Iron

The OB's nurse called and said I should take iron for my anemia and to check with the hematologist as far as the dosage. She also said I should take Celace every day as well. I know that happens a lot with senior citizens that one medication causes them to have to take another medication and so on. Thankfully in my case it will just be for the next 11 weeks. He wants me to take the iron 3 times a day. I am curious to see if this will have any effect on my energy levels.

Of course the best way to increase my energy level would be if I could get more sleep. The hip pains have returned even with the "nest." I rarely get much sleep past 4am although I do try to at least rest in bed. When my schedule allows I take a morning nap as usually if I get up at 6:00 then by 8:00 I can fall back asleep for an hour or so. Of course since I needed to be at work at 8:25am today that wasn't possible. Tomorrow I need to be at work at 8:30, Friday I need to be there at 8:00am, and Saturday I need to be at church for our cantata dress rehearsal at 8:30am so no morning naps for me for awhile! Tomorrow is going to be a long day as I'll be at school from 8:30-3:00 and then at 6:00 Paul and I have an infant CPR class at the hospital.

Classes are done!

Well yesterday was the last day of classes for the spring semester. Next week I am giving exams on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Then I get one week off before the summer session starts during which I will teach Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5-8pm. Today I need to start grading the 68 big projects that were turned in yesterday. I want to finish grading those by the end of the week. Tomorrow and Thursday I'll be on campus from 8:30-4:00 as we are conducting interviews for four faculty positions in our department. Friday I have a 4 hour meeting at another college regarding a grant project. Today I am driving to the airport (1 hour away) to pick up one of the candidates we are interviewing tomorrow. She's about to graduate with her PhD from Indiana University, my mom's alma mater. :-) Paul doesn't have classes this week. He needs to finish writing a paper, and he has a final exam next Monday. I asked him to come with me today to the airport as there are some shopping malls and restaurants up that way. So we are headed out shortly to do some shopping and have lunch together before we pick her up. I plan to stop at Motherhood and also Babies R Us while we're there. Since I did the registries online, I want to make sure at least some of the items on my BRU registry are available at that store (which is the closest one in this area). So it will be fun to spend some time with my hubby today!

Last night at handbells we had a baby shower for Abbey. She brought her sweet 8 week old daughter, Anna Claire along. I enjoyed holding her and feeding her a bottle for a little while. Of course we all had to take turns as everyone wanted to hold her! After the shower was over we did rehearse two songs one time each. Anna had her eyes wide open and seemed to enjoy it. Of course she heard the bells many times before she was born!

Iron deficient

The hematologist said that all my results were good except I am iron deficient. He said I should call my OB to see if he wants me to take an iron supplement; the downside of that is it will lead to more constipation. He suggested if my OB wants me to take one I should ask about a softener also. As for the bleeding during delivery, he is not concerned because as he told me 4 weeks ago - maternal blood clots far more easily. He agreed with Dr. O's plan to give me 60,000 platlets preventatively if I have a c-section and to have them on hand if needed otherwise. He wants me to come back in 6 months to make sure the iron problem was just due to pregnancy. However that is a very good sign that I don't have clinical hemachromatosis like my father does (since that causes you to have too much iron). I was tested for that as well since it's genetic, and it turns out I have one good and one bad gene (I know which parent gave me which, LOL). He said since I have both it could go either way. I could develop hemachromatosis in the future, but he said most likely I will not as most individuals who have it have two bad genes.

I am happy to report that Paul and I made GOOD progress on picking a name for our daughter yesterday. The last 3 years Paul had given me 3 first names that he liked. We discussed those 3 again, but he also gave me 4 more possibilities. We had already decided awhile ago that we would use either Nicole or Renee for a middle name as we both like both of those names. After I scratched the ones I didn't like (such as Ide - I've never even heard of that name!!), we were left with 4 first names. Paul eliminated 1 of those (Natalie) before I headed to choir rehearsal last night, and when I came back he said he also wanted to scratch Sophia as he agreed with me he didn't want our daughter to frequently be in situations where she was one of several Sophia's. Sophia has been a very popular name the last few years in the US. Paul said he never had another Paul in any of his classes growing up, and he liked that. Same goes for me; there was never another Ruth in my classes. We did really like the sound of the name Sophia Nicole, but we decided to scratch it. That leaves us with just two combinations, and Renee is our middle name choice with both of them so it seems her middle name will probably be Renee (unless we change our minds which of course we might, LOL). Renee is my middle name. I am not going to divulge the other two first name possibilities until we've picked one as if someone doesn't like it I don't really want to hear about it. :-) One of them is a name of one of his relatives, and the other is a name he picked out 3 years ago (so some of you might guess that one). I like the meaning of these names, and neither one has been popular lately based on the Social Security records. The one name we even both like the nickname which is what we would actually call her most of the time (unless she's in trouble, LOL). Paul didn't really care what the names meant, but that was an issue for me such as he liked Cassandra which means "entangles men" and Andrea which means "manly, warrior." Meaning wasn't the only issue with those names. For example, I like Cassie as a nickname, but he doesn't like Cassie. He likes Sandra as the nickname, and I don't. Anyhow I feel greatly encouraged that we are very, very close to picking a name for our little girl!

No Weight Gain!!

If I was going to be consistent I'd title this post "28 Weeks," but I am pretty happy with what the scale said this morning at the OB. I didn't gain even one ounce in the past 17 days since my last appt. WOOHOO! I haven't really been trying to do anything differently. I think maybe it's that my appetite in the evening has really shrunk although it has grown in the mornings. I just continue to eat when I'm hungry and try to eat healthy things for the most part although I did have cake and ice cream on my bday.  This means in the past 15 weeks I've gained 16 1/2 pounds. I was aiming for no more than 1 lb a week so I am pretty close to the target!!!

The OB appt was pretty uneventful. He measured me with a measuring tape for the first time, and he checked her h/b as always. He said everything was good. I was hoping her h/b would be up higher this time, but nope it was still down super low so maybe the placenta hasn't moved after all. We'll find out in 2 1/2 weeks at my next u/s. I asked if it was truly okay that I am taking one Pepcid AC every 12 hours without fail, and I was reassured it's totally safe. Even with taking one every 12 hours I still have a decent amount of heartburn/acid reflux. Starting today I am to complete the kick count chart once a day (write down how long it takes to feel her move 10 times). My next appt is in 3 weeks (31w). I also had my Rhogam shot today (in the butt). The nurse felt badly about giving it to me, and I assured her that considering I had over 200 shots in the last 10 months in order to be pg, one more was really no big deal to me. It didn't really hurt. The PIO shots were much worse. My next dr appt will be on Monday morning with the hematologist.

This morning I bought a toy on eBay (new) using the birthday money I got from my Aunt Janet. I had seen it at Wendy's home in Chicago in November. It's called "Together Tunes" by Neurosmith and is a pretty neat toy. It was a lot cheaper on eBay than other places I saw it online. This was officially my first toy purchase for my daughter! I hope she likes it. I think she will as I can already tell she likes music! :-)

First Gifts!

Today we got our first gifts from our baby registries! As I got the mail as I left for work this morning, there was a package from Walmart. I opened it and found there was a wrapped gift inside. I waited until I got home from work to open it so I could take a photo of the package. Kelli had given our baby her first 3 CD's! Then I went outside to take some photos of the spring blossoms and found there were 2 packages on our front porch that UPS had delivered while I was at work! One was a butterfly lamp for her nursery also from Kelli! I've never met Kelli in person. We met online about 5 years ago on a discussion board. They live in Texas and also signed up with Lifetime 3 years ago, and unfortunately they also were never presented any possible matches. So they've been back to ttc with an RE. First they tried a few rounds of inj/iui and then not that long ago she tried her first round of ivf. She developed a severe case of OHSS (was hospitalized over Easter) and so wasn't allowed to have a fresh transfer. Thankfully they had 8 embies that made it to blastocyst and were able to be frozen so she shouldn't ever need to be stimmed again (she stims VERY easily - she got OHSS from a TINY dosage of meds). I am praying she gets a BFP from her first FET! I had mailed her my extra meds for her IVF; I'd love to think they played a small part in her finally having a baby! So anyhow if you think of Kelli, please pray that when she does her FET she gets her long awaited BFP (they'll hit the 6 year mark of ttc this fall).

The other package on the front porch was a gift from Jo from our BRU registry! I am sure I'll put the boppy to good use! One of my sisters gave Paul a boppy slipcover for his bday, so we have an extra cover when the pink striped one needs to be cleaned. Jo is another friend I met online, but even though she lives in FL, I have also met her (and her dh) in person a couple of times as her mom doesn't live that far from where we do. Jo gave birth to a precious little boy on 7-20-07 as a result of her first round of ivf. Of course I will send proper thank you notes, but I also wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Kelli and Jo here as well!!! :-) Jo and I have been email buddies for quite awhile now. I never dreamed a year ago when I was buying her something from her registry that Paul and I would also end up doing ivf and I'd have my own registry a year later!

In Memory

Well today would have been our daughter's EDD if she hadn't been frozen for almost 3 months. She was conceived August 1 which means July 18 would have been in the first two weeks of pregnancy (since they start it 2 weeks before conception) if she hadn't been frozen. So this gestation truly seems like an entire year. That also means that today would have been the due date of the three triplets we lost in August. So today I am remembering the 6 little ones we lost 8 months ago. We know all 7 were still alive on August 4 when the triplets were transferred back to me. We have no idea how many days after that the triplets made it, and the RE didn't tell us exactly how many days the other 3 made it in the lab, but we know they had stopped growing sometime before August 7 when our little girl was frozen. Of course the sadness I feel over losing these 6 little lives is not as strong as it would be if there wasn't a little girl kicking inside me, but still I grieve for her siblings, particularly the three little ones I saw on the ultrasound on August 4 within my uterus. Of course technically none of these were lost as a miscarriage since most likely they never implanted. In a natural cycle if conception took place but not implantation, the couple would never know about the little life which existed for a short period of time. That's very different with IVF. You know from the day of conceptioon of the existence of the little ones, and in fact some have testing done on that first day and already know the gender of each one! We didn't have that done so we don't know how many were brothers and how many were sisters of the girl I am carrying now. I am thankful though that God performed a miracle and allowed this one little baby to keep growing. This day would be a million times sadder if we had lost all seven babies. This photo was taken yesterday (wearing one of the maternity tops my parents got me for my bday) at 27w4d.

I have to say the weather here has been GORGEOUS lately. The high yesterday was about 75 degrees which is just perfect IMHO, and thankfully they finally adjusted the thermostat in my classroom and it was finally comfortable (not a sauna any more PTL) on Monday. I had brought a fan to class on Monday, but I didn't need it thankfully. I chalked it up as the same type of thing as if you wash the car then it will rain. If you bring a fan to class then they will fix the thermostat.

36

Well today is my 36th bday. Of course growing up I loved bdays. Then in my mid 20's I wasn't nearly as happy to see another year roll around as I wondered when I'd get married and start having children. Once I got married (age 29), then they didn't bother me again for a little while until we started having trouble ttc. I made the mistake of reassuring myself with the thought "surely by the next bday I would be a mom." This was especially true starting in 2005 since we had started pursuing adoption in 2004. The last two bdays were really, really hard. Well I am happy to say that is not the case this year!!! I still feel a tiny twinge of pain when I contemplate having turned 36 before I become a mom; I feel very "behind." However in life there really aren't set times when things like marriage and having babies are "supposed" to happen.

I remember as a child I met someone who was born in 1900, and she said how easy it was to remember how old she was every year. I remember telling some friends at school I wanted to have a baby in 2000 for that reason. Now sometimes children set unreasonable hopes for the future, but to hope to have a child at the age of 28 is not really an unreasonable thing. I remember in college when we'd talk about how many children we wanted to have and such, I remember telling my friends I hoped to have 3-4 children and be done having them before age 35. God's plans were obviously different than mine. :-) I still can't say I understand why I needed to wait until age 36 to become a mom, but it's not my job to understand - only to trust. Anyhow this bday is a MILLION times easier emotionally than any bday has been for more than 10 years bc my daughter (I love the sound of that word!) is kicking inside me!!!!!!!! My dream of becoming a mom which I have had for 20+ years is finally going to come true in less than 3 months!!! She's the best bday present of all. What else could I need or want?

I opened my bday presents from my sisters this morning as well as from Paul. He got me a gift certificate for a nail salon as I mentioned last weekend when I painted my toenails it was the last time I thought I could reach down there to paint them until after I give birth. So when they need repainted (thankfully the polish on toenails lasts a lot longer than on fingernails), I am going to use my certificate as I am sure by that point it would be even more painful to reach my toes. He also ordered two Steeler items (haven't come in yet) for our little girl. My sisters gave me a cute little outfit (pink!), 2 bibs, a calendar for recording "firsts," and 4 children's books (she has quite a growing collection which is wonderful in my opinion!). I am very thankful for all of these gifts which in one way or another all relate to BABY!!!

It's a good thing the choir cantata is in 2 weeks. I don't think I could do it much farther into the pgcy. I am not sure if it's my lungs and/or diaphragm that are being squished, but I get out of breath so easily and feel awful if I sing too much. Even just singing all the verses in a hymn is too much some Sunday mornings! We are doing the cantata twice that morning (8:00 and 10:45) so unless I have an easier time breathing that day, I think I won't actually sing every part of every song. I'll just sing as much as I can. I think I can do all the alto parts. Sometimes he has us also singing with the tenors when it's just supposed to be the tenors. I think I'll give myself a break during those parts. Playing handbells is no problem so I am sure I can play on May 18.

Dinner troubles

Since our house was being shown around 12:45 today, we decided to go out for my bday meal then. I had picked an Italian restaurant about 15 minutes from our home that we had never been to before. When we got there, we found out the whole place had been rented out for a private function today. I was getting really hungry and didn't want to drive very far to another restaurant. We drove to one other place that we had been to before that wasn't far away, but we found out it's only open Wed-Sat. So after two strikes we just went to McD's as I was HUNGRY. Paul insisted that did not count as my bday meal. So we decided to meet somewhere at 5pm tomorrow before I go to handbells. I was wanting to try a restaurant we hadn't been to before; so I looked online and through the phone book and made a new choice for tomorrow. Just to be safe I decided to call them. I am glad I did as they are open 6 days a week, and Monday is the day they're closed. Nuts! So I decided to abandon the plan to try a new restaurant. Instead we're going to meet at Cracker Barrell as I see they are currently serving strawberry pancakes. They only sell those for a limited time each spring, and they are VERY good. So we'll have breakfast for dinner tomorrow night; Paul's favorite thing there is a cheese omlette. I need to make sure not to fill up TOO much on my dinner as someone in the handbell choir told me we're going to be having cake & ice cream at rehearsal tomorrow night in honor of my bday. How kind is that!!!

Our daughter has been quite the gymnast lately, and I am very happy to report I am feeling her move MUCH higher than before so I'm hopeful that this means the placenta is no longer on or near the cervix. As much as I love feeling her move, I wouldn't object if she slept while I was sleeping as I have a very hard time sleeping when she's kicking me. :-) Sometimes I feel her on both sides of my belly at the same time so I guess I am feeling hands and feet! Paul has no trouble feeling her move. I love that he can experience that as well!

27 Weeks!

Well today my little girl reaches the 27 week mark!!! Since today is the 18th it also means her EDD is exactly 3 months away which means starting tomorrow her EDD is only 2+ months away. WOOHOO! I am also happy to report that Paul felt her move this morning. I knew her kicks were definitely strong enough for him to feel as yesterday while I was doing a peer observation on a new faculty member I could see my belly moving at different points during the class period. It made me want to laugh, but that would have been rude so I just smiled. :-)The weather here has been GORGEOUS this week. We're supposed to hit 80 degrees today! Spring has definitely sprung! The grass also needs mowed for the first time in many months. The trees are still bare though. Paul or I will mow tomorrow since our house is being shown on Sunday. We have 2+ acres so mowing is no small task although thankfully we have a riding mower or it would be a really, really long task!

Well our house hasn't been shown for 2 weeks now, but it will be shown three times this weekend - twice tomorrow afternoon and once Sunday afternoon. So that will be showings #9-11 since we put it on the market 5 weeks ago. I hope one of these three would like to buy the house! We shall see. This means Paul and I will be busy either tonight or tomorrow morning with cleaning inside the house and mowing the lawn.

Today my dept chair told me that he has decided to hold off on his decision to cancel my 8:00 LA class as he thinks he can fill it with transfer students (only 5 students are currently enrolled in that section and that's not enough). So I told my 2 babysitters today that the schedule is up in the air and won't be determined until probably June but that either I'll be teaching from 8:00-10:50 or 9:00-11:50 MWF. Knowing how much students don't like 8:00 classes they are probably hoping it ends up being 9:00-11:50, but they said either way it's fine.

It's definitely an adjustment only wearing my wedding band and no other rings, but I am glad that at least that ring still fits. Hopefully I won't outgrow that one as it's a size 6 and my ring fingers are usually a size 4.5. Today was another unbearable day in my classroom. I called maintenance. We shall see if they do anything. Thankfully I only have 4 more days of teaching in that sauna. When I drove home from work today the bank sign said the outside temp was 84 degrees and there are lots of windows in that classroom which can't be opened so they let in the sunlight but not any breeze. I would say the difference in temp between that classroom and the hallway was about 15 degrees. Even my sandals started to feel tight so I think next to start swelling are my feet/ankles. So far that has only happened when I've been teaching in that hot room too long. I love how active she is these days, but I wish she'd be more calm at night. I was awake from about 3:00-5:00 am this morning as she was kicking me SO much I couldn't stay asleep. I did solve the gum pain problem though as I bought some Anbesol and that numbed the area much better than Sensodyne toothpaste. Even though these temps are contributing to my swelling up, I still have to say I LOVE spring weather! Tomorrow the high should only be in the 70's. That's my absolute favorite!!! I wouldn't mind living in a place where it was in the 60's/70's all year round or even low 80's w/o humidity.

Jury Duty

About a month ago Paul received a summons for jury duty. We returned the paperwork and asked for him to be excused because the day he was to report for duty fell in the middle of final exam week. At the time, he didn't know which day his final would be. It turns out his final will be the day before he was to report for duty. Yesterday we got a letter saying he is excused. We have both been summoned several times over the last 10+ years, but the timing has never been right so we've always asked to be excused. Neither of us are opposed to serving as jurors sometime, but the timing has never worked out thus far. He was very happy to hear he's been excused as these next few months are going to be VERY busy for him as he needs to take his physical chemistry comprehensive exam and also write his thesis (which he must defend by July 25).

Our house was shown 8 times during the first 3 weeks it was on the market, but now in the 4th and 5th week it seems it will only have been shown once (this coming Sunday afternoon). I am not willing to move in July or August. If we're going to move prior to her arrival, it seems an offer will need to be made in the next couple of weeks. If that doesn't happen then I want to start working on setting up the nursery in early May. We figured why unpack the crib from the box if we might move before she's going to use it. Since we probably won't live here for that many months after she's born, I don't plan to put up wallpaper border or anything like that in the nursery in this house. I'll wait until after we move to do that. My parents had given us a "gift certificate" for a rocking chair or glider for Christmas. We'll also shop for that in a couple of weeks if it seems we won't be moving before July.

I admit I am annoyed with my OB's office that they haven't let me know my G/D test results yet. How hard is it to pick up the phone and leave me a message saying whether I passed or not? The system (HMO) has a website where you can check your medical record, and I've been checking there a million times a day as well but the lab results haven't showed up there yet either. If I don't hear this morning, I think I'll call again or send a message through the website. I think 48 hours is reasonable enough to wait when I know the results were available early on Tuesday morning.

P.S. TameraRae was correct - no news was good news! I sent an electronic message and about 2 hours later got the reply that my result was in the normal range (128). WOOHOO! I am relieved not to have to do the 3 hour fasting test. Some OBs use 140 as the cutoff and others use 130. I am not sure which my OB uses. If it's 130, I just squeaked by! Anyhow I am very glad I passed!