Wednesday, July 29, 2009

This has been my worst week of hormone induced blonde moments yet!!

I’ve made the following unfortunate discoveries:

1). The butter does not belong in the freezer

2). Stop SIGNS do not turn green, no matter how long you sit waiting

3). The roses should not be watered for 24 hours (I left the hose running all night and watered the entire neighborhood!)

4). When you are finished cooking TURN all BURNERS to the OFF position. I nearly burned the house down after making a grilled cheese sandwich!

5). To add insult to injury, I think I’ve worn the same outfit to work twice already this week--and it's only Wednesday.

6) Hubby says that I am having full conversations while sleeping. Yeesh, I’m not even that sleep deprived yet!

In other random strangeness, why in the heck is my Pandora station playing Christmas music? Wishful thinking for cooler temps I guess! :-)

Monday, July 27, 2009

Wedding dress shopping...WHAT?

Yes, went wedding dress shopping with my friend K on Friday night. She is getting married this fall and really had no idea what type of dress to look for. I forgot the challenges of dress shopping, pushy sales clerks, impossible zippers and buttons and the OH so frustrating challenge of finding the perfect dress. I encouraged her to try on some A-lines (like all of us, she was worried about too much bulk in the booty region) and after a few dead ends, we found a lovely strapless, A-line with a beautiful peridot sash that looks just gorgeous on her.

SOOOO much fun and it brought back so many good memories of dress shopping for my perfect dress all those years ago. Those young days of being engaged and anticipating the happily ever after with the perfect little family seem so far away, like a teenage girls whistful dreams of forever. Amazing how quickly those sweet times of our younger years fade into the background when enduring trials and tough times.It was so nice to be reminded of those blissfully happy days before infertility and all of the storms of life came crashing down. I can't say that I'm grateful for the incredibly painful journey to become parents, but I can't believe what a different (and better) person I am today because of it. Amazing how being denied the most basic thing in life (i.e., getting pregnant and becoming a mom) can absolutely change your perspective on life.

I definitely alarmed quite a few sales people when they saw my pregnant tummy. Had to quickly assure them that (as of yet) I'm not part of the bridal party! Whew did they look relieved. I'm not even sure if they have maternity bridesmaid dresses anyway! :-) I'm so thrilled we're having a girl. How fun to someday be a mother-of the bride and go dress shopping with my daughter! And NO, I'm definitely not going to be one of those crazy moms who starts planning her daughters wedding in elementary school!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Heat? What heat?

Excellent! So, let’s break all the Arizona heat records dating back to the 1800's the ONE summer I’m pregnant. Fantastic! UGH!!!

Also, I would like to say that I HATE iron supplements!!! That and the prenatal vitamins are just a nasty mix for my poor "anemiac" system! I've been iron deficient my whole life, but apparently it's become more of an issue lately because of the pregnancy. I truly can't bring myself to eat any larger quantities of spinach and red meat, BUT on the bright side, thank goodness all the IVF treatment stuff is behind us---that makes me extremely grateful for any of my super minor pregnancy issues!

We were talking the other night about secondary infertility and how/when we will continue to grow our family. Unless we have medical coverage to help offset some of the costs associated with IVF/ICSI, it's very likely that we'll never be able to afford having another biological child. That makes every day an issue of trust. Do we trust Him or are we trusting ourselves. I hope and pray that every day we're choosing the first. Even thought it's incredibly difficult and it feels like it'll never end, there is always hope! It's comforting to know that God will provide everything we need (including the children we long for) in His time. AND, a friend of mine from highschool ended up going to the Czech Republic for IVF--I guess it's quite a bit cheaper to seek treatments in Europe. Wow, kind of a neat "vacation/traveling" alternative...never would've thought of doing something like that

Monday, July 20, 2009

30 weeks and feeling great!

I'm finally off the Zofran! Since starting the 3rd trimester I've only thrown up once, which is pretty freaking awesome! Dr. says it's fine to take Zantac twice a day to help with the heartburn (and I have to down Maalox/Mylanta at lunch/dinner) but thank goodness no more am/pm barfing! Everyone always says that the 3rd trimester is the most uncomfortable and hardest, but now that the stomach has finally started feeling better I guess this just might be my best trimester (actually this is the best I've felt since we started IVF treatments back in the fall--minus the constant sciata of course!!!:-)

We went out for Indian food last weekend (which I've been dreaming about and craving forever!!!!). I still feel pretty ridiculous pulling out the bottle of maalox at the table, but it really helps. Welcome back salads, fruit, pizza, tomatoes and my lovely morning iced decaf espresso--I've missed you most dreadfully. Now, the only problem is that I have to eat tiny little meals, but it's so stinking hot here (115 over the weekend) that it just seems normal to eat small "snack" meals throught the day.

We scheduled a hospital tour of the maternity ward which should be interesting. I've never actually been admitted to a hospital (just RE clinics or other outpatient surgeries) so it should definitely be an experience. I overheard a couple girls at the OB's office last week just gushing about the brand new hospital that we'll be delivering at--huge private rooms, soaking tubs, a serenity garden, etc. Sounds great to me! Maybe I can stay there a few extra days for some R&R and send hubby home with the newborn kiddo? :-)

The nursery is finished, got the Target registry done and our church is having a baby shower next month. My three sisters and mom are planning to fly out for a girls weekend and to attend the shower so I'm super excited! Our little niece gets to sleep in the new nursery--and for the first time in 7 years, we actually have diapers and baby stuff in the house! Yep, good times!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Bah...Summer is here

Ah. Summer in the blazing hot desert. It's supposed to hit 116 this weekend. Most of us who have lived in Arizona for a few years get used to the heat advisories and claim it's a "dry heat". You know, open the oven and BAKE like a cookie! We've even fried eggs on the sidewalk and someone was in the news last year because they made a batch of fresh baked cookies on their dashboard!
Let me tell ya-- 3rd trimester in ANY kind of heat is unpleasant! When we first started IVF and looked at projected due dates we really thought our 50% success rate made it highly likely that we'd end up going through a 2nd cycle later in the spring. Which would push the due dates back and therefore I'd miss the 3rd trimester blazing Arizona SUMMER heat. But even though I have to wear pot holders to drive my car and drink gallons of water a day--I'm so thankful our little girl is healthy and active. I think she likes the pool. Her most active times are when I'm splashing in the pool and while we're sitting in church (she kicked me so hard last week that my entire leg twitched and I kicked the seat in front of me!).

Had my glucose (YUCK!!!) test last week and hopefully I passed--no news is good news, but with the holiday weekend they might be running a few days behind schedule with test results. Somehow I misplaced the directions and drank a bit of water with a light protein breakfast (which my dr. said would be fine because of my persistant all day vomiting). The grumpy nurse acted like a water nazi when I walked in with my water bottle--apparantly a few sips can throw the test off. Man, I hope to avoid the unpleasant 3 hr fasting glucose test! And now I get to see the doc. every 2 weeks. Which is great but I so dread climbing on that scale! My drs. office has the scale located in the busy hallway so everyone walking by can see and hear the upward climbing results AND sometimes they start stacking patients behind each other when things get busy. Good grief...thanks for announcing my weight and blood pressure to the whole dang world!
It'll be so worth it, but I gained 5 lbs over the past month (before I hit the rapidly expanding 3rd trimester!!) and I was really hoping to keep the weight gain down. Doc assures me that much of my excess gain is water weight, but the whole "shrinking pants" from IVF treatments, plus 9 months of pregnancy is making the sciata even more fun! Sigh, let the good times keep on rolling!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Getting Creative!

I needed to do something affordable and cute for a mom of 5 and her twin girls shower on Saturday and decided to make a diaper cake! Got directions online and spent a grand total of $18.95. I only used about a pack and half of diapers, so maybe next time I'll try a 4 tier cake! The picture I took is kind of crooked, but oh well!

It was really fun to see the hoopla it created and the mom-to be said it was so pretty that they might use it as a centerpiece!
And, in the creative theme of things, earlier this spring I got the stuff to make jewelry after a lunch-time saunter through the local beadshop with girls from work. Did some diving in their bargain bin and found some great items. What fun! I love doing creative stuff but just never seem to get the time or motivation to get started. Now with the recession hitting our pocketbook, I'm forcing myself to come up with creative and inexpensive ideas for gifts.

My sister loved this necklace I made for her birthday and said it's one of the best things she's ever received!
Grand total spent: $3.95 at Walmart for the jewelry wire and of course postage to Seattle. Excited to try a few more projects for upcoming birthdays and showers.