Summertime!

School is finally over!  I've been out for a little over a week now, and I've definitely been enjoying all the extra free time at home.  I'm definitely jealous of all you SAHMs!  It's always hard to go back in August, and I have to keep reminding myself that I like my job--lol.

I'm currently 25 weeks 2 days.  Pregnancy is going great.  I really can't complain about anything.  The nurse gave me an "A+" on Wednesday for how everything is progressing.  She even commented on the fact that my comments section on my chart was almost empty, whereas a lot of women are already on a second page of comments from the number of times they have to call in and ask about stuff.

DH finally got to feel Caleb move a week ago Sunday!  I think it was more exciting for me than it was for him.  I felt like our conversations were always the same: Me-"Did you feel that?"  DH-"No."  And so on and so on.  So when he finally sad, "I think I did feel something," I was ecstatic!  Nowadays whenever I put his hand on my belly so he can feel Caleb move, he's not all that enthusiastic about it.  But as my sister pointed out, we'll have the rest of our lives to feel Caleb. :)

We're going to the beach tomorrow--a much needed vacation!  DH's uncle is renting a beach house for the week (7 bedrooms for 15 people).  I went out and bought a new bikini 3 days ago since my butt and boobs are too big for my old ones--haha.  I don't really care about covering up my belly at the beach.  I'm planning on using lots of sunscreen, and I don't have any stretch marks (yet).  The only thing I do have is the linea negra, which darkened at the beginning of this week.  The nurse said it was common in pregnancy and should fade after Caleb is born.

I'm still praying for all you ladies--especially the ones waiting for babies.  I have a feeling that I'll be back in that category after Caleb is born.  In a way, I still classify myself as a sub-fertile.

Here's me last week at 24 weeks 3 days, hiking in the Shining Rock Wilderness:

Been MIA for too long & 21 weeks

Seems like I was just apologizing for this in my last blog, but taking a break from blogging has been very easy.  I think I was over-ambitious in trying to subscribe to so many blogs.  I think what I'm going to do is only read the blogs from people who subscribe to mine and not try to keep up with everyone under the sun.  I've even noticed myself taking a facebook hiatus and only logging on a few times a week instead of every day.  I think it's been good for me to have the extra time to spend with DH and lounge around to read.

I'm 21 weeks today.  We're having a boy!  Caleb Wade is due on October 5th :)  Here's an ultrasound pic from 2 weeks ago:

I'm in love <3

Sorry I've been absent!

So sorry I've been gone for a while!  It was easy to get out of the routine of blogging after a week's vacation, so I gotta get back at it!  Here's my little quick takes:

1. I won't post too much about Mother's Day since that seems to be rampant in the rest of the blogs, but I wanted to say that I wish my church had added something in the petitions along the lines of "for all women longing to be mothers".  It seems like the focus is always on biological mothers, and women who want to be mothers are left in the dark.  I did appreciate that when my church asked for mothers to stand up and be recognized, they said "mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, adoptive mothers, spiritual mothers, godmothers, and mothers-to-be".  I liked that it included every kind of mother you could possibly think of!

2. I got a few of the "next year will be your first REAL mother's day!" comments.  It was a little hard to take, but I shrugged it off.  Baby, apparently you'll be REAL next year, even though I can feel you fluttering in my womb.

3. Yesterday I had my ultrasound done by my neighbor at the local community college.  DH couldn't come with me, so I brought his cousin, J.  I told her that I didn't want to find out the gender until my doc appt tomorrow when DH and I could find out together.  But I did get to see the baby moving and kicking and all four chambers of the heart!  It was the coolest thing I've ever seen.

4.  My mom bought us baby furniture as our big gift.  We assembled the crib in the living room and found that we couldn't get it through the door into the baby room--it was 5/8 of an inch short.  Go figure.  So DH took the door off the hinges and the back off the crib, and we were able to wiggle it into the room.

5.  Don't ever tell a pregnant woman that she's fat, even in a roundabout way.  It's rude.  Too bad I didn't have the guts to say that to the person who told me.

6. One of my IRL subfertile friends isn't returning my calls or texts.  I'm trying not to take it personally because I know I couldn't handle pregnant women when I was TTC.  I still miss her, though.

7. I promise I'm reading your blogs, even if I don't get a chance to comment!  I love reading all your thoughts and stories.  I don't know what I'd do without this community of women!

Lenten Prayer Buddy Reveal

I've been on a blogger hiatus for a week, but I had to pop in once I realized that we were doing the prayer buddy reveals!  This Lent, I had the privilege to pray for Faith Makes Things Possible...Not Easy.  I had never seen her blog before and was delighted to find that we share the battles of PCOS, so I felt like I could relate to her more on that front.  I won't mention her prayer intentions, but "Faith"--know that I prayed for each and every one of them!

2nd Doppler & Spring Break

We had our second Doppler yesterday at 16 weeks!  Baby cooperated much better this time--the nurse was able to find him/her right away without searching on my abdomen for a while!  She said that my baby was already so well-behaved ;)  The heart beat was 156 bpm.  At 8 wks 2 days, the heart beat was 163, and at 12 weeks, the heart beat was 160.  So we're slowing down a teeny bit, but the nurse said it's still within the healthy range.  While we were listening to the heart beat, every so often you would hear this static blip for just a second, and the nurse said that it was caused by the baby kicking and moving.  It happened 4 times in the span of a minute!  I have a very active kid :)  After the Doppler was over and we were done going over all the 16 week updates, the nurse left to get my prenatal prescription.  At that point, DH mentioned that we should have recorded the heart beat.  I told him that I knew we weren't allowed to record the ultrasounds, but I didn't know about the Dopplers.  DH had to leave at that point to go back to work, so I asked the nurse about it when she returned.  She said that we were allowed to record the Doppler.  Oh well.  I guess we'll do it next time!

Today, Holy Thursday, is the first day of my spring break!  Since I work for a Catholic school, our spring break always starts on Holy Thursday and goes through the week of Easter.  The only downside to this is that this is the first year that DH had a different spring break then I do, since he works for the county schools.  Their spring break was last week.  DH decided to stay home on the couch for his break, but I'm heading south to visit family in Georgia and Florida.  I don't know how much time I'll have to blog and read blogs, but I'll try to get caught up when I get back.  Today I'm heading to Atlanta to visit my cousin K and her family (including my godson!), and tomorrow I'm heading to Gainesville to visit my SIL and meet her new baby!  I'm really excited about this trip but sad to be leaving DH behind.

Have a blessed Easter!

TTC Cycle #15

TTC Cycle #15: November 13, 2010-December 11, 2010 (29 days)

CD 3- Appointment with Dr. C to check my ovaries and see how they're doing.  I still have some excess fluid in there from the previous cycle.  Dr. C thinks it may have been caused by the Clomid from 2 cycles ago, so he decides to prescribe Femara for me.  He told me that it's actually prescribed for pre-menopausal women going through breast cancer treatments.  Apparently one of the side effects is causing women to ovulate.  I decide to give it a shot, so I take 2.5 mg of it on CD 3-7.

CD 11- Another appointment with Dr. C to check and see if I'm responding to the Femara.  Ultrasound shows one 8mm follicle on one ovary and 5-6 un-developing follicles on the other ovary.  Diagnosis?  Not ovulating.  I have PCOS, and they're doing a progesterone check on CD 21 to confirm.  Great.  Dr. C prescribes me 1500 mg of Metformin, which is an insulin sensitizer.  I have to take 500 mg for the first week, 1000 mg for the second week, and then the full dosage after that.  The biggest downside to this medication is that I can't have any alcohol :(  One upside is that part of the warnings on the label said, "Warning: May increase the risk of pregnancy."  Haha!  I'll take that risk!!! ;)

CD 14- My nephew, E, has his baptism.  My sister L asked me and DH to be the godparents.  It was a lovely ceremony, and everyone kept saying what a great mother L is being.  I had tears in my eyes by the end of it, wishing it was my own baby, but I held it together.

CD 15- Celebrating Thanksgiving in Florida, and I go out with my friend J to watch the FSU v UF game.  Six margaritas and one victory shot later, and I'm trashed.  DH drives me to a friend's house so we can hang out just the 3 of us.  Once I get there, I decide it's a good idea to make myself throw up so I won't have to do it later, so I do.  I somehow end up lying on the living room floor when A & K walk in the door.  Since it was supposed to be the 3 of us, they were the last people I expected to walk through the door.  K is six months pregnant now.  I was drunk, and I lost it.  I couldn't handle being in the same room with her even though I had just seen her the day before with a large group (about 15 people).  I made an excuse that I needed to call my friend L to check up on her and took my cell phone out to the front porch.  L didn't answer, so I called DH's cousin to sob to her for a while.  My friend J called me 30 minutes into the conversation, and I was bawling my eyes out at that point.  I tell her that I'm stuck there, and she says that she'll come and get me with her DH.  As soon as I hang up, attempt to dry my tears, and walk in the door, DH, K, & A are all walking out to leave.  I say good-bye to them, get in the car with DH, and proceed to start crying again.  DH was so upset with me for leaving the room (I'll admit it was rude of me, but I was drunk and mourning the fact that I wasn't pregnant).  He couldn't speak with me for the rest of the night, and we woke up first thing in the morning to make the 8 hour drive back home.  He still couldn't speak with me then.  I felt horrible the next day (just emotionally, no hangover luckily), and I was devastated that I was letting my sub-fertility affect me so much.  Later on, I'm able to talk about the weekend with my therapist, and she and I both agreed that I probably wouldn't have acted like that if I wasn't drunk.  Sub-fertility sucks.

CD 21- Appointment at OBGYN for a blood draw for a progesterone check.  My progesterone level was 1.5, confirming that I didn't ovulate.  Ugh.

CD 29-30- Head to Atlanta for my godson's baptism (my cousin's son).  I now have 2 godsons within the span of 2 weeks.  This ceremony was a little easier for me to get through since I know it took my cousin 2 years to conceive him, whereas with my sister it was an "accident."  On the day of the baptism, I get my period :(

An unusual proposal

...no, not my engagement story with DH (although I'll have to write that story eventually).  It was actually from my neighbor!

We live in a 3rd floor condo with 4 units on each floor.  I know everyone's face, but not all the names.  I know about half of the names.  We've been living here for almost 3 1/2 years, and I STILL don't know everyone's names.  Embarrassing, I know.  The lady living diagonal across from us is one of them.  I know lots of things about her...such as 1) She works in the medical field, 2) She doesn't have any pets, 3) There's a random dining room chair outside her front door that has a year's worth of pollen and dust on it, 4) One time she gave a girl in  our neighborhood some bus money to get away from her boyfriend that was beating on her in the front yard (with lots of witnesses not doing anything), 5) She's divorced and in her 60s.  However, I don't know her name.  I've had lots and lots of conversations with her though, and she somehow knows my name, so we must have introduced ourselves when we first moved in, and I don't have any memory of that conversation.  It's gone on so long now that I don't feel like I can ask the lady her name.

This evening I got home from working a WW meeting, and she was getting into her car as I was heading upstairs.  She stopped me and asked if I had a baby bump and congratulated me on my pregnancy.  Then she asked if she could do an ultrasound on me.  I'm like, wha???  Apparently she's in school to be an ultrasound tech (I think), and before she graduates on May 13th, she needs to do an ultrasound on someone in their second or third trimester in order to pass her certification.  I told her sure, but that I was leaving for Florida on Thursday and wouldn't be back until May 1st.  She said that was fine and that we could do it when I get back (I'd be almost 18 weeks then).


The problem is, I still don't know her name.  I mentioned to DH how embarrassing this was for me, and he suggested looking her up online since I know her address.  I successfully found her name from the White Pages online.

It's Judith.

But does she go by Judith or Judy?  Ugh!

*Side note*--It's amazing that my doctor's office charges $335 for an ultrasound when my neighbor is offering to do one for free!  Crazy stuff.