One Year Ago

November 1, 2007 was the day my little sweetheart was thawed (went from negative 196 degrees Celsius to room temperature), put in a few different solutions to remove the cryoprotectant, warmed to body temperature, put in a culture medium, and finally sent through a catheter into her Mommy's womb. What a miracle!!! As I've said before, it's actually more than I can really wrap my brain around. It seems a little too much like science fiction for me, but that's okay. I don't need to understand it!!! I am just thrilled that God enabled her to survive the thawing process, implant into my uterus, and grow, grow, grow! Most places list the success rate of FET as 15-20% and that's when multiple embryos are transferred. She was our only one to make it to the freezing stage so this again shows what a miracle it was to give birth 7+ months later.

A couple of weeks ago I read about a BFP announcement from someone who was on bcp (and didn't miss any pills). In general, bfps have been much less painful for me than they were before Nadia came into our lives, but I have to admit there was still a bit of an OUCH with this one in light of the fact that they were trying NOT to have another baby quite yet (they have a daughter who is about 18 months old). The thought of "accidently" getting pg is just totally foreign to me. I can't relate at all. The 3 times I have been pg (I consider the time after my fresh transfer in August 2007 to be my 2nd pgcy) have all been after many shots, ultrasounds, bloodwork, etc. It's definitely not a "how did this happen" type situation when nurses, doctors, androglogists, etc are involved, LOL! I went off the bcp in May 2002 and yet have never had an "au natural" pgcy. Of course God could work a miracle, but I don't ever expect to be pg without doctors and embryologists being involved even though we never plan to use birth control again. Anyhow it just amazes me that some people take medical steps to prevent getting pg and yet they still get pg whereas others go through all sorts of medical stuff to try to get pg and still don't.

When I am feeling frustrated about how challenging it is for us to have children I am trying to focus on two things #1 that God has blessed us with Nadia when many others in our situation do IVF and still don't ever have a baby and #2 that there are many things I am sure I take for granted in my life that others wish they had such as a blind person wishing they had my vision or a deaf person wishing they had my hearing, etc. Many people take their fertility for granted just as I take my ability to walk for granted. So when I feel that jab of pain in my heart at the reminder that having kids is not so difficult for other people, I will try to focus on all the things I am thankful for such as the ability to see my sweet little girl smile at me. :-) Of course there is a point where the analogies break down as it's not like people take medical measures to prevent their ability to see or hear or walk and still are able to do it even though they didn't think they wanted to....

Well last night we didn't get any trick or treaters! I don't know if they did it a different night and we missed it, or if they don't do it in our neighborhood? I had already opened the bags of candy to be prepared to pass it out last night so I guess Paul and I will be eating it all. I am glad I didn't buy any more than I did, and thankfully I got kinds that we like (Snickers, M&Ms w/ peanuts, and Reese's peanut butter cups). Paul was really bummed that we didn't get to show off our Peanut in her costume. That's what we were really looking forward to. Well next year we'll have to ask around to find out what the deal is around here with Halloween. We noticed we were the only ones with our porch light on last night, so we gave up and put Nadia to bed as she was a very tired little bumblebee. Last night was rough. It was the first time in a VERY long time that I passed her off to Paul during the night at one point, but this morning she seems back to her normal self so hopefully the effect of the shots is over.

This morning she had her first solid food! She wasn't sure what to make of it, LOL. Later I put a little of the rice cereal on my finger and put it in her mouth and she took it much better. She wasn't so sure about that spoon. She made such funny faces I was laughing my head off. I have a feeling she'll like fruits better. I will stick with just the cereal for a few more days but then I think I'll either try carrots, green beans, or apples. I plan to make her baby food myself so I need to get going on that! Once she has apples or something I'll probably mix a little in the rice cereal and I think she'll like it better then. She definitely has a sweet tooth as she loves her medicine (like the Tylenol we were giving her for her fever after the shots). The first photo was before she ate any food (her first time wearing the Bjorn, thanks Lucia!) and the others were during/after she ate. As you can see, she wasn't too sure about this rice cereal.

I am a little concerned about the time change tonight. Paul LOVES this day every year. It's like a holiday to him, LOL. I am concerned though as Nadia is already getting up too early! I am going to try to keep her up a bit later tonight to see if that helps her switch times. I honestly don't like this switching our body clocks twice a year. It's always an adjustment for me and now it's going t be trickier with a munchkin. I am curious how long it will be until I get to sleep in until say 7:30. Well frankly at this point 7:00 would be a dream come true. I wonder what age she'll be when Mommy gets to sleep in that "late" for the first time in a long time? This getting up before 6am every day is getting old. To compensate I do give her two morning naps every day. The first one occurs 90-120 minutes after whenever she gets up for the morning.

Next Friday is Paul's mom's bday so we're treating his parents to dinner at Applebee's tonight. I hope she's in a good mood for her Grandma and Grandpa (and all the other people eating at Applebee's tonight, LOL). :-) They wanted to come up to see her last weekend, but we were in MD. I think this is the longest Paul's mom has gone without seeing her. I know she misses her youngest granddaughter! I am so thrilled that Nadia is loved so much by so many people!!!