The Latest and Greatest in our World

I know I rarely get time to post here, but I did want to follow up and tell you what's going on in our lives at the moment. We're back from our cruise and just dealing with the rest of the winter season as we hope to see spring soon. (Oh we so hope!)

Cruise
We had a really enjoyable holiday. The big surprise was that my parents showed up to surprise us! They were at the hotel when we arrived in Miami and they were booked to go on the cruise with us.

Mom and Dad with Petite

In Miami, we did some shopping (Dolphin Mall) and went to eat at a couple of spots. We were looking forward to The Outback but we didn't have a good meal there, unfortunately. However a meal at a mom-and-pop Italian spot across from the hotel was to die for! Yum!

On February 4, we boarded the Carnival Victory (thank goodness it wasn't the Triumph! Yikes!) and that evening, we set sail from Miami en route to Nassau.

On deck for sailaway, you can see the slide, sunning areas,
and the big screen that played shows and movies all through the trip. 

Miami as we set sail.

February 5, Nassau -- We spent the day at the Atlantis Resort. WOW!

Atlantis as seen from the ship while we are docking.

Petite enjoying Atlantis.

No fear!

One of the many slides in Atlantis.

I'd love to go back there when Petite is older so we can all enjoy more of the rides!

February 6, Half Moon Cay (Carnival's and Holland America's private island)

K&K at the entrance to Half Moon Cay

Petite and her big brother; we had rented this cabana for the day and it was absolutely lovely! 

The Carnival Victory as seen from our cabana.

The kids on the beach; a sand castle takes shape.

February 7, Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos -- the adults had booked a snorkelling expedition through a private company

Hubby on board one of the skiffs from Blue Water Divers; en route to our snorkelling sites. 

Me and K snorkelling (thanks to Chris from Blue Water Divers for taking this photo!). If you are in Grand Turk,
Blue Water Divers is THE place to go for private dives and snorkelling expeditions. 

The sea floor as seen from about 12 feet above. 

A very good shot of "The Wall" in Grand Turk; the sea floor drops from about 30 feet to over 7000 feet!
This is an example of how quickly the dropoff can occur! 

February 8, at sea

Petite hugs one of the decorative octopi on board. 

Lady Liberty! By the end of the cruise, Petite was handing napkins to every server in sight and saying,
"Make something please!" It was pretty funny. They all adored her though. 

On Saturday, February 9, we disembarked at Miami and after seeing Mom and Dad off at the airport, we headed to our hotel for one day. We got settled in and we were all pretty tired so just took it easy for the day. We were up bright and early on Sunday, February 10 to fly home and we made it home by about 8 p.m. Back to the snow and cold... brr.

A HUGE shout-out and thank-you to our neighbours, M&M across the street, who graciously agreed to take care of our elderly cats while we were away. They're the most incredible people and we DO have a little something for you both for your kindness. Thank you both.


Work
There is movement afoot to attempt to retain me at my current location, which is spectacular. I love the more hands-on work that I do, in the technical side of the house. And the guys that I work with are wonderful. We have a new manager as of January and he's been quite fantastic as well. All in all, it's a good turn of events. We shall see how it all pans out. Oh I'm still looking for a job at home in NL; however, everything that suits me is restricted to those who are already in the area or employed by a specific organization AND living in the area. Ugh. Thus my options are extremely limited.

Milestones!
Petite is officially a 'big girl'! She put all her soothies and her soothie clips under her pillow the other day and was rewarded handsomely! The Soothie Fairy came to take her soothies and bring them to babies who need them, and she left Petite exactly what she had asked for... a teddy bear. My little girl is growing up before my eyes. It's wonderful.

Petite with her "Woobie," the bear the Soothie Fairy left for her! 

Next Steps

And I've undertaken my next rather MASSIVE goal. More to come on this in future posts. Suffice it to say, it involves big changes and I've spoken to my GP who is definitely on board. With luck, I will clear all the hurdles on my way towards achieving this one. I'm stubborn, so I think I can hang in there! 

Love to all in blogland!

Post-Appointment Details

Sorry I haven't posted; it's been a little crazy at our house this week, what with the lack of sleep on Petite's behalf, trying to get my Christmas cards out the door (God I'm slackin; I usually have those done by the first weekend in December!), cleaning in preparation for my parents' arrival tomorrow afternoon for the holidays, shopping, other appointments, etc. Anyway, here's the scoop on how things went in Montreal.

We first saw Dr. Tan's fellow -- a lovely woman -- who took down many of our details and went over our latest round of bloodwork and testing. She expressed concern about the thickness of my endometrium on CD4 (just over 10... far too high really), and concern about the cyst, and concern about the heavy bleeding I've been experiencing.

She indicated that a functional cyst, even if removed, will return in most cases. Thus if birth control pills won't get rid of it, and if it doesn't disappear between now and our IVF cycle, they'll aspirate like they did before.

She was worried about the endometrium. As she told us, women who have PCOS are usually prone to developing hyperplasia (the growth rate of endometrial cells is quite rapid) and if left unchecked or treated, it CAN develop into something serious (aka cancer). However, if checked and treated, all it may need is medication to control it. And if it isn't hyperplasia, it wouldn't need anything at all of course. To be certain, she recommended an endometrial biopsy, so she booked that for the same day, right after our appointment with Dr. Tan.

Next up, we saw Dr. Tan. First we went over our results from our first (and only to date) IVF. He was pleased, of course. Then we talked about my LH and FSH (both quite good). We talked about the cyst. We talked about the heavy bleeding and endometrial lining. He recommended that I continue with the Provera that my Ottawa-based RE prescribed as that can help thin out a thick lining and may help the cyst issue. Next, he wondered about my HbA1c. That's a test that measures glucose levels over a period of weeks/months. While my fasting glucose is fine, he wants to check the long-term stuff to ensure I'm not diabetic or borderline. I doubt that I am and I'm not worried. So I'll get that bloodwork done in the next week or two. After that, Dr. Tan looked at my last results with the menopur. Back in the fall of 2008, I was taking 225 IUs. He said that given my age and the previous results, he'd recommend bumping it to 300 IUs for the next IVF. He said that they would follow the same protocol, doing ICSI and assisted hatching and graciously, he's going to allow me a general anaesthetic as well, which is something they usually don't do and of course, isn't normal for their Quebec patients who receive federal funding for IVF. Like I said to the fellow, I'm paying for this out of pocket. If I want general for the retrieval, I'll get it or I guess I'll go somewhere else. Dr. Tan was happy to let me have a general if needed. I think it'd be better for everyone if we do it that way! Though, I might try to push through and just have the twilight stuff. We'll see as time goes on. We aren't doing this tomorrow, after all. Through the appointment, I was comfortable referring to various blood tests, and other medical terminology of course. He stopped and looked at me, "Are you a nurse?" I laughed. "No, but I've been dealing with infertility for a very long time. I know what I'm talking about, and now I'm an advocate for infertiles and for obtaining funding for Canadians." He was pleased by this as he still can't understand why one province or two might give preferential treatment based on residency. It's discriminatory and as he said, it's time to change that.

So after the details were decided, we moved out of the consultation room and after a short wait, we popped over to an exam room to do the endometrial biopsy. (NOTE: Gentlemen, you might like to skip this paragraph.) For those who haven't had the pleasure (I jest of course!) of an endometrial biopsy, the procedure is fairly simple. Assume the, now familiar, position. And lady, dear mother of all that is holy, when I tell you that you'll need a long speculum, get a long speculum, willya? Don't make me suffer through a few attempts with a less-than adequate device that just friggin' WON'T reach my cervix, m'kay? When you get the right length, then we can proceed. *waits patiently* Got it? Good. Let's get on with this, shall we? Then with the speculum inserted, she took a long (more than a foot and half I'd estimate) straw-like, flexible, thin catheter-type thing, inserted it past the cervix, into the uterus and with a few pokes and pinches, withdrew endometrial lining (deep red in colour) and pushed the material out of the straw into a specimen jar with fluid inside. She did this entire procedure twice, pulling bits of lining from a few areas inside the uterus, deposited it into the jar, closed the cover, and shook the jar to mix thoroughly. And off to the lab it went: results will be expected in 2 weeks to 2 months. And she prescribed an antibiotic (doxycycline) to ward off infection that might occur post-procedure.

Next up, we got an appointment for hubby with the urologist who did his PESA a few years ago. Dr. Chan went over hubby's results from last time, examined him quickly and proclaimed that he'd use the same procedure, extracting sperm samples from two sites on Hubby's left testicle), and he expects the same results. Just in case, we still have a vial of donor sperm on ice at the hospital. We could use it if needed, but Dr. Chan and Dr. Tan expect we won't need it. And right on the spot, hubby and the doctor signed the consent forms. All done! Whew!

That was it for the bulk of the appointment. We now wait for the biopsy results. When they come back, we are to call Dr. Tan directly and he'll set up the next steps for us. He was quite happy to be able to do that for us and he expects good things from our next IVF as well. I'm glad he's optimistic. Truth be told, I'm optimistic too, but God, I'm so afraid to be! This whole 'trying again' thing has me sorta tied up in knots. I'm terrified of failure after such a good result the first time. And we don't have the money to fund more than one try this time either. So I have to temper my hopeful thoughts a little and realize that we may not get this lucky second time around. One step at a time, right?

On Tuesday, after we'd arrived back in Ottawa, I called my RE here to get the requisition for the bloodwork (HbA1c) and to check on the prescription for Provera and when I need to take it (CD 12-25). They were happy to know about the biopsy as well. I'll make sure they get results too.

There you go. Now we wait, I get my bloodwork done and fill my Provera prescription. And with luck, we can get the ball rolling in a few months.

In the meantime, oh God, if anyone has ideas about how to get a toddler to stay asleep in her bed overnight, let me know?! We're EXHAUSTED! Hubby is doing final exams this week so he'll get a bit of a break after this. But right now, we're stumbling through our days. The other morning, I fell asleep at a stoplight on my way to work! The car behind me honked and I came to my senses. I need more than the few hours of sleep I'm getting. Gotta fix this.

The other day, Hubby was doing Petite's bedtime routine with her, and he said, "Go give Mama a kiss," and she did. She walked right over to me, threw her arms around my neck, snuggled in close and then backed off my shoulder a bit, tilted her head up and brought her lips in to give me a sweet, little open-mouthed kiss. I almost cried. Seriously.

A milestone: I've booked Petite's "first haircut" for this coming Saturday, December 18. Two years to the day that we got our BFP. And my angel is about to have her hair trimmed. I can't really put it off any longer; I won't have my daughter going on vacation with a mullet! LOL

Love to all in Blogland. Still reading your blogs, but I find it harder to comment lately. Again, the "need more time" thing is coming into play. But I am reading! Promise.

If it isn't one thing...

It's been an eventful few days (what else is new??!!) at our house. My mom and aunt are visiting and we've been terribly busy since their arrival last Thursday evening.

Today, Hubby, Petite and I have vacated the premises so the two of them can cook. Their hope is to fill my freezer so we can have meals stocked up for awhile. I guarantee, they've certainly done that! When I got a look at all the codfish they'd brought from home I first wondered what the heck we're going to do with it all, and then I wondered, "Whatever we do with it... where are we going to PUT it when it's done?!" I think I need a bigger freezer! A shout out to our neighbors (M&M) across the street who were happy to take some of the cod home to their house to make a meal or two.

We went with our friends K&K and Hubby's kids out to Saunders Farm again this year for the annual haunted stuffs. The kids love it and Petite had a blast! She just wanted to roam around and play with the pumpkins. Next year she'll be old enough and big enough to go into the Farm during the daylight hours and do a corn maze or two with us, play on the kids' play structures, and have a snack. It'll be lots of fun. Even this year was fun. We got some wonderful photos.

I recently joined the choir at our church. I love to sing. I sing to Petite all the time; she's trying to hum/sing along with me lately. It's been a lot of fun getting back into choir activities. I enjoy learning new music. Coming in the fall, the choir takes part in an annual gathering of choirs and we all come together to sing a few Christmas hymns/carols in unison at a public event. Should be fun. Now to master the soprano parts of Handel's The Messiah before Christmas! Wish me luck. I'm definitely going to need it. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!

But the thing uppermost in my mind right now is this:

My almost-14-month old daughter has figured out how to climb out of her crib.

O.M.G.

You've gotta be kidding me. I figured she'd be in the crib til at least 18 months. Maybe a little longer. At this rate, we'll have to look at the whole toddler bed thing VERY soon. Along with putting down the kid-friendly, interlocking foam squares on her floor just in case.

We have a toddler bed; we've got a toddler rail that you just switch out with one side of the crib. I purchased it with the crib before Petite's arrival. I suppose I didn't expect we'd need to consider actually installing that rail quite yet. For the moment, Hubby has repositioned the crib mattress to its lowest setting, and while she can swing her leg up to the top of the crib rail, she's not quite tall enough to get the leverage to get out. When she grows another inch or two, we're so screwed.

SOOOOO screwed.

Serenity, I can relate to your post Uh-oh. While we're not quite that far along yet, it seems like it's coming at a breakneck pace!