A Day of Nesting...part 1

Today Dh and I had a game plan to clean out our office/storage room + the hall closet and get it ready for the nursery. So, we finally finished cleaning everything out of it and basically threw a lot in the trash so we could take pictures and post the items on C.raigslist. I am so relieved to have this done. I just can't wait to sale it all and use the money for some new living room furniture. I just have to be patient now and pray that it all sales. We are also selling the crib my parents gave to us in 2008 when I was expecting so hopefully someone will want it...it's just not my taste. It feels so good to get things ready for the baby and so weird a the same time like this isn't really happening. I counted out our weekends and I hope over the next 13 weekends to get some major projects done. Since I know once summer hits (around June) we'll want to be out at my parents house soaking in their pool won't get much done then :) I just want my ENTIRE house organized and all the junk thrown out and everything to be in the right place before the baby comes...so much to do. I also sewed some new curtains for our front door so people can't see in as easily. I wish I would have done this a long time ago but Oddie would have destroyed them trying to look through the glass of the front door. But since he is not coming back I am so glad to make these curtains for some extra privacy.

Here are some pictures of the progress today. I wish I had a before pic. of the office...you couldn't have even walked in there is was so crazy packed full of stuff. By the way I think my front door looks a little creepy in these pictures, haha! I should have taken the picture during the day.

Progesterone Update (Whoo-hoo!)

Finally, after a month of not having my levels tested they finally went up :) On March 12th it was at 30 and now on April 16 it is 51.8. I am so happy to hear this. The nurse, my favorite one of course, said they are almost in the normal range at 60. So I am staying on 100mg 2x weekly. What a relief!!! I was worried that since it had been so long that maybe they had been dropping and I just wasn't aware of that. I don't think I'll wait so long in between the next set of tests...YEH!

The Business of Being Born

First I want to say a huge "THANK YOU" to all of you sweet girls that have been praying for my situation with the Mid-Wife and all. I heard from Dr. Hilger's nurse today and he has past my report off to his co-worker to write a letter explaining my treatments and then he will look over the letter once it is completed and sign his name to it. I asked the nurse then what I am suppose to do in the meantime with going to see the Endocrinologist here and getting the blood work done and she said it is up to me to listen to both sides and then make an informed decision about everything...this leaves me a little confused but that is fine. I am very used to having research things, as I made infertility research my life for quite awhile ;)

I just finished watching this very moving documentary called "The Business of Being Born" by Ricki Lake. It was very interesting to see that perspective of birth and so beautiful to see the natural deliveries. Even the ones that had to be done by C-Section were very moving. But to see the expression on the mother's faces as they held their new born baby got me all choked up. It reminded me of the last sentence in Ina May Gaskin's Book about Natural Childbirth. "Your body is not a lemon." After dealing with infertility for so long I feel like IF leaves a mental scar on my mind to think that my body is broken and not to trust it so it is very encouraging to read something like that or watch a DVD that encourages women to trust what their bodies are meant to do.

I should find out my progesterone levels today. I haven't had them tested since march 12th so I can't wait to hear how things are going. Where does the time go. i guess with Easter and all I had to skip the blood draw and now I am just anxious that everything is o.k. with my levels. We'll see...I'll keep you all posted.

A little overwhelmed! (prayers please)

I just finished typing a very long post and it all got erased…I AM LOSING IT ;)

On Monday we went to my ultra-sound appt. as I already posted about. I don’t think I mentioned how the Perinatologist went on and on about the fact that I am taking baby aspirin, T3, and hydrocortisone. I basically tuned him out while he chatted about his concerns and yada-yada. I really didn’t feel the need or interest to listen to him because I am following Dr. Hilgers’ protocol and most of the time I have found that doctors disagree with his treatments.

My mid-wife called me yesterday to tell me that the Perinatologist gave them a three page report which she said was “scary” saying that I need continuous ultra-sounds done throughout my pregnancy to monitor the growth of my baby and perhaps an extra dose of steroids during labor to help my body deal with the physical stress. WTF? I really don’t understand why he would say all of this. Needless to say the mid-wife feels uncomfortable working with me since Dr. Hilgers has no authority over what she does for me during my pregnancy and labor. I asked her if I continue to listen only to Dr. Hilgers and follow his protocol will she still keep me as a patient and her answer was basically no. We went round and round about it for about 15 minutes. She said I need to see an ER here that she knows and feels comfortable with and based on what that ER says about my thyroid, elctrolyte blood level and adrenal glands then she will decide what to do next. I went ahead and did the blood work she suggested and made an appt. with the ER for April 30th but even if the ER wants to change Dr. Hilgers protocol for me I do NOT want to!!!! I called PPVI and asked them to have Dr. Hilgers write me a letter explaining why he has me taking certain drugs and the nurse said it would be weeks before he was able to do that so she would try to get one of his fellow staff members to do so a bit sooner. In the meantime I guess I have to follow what I am being told to do here in Richmond. So I feel like these are my choices:

a) Go to the ER appt. and follow anything they tell me…
b) Find a different mid-wife at a different hospital and then not disclose all of Dr. Hilgers protocol…
c) Have a home birth
d) Any other suggestions are more than welcome.

I am just frustrated about this whole situation because it is not the first time I have come across Dr.s that disagree with Dr. Hilgers protocol.

Oh, while I am griping about things I might as well vent about the fact that I went to get my blood draw today and the registrar shouted out in front of other patients that “your face is getting FAT! Your face is chubby!” Then she proceeded to take me into the registrar office and bring her co-worker over to point out that my face is getting chubby! I said that’s nice of you to say (sarcastic of course) and she just laughed and asked me if I am eating the right foods. I told her I go to Cold Stone Ice-Cream sometime (panicking of course for some reason why I look fat) and she said “no that wouldn’t do it…are you drinking enough water?” I just wanted to die at this point. I wish people would avoid the words “fat” and “chubby” right now….

20 1/2 week ultra-sound appt.

On Monday Dh and I went to my midwife appt. and ultra-sound appt. It really went very well. The mid-wife really encourage me to start exercising a few times a week which I really needed to hear ;) It wasn't the same mid-wife as last time since the two mid-wives work together but I really like how she takes her time to answer all of our questions (which weren't very many). She gave me a list of suggested reading and a helpful dietary guideline for eating during the day. I gained 8 1/2 pounds since my last appt. almost 5 weeks ago which really FREAKED me out but she said not to worry about it all. So I thought that was nice of her. She then measure my stomach and said I am measuring 19 weeks which is normal and then we listened to the baby's heartbeat which was normal as well...After meeting with her we went down stairs to my ultr-sound appt. The ultra-sound tech was pretty nice for the most part. She was sooooo SERIOUS! The appt. lasted quite a while with all of the measurements and pictures being taken. It was amazing to see our little baby so much bigger than last time. The Dr. said everything looks normal. The baby weighs 14oz. and is measuring 20 weeks and 6 days. Unbelievable!!!! My stomach really got achy from all of the pressing down with equipment but it was just such a surreal experience. We did not find out the sex because we decided we want to be surprised. That was really hard not to look at the screen when the tech. was finding out the sex of the baby but we'll be finding out soon enough :) Thank you all for your prayers and sweet comments!!!!

By the way, Dh got to feel the baby's movements Saturday night for the first time. It was so touching to see! And the baby has been kicking/ hitting so much more lately; I just love it!

I am praying for you all as well!

P.s. I am really tired at work right now so this post is going to sound BORING!

Some Baby Bump Pictures

I finally took some baby bump pictures...

Beautiful Story about Adoption

I just thought I would post this link to this story about adoption. It got me all choked up knowing that so many of my friends are hoping to adopt soon.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/parents-journey-to-china-meet-adopted-children/26mnl4rd

Finally at 20 weeks and Prayer buddy revealed

Well, I am finally at 20 weeks!!!!!!!!!! I could never have imagined to make it this far. My next big appointment is this Monday and I am so excited for it. We're not going to find out the sex of the baby but I just can't wait to see how he/she has grown. I have been feeling the baby move a bit more lately and last night I am pretty sure I could feel the baby's bottom or head pressing in my lower abdomen. I pressed on a really hard spot and then the baby moved away and the spot was soft again to touch. I tried to get Dh to feel it too but the baby moved away to fast. I have been feeling a lot better in the mornings which is nice. We came back from NY late last night and I have to say it was an exausting trip. Dh really enjoyed the whole thing but I guess the traveling and visiting with everyone just wiped me out. I feel like such a baby saying that but I ended my last night there crying to Dh that I was just soooo tired! Not the usual me that's for sure. Usually (before pregnancy) I am a night owl.

I did get to get a new book while I was up there. It is called Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way and then I ordered two more books today that My Endometriosis Story recommended; The Nursing Mother's Companion and 40 Weeks +: The Essential Pregnancy Organizer I am VERY excited to get these books and start reading. That is one thing I am big on is researching and checklists :)

So, my Lenten Prayer Buddy was Suzie from these two blogs.
90 Days... Will I Make It?? and her other blog is Hope and Faith
I prayed for her daily and went to Mass during the week (as much as I could) for her. Hopefully that helped her with her special intentions :)

I have to get back to work now :(