow.
You're only a day away.


Okay, so that seemed significantly more clever in my head :)

Questions from a Sleepy Regulatory Affairs Associate

Does being tired count as "sick" for purposes of saying, "Boss, I'm sick. I need to go home so I can lie down."?

Do you think I'm tired because I am Oh-So-Very-Knocked-Up?

Can you make peanut butter spicy?

5w4d - Ultrasound Day

Well, we have one gestational sac containing one fetal pole just like we're supposed to! Yay :)  Forest said the baby looks like a lump and is now calling him "Lumpy". Nice, Forest. Nice.

I get another ultrasound next Thursday at 6w5d and we will *hopefully* see the heartbeat.  Then I'm released to my OB (where I surruptitiously already made an appointment for 12/15 - 7w3d, tee hee).

Still zero symptoms. I feel great - no complaints. The only silly thing I'm chalking up to pregnancy is that I am wanting spicy food All.The.Time. Like every day I'm thinking Thai, Chinese, or Indian. I put Frank's Hot Sauce on my pizza and sandwiches. Forest gave me a bottle of cayenne pepper to spice up my bland Healthy Choice lunches. That's werid, huh? 

And we broke our sex hiatus last week, so everyone is happy (screw those overzealously conservative restrictions...no pun intended).

EWLE Pics

Sarah proposed an acronym for my wordy (and pretty much only) family tradition: Elf Watching and Lasagna Eating (EWLE) and we all love it - thank you, Sarah! :)

It all started when Elf came out in 2003. Forest and I took Katie (then 9), my niece Lauren (then 16), and my nephew Sean (then 14) to see it. We all LOVED it. We are big movie quoters and this movie is quite quote-tastic.  

The next year Elf came out on DVD so we had Lauren and Sean over to watch it and eat lasagna. We decided to do it the next year and the next...My sister and her husband (Lauren and Sean's parents) came a couple of years ago and I think Forest's kids came another year.  Last year Lauren brought a date and Katie invited a friend.


This year, the 6th annual EWLE, my brother's family from Chicago was in town, my other brother wanted to come, my sister and her husband came, Lauren invited 2 friends and Katie invited a friend.  So, we had 15 people! We have a teeny, tiny house, but a cozy good time was had by all.

A candid kitchen photo

  

Thirsty Katie

Thirsty Lauren

My brother, Michael

Birthday Boy Sean

All the Cousins 
(disclaimer: the next two pics were taken at my sister's house, not mine)

All the Cousins, Part Deux

Anyway, as I said, this is pretty much my only familly tradition and I highly recommend that each of your families start it up.  After all, everyone loves Elf and everyone loves lasagna.  

Just ask Katie:

A (really) personal question

A question for my fellow IVF-ers out there,  if you don't mind my asking (if you do mind, of course, you can just refuse to answer): what was your RE's recommendation for having sex after embryo transfer?  My clinic recommends waiting until after the first ultrasound (when I'll be 5w4d), but there are certain people around here who are getting restless (I won't name names).  Has anyone else's MD been so conservative on the sex front?

Your answers will be greatly appreciated :)

In other news...I have none. Everything is A-OK over here so far. We're busy cleaning the house (um...how is that, Amy, since you're posting a blog entry?) for my nieces and nephews to come over tonight for our Annual Elf Watching and Lasagna Eating (catchy name, huh).  We got an early Christmas present to make this tradition more awesome this year: a 40" LCD HDTV (40" is MORE than enough for our wee living room) with a Blu-Ray player and surround sound (woo hoo!).

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!