Forgive me Blogland for I have sinned. It has been 55 days since my last blog...
Not only have I been so absent here that cobwebs have collected, I have been absent in my support for others and for that I feel quite ashamed. A lot has happened in 55 days out there amongst my peeps. While at work in between tasks, I am reading all of your blogs and thinking of you all and praying for you too. Failed cycles, amazing pregnancy anouncements, IVF retrievals/transfers, IUI's, cycle starts and mis-starts, miscarriages, new careers, scary bleedings, twins, amnio's, hospital trips, Down's Syndrome diagnosis, gender determinations, kidney stones, sono pictures, and pregnancy milestones. It's a lot of stuff.
I feel bad that you didn't know I was there. But, I suppose the best thing for me to do is just get back on that horse.
Thank you to everyone who has been checking in, posting messages and letting me know I've been missed. Ya'll put the sun in my sunshine.
So, shall I break down whasa goin' on in the Liv & Marvy household?
I am almost 17 weeks right now, and doing amazingly, wonderfully, fantastically well. I never really had any morning sickness issues or anything along those lines. Back at the begining of the pregnancy I had the tinest bit of stomach unsettledness but nothing that G.atorade couldn't aliviate. I welcomed the start of the second trimester in the middle of August excited for what's to come. I was very proud of myself for only gaining 1 pound since the start of the pregnancy. And Sunday morning I weighed myself and was shocked to see that at 4 months along I'm only up 2 pounds from the start. For the year (after fertility meds etc) I'm up about 5 pounds. Not too shabby.
I haven't had any cravings. Which in many ways I would welcome, just to give me some direction as to what to eat. Marvy and I end up having that same conversation, "What do you want to eat? I dunno what does the pregnant person want to eat?". And I have no idea. But, all of my co-workers tell me that I am the picture of healthy eating (of course they don't see me on the weekends!) They find it very cute and continue to encourage my about-to-be-a-new-mama eating habbits.
I've had a handful of days with really bad headaches (lasting two or three days) that Ty.lenol couldn't do anything about. In desperation I turned to a (regular) cup of coffee which finally did the trick. So as far as bad pregnancy symptoms go, I just about have close to zero complaints.
Please tell me writing that out doesn't jinx myself!
A couple weeks ago I hit the consignment stores and picked up my first of my maternity wardrobe. It felt so weird. It's hard to purchase maternity clothes as 1. an infertile and 2. an infertile that doesn't look pregnant. I kept imagining some military style alarm going off - wha, wha, wha... from the moment I set foot into the store. I even bought everything without trying them on for fear of going up to the desk and getting a look of "What are you thinking?" if I asked for a dressing room. After that first experience, I came home and started trying them on and was surprised at how comfortable the pants were! Since the first experience I've collected a good start of work pieces of mostly pants since I'm still able to wear a lot of my tops and blouses I have. On my 16th week and 1 day I wore my maternity pants (jeans at that) for the first time! It was the most comfortable I had been in a few weeks.
This past Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my friend Jo who is having a girl due next month. It turned out pretty cute. I made peanut butter and jelly cupcakes that were displayed on a 4 tiered cupcake stand that I decorated with lining to match the pink and green theme. I also had a clothes line hung on the stair case with cute baby clothes hanging from clothes pins. I'll have to post some photos once I have them. I'll post more about it another time...but I'll also tell you that I totally over did it that day. After resting for about 20 minutes on the couch after I came home from the shower, I got up for something and I couldn't stand up straight! I had to hold on to everything to make it into the kitchen. I nearly resorted to crawling on my hands and knees I hurt so bad. I came to the realization that I am not 100% in control of this body free to do all the things I used to do without batting an eye.
Saturday was also the first day that my belly felt like a real pregnant belly. It's an indisputable baby bump. It's no longer soft and squishy and looking like I've been hitting the french fries and ice cream a little too often. It feels like it happened overnight. My friends exclaim, "Oh, so cute! We can see the belly now!". They rub the belly and say hello to the baby.
We have continued our Sunday night prayer time and this past weekend I realized that our weekly devotion time is now officially 1 year old. We have been praying specifically, and as a couple for this baby for one year now. Marvy told me yesterday that he prays for the baby all day long. Especially on his drive home from work. Which makes me love him even more. When he comes home he rubs the belly and says hello to the baby. In the mornings he likes to do a little "rub and shake" to the belly. (Goodness...in a different context that last line would be uh..well something to raise the color in my checks! Funny how children change your line of thinking) He'll rub the belly and then shake it ever so gently. It's pretty cute.
I am currently on "Could that be baby movement?" watch. The other night after I settled back into bed from my nightly trip to the bathroom I felt what I thought was a gas bubble...then I kept thinking about it... "Was that a poke?" Could the baby have just done a Sup.erman style move and poked me in the belly button. I have no idea. I'll get these odd feeling sweeping hunger pains and I wonder if it could be the baby...but then I eat something and it goes away so I realize, "Nope! You were just hungry!" So, obviously I can't wait until I can unquestionably feel the baby move.
I've also done a ton of research, reading and window shopping over the course of the last two months. I've started my lists. From things that need to get done before the baby comes, to nursery furniture pieces, reading books on pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding, etc., selecting registry items...to researching and selecting who will be part of my labor support team. This is a topic to expand on in another post, but I have said, "Sayonara" to my OBGYN and "Hello" to a midwife team. I have moved from the plan of laboring at the hospital 10 minutes away to laboring at a hospital about 45 minutes away. This is because of its reputation for supporting mothers with natural birth plans and because of the availability of midwives connected to that hospital. I have selected my doula, who I'm very excited to work with and I have decided on a 12 week Brad.ley class for the labor classes Marvy and I will attend. All three decisions bring good statistical data to support lower intervention necessary labors. So, I'm hoping to be on the favorable side of the statistics come late Feburary/early March.
So, there you have it my lovely bloggy peeps. The happenings of all things us for the moment. Marvy is a huge support for me to stay on top of connecting with my community...asking me every evening if I'm going to get back to blogging. I will be back with more soon I promise!
Not only have I been so absent here that cobwebs have collected, I have been absent in my support for others and for that I feel quite ashamed. A lot has happened in 55 days out there amongst my peeps. While at work in between tasks, I am reading all of your blogs and thinking of you all and praying for you too. Failed cycles, amazing pregnancy anouncements, IVF retrievals/transfers, IUI's, cycle starts and mis-starts, miscarriages, new careers, scary bleedings, twins, amnio's, hospital trips, Down's Syndrome diagnosis, gender determinations, kidney stones, sono pictures, and pregnancy milestones. It's a lot of stuff.
I feel bad that you didn't know I was there. But, I suppose the best thing for me to do is just get back on that horse.
Thank you to everyone who has been checking in, posting messages and letting me know I've been missed. Ya'll put the sun in my sunshine.
So, shall I break down whasa goin' on in the Liv & Marvy household?
I am almost 17 weeks right now, and doing amazingly, wonderfully, fantastically well. I never really had any morning sickness issues or anything along those lines. Back at the begining of the pregnancy I had the tinest bit of stomach unsettledness but nothing that G.atorade couldn't aliviate. I welcomed the start of the second trimester in the middle of August excited for what's to come. I was very proud of myself for only gaining 1 pound since the start of the pregnancy. And Sunday morning I weighed myself and was shocked to see that at 4 months along I'm only up 2 pounds from the start. For the year (after fertility meds etc) I'm up about 5 pounds. Not too shabby.
I haven't had any cravings. Which in many ways I would welcome, just to give me some direction as to what to eat. Marvy and I end up having that same conversation, "What do you want to eat? I dunno what does the pregnant person want to eat?". And I have no idea. But, all of my co-workers tell me that I am the picture of healthy eating (of course they don't see me on the weekends!) They find it very cute and continue to encourage my about-to-be-a-new-mama eating habbits.
I've had a handful of days with really bad headaches (lasting two or three days) that Ty.lenol couldn't do anything about. In desperation I turned to a (regular) cup of coffee which finally did the trick. So as far as bad pregnancy symptoms go, I just about have close to zero complaints.
Please tell me writing that out doesn't jinx myself!
A couple weeks ago I hit the consignment stores and picked up my first of my maternity wardrobe. It felt so weird. It's hard to purchase maternity clothes as 1. an infertile and 2. an infertile that doesn't look pregnant. I kept imagining some military style alarm going off - wha, wha, wha... from the moment I set foot into the store. I even bought everything without trying them on for fear of going up to the desk and getting a look of "What are you thinking?" if I asked for a dressing room. After that first experience, I came home and started trying them on and was surprised at how comfortable the pants were! Since the first experience I've collected a good start of work pieces of mostly pants since I'm still able to wear a lot of my tops and blouses I have. On my 16th week and 1 day I wore my maternity pants (jeans at that) for the first time! It was the most comfortable I had been in a few weeks.
This past Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my friend Jo who is having a girl due next month. It turned out pretty cute. I made peanut butter and jelly cupcakes that were displayed on a 4 tiered cupcake stand that I decorated with lining to match the pink and green theme. I also had a clothes line hung on the stair case with cute baby clothes hanging from clothes pins. I'll have to post some photos once I have them. I'll post more about it another time...but I'll also tell you that I totally over did it that day. After resting for about 20 minutes on the couch after I came home from the shower, I got up for something and I couldn't stand up straight! I had to hold on to everything to make it into the kitchen. I nearly resorted to crawling on my hands and knees I hurt so bad. I came to the realization that I am not 100% in control of this body free to do all the things I used to do without batting an eye.
Saturday was also the first day that my belly felt like a real pregnant belly. It's an indisputable baby bump. It's no longer soft and squishy and looking like I've been hitting the french fries and ice cream a little too often. It feels like it happened overnight. My friends exclaim, "Oh, so cute! We can see the belly now!". They rub the belly and say hello to the baby.
We have continued our Sunday night prayer time and this past weekend I realized that our weekly devotion time is now officially 1 year old. We have been praying specifically, and as a couple for this baby for one year now. Marvy told me yesterday that he prays for the baby all day long. Especially on his drive home from work. Which makes me love him even more. When he comes home he rubs the belly and says hello to the baby. In the mornings he likes to do a little "rub and shake" to the belly. (Goodness...in a different context that last line would be uh..well something to raise the color in my checks! Funny how children change your line of thinking) He'll rub the belly and then shake it ever so gently. It's pretty cute.
I am currently on "Could that be baby movement?" watch. The other night after I settled back into bed from my nightly trip to the bathroom I felt what I thought was a gas bubble...then I kept thinking about it... "Was that a poke?" Could the baby have just done a Sup.erman style move and poked me in the belly button. I have no idea. I'll get these odd feeling sweeping hunger pains and I wonder if it could be the baby...but then I eat something and it goes away so I realize, "Nope! You were just hungry!" So, obviously I can't wait until I can unquestionably feel the baby move.
I've also done a ton of research, reading and window shopping over the course of the last two months. I've started my lists. From things that need to get done before the baby comes, to nursery furniture pieces, reading books on pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding, etc., selecting registry items...to researching and selecting who will be part of my labor support team. This is a topic to expand on in another post, but I have said, "Sayonara" to my OBGYN and "Hello" to a midwife team. I have moved from the plan of laboring at the hospital 10 minutes away to laboring at a hospital about 45 minutes away. This is because of its reputation for supporting mothers with natural birth plans and because of the availability of midwives connected to that hospital. I have selected my doula, who I'm very excited to work with and I have decided on a 12 week Brad.ley class for the labor classes Marvy and I will attend. All three decisions bring good statistical data to support lower intervention necessary labors. So, I'm hoping to be on the favorable side of the statistics come late Feburary/early March.
So, there you have it my lovely bloggy peeps. The happenings of all things us for the moment. Marvy is a huge support for me to stay on top of connecting with my community...asking me every evening if I'm going to get back to blogging. I will be back with more soon I promise!
