Life Began

Nadia's life began one year ago! Most people can't be totally sure of the exact date of conception, but when life begins in a petri dish that's a different story! :-) August 1, 2007 was the date of my egg retrieval. I had at least 30 follicles that were deemed by ultrasound to be "mature." However a few of these proved to be empty, and a couple were too dangerous to reach. Twenty-six eggs were retrieved, and they tried to fertilize eighteen of those by ICSI. Seven fertilized, and Nadia was one of those seven! The egg retrieval was excruciating. I remember wondering last year how it compared to labor. Well I can answer that now. I would say the intensity of the pain was the greatest during the ER. I couldn't believe it when the nurse pointed the needle out to me on the ultrasound screen. I could feel it! I didn't need to see it! However labor was harder altogether since it lasted far longer. I threw up and passed out every time I tried to get vertical for 6 hours after the ER. Thankfully they let me be wheeled to the car in a wheelchair or I would have been admitted to the hospital. However the recovery from that was much quicker than from L & D. The contractions didn't bother me TOO much the first six hours. They weren't pleasant, but the main reason they were bothersome is I was tired and wanted to sleep! The hardest part of labor for me was from when I reached 8cm until they let me start pushing (which was about 8 hours) and then again at the end when they told me to stop pushing (while preparing for the c/s). The nurse made a comment while I was pushing about how this began with pleasure but getting her out is painful. Paul told the nurse that Nadia was from a FET and then the nurse acknowledged the beginning was also painful in my case. I have to say though our sweet little girl was worth it all!!!! I am sooooooooo thankful God allowed this little miracle's life to begin 1 year ago!!!!!!!!!!

Nadia gets to see Grandma Harton again and meet Grandpa Harton & Uncle Maurice for the first time this evening. Yahooooo! My brother really wants to see the deer and turkey that we often see in our yard. I hope the wild animals cooperate so that he can see them tonight or tomorrow morning! We saw ahen & more than 10 baby turkeys yesterday on more than one occasion so hopefully they'll show up again while he's looking. :-)

Nadia had her first GOOD night of sleep in a few days. WOOHOO! She slept about 9 hours over a 12 hour period, and I slept about 8 hours without needing any help from Daddy. She finally had another 4 hour stretch of sleep. I can't wait until it becomes the norm for her to have at least one 4 hour stretch every night (or maybe even longer!). Of course we probably won't put her down at 7:30pm tonight in light of the company coming about that time! :-)