Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Still here

Just thought I'd post and say I'm still here! It's been busy--trying to get the adoption paperwork done in record time, keep up with work, finish the home renovations, rehearse for the opera, and get some serious exercise (I figure I need to be in good shape to be able to carry two babies, let alone deliver one!). But things are good!

Monday, January 19, 2009

A Tentative Decision

I left our social worker a message today to say we'd like to continue the adoption process now. Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We're still seeking advice and praying about it, but we're leaning toward adopting now. So, we decided we should work on getting our paperwork in order and see where things go from here!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Fish oil again

I just have to say that Sew Infertile and Finding Joy in Every Journey were so right about the N.ord.ic Nat.ur.als! After being a big slacker with my fish oil, I went and bought some yesterday. I got the kind that's mostly DHA (since that's what pregnant women need most, according to what I've read), and all I taste is strawberry! Yay! Also, the recommendations I found were for about half the dosage recommended on the bottle, so this one bottle will last me three months.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thank you!

Thank you so much for the advice and support! I really appreciate it. We're giving it a lot of thought, we've got some good contacts with people who've been through the same situation so that we can find out what their experience has been like. And, of course, we're doing a lot of praying about it.

In the meantime, I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday, and things are still looking good. I've gained about seven pounds, but I still fit into my looser clothes. My dress clothes are finished, though. I had to go with the b.e.l.l.a band-type-thing to hold up my dress pants for church last Sunday. We'll have to start taking belly pictures, too. The most exciting thing about the appointment was that the doctor was able to hear the baby's heartbeat immediately, and it was 155 (normal at this point is 120-160)!

The other exciting thing is that we got the rest of the stuff we need to finish our bathroom! The end of the renovations is in sight! Mr. X brought home the vanity, vanity top, faucet, mirror, cabinet, lights, and fan while I was at opera rehearsal (we went shopping together and then realized in the time warp of H.o.m.e D.e.p.o.t that I had 20 minutes till rehearsal started, and I needed to drive there, park, and get food).

But, wow, it's late. I'm going to sleep! I will keep you posted on our decision--we don't want to be hasty, and we want to make sure we're following God's will and going into whatever decision we make with our eyes open. The advice and prayers are much appreciated!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Major Dilemma--Advice, Please!

Oh my goodness. We have a major dilemma on our hands! And I feel a bit odd posting about this, because we are really experiencing an embarrassment of riches. But I would love to have some advice, especially if you know anyone who has been in our situation!

We began the adoption process, and I don't want to post too many specifics, but it's an international program, and so there is some predictability to the process. My understanding was that, if we conceived, we would have to wait at least a year after the baby is born to complete an adoption. However, some of the information I had heard was contradictory, and we wanted to get everything completely figured out, so Mr. X and I went in to the agency for a meeting.

It turns out that, in the brief four months since we began the process, things have moved very fast. And, since we do not yet have a baby (in utero doesn't count) living in our house, we could complete an adoption in very close proximity to the birth of our biological child. Wow. The timing of the adoption isn't a sure thing, but somewhere between May and August. My due date is July 11.

The thing is, this program has strict parental age requirements. If we don't adopt now, we will pretty much have one shot after the baby's born. We would have to wait until the baby is almost two years old to bring home a child through adoption, and at that point, we'd be at the very end of the age limit. If we end up having another biological child within 18 months after the baby we're expecting now, we would not be able to adopt through this program.

So. Thus the embarrassment of riches. After 3 1/2 years of infertility and miscarriage, we may have an opportunity to adopt a baby (1 year or younger) and give birth to a baby at practically the same time. I'm very torn. I know that there are lots of practical reasons to postpone the adoption (make sure each child gets lots of attention, adjust to parenthood with one child before having a second child, the unknown about what each of these children will need--though we'll have good medical info through the adoption program, we don't know if our biological child might have some special needs). But I know people have brought two children home at the same (or close to the same) time before. And I kind of feel like we'd be saying no to a child (I know that's way oversimplifying, but you know how emotions are) if we postpone the adoption.

Anyone have advice? If you know anyone who's been in our situation, would you please ask them for their insights (or pass on my blog or e-mail)?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Is it just me?

Thanks so much for the advice and prayers--you guys are great!

I ended up procrastinating too much, and in order to get in my 2-mile walk with the dog before it was too late at night (I don't like walking late at night when Mr. X is out of town) and eat something before my 8:30 deadline for my thyroid medication, I decided to just run out and get a sandwich on my way to the grocery store. I tried to call R.ed R.obi.n to order the bruschetta chicken burger (yum) to go. Their phone system didn't work terribly well--if I pressed the button to place a to go order, my call would get dropped. While I was waiting, I looked at the menu online and saw that the bruschetta chicken burger (which I haven't had in more than a year) costs $10.50. Are you kidding me?

As I was driving to the store, I remembered the B.o.st.on Ma.rk.e.t on the way. Perfect! Reasonably healthy chicken sandwich, right? It was almost closing time, and the store was pretty empty. As I walked up to the counter, the poor girl standing behind the open food case with all the side dishes started hacking. And she didn't even bother to cover her mouth, so she was coughing pretty much on the food. OK . . . she proceeded to walk all over the kitchen, coughing on everything, then came up to the counter and asked to take my order. Um . . . some typhoid to go, please? I quickly glanced around . . . none of the plague-infected side dishes . . . maybe something packaged? . . . no, only coleslaw and cranberry sauce in the cooler . . . so, I settled on just the sandwich, since they'd have to make that in the back. But they were out of white meat. I took that as my excuse and got the heck out of there. I got a grilled chicken sandwich (OK, OK, with fries) at W.endy's.

Is it just me? Is basic hygiene too much to ask? The worst case I personally experienced recently was at an E.in.stein B.age.ls a couple of years ago. I went in and placed my order. The guy who had been coughing (into the corner at least, not directly on the food) proceeded to lick his fingers in order to get a better grip on the gloves, which he then put on. Nothing gets my appetite going like saliva on the plastic gloves. Then he proceeded to make my sandwich, pausing halfway through to rub his eye with his fingers! And when he went back to making the sandwich, there was gunk from his eye left behind on his cheek! Then I looked at his name tag and realized that he was the shift manager. I was so stunned I actually paid for the food and left, but I couldn't bring myself to eat that sandwich.

Trying not to Freak Out

I had to go in to the doctor's office today--Mr. X is out of town and I needed a progesterone injection. While I was there, I found out that my progesterone level drawn last week was 30. Two weeks earlier, it had been 37.2. At 12 weeks, 30 is considered to be "high zone 2" on the PPVI charts, so it's below average, but not way below average. The injection protocol stays the same, so that's OK. I'm just a little concerned that it dropped. I'm telling myself that it's still an OK number, we saw a great ultrasound the day after the blood draw, and that maybe all the supplementation might cause more fluctuation in the levels than usual. Anyway, if any of you know anything about this, please let me know! I'm going to disconnect myself from Dr. G.o.o.g.l.e now to save my sanity and so that I can walk the dog and use my grocery coupons while the sales are still on!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

To Do List Analysis

We're back from dinner, so here is my report on my time-and-motion study (OK, not really a time-and-motion study, but here it is anyway).

Of the items on my list, here are the things I finished:
  • Go to 7-11 and buy a Sunday paper. Except that the 7-11 had no papers left, so I had to go to the grocery store. Took about 25 minutes--thought it would take about 10 minutes.
  • Clip coupons (read Sew Infertile's post about the Grocery Game, got all excited about it, and signed up). Done! Took about an hour to do this (thought it would take about 20 minutes) while talking on the phone. Also set up envelopes to organize the coupons, since I don't have a coupon holder yet.
These are the things I got partially done:
  • Call two of my best friends to announce pregnancy. Called one of my friends, and talked for about an hour while doing other tasks. Yay!
  • Keep laundry going (to make sure Mr. X has the clothes he needs for tomorrow's business trip--boo for business trips, but yay for working in this economy). Hung up delicates to dry and dried other clothes in dryer. Washed spots that didn't come out in the washer out of placemats. Spread out dry shirts so they wouldn't wrinkle too badly, but didn't finish folding. Took about 20 minutes--thought it would take about 5 minutes.
These are the things that I didn't even come close to starting:
  • Make 1 1/2 batches of cookie dough to start cookies for neighbors we've been meaning to bake all weekend and bake at least the first 2 dozen cookies (can only bake 2 dozen at a time--total to be baked is 6 dozen)
  • Organize address list and pull out Christmas cards (yes, you read that right, and Christmas isn't officially over yet) so we can work on them when we get home
  • Spend 15 minutes filing paperwork (new habit we're trying to establish)
  • I also bought yarn and a baby crochet book yesterday (soooo excited to be making something for my own baby, which I couldn't bring myself to do before this). Maybe I can start that blanket?
Must work on more realistic estimates of what I can accomplish in the allotted time, as well as prioritizing (it would have been really nice to at least make the cookie dough, which can be refrigerated, and I did have to buy the paper tonight, but I could have clipped the coupons tomorrow). But we did have a nice dinner with friends we haven't seen in about two months, so the evening ended well!

Time Management Issues? Maybe?

Hmm. So, do you think I need to revisit my time management issues? My problem is that I always think I can pack more into the time I have and that I can do some things really fast if I have to. And I've been doing this for . . . well, at least 20 years now. It makes me late, too.

Here's a case in point. I sang at mass this morning, and Mr. X is on his way to mass at the cathedral tonight. I'm going to head up there to join him if our friends decide to go out afterward. Here's what I have planned for the 2 hours until he calls me at the end of mass:
  • Go to 7-11 and buy a Sunday paper.
  • Clip coupons (read Sew Infertile's post about the Grocery Game, got all excited about it, and signed up)
  • Call two of my best friends to announce pregnancy
  • Make 1 1/2 batches of cookie dough to start cookies for neighbors we've been meaning to bake all weekend and bake at least the first 2 dozen cookies (can only bake 2 dozen at a time--total to be baked is 6 dozen)
  • Organize address list and pull out Christmas cards (yes, you read that right, and Christmas isn't officially over yet) so we can work on them when we get home
  • Spend 15 minutes filing paperwork (new habit we're trying to establish)
  • Keep laundry going (to make sure Mr. X has the clothes he needs for tomorrow's business trip--boo for business trips, but yay for working in this economy)
  • I also bought yarn and a baby crochet book yesterday (soooo excited to be making something for my own baby, which I couldn't bring myself to do before this). Maybe I can start that blanket?
I'm officially crazy, right? I'll post later with what I've actually accomplished so that maybe I'll learn something from this. In the meantime, he's been gone for 20 minutes, so make that an hour and 40 minutes--here I go to 7-11!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Cold Mundanity

I meant to post on New Year's Eve--and then again on New Year's Day--about all the things I talked about on my blog this year and never followed up. Like the blanket I made and the dog's weird behavior. You know, riveting things like that. With pictures. But I haven't gotten around to taking the pictures. I still want to write it, so maybe this weekend . . .

In the meantime, I've been fighting off a nasty cold. Here's the story I alluded to before. So, I came down with this cold the Monday before Christmas, as we were flying back here from the frozen tundra where we had been visiting family. For the rest of the week, I was patting myself on the back for fighting it off pretty darn well--I was just a little sniffly with a scratchy throat. Then, on Sunday morning, the real cold started. I woke up (i.e., dragged myself out of bed) to sing at 7:30 mass, came home and slept, showered, and went back for 12:30 mass. By the 12:30 mass, I was sneaking into the sacristy for kleenex and whispering to the ladies around me that I would not be holding or shaking anyone's hand. The rest of Sunday I felt miserable.

On Sunday night, I was trying to fall asleep and ended up totally freaking myself out. Mr. X drifted off, and I was lying there, trying to decide whether I should breathe through my mouth or if I could get enough air through my nose. By 2am, I thought that, if I was breathing through my nose and it got too stuffy, maybe I'd stop breathing. "Don't be ridiculous!" I told myself. "People do actually open their mouth if they can't breathe through their nose!" After carrying on that argument for about half an hour, I dozed off and woke up to find that I could breathe through my nose. "It must be going into my chest," I thought. "What if I get bronchitis? It's bad enough that I can't take a decongestant. When I have bronchitis I really won't be able to breathe, and I probably won't be able to take the antibiotics for it either! I'll probably have to go to the hospital . . ." and so on for about another half-hour. I finally drifted off again, but I was sleeping lightly. By 4:30, Mr. X woke up to go to the bathroom and asked if I was OK. I said "not really" in my smallest voice, and he said I should have woken him up right away. He came over and snuggled up to me so I could sleep. And then we went to the ultrasound that morning--so we were both pretty out of it!

But, seriously, you'd think I had some rare and horrible disease the way I managed to work myself up! The cold's on its way out, but it's made me more worn out than usual. Yesterday, I even got sick to my stomach and stayed home from mass. Pregnancy has finally convinced me that I need to actually pay attention when I feel tired or sick. Speaking of which, I think I should probably sleep now!
 

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