December 23, 2011 December 23, 2011

Blergh. I’m sick. The baby is fine, or was as of about 10 days ago when we heard the heartbeat at my 12 week appointment, but I am sick and have been for about a month. It started as a mild head cold but went to my chest and I’ve been coughing for about 4 weeks. When I cough really hard I vomit. I’m down about 5lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. I’ve never believed it’s possible to crack a rib coughing, but I’ve damaged one of them somehow. It hurts really badly.

I have been to the doctor and was told that if I weren’t pregnant they’d do a chest x-ray, but seeing as I am, they’re drugging me instead. I’m on 2 different inhalers as well as prednisone. I got one of the inhalers last week, but just got the second one and the prednisone yesterday so there hasn’t been any time for it to kick in yet. I’m also on Tylenol for the rib pain, which really doesn’t do any good at all.

I didn’t do much for Longest Night last night. J made our supper of appetizers, but I can’t eat too much at once or it’s guaranteed to be coughed up. J is also staying home from work today and has banished me to the bedroom with the humidifier.

So that’s my big Christmas whinge. I feel like crap, but I do realize that overall things are still pretty good. I just wish I was actually able to enjoy the season.

November 27, 2011 November 27, 2011

Pregnancy dreams are weird. Last night I dreamt I went to visit my husband’s sister and walked in on her breastfeeding her cat.

November 8, 2011 November 8, 2011

One. We’ve got one strong baby growing in there. It’s measuring slightly ahead and has a good strong heartbeat.

We are surprised that it’s not two, but one is better for us. Not only is the pregnancy less risky, but I have no idea how we would have run our cheese business while dealing with two infants.

So, one. And we’re happy.

November 4, 2011 November 4, 2011

Not surprisingly I can’t stop thinking about my elevated betas. I’ve done some reading and found a research article on IVF & monozygotic multiples. This is what it said:

It can be summarized from the literature that prolonged culture as well as manipulations of the zona pellucida (ICSI and/or assisted hatching) could lead to an increased rate of monozygotic multiples. To minimize the resulting risks such as increased abortion rates, increased perinatal morbidity and mortality (Al‐Nuaim and Jenkins, 2002), assisted hatching in combination with ICSI and blastocyst culture should be critically performed. The aim of therapy should be the transfer of only one blastocyst in as many patients as possible. In our opinion the incidence of 5.9–8.9% monozygotic multiples after ICSI and blastocyst transfer reported in the literature requires the prior informing of patients of the uncertainties until this phenomenon and its risk factors are better understood.

We did ICSI and blastocyst culture.  I know that the clinic did assisted hatching on the embryo from our failed transfer in the summer. I don’t know know if they did for this recent one. But 5.9-8.9% is a high enough chance to be significant in my mind.

November 2, 2011 November 2, 2011

Still pregnant. I got my beta results yesterday. They’re a little high. We only transferred one embryo so it’s most likely that I just have one really strong little critter growing in there, but the hcg levels make me wonder if it split. We’ll find out on Nov. 8th when I have my first ultrasound. I’ll be 7w2d at that point. And for interest’s sake, here are my levels, and levels posted on Betabase:

Mine:

At 18DPO – 972

At 25DPO – 11000

According to betabase, the Median HCG for a singleton:

At 18DPO – 416

At 25DPO – 4285

For Twins:

At 18DPO – 806

At 25DPO – 9040

October 27, 2011 October 27, 2011

I tried going to a Mom & Tot group in a nearby town today. I didn’t really enjoy it. I don’t think they were really My People. But I have a tendency to do that, go somewhere, feel out-of-place because I always do, and then discount an activity when I really should give it a chance. So I might go back. But I might not.

One of the organizers of the group has a 3-year-old daughter (now known as OC “other child”) who took an immediate dislike to B. B was playing with toys and OC was hovering over her, glaring. B looked up and happily handed her the doll she was playing with and said “Here-u-go”. OC slapped the doll out of B’s hand. B just sat there looking stunned and holding her hand. Then a few minutes later B was picking up all the toys and putting them in the bin. OC noticed and came over and every time B put a toy in the bin OC grabbed it and hurled it across the room, glaring at B the whole time. I didn’t say anything to OC because if I had I would have burst into tears. I was tearing up as it was, although I am, admittedly, a little emotional these days (“a little emotional” is an understatement, I teared up at Taylor Swift’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ on the radio the other day. Seriously. It’s bad.). I didn’t feel it was my place to correct someone else’s child, and I certainly wasn’t comfortable doing so in a room full of people I didn’t know. And no one else noticed what was going on. Instead I just cried on the way home.

If B and OC had been playing and a toddler tiff broke out and OC had slapped her hand, I wouldn’t have been too concerned. But OC was just being deliberately cruel. I know B will have to learn to deal with mean kids at some point, but I don’t think that it’s a requirement when she’s not quite 2 yet. She’s still so innocent* and I don’t want that to be squashed yet. I also don’t want her to learn that type of behaviour herself.

So. I’m going to have to figure out what’s best. Getting out of the house and around other people is good for both of us and it would be nice not to have to drive all the way into the city. But is hanging out with a group of people who I’m not sure I’m comfortable with, and that I’m not particularly thrilled with B being around good for both of us?

 

*innocent in most ways. We slaughtered our 4 turkeys a few weeks ago and I had to get B up from her nap while we were still processing them. She walked over, looked at the carcasses on the tailgate of the truck, declared “it’s dead” and wandered away to play. It was kind of surprising that she could apply that concept to them, although I’m sure she doesn’t actually comprehend what ‘dead’ means.

October 14, 2011 October 14, 2011

When I went to the clinic for the transfer I had to have a full bladder. I got there a bit early and they were running a bit behind so my bladder got very uncomfortably full. A nurse came and asked how I was doing and said that if I felt like I was going to pee on the chair that I could go to the bathroom and pee just a little. I told her I was more afraid of peeing on the doctor than on the chair and that yes, I would like to go just a bit. She handed me a very small paper cup and told me I could fill it twice. I somehow managed to do that and when I went for the transfer they still commented on my full bladder. I was very proud of my bladder control.

Apparently I do not have control when peeing on sticks. It took very little encouragement from James for me to take a test yesterday. 12dpo, evening urine and a very clear positive. Nothing faint about it. At the moment I am pregnant.

October 9, 2011 October 9, 2011

I’ve been to the coast for the transfer and am home. One Stage 3 Grade BB embryo on board. I’m not sure about classification, but I believe that’s good but not great embryo. Transfer went well, although my clinic kind of annoyed me. When I came out of the procedure room there was no one around, they’d apparently all gone on lunch break. No one told me if I should sit there for a few minutes, or just take off. I chose to sit in the recliner in one of the individual recovery areas and relax for about 20 minutes. I left the curtain open while I was there and no one came by during that time. It seemed kind of irresponsible. I had 3 3-day embryos defrosted and they transferred the best one. Before my transfer one of the nurses told me that both of the other embryos arrested, but the doctor said that one was still growing so they refroze it. I’ve never had issues with the clinic before this so maybe they were just having an off-day.

I’ll be testing next Sunday, a week from today, at 15dpo.

And Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving! We’re having one of our farm-raised turkeys today.

October 3, 2011 October 3, 2011

I did decide to go ahead with an FET this cycle. B and I are flying out to the coast on Wednesday after the Farmers’ Market and the transfer is on Thursday. We’re going to stay out on the coast until Sunday morning.

I have my medications all sorted into one of those little plastic pill organizers but I’m not sure it’s enough. My prometrium from this morning is gone but I don’t remember taking it. I may have taken it orally instead of vaginally. I honestly have no idea what I did. It’s a little concerning.

September 19, 2011 September 19, 2011

At the Farmers’ Market there’s a vendor who lives near the same village that we do. He sells veggies and his wife’s baking. He’s a very nice guy, but he calls himself a hillbilly and that’s a pretty good description of him, right down to the bad teeth that keep him from eating anything but soft foods. His stall has been set up right beside mine the past couple of market days and this causes people to think that we are together, that I am his wife. Call me a snob, but it bothers me a bit that people think I’m with the hillybilly. J thinks it’s hilarious.