Plan of Action

I can't wait until Nadia can talk in a way that I will actually have a clue what she is saying (aside from "hi." "dada," and "daddy" which is the extent of her expressive vocabulary at 8 months old). My sister posted on Facebook yesterday that when their babysitter offered Adam (who turned 2 years old in February) soup for lunch, he told the babysitter, "Mommy told me I can have a quesadilla." No, she had not mentioned quesadillas yesterday, LOL. I would love to know what is going on in Nadia's mind when she's jabbering on and on and on although I am certain she's not talking about quesadillas. She might be talking about the pizza we let her have a little of on Sunday night though which she loved. :-)

Nadia was a trouper this morning. We arrived at the hospital about 8:40 and left about 11:10, and she was a happy little girl even though she only slept 10 minutes of our 30 minute trip there. Everyone was soooo happy to see her. Several (including Dr. A) held her for extended periods of time. We found out that the nurse had scheduled a "class" just for us today. That was very kind of her. Thankfully it lasted less than 30 minutes. Then we had our HIV and Hepatitis b/w, and then I had my appt with Dr. A. He did a pap smear, cultures, and SHG. It was a million times better than 2 years ago. It's funny but last night (before I read the comments from Tamera and Amie) I said to Paul that maybe my cervix isn't so tight any more now that it was 10 cm dilated for several hours. They had me drink 20 ounces of water so I could do the mock transfer, but then after I drank the water they said the fellow (as in a doctor doing a fellowship -both of their "fellows" are female) wasn't actually available. So I'll be doing that at a future appointment, but I'm not nervous about it any more. :-) Then Paul had his appt, and then after we met with the nurse to map out the schedule, we were done.

I was hoping to leave with the Lupron, but they want me to do a day 3 FSH test. I am not concerned about it even though I'm almost 37 since less than 2 years ago they retrieved 28 eggs. I've always had the problem of leaning toward stimulating TOO easily, and the the FSH test is to make sure you can be stimulated. Also, my lining is REALLY thick. Dr. A said I haven't had AF since I gave birth so this next one will be really heavy. So they want me to have 2 AF's before I start stimming. I had thought that might be the case, and you might recall from a previous post I toyed with starting the bcp sooner so that I'd have one before this appt, but I ended up not doing that. So anyhow I am to continue the bcp through 3/20. Then I am to call when AF comes and have b/w (E2 and FSH) by day 3 and then resume the bcp after I have the b/w. We're hoping that happens March 24-25. I looked on my chart, and the past few years I've been on bcp 5 times in prep for a fertility cycle. The last two times that was with Lupron. Of those 5 times, two times AF showed 4 days after my last bcp and 3 times five days after the last bcp. March 24 would be 4 days. Of course we're not 100% sure what will happen since it will be my first PPAF, but hopefully my body will cooperate. I'd appreciate prayers regarding that. I really want AF by March 25!!!! If that happens then I'll probably

• start the Lupron on April 6,
• take the last bcp on April 9,
• have my baseline u/s and b/w April 16,
• start the Follistim and Menopur on April 17,
• have the hCG shot on April 27,
• have the retrieval on April 29 (my last final exam is April 28 so that's perfect for me),
• and May 2 or 4th have the embryo transfer.

We fly to Antigua on May 9 so as you can see this plan won't work if AF is really late (although we do have a little wiggle room).

Nadia fell asleep before we even left the parking lot and slept the whole way home (including a stop at Dunkin Donuts where Paul and I got breakfast bagels for lunch as we used to have them every Sunday but haven't had them in months). Unfortunately that was enough to goof her 2nd nap up. So it's now 1:23pm and she's slept 40 minutes total whereas by now she's usually slept 2-3 hours. Hopefully her next nap (the only one that will be taken in her crib) will be a long one. One of the nurses said to me - does she every cry? Well yes she does, but I have to say she's come a long way. She was an angel the 2+ hours we were at the doctor's office today - even without a morning nap! Good job, Nadia! Hopefully at this time next year she'll have a sister or brother. :-)

When Nadia goes down for a nap, I need to grade the midterm exams that my students took last night (mostly essay questions so it takes awhile to grade). I only graded a few last night before heading to bed. I am one of those profs who tries to get grades posted ASAP. I know I appreciated that when I was a student, so I try to grade things as quickly as possible. I am not giving a midterm in the other course (the one I teach tonight). Paul didn't go to PSU yesterday or today, but he'll be there all day the next 3 days. As for her internal clock, she definitely jumped forward an hour. I think I just need to throw in the towel and accept that she'll go to bed around 7pm and get up around 6:30am. Last night she slept from 7:15pm to 6:30am. Compared to all those months of not getting much sleep, it's not such a big deal to start our day a little earlier than I'd choose.