48 Hours

48 hours from now we'll be on an airplane headed to Antigua. YAHOO! 48 hours also ended up being how long I stayed on bedrest (or as my RE calls it - pelvic rest). I wanted to wash my hair badly for one thing. So about 3:30pm yesterday (since my transfer was 3:30 on Monday) I made my first trek upstairs in 2 days. I had been spending 99% of my time on the family room couch. It felt great to take a shower, sleep in my own bed, etc. I still didn't lift Nadia at all. The first time I lifted her since about 11:00am on Monday was this morning at 5:55am when she wanted out of her crib. Some RE's don't require any bedrest and some require as much as 72 hours. Hopefully 48 hours was enough - if bedrest really helps at all anyhow. Today I have gone back to normal - carrying Nadia, doing laundry, cleaning, etc.

Paul is at school for the first time in 6 days. He had a presentation to give at 9:45am and then later had to meet with the prof he TA's for to go over final grades for the students. I think when he comes home he'll be taking a nap because he got very little sleep last night (up working on his presentation). He has a paper due tomorrow and then his spring semester is over. YAY! His first priority when he gets back is to make the revisions on his master's degree thesis. He defended it in July (having written 99% of the 100+ page document in 3 weeks), but hasn't made the revisions yet. I will be glad when that's behind him as technically he hasn't earned his master's degree yet. OOPS!

I was supposed to be at interviews today at work, but I said I couldn't be there due to bedrest. Well even though my bedrest plans changed, I wouldn't have wanted to take Nadia to a babysitter again since she already spent 11.5 hours with one this week. These interviews are for adjunt positions. The GOOD news regarding the search process would be that the three tenure track candidates we selected ALL accepted their offers. HIP HIP HOOORAY! All three candidates that we selected in December had rejected their offers so I am really glad those three searches finally had a successful conclusion. One woman will be moving here from GA, one man is coming from VA, and one man is from here in PA (not sure if he'll move or not).

I have frequented the IVF discussion board a few times lately, and someone today posted a BFP. She had a 5 day transfer 6 days ago. She got a faint 2nd line yesterday (10dpo) and a darker one today (11dpo). I won't test before 12dpo, but I am not sure if I'll start testing then or wait until 13 or 14dpo. I certainly won't wait any longer than that. Regina had her transfer on Tuesday (2 great looking blasts) and finds out in 3 more days if they were able to freeze any of hers. They told her on Tuesday they thought 3 could be frozen. She started out with 13 embryos (from 21 eggs retrieved). I still can't believe that we started out with almost twice as many embryos this time (13 instead of 7) and yet only 3 of 13 were transferred (compared to 4 of 7 last time). Well I won't feel as badly about it if I see 2 lines next week! If I get a BFN I probably won't post about it. I'm not bringing my laptop so I'm not sure how easy it will be to get on a computer. However if I get a BFP I'll do my very best to post that on my blog ASAP! :-) If I have a ++ Beta on Monday, I figure it should be around 400 or so as that's where mine was at my 2nd Beta last time (which was at 19dpo which is what I'll be when this first Beta will be done). I don't like the fact that you have to get a Beta even if you know you're not pg. They don't make you do that after any other fertility cycle - just embryo transfers. I think it's because they have to report ivf data to the CDC and such.

I got a couple of great coupons in my email from Sears for photos. I am planning on only spending about $10. I wasn't planning to take her again until she turned 1, but it has been 3 months since I last took her, and these are great offers! Hopefully we'll get some good ones. :-) I figure Mother's Day is a good occasion for photos of my sweet girl. It's funny because I've avoided church many years on Mother's Day because it was too painful emotionally, but my first Mother's Day with a girl in my arms I won't be at church because I'll be on an island. I have to say though I still feel such a tenderness in my heart for those women - whether they are single and longing to become a wife & mother or whether they are married and struggling with infertility or difficulties with adopting. I know it's a rough day for many of them.

As you can see from today's photo, Nadia has learned how to open cabinet doors and kitchen drawers. :-) I'll post more photos later today from our trip to Sears.