Whoo Hoo for Friday!!!! Can't wait to enjoy a lovely Saturday of sleep and pure laziness! We have a whole day with NOTHING planned!!! The weather here is supposed to be gorgeous and warm (80's) so maybe we'll take the pups for a nice long walk down to our favorite coffee shop . I love Arizona winters!
Hopefully I can try and get our little garden in order tomorrow. My neighbor puts me to shame with her gardening skills. Last night they brought over a gigantic bag of juicy lemons and asked if we'd mind if they trimmed some of OUR bushes that overhang into their yard. Guess it's time for us to do some spring trimming in our jungle yard! I really enjoy working in the yard, it's so relaxing and theraputic. Maybe I can get some "tan" on my bright white legs!! Happy, happy, happy weekend all!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Our little Strawberry!
Well, apparently the little embie now at 9 weeks has grown to the size of a strawberry and he/she is still vehemently protesting all of my food choices. I can't seem to keep much down and the heartburn/nausea has been wretchedly miserable. However, I'm persistently drinking chocolate milk and eating yogurt, which seem to be the only two food choices that help calm the stomach. Tums are helping a bit, but not much. So far, it's been nine weeks of sheer misery, but perhaps at my appointment next week I can beg for a prescription to ease the heartburn. I hate taking meds, but my poor hubby is suffering too! Plus the puppies haven't had a decent walk in over a week. Truly, it's all I can muster to get up at an ungodly hour to meet the carpoolers, drag myself through the workday and end the day by collapsing on the couch for the evening with the tv remote. Although in a sudden burst of energy, last night I half heartedly yanked a few weeds from the backyard and managed to vacuum up all of the nutshells that Bandit snitched off the buffet in the kitchen. Somehow the sneaky dog went wild and managed to nosh his way through a bowl of unshelled nuts scattering shells and junk ALL over the house. As soon as he heard the garage door announcing my arrival home he went and hid in the corner. Sigh, even my poor sweet dog is feeling the misery!!!!!! :-)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Rants and raves on IVF and beyond...
So,I'm all fired up about "Octomom" and the lack of oversight for fertility clinics. Then, I started getting all upset when I read another article about maternity leave in the States vs. other countries. Happy Monday, eh?
In Sweden, "we have a slogan: One at a time," said Dr. Karl Nygren, former head of an IVF monitoring committee for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Seventy percent of in vitro fertilization procedures in Sweden involved only a single embryo in 2005, according to Nygren. For Europe, the average was 20 percent. By contrast, only 11 percent in the U.S. involved one embryo in 2006.
A key difference, though, is that health programs in Europe cover the cost, so that if one attempt fails, women can try again without having to worry about the expense.
In the U.S., most patients have to foot the bill for IVF, which costs about $12,400 per attempt. Only 14 states make insurers cover some infertility treatments.
Wow. I am not a fan of socialized medicine, but can you imagine how amazing it would be to have public health coverage for multiple IVF treatments? Then, I read another article about maternity leave (and or lack of in the states)
AND our disability/health coverage system stinks for new parents too. 6 weeks paid time off, vs. 14-16 months in Canada and Sweden. Folks, I think our system needs some serious revamping!
In Sweden, "we have a slogan: One at a time," said Dr. Karl Nygren, former head of an IVF monitoring committee for the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.
Seventy percent of in vitro fertilization procedures in Sweden involved only a single embryo in 2005, according to Nygren. For Europe, the average was 20 percent. By contrast, only 11 percent in the U.S. involved one embryo in 2006.
A key difference, though, is that health programs in Europe cover the cost, so that if one attempt fails, women can try again without having to worry about the expense.
In the U.S., most patients have to foot the bill for IVF, which costs about $12,400 per attempt. Only 14 states make insurers cover some infertility treatments.
Wow. I am not a fan of socialized medicine, but can you imagine how amazing it would be to have public health coverage for multiple IVF treatments? Then, I read another article about maternity leave (and or lack of in the states)
AND our disability/health coverage system stinks for new parents too. 6 weeks paid time off, vs. 14-16 months in Canada and Sweden. Folks, I think our system needs some serious revamping!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Shrinking pants...Part II
Whew, it's been a crazy couple of weeks and I just realized this morning while sitting in a staff meeting at work that I've fallen terribly behind in every aspect of life, including laundry, blogging, e-mail, etc. Hopefully, this all day sickness will end sooner rather than later and my energy level will return. I cannot stand the sight, taste or smell of ANYTHING ginger because evidently I overloaded on ginger products during the first 6 weeks of the morning sickness. Now I've moved on to bread (preferably toasted with a taste of butter) and chocolate milk. The food snob in me just hates any products containing the dreaded high fructose corn syrup, so I've made a concoction of cocoa powder and organic sugar that is pretty tasty and hopefully healthier than the processed and prepared chocolate syrups and hot cocoa mixes.
So, on to other things. "Peanut" appears to be chugging right along into a healthy little 8 week old "kidney bean". We saw the heartbeat at our last RE appointment and Dr. Patel kept exclaiming "beautiful, beatiful". Which made the hubby and I laugh because he has an extremely thick Indian accent and it comes out sounding "booful, booful". He said my chances of miscarrying are 4% and there was nothing more he and his team could do--I have a perfectly healthy pregnacy!!! After a rousing round of handshakes, hugs and congrats we found ourselves standing outside of the RE's office clutching our our first official "pregnancy goodie bag" and wondering what we're going to do now that I don't have a calendar overflowing with blood tests, ultrasounds, precisely timed medication schedules and those horrid, horrid progesterone injections. I guess we'll adjust to being a normal expecting couple, but I still feel lost without the constant supervision and care that our RE gave to us over the last 4 months. I'm feeling like perhaps there is no such thing as a "normal" pregnancy after IVF?!!! Now, here's hoping that I don't drive my new OBGYN bonkers...
So, on to other things. "Peanut" appears to be chugging right along into a healthy little 8 week old "kidney bean". We saw the heartbeat at our last RE appointment and Dr. Patel kept exclaiming "beautiful, beatiful". Which made the hubby and I laugh because he has an extremely thick Indian accent and it comes out sounding "booful, booful". He said my chances of miscarrying are 4% and there was nothing more he and his team could do--I have a perfectly healthy pregnacy!!! After a rousing round of handshakes, hugs and congrats we found ourselves standing outside of the RE's office clutching our our first official "pregnancy goodie bag" and wondering what we're going to do now that I don't have a calendar overflowing with blood tests, ultrasounds, precisely timed medication schedules and those horrid, horrid progesterone injections. I guess we'll adjust to being a normal expecting couple, but I still feel lost without the constant supervision and care that our RE gave to us over the last 4 months. I'm feeling like perhaps there is no such thing as a "normal" pregnancy after IVF?!!! Now, here's hoping that I don't drive my new OBGYN bonkers...
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