Life After Infertility

5 Months!

2012-02-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

Audrey celebrated her 5 month birthday by sitting her own long enough to get a picture!! It was hysterical because we were at my work so my parents were there, plus us, plus the two other employees. Everyone was just circled around her taking pictures, it was like paparazzi!!

This month was her first New Years' Eve which she celebrated by sleeping :) And also the month I went back to work. I was sad and nervous but I'm leaving her with Chris so that makes me feel a million times better. Plus I was getting a little stir crazy being home all the time. I mean we ran plenty of errands but just the lack of routine starts to get to me. I'm not a CPA because I don't like a routine! We've all adjusted pretty well I think. I don't get to see her as much as I'd like but its really the best situation we could hope for, so I try not to complain.

We also started cereal on her month birthday! I was the most excited member of the family for this :) She seems to like it, some days she eats it all and some days not so much. We're just doing a tablespoon of dry rice cereal mixed with enough formula to make it edible but not too runny. It sure makes a mess though!

She lunges for the spoon but I think she most interested in chewing on the spoon!

Audrey also learned to roll back to belly this month! She did it a ton when she first learned but now she's not as interested. She would much rather sit or stand then lay.

This is my favorite picture from this month:

We have a tooth!

2012-02-03T15:53:00.000-08:00

I should clarify - we have a tooth nub beneath the surface of her gums. Not sure how I feel about this : / One on hand its exciting, because it's another milestone. On the other hand, she's getting older. Not to mention, teething is apparently absolutely miserable so I'm not looking forward to her night sleep being interrupted.

STTN!!

2012-01-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

Last night Audrey slept from 9pm to 7am with only one wake up to re-paci her! It was my night to get her, so of course I woke up 8 millions times LOL

4 Months!

2012-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

I know I say this every month, but holy cow!

This was quite a busy month, with her first Thanksgiving and her first Christmas. She had lots of fun, lots of weird schedules but she handled it all like a champ.

She got tons of presents even though we asked everyone to limit it! That's ok though, she has plenty put away for when she gets tired of the ones she has out. Here's our tree Christmas morning

Our uncooperative elf

Her party dress

This month has definitely been a a crazy one! The end of my maternity leave, the holidays and the fabled 4 month screaming. She's at the point where she's so alert and interested in everything (which is so fun!) but she wants to move and sit and she just can't do it on her own yet so she gets frustrated and cries. Which is actually kind of cute when she literally pounds her fist on the ground :) So we spend a lot of time holding her in sitting position on the floor on standing on our legs or the table of the couch, whatever she's into for right then!

Her sleep is pretty darn good, she'll usually only wake up once or twice to eat then she's right back to sleep. Naps are becoming more challenging but its the new alertness causing that.

We're still doing cloth diapers and its still going well, loading up on some fitteds because they're so darn cute!

She's really into links, rattles and anything she can stick in her mouth! She's a drooling machine but no signs of teeth yet. Apparently it can be a verrrry long process to get to the first tooth. She's so much fun and we love her more every day if thats possible!

We have a roller!

2011-12-11T16:13:00.000-08:00

She rolled from tummy to back for the first time a few weeks ago but then didn't do it again. Now she's rolling fairly consistently! It's so fun watching her grow and develop, I love her so much!

3 Months!

2011-12-07T16:27:00.000-08:00

This past month was a big one! Audrey smiles a lot and started to laugh. It's so cute because its just a squeak noise that comes out but I get her intentions! We went to the pumpkin patch for the first time, had her first Halloween, first Thanksgiving and she met Santa! Thanksgiving wasn't quite as big a hit, the timing was wrong since 5ish she starts to get sleepy and wants some quiet play time. She was the cutest pea in a pod ever though!

Oh boy Chris will hate that I posted that picture of him! Oh well :)

She also had an "indoor costume" from her aunt.

I truly can't believe how big she's getting! At her last appointment in mid October she was 12lbs 7oz and 24 1/4 inches! She's 90% for weight and 97% for height! She's developing her own schedule too which is really great. She goes to bed around 7 and sleeps until 7am waking up once or twice to eat depending on when her last bottle before bed was. We don't automatically do a bottle at bed so that she gets used to falling asleep without eating. It's working out well for us, I decided to do it that way after reading the Baby Whisperer.

She is so so much fun now and loves her jumperoo! We still go to storytime every Wednesday which she's a little too young to really understand but she loves seeing the kids and it tires her out! She's not a great napper though which we're trying to work on. She'll only nap in the afternoon if she's out and about in her car seat in the car or stroller. If she's at home in her crib - forget it.

We're still doing cloth diapers exclusively and we love them still. I have to start stockpiling some diapers that are meant for overnight too, hopefully she'll be STTN soon!! Here's some more random pics from this month.

Christmas Photo Shoot

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

We got this adorable bloomer and match headband set for a gift and I couldn't wait to take our Christmas pictures with it. Here are some outtakes....

The last one cracks me up, she looks so disproportionate!!

Two Months (a month late)

2011-11-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

Audrey is 2 months now and she's really getting a personality! We're not on any sort of schedule yet but we're working on it, hopefully in the next few weeks. She's starting to smile on purpose so we can't wait for that! Our chubby monkey was in the 80% for weight and 90% for height at her 10 week appointment, so she's doing really well! No wonder she's eating 5oz at a time...

We're so excited about her first Halloween, she was a pea in a pod and we were farmers! It was fun to take her out and collect some candy for ourselves! She's loving the activity mat and starting to really focus on and hit the toys, it's so fun to watch her grow!

First Family Vacation!

2011-10-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

We decided to head up to Newport RI for a few days since she is being such a good baby! The weather was great while we were there, chilly and perfect for eating lots of clam chowder! I consumed mass amounts of dairy while there LOL. We toured 2 of the mansions, one was the Vanderbilts and it was AMAZING! Crazy crazy house and property. I don't think you could build a house like that anywhere today much less right on the water. Then we did the cliff walk which was fun until about 10 mins before we were back at the car, Audrey decided she was over the ergo and screamed all the way back. We walked veryyyy fast! We definitely couldn't have done this trip without the ergo, I'm so glad we got it as a gift, its so comfortable and easy to use.

Audrey also got her first pool swim! She's such a serious baby you can't tell if she likes it or not but she didn't hate it! She did however pee on me right before we got in lol. It was lots of fun and I want to go back when she's older so she can enjoy it too. She basically slept through Newport lol.

Apple Picking!

2011-10-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Going to pick apples or pumpkins with our baby is something I've been dying to do for about 3 years now and I finally got to do it! We went to my in laws last weekend for our annual Crab Fest and stayed over to go to a farm near them on Sunday. It would have been sooo much fun had it not been 80 freaking degrees while trying to drink cider and pick apples! I wore Audrey in my Ergo which was great although I think we were both sweating by the time we were done lol. I bought the cutest pumpkin hat last week for her to wear on our "fall" trip. She only wore it for pictures because it was so hot. She looked adorable though!

She's not as slouched as she looks I promise!

And today was our 6w pediatrician appointment and he said she's doing great! 10lbs 4 oz, 22 1/4 inches and her head is 15 inches. So she's 90% for height, 80% for weight and 60% for head. I can't believe she weighs so much!!

Stationery card

2011-09-30T14:48:00.001-07:00

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One Month!

2011-09-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe but it's been one month since Audrey was born. I know they say time flies but it really does. It's funny because when we go places people always say how small and new she is, but to me she's so much bigger! She's still a really content happy baby, only cries when she's hungry - and she screams then!! She is definitely an eater! She's up to 5oz at a time now, every 4 to 5 hours. We haven't been back to the pedi for a weigh in but I think she has to be at least 9 lbs if not 10 by now. She's becoming more active and alert too especially in the morning. Not so much in the afternoon, she loves to sleep then especially when we're out.

This months likes: activity mat, either on her back or during tummy time, eating, being held, bath time (that's a recent development) - all typical newborn stuff!!

This months dislikes: not being fed immediately upon waking up!

We're doing cloth diapers all day except for at night we go through 2 disposables. Sleep is more important right now and she'll stay asleep for about 4 hours as long as she doesn't feel wet. So far so good, I'm still loving it and Chris likes it. Except prefolds - those he doesn't like. I actually find them really easy now but we'll switch to the AIOs once she fits into them. I think she's close to fitting in the BG smalls. Ok, here's a picture overload!

"Sleep when the baby sleeps"

2011-09-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

I keep hearing this but the problem is if I sleep when she does, who's washing the bottles and cleaning up and prepping formula???

This phrase is going to the same list as "Relax, then you'll get pregnant" LOL

She's here!

2011-09-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

Overall I had a great delivery even during a hurricane! So last weekend on Aug 25th, the news was going bananas about Hurricane Irene that was supposed to be a category 2 storm hitting directly in Cape May County (our county) and heading up the East Coast. The Governor declared a state of emergency starting Friday and the town where our store is located decided the boardwalk was essentially closing and no one would be allowed to open Fri, Sat or Sun! This was so crazy and absolutely unheard of, that Chris was freaking out.

Not only did he have to prep the stores for a storm and hope the power didn't go out so we didn't lose all our food, we were losing an entire weekend of business out of only the 10 good weekends we do have in a season. Plus I'm overdue and 3cm dilated.

He wanted to evacuate to PA where his parents live since our entire county was under mandatory evacuation but I realllly didn't want to do that. Our compromise was that we would stay at our house until Sat noon time then head to our friends who weren't being evacuated and live near the hospital and then go to the hospital and LIE about being in labor so we could be at the hospital during the height of the storm. I wasn't super into this plan but I wasn't leaving the state so that was our deal.

So around 6pm Sat we go to hospital and say I'm having contractions, which I am, they just weren't regular yet. Some were about 8mins apart though but not painful yet. It happened to be my doctor who was on duty which worked out really well. So they set me up for monitoring, check to see about my water (which hadn't broken yet) which all took a little while. At this point, the storm is crazy outside, lots of wind and rain but no flooding yet which was now the major concern. So the doctor says that normally he would send me home but due to the storm I could twist his arm to get induced then instead of Tues which I was scheduled for. We ended up saying yes because there was no way Chris was leaving at this point! lol

So they admitted me, got my hooked up to an iv and started pitocin! This was around 9pm I think. Somewhere between 8 and 9. I was doing really well pain wise for a while, until about 11pm or 12 then I called to get the epi since I knew it could take up to an hour for the anesthesiologist to get there. By the time they got the epi in I was up to about a 9 pain level but they checked me and I was also at 7cm! As soon as I got the epi though my heart rate and Audrey's went really low so I had to wear an oxygen mask and switch positions until they went back up. Which didn't happen right away so I got something in my iv to raise them back up and they turned the pit down at the same time. At this point both Chris and my mom were still outside the room, since getting the epi is a sterile procedure they had to step out. But they thought it was only going to be about 15 mins not 45, I'm sure they were freaking out! But our heartrates eventually stabilized and the pit was turned back up but I was stuck with oxygen :(

I rested for a little while then they came back to check me again around 2:15am and I was at 10cm and ready to push! I was super surprised to hear that since it had only been about an hour since the epi was in and I was stabilized. Of course as soon as he said I could push there was a 7 min spacing between contractions! She was at 0 station so they wanted my to try and push her to -1 station and see how good of a pusher I was. On the first push they could see the top of her head! Apparently I was an excellent pusher! At least that's what they told me. 7 pushes later at 2:57am she was born!!! It was seriously amazing even though super blurry in my head.

My doctor and the nurses were amazing and I only tore a little and had no stitches. Overall I couldn't have asked for a better labor and delivery even though it started as a lie to get admitted :)

Today is my due date!

2011-08-24T06:37:00.000-07:00

And not a contraction in sight lol. I have my 40 week appointment today at 2:30 so hopefully I have some good progress to report. She's still quite active in there and apparently quite comfortable! Also this staying home from work with no baby is for the birds! Everyone calls me or texts to see if the baby is here yet, I have nothing to do and I'm bored.

I ate spicy chicken tenders last night, had Chris do acupressure on my feet and thumbs the other night but so far that hasn't helped. Only time will tell!

Waiting and more waiting

2011-08-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

I'm 39 weeks today, so at most we're looking at 2 more weeks of being pregnant. Which seems like a reallllllly long time right now. I have an appt tomorrow so hopefully we'll see some sort of progress. Everyone is ready even Chris. He said every single time I call he thinks it's time and its usually me saying, do we need anything from the store? LOL Friday is my last day of work which I can't wait. It's getting uncomfortable to type and use the mouse all day plus I'm just so tired by the afternoon I'm pretty useless.

And as ready as I am, I will miss being pregnant. It took so much to *get* pregnant but my pregnancy itself was really easy and uneventful. I've really actually enjoyed it. And I still think I look pretty cute most of the time :) As much as I want to meet Audrey I am so tired of people telling me to walk, eat spicy foods and have sex to go into labor. I am not interested in any of those activities!!

38 Week Appt

2011-08-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

We had minor progress!! My cervix is now soft but not dilated. She tried to get a fingertip through, that was not pleasant! At all. Then today I had a growth ultrasound, apparently I make small babies. She measured at 6 lbs which I didn't think was that small but is apparently only 14%. He freaked me out a little because he said if she measured below 10% he would have to call the doctor and I'd be sent to the hospital for monitoring! I've been measuring small the whole time so I wasn't surprised that she was smaller but I was surprised that I might have been sent to the hospital! I didn't even know that was a possibility. But it's all good!

So now we continue the waiting game! I'm ready now!!

Nursery Reveal

2011-08-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

Get ready for tons of pics! I love love love how everything came out. I think I was afraid to finish it but I bit the bullet and put away the last few things today.

Crib: Babyletto Modo 3-in1 from BRU (gift)
Dresser: West Elm Niche 6 drawer dresser (gift)
Nightstand: West Elm Niche nightstand - $215 plus shipping
Glider: Dutalier via Craigstlist - $75
Ottoman: Craigslist - $20
Fabric for Ottoman: Joann's fabric - $10
Closet Curtains: fabric from Tonic Living - $75, made by friend - $50
Chevron pillow: made by friend from leftover fabric - $25
Wall decal: etsy janeymacpress - $46.50
Lamp: TJ Maxx - $45
Mobile: etsy LivsLullaby - $59

37 Week Update

2011-08-03T16:49:00.000-07:00

Had my 37 week OB appointment and my first internal today. Also the Group B strep swab which was no big deal at all. And actually the internal wasn't bad either. However, my cervix is evidently "hard as a rock" LOL. She said at this rate, I won't deliver until Labor Day weekend, which is actually ok by me! Well not *exactly* that long because I would be 12 days overdue but going to term or a little past is ok too.

I can't complain though because I'm not super uncomfortable, I'm not swelling, I'm still sleeping pretty well. I'm just sooo tired, I'm not sure the nesting instinct will kick in for me!

The nursery is thisclose to being done. I need to pick up the glider cushions from my mom, she very nicely cleaned them for me and put away a few more things, then I can post the nursery reveal! I absolutely love it and I'm so glad it's ready.

We're ready to meet Audrey!!

More updates and progess

2011-07-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks 35/35, 35 weeks pregnant with 35 days to go! Audrey is almost here and I am *not* ready. For one, work has been crazy which it isn't normally in the summer so that's stressing me out. I don't feel prepared to leave work at all. And I've been so tired and lazy at night I get almost nothing accomplished. But I have gotten some things done. We hung the mobile, which I love love love, I washed and hung all her newborn clothes, hung sorted and put away/hung 3+ months clothes, wrote most of the thank you cards, made and froze a soup and some chicken enchiladas, scheduled a prenatal massage (I've had the gift cert since Mothers Day!), put together and aired out the stroller and car seat. Here is a pic of the mobile, which is bird cut outs in 3 different shades of yellow.

Chris is home Thursdays so I get him to help me with a bunch of stuff on that day, but it's definitely tough to motivate myself the rest of the week. My OB appts have been going well and uneventful which is great and I'm up 6.5 lbs overall, 2 lbs in the last week alone. I think I'll probably end up around the 10-15 lb mark which is great, I'm glad I'm not starving her after all!

My major goal for this weekend is to get my car cleaned out, vacuumed and the car seat base installed and inspected. I also have to get my regular car inspection, since I'm 3 months overdue on that! Oops!

And here is the best shower gift! My friend painted a kid sized table and chair set. It is adorable!! And the birds she painted match the wall decal exactly! Plus she put her name on the back of each chair.

And here is her adorable closet so far

Weekend Update

2011-07-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

I had a semi-productive holiday weekend. My big baby goal was to prep my prefolds, which I finally finished last night! It wasn't hard just time consuming. I did a cold wash with a tiny bit of Charlie's soap then dried them, then 2 hot washes with 1/2 scoop soap, then dry again, then 2 more hot washes with 1/2 scoop soap, then dry again. I tested them absorbency and the water soaked right in, didn't ball up and roll off like it before so I *think* I did it right.

I also continued the never ending lamp search! I found a great lamp with a bright pink base that matches the color of the birds on the wall but the shade was a cork material and it just didn't work. Then I found another lamp with a bright pink base that was a little smaller, which was good and it had a white shade with pink polka dots. Perfect in theory not so much in the room. Grrr. The problem is that its going against the wall with the decal so I don't want it to detract from that. It might be worth it to buy a plain white shade but I want to find one in a store instead of online, which isn't as easy as it should be.

Thanks to Target I now have some cheap underwear and a pair of comfy pants to wear after we get home from the hospital. Oh and 2 nursing bras that are actually the right size! Novel idea, lol.

Next weekend is my mom's shower, I'm so excited! After that I can wash and put away all the clothes and things and see what I still need to get.

We're getting scary close at this point, I'll be full term in 5 weeks!

Shower #1

2011-06-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first ever baby shower! My MIL and SIL gave me a shower in PA with their family friends and family on that side. It was a great day and we got lots of cute stuff! We got a lot of clothes but all different sizes and not *too* many. Plus they were useful like sleep and plays and onesies. From what I hear, that's what she'll live in for the first 6 months!

The one gift I reallllly wanted was my car seat so I can take it out and play with it. I was so excited that my MIL got that for me! We also got our jumperoo, stroller, video monitor, adorable potty, lots of the the health and grooming items, both of our diaper bags, the sleep sheep, a couple toys, a handmade blanket that is really cute and a monogrammed LL Bean bag from my SIL that she filled with stuff. It's really cute and I'm sure it will come in very handy!

The cake was adorable, it said Welcome Audrey with some large yellow polka dots, which is exactly what her rug looks like. Plus there were cupcakes that had yellow dots with an A on them. So so adorable. Now for pics! Of course my camera died after I took a picture of the cake, but my friend has some that she'll send to me.

Tidbits

2011-06-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that this year I got to say Happy Fathers' Day to Chris. Even though I forgot when I was actually on the phone with him and he had to remind me what day it was :)

Just got back from my friend's baby shower and it was so fun and also slightly overwhelming to see all her baby stuff in one place! Stuff I'm going to have hopefully in the next month.

It takes one lawyer, one CPA and one mom to get a Peg Perego car seat out of it's base...guess who really figured it out! lol

I'm extremely lucky and happy to still be feeling comfortable most of the time, I almost wonder if I just won't get to that stage until the very end. So far I've loved pretty much every minute of being pregnant which is totally the opposite of what I expected.

Whiny, bratty confession: My shower is this coming Saturday and so far 9 people other than myself, my mom and my mother in law have bought stuff from my registry. It makes me reallllly nervous for what I'm actually going to be unwrapping!

Mattress Score!

2011-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Babies R Us was running a mattress sale this week and a better mattress was on sale for the same price we had already agreed to spend. Then my SIL mentioned she might have a coupon for an extra 20% so I waited for her to find it and check out the restrictions. By the time she tells me it won't work the ONE brand wasn't on sale anymore, even though the sale wasn't over! So I called BRU customer service who tells me yes, Naturepedic isn't on sale anymore, we don't do rainchecks, but I can transfer you to internet sales to see if there's anything they can do.

I was channeling my husband on this phone call because he's *always* the one to call or ask about a better price, I'm usually not comfortable doing that. But I reallllly wanted this mattress! So she transfers me and they say the price is the price, blah blah, but if she can verify that it was yesterday it was on sale they will do it as a one time courtesy. She verifies and it's mine for the same 20% off!! Score one for just asking what they can do for you! So we got the Naturepedic Organic Crib Classic 150 for $207.99 and free shipping!

It has 100% organic cotton filling, with a non-vinyl/PVC waterproof covering. As an unexpected bonus, my mother in law said she would buy it for us!

Nursery Progress

2011-06-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Although we still own the old bedroom furniture from this room, we finally moved it all out, laid the rug and rearranged everything. I LOVE this rug, I always have since it first came out in Pottery Barn I don't know how long ago. When we found out the baby was a girl, I knew I had to have this rug. Except they don't make it anymore. But...I called the PB customer service - super helpful, I've tracked other things down this way - and they were able to search all their stores and outlets and found one in NJ!!! It was under $300 including shipping for an 8x10 wool rug. And it looks ahh-mazing in the room.

There's still a bunch to do and since I took these pics, we hung the wall decal over the glider, which looks so cute. I still have to:

find matching fabric and recover the ottoman
pick out and buy a crib skirt
put the mattress in (delivered yesterday)
buy the mobile if she ever sends me color samples
get curtains for closet back from the woman who is making them
find a hamper, diaper pail and wipes trash can
repaint inside of closet and install new closet organizer
change artwork above crib (what's there now is moving)

Banner for Shower

2011-06-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

I was looking around Etsy the other day and found this adorable bunting that I *needed* for my shower. It was from Etsy seller APaperPlayground. She was awesome to work with, got right back to me and finished it in a day!

I think it's the cutest thing ever! And we decided not to have the shower at my mom's house since it was so freaking hot there this weekend. My mom thought of this restaurant right by my house, so super convenient for me, lol. When she got the menu options, the brunch sounded the best and I LOVE brunch!

We're having:
Cinnamon french toast
Scrambled eggs
Bacon and sausage
Penna rosa
Chicken caesar salad
Fruit platter with cream cheese fluff dip
Cheese plate
Bagels and toast with cream cheese and jelly

I can't wait!!!

Breastfeeding Class

2011-05-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

So last night was our breastfeeding class which was informative and also overwhelming. We got lots of good information and handouts to read and refer to. Just reiterates how much WORK it will be! Not that I didn't already think that but it scares me a little. Chris' opinion is that people breastfed for years, you'll be fine.

One thing I can't control is how PCOS will affect it. I'll either have enough milk for trips or none of all! The best thing I can do is try and if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. I don't have to talk about the benefits, I think most people don't question that breastmilk is the ideal food for babies and more natural, etc. I have a pump I bought from craigslist for $50 thats a really good double electric so if it works out, I'm prepared!

Everyone says if you get past the first 6 weeks, you're golden, it's easy peasy after that. Right now my plan (assuming all goes well) is to breastfeed and pump for 6 months. I know I want to introduce a bottle early since I'll be going back to work so she'll *need* to take a bottle. Plus that way, Chris and I can take turns at night too.

I have to do more reading on pumping because that's a whole other aspect to learn as far as timing, frequency, storage of milk, etc. Let's just say I have quite a reading list this summer!

Luckily I love to read!

26 Week Appt

2011-05-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

I had my standard OB appointment this morning and the baby has moved from head down at the last ultrasound to transverse. I guess that's ok, she didn't seem worried and there's plenty of time for her to move again! This week's fun development is heartburn! And lots of it! Can't really complain though, I have had mostly problem free pregnancy so far. I upgraded to appointments every 3 weeks now instead of monthly and I have to schedule my glucose tolerance test in the next 2 weeks. Hopefully, I'll pass with flying colors!

We're halfway done our baby classess now and last night was the hospital tour which was fun. They were pretty busy so we didn't get to see the newer rooms, but we saw the standard rooms and the overflow recovery rooms. What's nice at this hospital is that unless necessary you and the baby stay in the same room the whole time. Overall, the classes are nice but not necessary. There's nuggets of good info in each class but lots of boring stuff too. Our teacher is big on natural delivery and teaching us breathing techniques which is fine but let's get real - I'll be getting an epidural! It would be nice in theory to go natural because you're not stuck in bed, no risk of spinal headache, less medication overall, etc but it will probably be waaaaay too much pain for me to take.

Right now, the baby is 14 inches head to heel and weighs almost 2 lbs. And her hearing is fully developed and she's most sensitive to light, which is kind of cool to know. They say you can shine a flashlight at your belly to see what her response is!

Updates!

2011-05-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry for disappearing for a month again, the end of tax season was crazy then Chris opened the store so I haven't had any days off in a few weeks. Other than my vacation/babymoon to Orlando!

I'm 24 weeks now which means we hit Viability Day!!! Hopefully she stays in another 16 weeks but we're in a better spot for survival now which is such a relief.
We think we've picked Audrey as her name :) No middle name yet though
We've had 2 baby classes so far which have been a little interesting and a little boring. Some stuff I already know because I'm research girl but Chris is learning some new stuff which is great
Audrey passed her fetal cardio tests!!!! We only had to do these because Chris has a hole in his heart, which even though it's never given him problems, he still has one
My right ovary is FINALLY almost back to normal so we were released from the maternal fetal specialist!!!
Which means....back to yoga and exercising (which means I need motivation again lol)
We spent our last weekend off together at home until after the baby which is sad and exciting. I live for our weekends together since we only get them part of the year. My favorite thing is to drink coffee while reading the Sunday paper and watching tv with Chris. Next time we can do that, Audrey will also be here! Which is so so crazy to think about. I can't wait.
I gained 2 lbs last week so I'm up 4.5 lbs total! Go me!! I've been waiting to gain some weight since the baby is 1 lb 6 oz right now, so I'm glad to see the scale creeping up.

I'll do a vacation recap in another post but I'll leave you with a pic :)

Cloth Diaper workshop

2011-04-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

We decided to cloth diaper so we wanted to go to a class and see all the diapers in person not just online. We went to the Nesting House in a really cute area of Philly and it ended up being a 2 hour class! She went over cloth vs disposable, care of cloth, and different cloth options. It seemed easy, affordable, eco friendly, kind of a win win for everyone.

Diapering a child for 2 1/2 years in disposables cost somewhere around $2,500 vs the $300-800 of cloth diapering. Not to mention the fact that disposables are the #1 non-recyclable item in landfills and don't break down for 500 years. That blows my mind.

And the #1 reason - they are stinking cute!! Kelly's Closet was having a special where spending $39 would get you a free diaper. In that order I got a pack of orange Lil Joeyz. Cutest.thing.ever.

They are so so tiny and adorable in person!

It's a Girl!!!

2011-04-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

Today was our anatomy scan and we found out we're having a baby girl! Everything else looked good and "normal" too so we couldn't be more excited! I was so nervous this morning and then we ended up waiting an hour just to be seen. So annoying! The u/s itself was about an hour long and the baby was super active so she had to redo the heart area a couple times to get a good shot.

And in even better news, my ovary went down about 3cm!! I'm still technically restricted from everything but I'm personally easing up because I'm kind of over the restrictions, lol.

It's April Fools Day, so last night we made cupcakes with 1/2 pink and 1/2 blue frosting to announce to my parents at work. So we get to my work and first bring them 6 blue cupcakes, everyone was like Yayyy! then I took the lid off and said April Fools and showed them pink cupcakes! Hysterical! My mom was still a little confused and thought we were tricking her again.

To tell Chris' parents, I had him tell them we couldn't tell and had to do a repeat in a few weeks. Then we had pink flowers sent to the with the card saying, April Fools its a Girl! We figured that we won't have an opportunity to announce the sex on April Fools Day probably ever again!

Current stats: 19w3d, weight +2 lbs, baby 9 oz

Anatomy Scan Scheduled!

2011-03-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

I was sent to a maternal-fetal specialist since my ovaries are still enlarged from the IVF, so we had a mini anatomy scan last week. Everything was fine with the baby thankfully, and my left ovary is back to normal but righty is still being annoying. I'm still to follow my restrictions: no yoga, no running, no sex and no lifting. Boooooo!

But the real anatomy scan is officially scheduled (with the specialist) for April 1st at 10am!!!! We'll officially know if B.E. (our nickname for Baby Edwards) is a girl or boy! Cannot wait!

17 weeks

2011-03-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

It is truly unfathomable that I am 17 weeks pregnant sometimes. Just this morning I was thinking about when we went pumpkin picking last October and we were literally the ONLY people without at least one kid. It was still a good day, but made me sad on the drive home. Some parents had even brought their parents to take pics of "the baby" with pumpkins.

I can't believe I'm lucky enough to be one of those people this October. It goes to show even though I assume every pregnant person had it easy and every baby was conceived instantly infertility does lose sometimes. Not often enough but sometimes. I know more than a handful of people who are still waiting to get pregnant and I wish everyone could just get to the end of that crap path.

Crib is Ordered!

2011-03-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my generous mother in law, we were able to order the crib this week! It is a little early, but with Chris opening the store Easter weekend he's feeling the pressure to get some of the "big" stuff and put it together. So we're all ready to order and of course now it's out of stock on Babies R Us website. Grrrr. Luckily a friend reminded me they sold it at other stores and I found it at amazon.com. And for cheaper with free shipping! So now it should be here next week!!!

Registering is overwhelming...

2011-03-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Even though it's kind of early to register I wanted to get started on it at least, plus Chris opens the store again Easter weekend, so that's the end of days off together unless I take off from work. We only have a Babies r Us near us but it doesn't have a ton of selection in the store so we took a roadtrip to Buy Buy Baby about an hour away.

Holy baby stuff. There was a freaking WALL of pacifiers. I literally didn't know what to do with myself. We just stood there staring like uhhh I have no idea what to get. I have been reading Baby Bargains so I thought I had a handle on it but not really. I know what I like for the "big" stuff but there's soooo much small stuff I didn't even think about. And I hate clutter so I tend to think of it all as unnecessary crap, which isn't helpful either! Chris is the opposite and thinks we need everything they sell, so we're an interesting match!

We had a timeline of about an hour and half to get through the store before we had to leave to go to an ice cream trade show (yum!) but by the time we left I thought I had been in a war.

Right now it's the most ridiculous looking registry since Chris hit the scan bottom like 3 times on a car seat and 12 on a set of teethers! LOL Plus we skipped around a lot knowing we're also really registering at BRU. But we got to see some things in person we hadn't seen and added some items that BRU doesn't sell so overall I'd call it a success!

1st Tri Wrap Up

2011-03-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

It was a long first trimester but now time seems to by flying by. The fact that I'm super busy at work helps with the time flying! Overall, I can't really complain about the 1st tri. Weeks 4-6 I craved sour and regular chewy candies like CRAZY! It was so ridiculous, I ate so many chewy Runts, chewy Sprees, chewy Nerds anything anyone in my family could find me. This was over Christmas too, so I got lots of candy in my stocking! That passed by week 6 or so and from then on, until very recently I wanted almost nothing to eat. Nothing sounded good, nothing looked good, it was all just blah. I didn't ever throw up but I was nauseous pretty much all day every day especially if I let my stomach get empty. I ate lots of crackers and that was about it. I started taking B6 by week 6 and that definitely helped so that I wasn't really in pain or anything it was just a constant annoyance. I was also and still am sometimes just so so tired. I have a 9pm bedtime most nights, even still.

Chris, my husband, has been so so good to me. He made dinner every night and cleaned it up a lot too, which I know he hates. I'm starting to get some energy back so I want to split things more equally again. I also let the gym slack pretty badly which doesn't help with my energy level but I'm trying to go at least 2x a week from now on. I'm still on restrictions for my ovary, but I have another appt this Friday that I'm hoping to get good news from. Also, I'm hoping to find out the sex! They should be able to tell as long as they get a clear shot. If I get a nice tech, hopefully she'll make sure we get a good shot :)

I'll leave you with a bare belly shot from 12 weeks!

Long Awaited Good News

2011-02-09T18:25:00.000-08:00

So I had big plans to hold off on testing until right before beta, at 7 or 8dp5dt. Umm, I made it until 4dp5dt. I had some leftover cheapie tests and I got up early on that Friday to go to a seminar. I couldn't resist testing but I only waited 2 mins then freaked out about no line yet and threw it away. I let the dogs out, ate breakfast, then....dug the test out of the trash. I held it up to the light and saw the faintest of faint lines.

So it was the day before my husband's birthday and I had promised him I wouldn't test on Sunday. But oh well! I ran upstairs and woke him up and said I needed his help for something. He said later he knew right away I had tested and saw something. He says, "You tested, didn't you?" I said "Oops! But I see something so get up!" So he says he can kind of see something but he's totally not convinced. I was though. A line is a line and it was early. So I text my close friend but didn't tell anyone else.

I had enough cheapies to test the next 2 days but no First Response tests, so I bought some that night. I tested again Saturday and got another really faint line, but enough that I could still see it. The husband, not so convinced. Finally Sunday it was clearly positive and luckily my in-laws were coming down for dinner so we were able to give them good news in person, albeit early news! But they knew about IVF and knew I would have an answer that Wednesday anyway.

I couldn't believe I was actually pregnant, it definitely hadn't sunk in yet. Plus it was sooo early, I know that a +hpt is just part of the battle to bring home a baby. I hadn't really had any symptoms yet except extreme thirst. I drank sooo much water at the restaurant that Sunday the waitress offered to leave the pitcher at the table! lol

I got my first beta on Wednesday which came back at 114! I was so so relieved to get a nice solid positive number. I went back every 2 or 3 days for beta's until it reached 10,000 then I was able to schedule our first ultrasound!

Not So Bad Afterall

2011-01-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

All in all, once the actual ER got started it wasn't bad. But waiting in the pre-op room for the dr to be ready and the anethesiologist to get me pumped with drugs was soooo stressful. I'm not a patient person by nature and the longer it took the more I started freaking out. Luckily my husband was with me so he was trying to keep me calm, but he was nervous about it too! So they finally come in and have me use the bathroom one last time and take me to the operating room. I say operating room but it's not like a "real" hospital operating room, its much smaller with less equipment.

Next thing I know, I'm waking up and asking how many eggs they got. Which was 16! I was so excited they were able to get so many from me. I laid there for a little while longer then I was on my way! At this point I was starving since I hadn't eaten since dinner the night before the ER. Torture for an eater like me :) We stopped at Panera (I stayed in the car) and got something to munch on for the drive home. I rested the rest of that day then I felt fine enough to go to work the next day. I had almost no residual pain.

Over the next couple of days I not so patiently waited for the fert reports, luckily they called before 11 each morning which is what I was expecting. Out of 16 retrieved, 12 were likely mature. They did ICSI on half and regular fertilization on half. Out of the ICSI'd eggs 5 of 6 fertilized (the immature eggs were in this half). The regular ones 5 of 8 fertilized for a total of 10 little embabies!

Next stop the dreaded 2ww!! Luckily, if you can say luckily with IVF, the transfer is either 3 or 5 days after the ER which really does break up the 2ww and makes it slightly more bearable.

The Real Deal Holyfield

2011-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long silence, as a tax accountant I probably should have picked AFTER tax season to start blogging. LOL Oh well, I like blogging so I hope to make more time for it.

So after the endless weeks (more like 10 days but felt like 30) of Lupron I was sooo ready to get to the meds! The real meds that would make my ovaries do something! I'll spare you the boring nitty gritty plus I didn't write them all down, but after 10 days of stimming on 150iu Follistim and 75iu Menopur I was *finally* ready to trigger for the retrieval!

Up to this point I was super nervous about what my ovaries would actually produce because they had done soo poorly with just the Follistim the prior cycles. But Menopur was supposed to be my golden drug. The one that would help the follies that were started, instead of just starting a ton then not developing them.

The last u/s before retrieval (ER) I had 12 decently sized follies, which I was thrilled with. My personal goal was to have 10 so yay me! We had to go to the main office which is over an hour away and we had to bring "the goods" "the sample" with us. I think more often than not husbands do their thing at the office but my husband thought he could provide a better sample being more relaxed at home, so I asked and they said ok. So we wake up, I can't eat (which makes me cranky!) we collect our sperms and hit the car.

Try traveling over an hour with sperm in your waistband and traffic. OMG worst drive ever. I was so paranoid they were all going to die. We pull up and I jump out of the car, forgetting to shut my door in my hurry to get to the doctors! I run in annnnnd no one is at the desk. Whaaaat?! I have SPERM people! I need to drop it off! A minute later she walks up and I practically yell in her face "I have the sample with me!" She says, "Ok sign in and take a seat" Omg, I'm freaking out. Another minute goes by and finally a nurse comes out and brings me back to get her the sample. Phewww. Now I can relax and focus on the retrieval.

Riiiight. So easy to relax about getting knocked out to get a needle put through your vaginal walls.

The Long Story part 2

2011-01-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

So we find out our next step is most likely IVF, so we set up the consult. For us, one major concern was timing. Both of the procedures AND the due date. My husband owns a seasonal business so he works 9am-2am 6 days a week, all summer long. I had images of going into labor by myself and he doesn't answer! Because he's not awesome about answering the phone at work! Although sometimes I do call for no reason...and its when he's super busy...and his employee just went on a break... What can I say, I have a knack! lol

So we met with the dr who made us feel super comfortable about the whole IVF process. I knew the basics but he filled in the details. So now the ball was in my (or my body's) court. Since I have PCOS I knew I wouldn't have a cute 30 day cycle and I would have to wait until 35 days to get provera, then 10-15 days for my period to come, putting me at a 50 day cycle.

Orginally, we were planning on taking 2 break cycles so I would have an Oct due date (hopefully). Well after that first 50 day cycle I said forget it, I'm ready and luckily my husband was happy to go along with my decision. So after my Provera induced period started I called and got my birth control Rx! (Cue me happily screaming that it was starting!) And that was it. I was somehow expecting mountains to move, the clouds to part and the baby to drop from the sky. Not so much. It was "Take this for 3 weeks, we'll order your meds and call you back." Okey doke. Waiting I am used to.

The Long Story

2011-01-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

I'll try not to make it too long though! In April 2009 I "pulled the goalie" and stopped birth control. Being the control freak/pefectionist that I am I also started temping to make sure that I was ovulating. Thanks to lurking around TTC message boards I was armed with all the knowledge I thought I needed to get pregnant. I gave myself a cushion to adjust to being off birth control and figured I'd be pregnant by December/January. Ha! Well I ended up pregnant in December but 2010!

The first cycle was normalish, a little long at 45 days but showed I ovulated. Yay me. Then evidently all hell broke loose in my body. I didn't have a normal cycle again. I ended up taking Provera two times to induce a period and was referred to a specialist (RE) in December 2009. Our appointment was the day before my husband's 30th birthday and even though he never said anything, I know thats not quite how he expected his bday weekend to go.

So they took some bloodwork and we sat down to talk to the doctor. He was very nice and went through the testing we needed to have done, the first steps to take and then said ok let's do an ultrasound. A whaaat now??? I was not prepared for the vag cam that day! I got over it and right away he says "Ok, see these black spots?" "Yes" "Looks like polycystic ovary syndrome and over here you have a cyst that we have to watch."
Commence freakout.
I stayed pretty calm in the office but as soon as we got to the car, I poured over the pamphlets he gave us and freaked out, basically. My husband was much calmer and said well now we know and we can do something about it. Which was true but didn't help!

So fast forward to Feb 2010, had laproscopic surgery to remove the cyst. Then started clomid April 2010. Clomid again May and June. All 3 cycles I ovulated (yay) and did IUI but no baby (boo). Then we switched to injectable meds plus IUI. I didn't respond well to the injectables and ended up on progesterone suppositories since my 7dpo progesterone levels were soooo low. Like wouldn't think I ovulated except for the fact that I used an hcg trigger low. Tried that 2 cycles.

Went to try for the third and final cycle before IVF and I had a huge cyst leftover from the prior cycle so they told me to wait a cycle. Commence freakout again.

Taking the dive

2011-01-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

As an avid blog reader I've seen how cathartic it can be to send your thoughts into the interwebz. Just like the diary you used to keep in grade school. Except instead of drawing heart's around a boy's name and writing how much you just wanted him to like you! now we're writing about life, family, money and everything in between.

I probably should have started blogging when I started the whole infertilily process but I'm inherently lazy and not that great of a writer so I've procrastinated. Now that I've reached the mecca of infertilily - pregnancy - I decided I really did need to record all the little moments that I would otherwise forget!

I'll post the full story soon, but short story is this: after multiple IUIs, a laproscopy, lots of meds and money my first IVF worked and I'm due August 24, 2011!