Getting Sick While P/G Ain't All It's Cracked Up To Be (31w 3 d)

I was right... that cold manifested itself in spades, lemme tell ya! It started off as just a cold, then moved to my sinuses where it embedded itself nicely, and then proceeded to wreak havoc on my eyes as pinkeye. Nice huh? Usually for a sinus infection I'd grab the Nasonex. But as I'm expecting, no can do. Similarly for the pinkeye. I had to resort to saline rinses for my sinuses, over-the-counter polysporin antibiotic drops for the pinkeye and zinc/echinacea and the occasional Halls for the cold. All washed down with oodles and oodles of orange juice. Oh it's been a fun week in our house! I left work last Wednesday afternoon and I never went out of the house til I got in the car on Tuesday this week to go back to work. Thrilling indeed.

On Wednesday, I had a bit of a scare. On my way to work, I'm driving along in rush hour traffic on a four-lane major road when I see the car in front of me swerve to go around this rather large grey lump in the middle of the road. I swerve too, slowing down to see what it is. Imagine my shock and dismay to see a turtle (tortoise? I don't purport to know the difference) upside down, flailing legs trying to turn over! I couldn't believe it. Mind you, there is a major river just a little bit away from that road, so frequently you get ducks, or other animal life crossing the road to get to the river. I had just been thinking that I hadn't seen any ducks this year when this turtle is virtually right in front of me!

Keeping an eye on the cars behind me, I slowed down, pulled to the side a few hundred feet down the road, and carefully got out of my car to go back to save this poor thing. By the time I got there, the turtle was right side up and none too happy. I'd venture to say it was a good foot or foot and a half across, and it was clearly in pain. Legs, tail and head seemed fine, but the top of the shell was badly, badly broken. There was mucus and blood in the open wound and I almost cried, seeing this poor animal in such distress. I think it might have been a snapping turtle (lots of those around here and plenty in the river of that size) but I did manage to position myself behind it, gently lifted it a foot or two up in the air and carried it to the grass on the side of the road. There was a driver who kindly stopped to let me do this, and he held up traffic behind him so I could get this poor animal to safety. Then I hopped over the barrier and picked up the turtle again, and put it in the shade of the overpass above the road as the day promised to be hellishly hot.

I went back to my car, wiped the blood from my hands with a tissue and carried on to work. Upon arrival at the office, I searched the Net looking for a number for injured wildlife rescue in my city and I called to report it. They hoped to go find the turtle and take it to a sanctuary where it could possibly be rehabilitated. All day on Wednesday, I worried and wondered about that animal, but you know, I couldn't call them back to find out if they'd located it. If they did, superb. If they didn't... I can't change that outcome. I did the absolute best I could. If I hadn't stopped, that animal would have died within 5 or 10 minutes of my passing by. I truly believe that. Hopefully it has a chance. But my heart can't bear to know for certain if it doesn't.

Anyway, that start to the day on Wednesday left me stressing a bit and Petit wouldn't cooperate at al. I barely felt the baby all day so Wednesday evening, I insisted that we find the doppler and listen for awhile. All was good and I knew I could relax. Whew.

Today, I had an OB appointment. At 31 weeks 3 days, here's the latest:

• Petit is growing like a weed. I'm measuring 36 weeks but that's normal for me; I'm usually 5-7 weeks ahead in measurement, given that I carry extra pounds.
• Petit's heartbeat is in the 140s and going strong.
• I have a little protein in my urine, and they attributed that to the infections I'm semi-still battling this week.
• My blood pressure is 138/78; perfectly normal for me.
• I picked up the OB admission papers for the hospital; I need to drop them off sometime in the next week or two.
• I was urged to get my butt to L&D next time I'm concerned at all about Petit's movements. The nurse told me that is the third most frequent reason for patients to show up at L&D... number 1 being active labour, number 2 being water breaking. But they know how much hearing Petit on the monitor would reassure so I was encouraged to go ahead next time there's any doubt in my mind. I'm glad she reassured me that way.

My next appointment is in two weeks when we get a measurement ultrasound and another appointment with my regular OB.

Dawn... and to all of the rest of you who've already travelled this path:
I'm getting things together to pack a bag or two for the hospital. What did you pack that you didn't need? And what did you wish you had with you but didn't pack? Fill me in. Help me out folks. I'm a total newb at this and I'm still in total disbelief that we've made it this far.

I'm Still Processing All This... 12 Weeks Tomorrow

While there is really nothing going on, I sat down to sort of make a quick list of things I could fill you guys in on, and look! There’s all kinds of things to tell you about!

A quick update on Petit; I went for part 1 of the IPS last Friday and unfortunately Petit was too petit! You need a minimum of 4.5 cms and Petit measured 4.3 cms so I have another appointment later this week. Not to worry; everything is okay and I’ll be able to get the first part of the IPS done on Friday if all goes well.

On the symptom front, in the past week, I’m finding my teeth are super sensitive now. I don’t gag or anything (as I know some women do when they brush their teeth) but I feel my gums are just hyper sensitive to the touch and rubbing the toothbrush over them repeatedly has got to be akin to water.boarding! Bugger me! But there’s nothing I hate more than bad breath or feeling that my teeth aren’t cleaned, so I wince and bear it.

On the whole, the nausea seems to be subsiding. I rarely get up and think, “Oh dear Lord, let me puke now to get this outta my system!” But lemme tell ya, there are days when I sure wish I could! I’ve not had the pleasure of actually tossing my cookies during this pregnancy (knock on wood), but the waves of nausea making me wish that I COULD toss my cookies are frequent! Now, most days are pretty good, but once in awhile, ugh! I wish I could just get rid of the icky feeling.

And what the heck is up with my face!? This morning, I awoke with tiny red spots on my right cheek. On first glance in the mirror, I thought it looked like acne, but when I touched my skin, it was as smooth as always. Broken capillaries maybe? I dunno. The old wives’ tale about having a bad complexion during pregnancy means you are having a girl came to mind… but I don’t really believe in that, to be honest. I’m not sure what it is, but it is fading as the day progresses. Whew.
And looking in that same mirror this morning, I see grey hair peeking through. Horrid stuff! I’m on the verge of needing to colour my hair yet again and I’ll have to seek out a semi-permanent with no ammonia that is safe for me to use. I refuse to go through pregnancy with grey hair; not when there ARE solutions that work! Thank heavens for small favours!

I’m finding that my ‘girls’ are feeling tighter in my bra too and downright itchy! Eeek! Now, fair enough, with the harsh winters we have, my skin tends to be on the dry side at this time of year anyway. But no amount of moisturizer seems to give me relief right now! Hubby figures they’re stretching and growing and he might be right. Time to invest in a new bra and/or some other brand of moisturizing lotion to help I think.

One thing that has not been good to me during this pregnancy (TMI incoming… you’ve been warned!) my bowels! Dear Lord deliver me! I beg! The old standbys of increasing water intake and ensuring you get enough fibre in your diet are just NOT working! Honest. I must eat my weight in veggies and fruits (with legumes thrown in for good measure) every single day, but oh my heavens, nothing but continued use of a little docusate is helping me keep things moving at the moment. It’s not pretty. I’ve heard that giving birth is much like having the largest bowel movement in your life. I gotta say, if that’s the case, then I’ve had sufficient practice in the last two weeks! NO JOKE!

Tomorrow, I hit the 12-week mark and technically that’s three months, but of course, I’ll be into my second trimester sometime next week, knowing that the average pregnancy is 40 weeks long. Still, it sort of feels like a milestone and I am grateful to get this far. By now, a number of my co-workers already know and there are only a few pertinent people left to tell I think. Everyone seems so happy for us; I wish I could get to that point myself and enjoy whatever time I get, and just give in to “Hope” for a little while that everything will work out. You know? I wish I was normal in that respect. It’s hard though. I’m sort of letting everyone else carry that hope for me at the moment. They’re doing a great job though! I did go so far as to buy a pregnancy journal to write down some thoughts and things. I remember in my 20s, going through some musings, old cards and things that people had given my mom when she was pregnant with me. I want to give that to my baby too, and I want it as a record for myself as well. I told my best friend Mike that I was doing that, and his reply was “How eccentric! Hand written!” He’s right too. I want more than an electronic version of my pregnancy to give to my child. A shame that not many people do that anymore. There’s a question for you: Do you? Did you? Do you have any hand written notes, items, books, thoughts, whatever… that you are keeping for your baby? Something that isn’t electronic? I’m curious. Tell me what you think.

I have started peeking at the features on cribs, play yards, strollers, etc. and making some decisions on the things and styles we’ll be looking for when the time comes. There’s so much out there to choose from! What a vast array of items for infants! It’s incredible. I’m sort of hoping to go shopping with my mom and my sister for a few things; it may be the only time we get to do this so I want to make the most of it. Besides, their input is welcome and wanted, even though final decisions obviously rest with me and hubby.

Speaking about input, I’ve looked to my family (and hubby’s) for lists of names as we want to give due consideration to all family names available, plus the few names that we have chosen ourselves that do not belong to family members. I told my mom last week that we aren’t going to reveal the names we’ve picked until the baby is born, nor are we going to find out the sex of the baby before birth. My mom was totally aghast, “What? You mean I don’t even get to hear the names you’ve picked?! But what if I don’t like them!?” Um… sorry Mom; you had your shot with me and my sister. Now it’s our turn. If you don’t like the names, c’est la vie. But that’s the way it is and we want it this way. Go with it.
You can relax though; I guarantee you will like the names. Promise. Trust me on this one. Please?

I’ve booked a flight to go home in early April; I’ll be about 19/20 weeks while I’m there. And I believe Mom’s sort of hoping to organize a little get-together (aka ‘shower’) for the few friends and friends of the family that I still know back home. One of these people is a girlfriend of my sister’s, who has been struggling with infertility for years now. I’m not entirely sure what treatments she and her husband have pursued, but I know they’ve been approved to adopt from China and they expect a baby in 2010 or 2011. It’s tough for anyone back at home, because there is no facility in the province to help infertile couples; you have to fly to Nova Scotia (at least!) for treatments and that’s a heckuva burden to bear on top of infertility. Anyway, I know that my sis told her that I am pregnant, and of course, being so close to our family, we’ll certainly invite her to any prospective ‘shower’ type event (Dear Lord, no silly games. Please. I beg.) It’s so important for me to let her know though that I understand COMPLETELY if she would prefer not to attend and that even if she intends to come and replies to the invitation stating so, that if she changes her mind at the very last second, I GET IT. I wouldn’t wish that sort of pain and grief on anyone, knowing what I’ve had to do in the past five years to protect myself on occasion. So I need her to know that it’s okay. We love her and it’d be sweet to see her there, but if she can’t do it, that’s okay. I'm probably one of the very few that understands what that can be like.

I talked to my aunt on the phone the other day; I asked what she was doing. She replied, “Sewing. Hand sewing.” (She was a professional seamstress/tailor before she retired and the woman can make anything, I’m convinced!) I asked, “Oh, what’re you sewing?” “I can’t tell you,” came the reply. I gave a little grin. I hope it’s a baby quilt; she’s always done baby quilts for anyone we know who is having a baby. I’m just hoping against hope that I’ll get one too for Petit.

Things at work are settling down. There’s an old Japanese saying that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down. Right now, we’re all trying to keep our heads down so we don’t get the hammer. It’s tense, to be sure. And each week that goes by, I say to myself, “One more week closer to maternity leave,” as if that’s my saving grace. I know it’s not, but still. Some days, it’s the best way to get through the day, you know?

I’m still playing EverQuestII and loving it, but there are some days that my nausea just won’t let me sit in front of the computer screen and look at particles, moving characters, dynamic mobs and all the rest. I know my sister-in-law (who gave birth just after Christmas) had to stop getting on the computer altogether for her first few months of her pregnancy because of her morning sickness! So far, I’ve avoided that, but I am being careful, because there is the odd night when the thought of logging in game turns my stomach! And NOT because I hate the game.

Good news from Canada’s capital though: the bus strike over! We’re still figuring out the logistics because hubby’s bus still isn’t running (not til mid-March apparently, and some buses won’t get back til mid-April!) but for now, we’re trying a few different things so that I am not doing the commute from hell anymore. That’s a huge relief. First time in 62 days that I’ve been at work before 7:15 and I LOVE it. Whew. I might actually get back to the gym!!!

The sun is getting warmer, the snowpack on my lawn seems to be melting a bit and I have daydreams of swimming in my pool again before Petit arrives. I know that winter isn’t over yet and we’re sure to get a snowstorm or two for good measure as the season winds down and spring begins to grace our corner of the world. Still though, it’s nice to hope that it isn’t too far off. In the meantime, I’m thinking of the poor souls in Australia who are succumbing to the extreme heat there right now and I wish there was something I could do. My heart goes out to them.

My heart goes out to my hubby too. He’s been so good to me during this pregnancy. He’s made sure I don’t do any shoveling, or heavy lifting. He takes care to do my injections on time (I’ve decided to do the PIO every two days now). He makes the greatest meals and makes sure I’m comfortable. I love him so much. Last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I opened my eyes and looked up at my husband as he was reading in bed. I remember reaching out to touch his arm and I murmured, “I love you. You’re going to be a great Dad.” I have total faith that I’m right on that one; he’s going to be the most amazing Dad. And I can’t wait to see it.

Onward and Upward!

Well... it's graduation day. Talk about a scary prospect, huh? We're officially done with the RE; today was my last appointment there and tomorrow is my first appointment with a regular OB. I'm terrified. No longer will I be handled with kid gloves. No longer will I get to check on Petit on demand. No longer will I have the weekly contact with the support network at that office, although they all made sure that hubby and I know that we can call on them at ANY point during this pregnancy, even if we are dissatisfied with how things progress with the new doc.

I know that it's good to graduate, but heavens, it's a little daunting. I've always said that I know how to handle infertility, but now that I'm pregnant (but certainly not fertile!), I'm sort of lost! I've begun reading a few books and apparently a few co-workers who know have started a pool as to whether I'll be having a boy or a girl! A little premature huh for someone who's just over 11 weeks!

So the stats from today:
My blood pressure was superb at 128/80.
I've lost 1.5 pounds over the last two weeks. (YAY!)
Petit's heart rate measured 168 beats per minute. Right on track.
Petit's crown to rump length is 4.08 cms. Exactly right.
Petit's gestational age is 10 weeks and 6 days. (+/- 5 days) Thus... perfect!
The placenta seems "well established" and situated on the anterior wall which the doctor says is great. He thought that I might be able to cut down or stop the PIO injections but I'd rather finish the prescription. I might start doing the injections every two days as of 12 weeks or so, to slowly wean me off them. That might be the way to go.

And Petit is a wiggler! We saw arms and legs moving all around today; it was tough to isolate a heartbeat because of all the movin' and shakin' going on in there! Amazing to watch, that's for sure. Incredible. Nothing short of incredible to me. See for yourself! Once again, hubby is a budding filmmaker. For your viewing pleasure, today's video from the ultrasound! And yes, that's my voice saying, "Kicking??"



To celebrate, I picked up an English Toffee flavoured coffee today; my first since early November! I savoured every last drop, believe me!

Would it shock you if I told you that I peeked at Babies R Us yesterday? I had an hour to kill before heading from my office to the downtown core to meet some good friends for dinner. So I stopped at Babies R Us and poked around. I confess, I ooohed and aaahed over the beautiful items. It's so nice to fantasize. I had to give a giggle; I gave my family the update from the appointment today and one of my aunts wrote back to me saying, "So when can I start to buy some stuff for Petit!?!?" God love my family; I think they're getting excited too!

One more thing of note: I spent a bit of time during my lunch hour being interviewed to contribute to the Expert Panel appointed by the provincial government to study Infertility and Adoption in the province of Ontario. Approximately 100 people were chosen to be interviewed; I feel I am blessed to explain why I feel infertility should no longer be a taboo subject in our society and why the powers-that-be ought to look at the financial costs, possible regulation of the industry and options involved in aiding the population of Ontario (and Canada in general) when it comes to assisted reproductive technologies (ART). We'll see where it goes... but I'm remaining hopeful. To the best of my knowledge, the province of Quebec is on the verge of offering financial assistance/insurance to residents for ART (depending on the circumstances) and if one province offers this type of aid, so too should all the others and insurance companies will be obligated to provide some funding as doing otherwise would be discriminatory.


Hey Gil, what's up with your Ticker Troubles?
For those who've been keeping an eye on the pregnancy ticker at the top of the page, I've just changed it. Why you ask? Well, here's the deal:

Health care professionals have a variety of ways that they estimate due dates. When you do IVF, there are three dates to consider.
- the date of your last menstrual period (LMP); normal pregnancies usually only have this date to work with as the exact date of ovulation/conception wouldn't be known
- the date of your egg retrieval (or ovulation date)
- the date of your embryo transfer

Obviously these dates vary, and thus, so too do the estimated due dates. So according to which method they use, I've had THREE various dates given to me as estimated due dates!

Going by my LMP, my due date is August 22.
Going by my egg retrieval, my due date is August 25.
Going by my embryo transfer, my due date is August 28.

I tend to give more credit to the egg retrieval date; my LMP was deliberately modified with BCPs and why on earth would the transfer date come into play at all? I'm curious about that; I mean, some people have 2 day transfers, some have 3-day transfers, others have 4- or 5-day transfers! What would that matter because the embryo was conceived on the retrieval date (or thereabouts) so I'm very confused about calculating by the transfer date!

Anyway, I've changed my ticker accordingly. And by my calculations, Vee dear, that means you and I are due on the same date! Gotta love the cycle sistas!

Congrats to...
Crossing my fingers that J.J. at Reproductive Jeans had a great day today and that her c-section went well with beautiful little Ron being welcomed into the world!

And best wishes to my RL friends, T and M in Montréal! After 16 hours of labour, T gave birth to their first child, a baby boy! *throws confetti* YAY!!! He was born on Tuesday, February 3 at 18:46, weighing 6.2 lbs and measuring 19.2 inches. Congratulations to them both!