Welp, we were supposed to have another sonogram and maybe see the heartbeat yesterday (Thursday), but Mother Nature wanted none of that. We couldn't get to the office because of the storm! Even if we technically could have, E decided it was too dangerous to head out in the snowstorm for an appointment the RE told us could take place anytime from yesterday through next Thursday. Obviously my anxiety is through the roof. We have to call in the morning to see if they can squeeze us in, but if not we have to wait till Monday. Bummerrrr.
Here's my next little questionnaire:
How far along: 6 weeks 3 days
Size of baby: Sweet Pea :)
Physical
symptoms: Sore boobs, but less so. Bloating. A little less exhausted (but still reallllly tired). A bit sensitive to smells, general mild nausea (all day) and some bouts of EXTREME nausea. On Wednesday I was freaking out full-blast because I wasn't at all nauseous, but then around dinnertime it hit full-force. I haven't actually vomited but I've spent some time in the bathroom thinking it's gonna happen at any second. I've got buckets in like 3 different rooms. And big-time food aversions.
Weight
gain/loss: I'm up like 4-5lbs but I started eating gluten again so that's our explanation right there. I've kind of only been able to eat carbs bc of the nausea. It's super healthy.
Maternity clothes: No!
Stretch marks: Nope
Sleep: E has had an upper respiratory infection all week, so sleep has been intermittent. His nose is stuffed and gross so he's been snoring like a bear, so the first night I slept in the guest room so we'd both get some real sleep, the next night I made him sleep in the guest room, and last night we were back to normal but I still didn't sleep much until after he got out of bed. Then I slept till the afternoon (whoops), which explains why I'm still up now.
Best
moment since last week: A friend confided to me that she's also pregnant (she figured out I was bc she knew I had the iui and hadn't texted her swear words 2 weeks later), and she's due right around the same time. So I have a little buddy.
Movement: Nope.
Cravings/Aversions:
The smell of cooking meat still grosses me out. Most things gross me out. I've had a few baked potatoes, and bagels with scallion cream cheese (but I think that craving has passed). I'm usually a huuuuuge sugar fiend but I've found things to be "too sweet" lately (I've never known that feeling in my life, lol)
Gender: I had a dream that it's a dark haired girl... we were teaching her how to walk in the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. It was pretty adorbs.
Labor signs: Hopefully not for 8 months!
Belly button: Innie
What I miss: Thinking I was going to miss out on morning sickness/nausea, haha.
What I am looking forward to: Our next RE appt- whenever that is! And as of Tuesday we're 7 weeks and get upgraded to the size of a blueberry. :)
Pregnancy Ticker
Friday, February 14, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
50th Post: Positive Vibes
Ok. It's time to officially 'fess up. I'm so nervous to post this, fearing that it will hurt any of you and that makes me feel absolutely awful. I am so so sorry and am thinking of all of you.
If you happen to know me in real life, please don't say anything about it yet. We won't be officially telling anyone until we (G-d willing) pass the 4 month mark, but... as of right now...
We're pregnant. How's that for a 50th post?! We found out last Tuesday, so we've had about a week and a half to process it, and it's slow-going. We had an ultrasound yesterday (Thursday) and saw the little circle and yolk sac (?) forming. I don't really know what anything means and I don't have numbers to report. E and I were so overwhelmed. "It" was measuring either 8mm or 11mm (We both heard different things, ha ha. Is mm even the right measurement?). We go back next Thursday for another ultrasound and blood work and the RE said there's a tiiiiny possibility we'll be able to hear a heartbeat. For reals??
Everything is super duper early- we're only about 5w3d (as of Friday). I. Am. Petrified. Beyond petrified, really. I'm so scared that something bad's going to happen after trying for SO LONG and going through so much and finally having this amazing thing happen. But I keep saying that no matter what, this was a huge step in the right direction. We know that we CAN get pregnant. We HAVE gotten pregnant. Idk. We get to be "parents" now, and even if it's (G-d forbid) all over tomorrow, nothing can take that title away from us. And that's what I'll be clinging to if (G-d forbid) something goes wrong.
The only people we've told is our own parents, who are over the moon. I texted them the ultrasound photo this morning and E's mom wrote back, "<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Oh my goodness. How can I do anything else today but stare at this miracle?" lol. A little over-the-top, but our thoughts exactly. If we get Thursday's blood work results back later today, I'll update this with the deets and maybe even throw in the pic.
(Update: The nurse just called! She said my progesterone is 15 and hcg is 9,025 and said it's all perfectly normal... I'm about to consult Dr. Google about just how normal it is bc I'm neurotic. I'm going to throw in a pic at the very bottom in case you don't want to see.)
So far all we know is that the blood work from last Tuesday was "perfect" and the RE said everything on the ultrasound today was also "perfect". I like that word in this context. We brought the office staff donuts in celebration this morning. They all think E is hilarious anyway, but this really sealed the deal for us to be some of their fave patients. ;) Our favorite secretary in the office ran and hugged me from behind when we were scheduling our next appt at the end. She was SO HAPPY for us. It's a big relief to have these relationships.
In other news, I quit my job. I work in a residence for women with severe special needs, and it's a really physical job. It's just not a safe environment for me to be in right now- the women occasionally physically lash out and can unknowingly do a lot of damage. Money's going to be tight, and I'm a little bit nervous, but E and I had always discussed that I would quit the second I got pregnant for safety reasons. I've been there for almost 7 years; I love all of the ladies who live there, have many coworkers whom I love, and I'm going to be really sad to go (I'm finishing up my February shifts), but I would never forgive myself if something happened at work.
Idk what else to say. Here's a little questionnaire:
How far along: 5 weeks
Size of baby: Apple Seed. We're calling him/her "Johnny" this week. ;)
Physical symptoms: Super sore boobs. Bloating. Insanely exhausted- beyond a zombie (I slept super late AND napped yesterday, which explains why I'm up at 2am writing this). A tiny bit sensitive to/nauseous from smells. Peeing pretty frequently. E has been craving chicken wings ALL WEEK. He's seriously eaten them for dinner about 4x. It's crazy. He claims he's having pregnancy cravings for me. Right...
Weight gain/loss: The crappy expecting-a-negative-outcome eating caught up with me. I'm up 3-4lbs from a couple of weeks ago, but sometimes I go up or down 5lbs in a day. I'm about the same. I'd like to lose a bit before I actually gain pregnancy weight.
Maternity clothes: Not yet!
Stretch marks: Nope
Sleep: Getting a lot of sleep (not always at normal times) but I'm definitely waking up from having to pee, which never happened before.
Best moment since last week: I took a second HPT (well, third- I took two on the day they called with my blood test results) on Sunday and it was darker than the ones on Tuesday. Hurray!
Movement: Way too early.
Cravings/Aversions: The smell of cooking meat (all of E's chicken wings) grosses me out. I get cravings year-round, so I've had a few different mild cravings this week but nothing out of the ordinary.
Gender: Chinese gender predictor says boy... who the heck knows!
Labor signs: Hopefully not for 8+months!
Belly button: Innie
What I miss: NOTHING!
What I am looking forward to: Our next RE appt on Thursday. Eeeek!
K I'm gonna hold my breath and hit "publish". Again, I am so so sorry from the bottom of my heart if this hurts even one of you, and I 100% understand if you never read another post from me again. Thinking of you guys. Keep scrolling for the pic.... Or stop scrolling if you don't want to see our blob. :)
If you happen to know me in real life, please don't say anything about it yet. We won't be officially telling anyone until we (G-d willing) pass the 4 month mark, but... as of right now...
We're pregnant. How's that for a 50th post?! We found out last Tuesday, so we've had about a week and a half to process it, and it's slow-going. We had an ultrasound yesterday (Thursday) and saw the little circle and yolk sac (?) forming. I don't really know what anything means and I don't have numbers to report. E and I were so overwhelmed. "It" was measuring either 8mm or 11mm (We both heard different things, ha ha. Is mm even the right measurement?). We go back next Thursday for another ultrasound and blood work and the RE said there's a tiiiiny possibility we'll be able to hear a heartbeat. For reals??
Everything is super duper early- we're only about 5w3d (as of Friday). I. Am. Petrified. Beyond petrified, really. I'm so scared that something bad's going to happen after trying for SO LONG and going through so much and finally having this amazing thing happen. But I keep saying that no matter what, this was a huge step in the right direction. We know that we CAN get pregnant. We HAVE gotten pregnant. Idk. We get to be "parents" now, and even if it's (G-d forbid) all over tomorrow, nothing can take that title away from us. And that's what I'll be clinging to if (G-d forbid) something goes wrong.
The only people we've told is our own parents, who are over the moon. I texted them the ultrasound photo this morning and E's mom wrote back, "<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Oh my goodness. How can I do anything else today but stare at this miracle?" lol. A little over-the-top, but our thoughts exactly. If we get Thursday's blood work results back later today, I'll update this with the deets and maybe even throw in the pic.
(Update: The nurse just called! She said my progesterone is 15 and hcg is 9,025 and said it's all perfectly normal... I'm about to consult Dr. Google about just how normal it is bc I'm neurotic. I'm going to throw in a pic at the very bottom in case you don't want to see.)
So far all we know is that the blood work from last Tuesday was "perfect" and the RE said everything on the ultrasound today was also "perfect". I like that word in this context. We brought the office staff donuts in celebration this morning. They all think E is hilarious anyway, but this really sealed the deal for us to be some of their fave patients. ;) Our favorite secretary in the office ran and hugged me from behind when we were scheduling our next appt at the end. She was SO HAPPY for us. It's a big relief to have these relationships.
In other news, I quit my job. I work in a residence for women with severe special needs, and it's a really physical job. It's just not a safe environment for me to be in right now- the women occasionally physically lash out and can unknowingly do a lot of damage. Money's going to be tight, and I'm a little bit nervous, but E and I had always discussed that I would quit the second I got pregnant for safety reasons. I've been there for almost 7 years; I love all of the ladies who live there, have many coworkers whom I love, and I'm going to be really sad to go (I'm finishing up my February shifts), but I would never forgive myself if something happened at work.
Idk what else to say. Here's a little questionnaire:
How far along: 5 weeks
Size of baby: Apple Seed. We're calling him/her "Johnny" this week. ;)
Physical symptoms: Super sore boobs. Bloating. Insanely exhausted- beyond a zombie (I slept super late AND napped yesterday, which explains why I'm up at 2am writing this). A tiny bit sensitive to/nauseous from smells. Peeing pretty frequently. E has been craving chicken wings ALL WEEK. He's seriously eaten them for dinner about 4x. It's crazy. He claims he's having pregnancy cravings for me. Right...
Weight gain/loss: The crappy expecting-a-negative-outcome eating caught up with me. I'm up 3-4lbs from a couple of weeks ago, but sometimes I go up or down 5lbs in a day. I'm about the same. I'd like to lose a bit before I actually gain pregnancy weight.
Maternity clothes: Not yet!
Stretch marks: Nope
Sleep: Getting a lot of sleep (not always at normal times) but I'm definitely waking up from having to pee, which never happened before.
Best moment since last week: I took a second HPT (well, third- I took two on the day they called with my blood test results) on Sunday and it was darker than the ones on Tuesday. Hurray!
Movement: Way too early.
Cravings/Aversions: The smell of cooking meat (all of E's chicken wings) grosses me out. I get cravings year-round, so I've had a few different mild cravings this week but nothing out of the ordinary.
Gender: Chinese gender predictor says boy... who the heck knows!
Labor signs: Hopefully not for 8+months!
Belly button: Innie
What I miss: NOTHING!
What I am looking forward to: Our next RE appt on Thursday. Eeeek!
K I'm gonna hold my breath and hit "publish". Again, I am so so sorry from the bottom of my heart if this hurts even one of you, and I 100% understand if you never read another post from me again. Thinking of you guys. Keep scrolling for the pic.... Or stop scrolling if you don't want to see our blob. :)
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Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Liebster Award
First of all, I'm REALLY sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for a week. I'm going to hopefully post a real update on Friday (but there's also a tiny update in the comments of my previous post).
I want to thank Plan Y for nominating me for the Liebster Award! I've seen other bloggers getting nominated for it and was shocked when I got to the bottom of her nomination post and saw our little blog's name there at the bottom. It really means a lot-- I've never gotten nominated for anything! :) The "rules" are to include the Liebster Award photo, link to the blog of the person who nominated you, answer the questions, and nominate a few other people. So here we go...
1. What is your middle name?
Jeanne, after my grandmother
2. When did you get married?
June 2009, in Brooklyn NY. I think I've mentioned it once or twice (eyeroll), but we're Chasidic Jews. So this was our Big Fat Chassidic Wedding.It was a crazy, but awesome day. :)
3. Favorite event in the Winter Olympics?
Hockey! When I was little I wanted to be the first female in the NHL. The fact that I'm a terrible ice skater apparently never hit me as being an issue.
4. Best thing about summer?
Uh, everything! Except the NYC humidity. Sunshine, ice cream, long dresses and skirts. We also go visit E's family lake cottage in Canada for about a week every summer, so that's always a big thing to look forward to.
5. Favorite TV series?
Past: Boy Meets World, Friends, Breaking Bad
Current: How I Met Your Mother (E is so much like Marshall it's scary), Downton Abbey, Parenthood, Homeland (I'm sure I'm forgetting something!)
6. Favorite music artist from the 70s?
Elton John. Billy Joel. Fleetwood Mac. The Eagles.
7. Favorite movie from the 1990s?
Notting Hill. Now and Then. Hmmm... I'm sure I could come up with 100 more.
8. Why do you blog?
I guess I was sick of posting my crafty things on Facebook... and I wanted to be able to document my adventures with the Low Amylose "diet". We were on a break from RE appts and medications and everything, trying to lose some weight and get healthier before starting up again, and I was hoping the blog would keep me on track. I don't think I blogged often enough for it to be helpful, but my blogging actually picked up a lot once we headed back to the RE this fall. I was feeling sick of talking about everything with friends who cared so so much but had no experience with infertility. It's such an enormous part of my life that takes up so much time, and I just needed an outlet. I never imagined I'd find such a community on here as I have. Thanks guys. :)
K so I guess my nominees will be (I'm notorious for forgetting important things, so please don't take it personally if I missed you!!):
Waiting For Baby Bird
The Ultimate Oxymoron
I Want Mac and Cheese
The Barren Librarian
Missing Noah
It Only Takes One
Sailing On Uncharted Waters
Infertile Girl in a Fertile World
I want to thank Plan Y for nominating me for the Liebster Award! I've seen other bloggers getting nominated for it and was shocked when I got to the bottom of her nomination post and saw our little blog's name there at the bottom. It really means a lot-- I've never gotten nominated for anything! :) The "rules" are to include the Liebster Award photo, link to the blog of the person who nominated you, answer the questions, and nominate a few other people. So here we go...
1. What is your middle name?
Jeanne, after my grandmother
2. When did you get married?
June 2009, in Brooklyn NY. I think I've mentioned it once or twice (eyeroll), but we're Chasidic Jews. So this was our Big Fat Chassidic Wedding.It was a crazy, but awesome day. :)
3. Favorite event in the Winter Olympics?
Hockey! When I was little I wanted to be the first female in the NHL. The fact that I'm a terrible ice skater apparently never hit me as being an issue.
4. Best thing about summer?
Uh, everything! Except the NYC humidity. Sunshine, ice cream, long dresses and skirts. We also go visit E's family lake cottage in Canada for about a week every summer, so that's always a big thing to look forward to.
5. Favorite TV series?
Past: Boy Meets World, Friends, Breaking Bad
Current: How I Met Your Mother (E is so much like Marshall it's scary), Downton Abbey, Parenthood, Homeland (I'm sure I'm forgetting something!)
6. Favorite music artist from the 70s?
Elton John. Billy Joel. Fleetwood Mac. The Eagles.
7. Favorite movie from the 1990s?
Notting Hill. Now and Then. Hmmm... I'm sure I could come up with 100 more.
8. Why do you blog?
I guess I was sick of posting my crafty things on Facebook... and I wanted to be able to document my adventures with the Low Amylose "diet". We were on a break from RE appts and medications and everything, trying to lose some weight and get healthier before starting up again, and I was hoping the blog would keep me on track. I don't think I blogged often enough for it to be helpful, but my blogging actually picked up a lot once we headed back to the RE this fall. I was feeling sick of talking about everything with friends who cared so so much but had no experience with infertility. It's such an enormous part of my life that takes up so much time, and I just needed an outlet. I never imagined I'd find such a community on here as I have. Thanks guys. :)
K so I guess my nominees will be (I'm notorious for forgetting important things, so please don't take it personally if I missed you!!):
Waiting For Baby Bird
The Ultimate Oxymoron
I Want Mac and Cheese
The Barren Librarian
Missing Noah
It Only Takes One
Sailing On Uncharted Waters
Infertile Girl in a Fertile World
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Weekly Update #1
How far along: 4 weeks
Size of baby: Poppy seed, eek!
Physical symptoms: Sore boobs, I guess bloating? But I hadn't been eating very well bc I was 100% expecting a negative pregnancy test, so it could just be leftover from that. Also pretty exhausted. No nausea yet!! My mom never had any morning sickness with my brother or me so... here's hoping!
Weight gain/loss: This is the verrrry beginning!
Maternity clothes: Definitely not yet!
Stretch marks: Nope
Sleep: I definitely have been peeing more often, so I've been waking up to do so once or twice. Which never, ever normally happens.
Best moment since last week: Uh, the positive pregnancy test phone call and the two positives on HPTs that I made E go out and buy afterwards. :)
Movement: Way too early.
Cravings/Aversions: Nope, but I have been ravenously hungry for the past few days.
Gender: Chinese gender predictor says boy... who knows!
Labor signs: Hopefully not for 8+months!
Belly button: Innie
What I miss: NOTHING!
What I am looking forward to: Our RE appt next Thursday.
Size of baby: Poppy seed, eek!
Physical symptoms: Sore boobs, I guess bloating? But I hadn't been eating very well bc I was 100% expecting a negative pregnancy test, so it could just be leftover from that. Also pretty exhausted. No nausea yet!! My mom never had any morning sickness with my brother or me so... here's hoping!
Weight gain/loss: This is the verrrry beginning!
Maternity clothes: Definitely not yet!
Stretch marks: Nope
Sleep: I definitely have been peeing more often, so I've been waking up to do so once or twice. Which never, ever normally happens.
Best moment since last week: Uh, the positive pregnancy test phone call and the two positives on HPTs that I made E go out and buy afterwards. :)
Movement: Way too early.
Cravings/Aversions: Nope, but I have been ravenously hungry for the past few days.
Gender: Chinese gender predictor says boy... who knows!
Labor signs: Hopefully not for 8+months!
Belly button: Innie
What I miss: NOTHING!
What I am looking forward to: Our RE appt next Thursday.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
IUI #2 Ramblings, part dos.
Heading out to my pregnancy text bloodwork. Via subway. In 17 degree weather. At 6:30am. After getting out of work after 11pm last night. Not my first choice out of all the activities I could be doing right now.
K so it is what it is. I'm not super optimistic about this one. I'm sporting some sentimental shirts this morning for "good luck"... The Red Sox t-shirt I wore to bed (don't judge lol) and my brother's high school football sweatshirt from last year. My parents moved to a different town over the summer so he doesn't feel comfortable wearing his old high school's logo anymore (MY old high school) so he let me have this one. It even has my maiden name embroidered on it. Like I said: sentimental! And you might be flipping, thinking, "Red Sox??? I thought she lived in Brooklyn???" And you'd be right, but I was born and raised in Mas.sachus.etts, so BOOM. That'll always be my "home" too.
I was 100% positive that I just deleted this whole post accidentally. Thank Gd I didn't.... Hope I didn't use up all of my luck on that. ;)
There is one thing that could work for or against us. Remember how our iui was on E's Jewish birthday (his birthday on the Hebrew calendar)? So it turns out that our pregnancy test is on a realllly special day for me on the Hebrew calendar. Normally is be excited because Kabbalah says your "mazel" (kind of like good luck) is increased on these days... But I feel like maybe it's just too much. It'd be too perfect. I think that's what's hanging over my head this morning.
Ok I'm getting on the subway now. Wish me luck!!! (The theme of the morning, apparently!)
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Worst Blogger Award
Ugh. I signed up for ICLW after debating it for a couple of months, and then I missed half of it. We're officially back from our mini trip and my sort-of high school reunion. It was awesome, maybe I'll write about it later. For now I'm just writing a quick update via my phone to let you know that I just commented 25x to make up for the 5 days of ICLW that I missed due to no internet on our trip (and now it's acting up at home! It's clearly me.) plus responding to comments on here. And I am officially exhausted and going to take a nap before my two friends who are staying here for a conference come "home". Today is 12dpIUI #2 btw. I'm getting nervoussss!
How has everyone been?? What'd I miss??
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
ICLW :)
Hey IComLeavWe'ers! This is actually my first time participating. And I picked the most hectic time ever since we're going out of town tomorrow. Well, hopefully. There's currently a foot of snow being deposited outside and Polar Vortex temperatures, round 2. Wish us (and our house sitter!) luck.
I thought I would introduce myself a little for anyone visiting for the first time. I'm T, married to E and trying to conceive since 2009, with a 13 month break from doctors thrown in there. We live in Brooklyn and I spend my time working with women with special needs and turning our 800 sq ft apartment into a Pinterest Palace. So I post some of those creative endeavors.
I have PCOS. Always have. My cycles are non existant. I've literally had two periods since last March. Last April (during our break from RE appts), I started the low amylose "diet", and have pretty much stuck to it ever since (I wrote allllll about it here). Not to sound like an infomercial, but after we got married I gained a bunch of weight and I tried eve.ry.thing to lose it, but I actually kept gaining. I was counting calories and literally sticking to 1200 calories a day (and starrrrving) and would actually GAIN weight. Even while taking Metformin. It was insane. When I heard about low amylose, I was at my wits end and jumped at the opportunity to stop counting calories. Basically, the idea is that people with PCOS have a very hard time with amylose (a sugar) so... we should avoid it. Amylose is found in root vegetables, grains, bananas, sugar, etc. You can google it. It's a real thing. The point is, I started avoiding those foods, but eating as much of the allowed foods as I wanted, and not only was I no longer starving but I actually lost 30lbs! Hurray. :) I post a lot of LA recipes that I've tried out and enjoyed.
I also obviously write about our journey to conceive. It's been a tough road. We're currently in the 2ww of IUI #2. Our RE wants us to jump to IVF since we've done about a million clomid + timed intercourse cycles but we've decided to hold off until after, Gd forbid, 3 failed IUIs. E is in the middle of a doctorate program, so money's tight, yo.
Ok I need to run and pack for our trip tomorrow (wishful thinking?) but if you have any questions, shoot them my way! Thanks for stopping by :)
I thought I would introduce myself a little for anyone visiting for the first time. I'm T, married to E and trying to conceive since 2009, with a 13 month break from doctors thrown in there. We live in Brooklyn and I spend my time working with women with special needs and turning our 800 sq ft apartment into a Pinterest Palace. So I post some of those creative endeavors.
I have PCOS. Always have. My cycles are non existant. I've literally had two periods since last March. Last April (during our break from RE appts), I started the low amylose "diet", and have pretty much stuck to it ever since (I wrote allllll about it here). Not to sound like an infomercial, but after we got married I gained a bunch of weight and I tried eve.ry.thing to lose it, but I actually kept gaining. I was counting calories and literally sticking to 1200 calories a day (and starrrrving) and would actually GAIN weight. Even while taking Metformin. It was insane. When I heard about low amylose, I was at my wits end and jumped at the opportunity to stop counting calories. Basically, the idea is that people with PCOS have a very hard time with amylose (a sugar) so... we should avoid it. Amylose is found in root vegetables, grains, bananas, sugar, etc. You can google it. It's a real thing. The point is, I started avoiding those foods, but eating as much of the allowed foods as I wanted, and not only was I no longer starving but I actually lost 30lbs! Hurray. :) I post a lot of LA recipes that I've tried out and enjoyed.
I also obviously write about our journey to conceive. It's been a tough road. We're currently in the 2ww of IUI #2. Our RE wants us to jump to IVF since we've done about a million clomid + timed intercourse cycles but we've decided to hold off until after, Gd forbid, 3 failed IUIs. E is in the middle of a doctorate program, so money's tight, yo.
Ok I need to run and pack for our trip tomorrow (wishful thinking?) but if you have any questions, shoot them my way! Thanks for stopping by :)
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