So, here we are on vacation! We made our second trip to I.K.EA today. Oh. My. Goodness. Mr. X commented that it's a good thing we brought such a small van :) Otherwise, we might try to bring home the whole store. So far, we've bought two cribs and two dressers, with one changing-table top thing to put on top of the dresser. We had to go back today, because there was only one crib available yesterday--they had to put more out on the floor for today. Today, we also bought a new desk for me and a drawing table/desk for Mr. X--he's wanted one for years, and I'm so happy we bought it! I have no artistic talent, but he really does, and I'm glad he's got the drawing table. We found a kitchen cart that will work to get our printers (we have three!) off the floor and desks. I think we'll actually have a functional home office when we get home! We bought legs for a table top that we want to put on the back porch (the table top's been in our downstairs for five years. Five. Years.). And then we bought a few random items--a cutting board Mr. X really liked, some glasses (most of our glasses have broken over the last couple of years and we never think to replace them), some little child-proofing latches. It was really funny, because neither of us had ever been to an IK.EA, but Mr. X is always coming up with ideas for designs of different items and will sketch them out and tell me about them--the drawing table and the cutting board we bought (along with several other things we saw in the store) were almost identical to his ideas. The good thing is that we've spent almost exactly what I anticipated, but ended up with a lot more for our money than I thought we'd get!
We may go back again tomorrow.
So, let's see, what else . . . My progesterone dropped again. The nurse from PPVI called while we were on the road and told me to resume the injections. Unfortunately, I left everything at home! My local doctor (have I mentioned how great he is lately?) called in the prescription for me and we actually were able to get the progesterone and syringes locally with little trouble, thank God! Things seem to be going fine with the baby girl. I was having some really bad round ligament pain for a couple of months, but that seems to have pretty much stopped--I guess the ligaments gave up and just stretched already. We've gotten really good news on the adoption in the past week, too. We made it past three more paperwork steps. I'm still keeping track of everything so that I can post about our process once we've got our little guy home . . . which should be soon, I hope! So, all is well on the baby front right now.
The nearest I.KEA to us is in Utah, so we had a looong drive, and we're spending the weekend here just relaxing, which is great. This morning, we went to hear the M.ormon Tab.ernacle Ch.oir. It was pretty cool--they had a military band as the special guest and performed patriotic music, so it was a fun thing to do for Memorial Day. Temple Square was really interesting, too. Afterwards, we went to the cathedral for mass, and found to our delight that they have an amazing choir. The deacon gave a really good homily, and the music was a few older, traditional English hymns, and then Renaissance music for the mass setting and a few motets. When I heard the choir without seeing them (they were singing in the chapel for Lauds as we were coming in for mass), I assumed it was an adult choir, but most were children or teenagers. It was really impressive!
We're going to head out for dinner in a little while, and we're going to spend some more time tomorrow in the U.inta Fo.rest (we did a bit of exploring yesterday) when the weather is nicer (I forgot an umbrella when we were packing and got completely soaked walking to mass). Yesterday was actually my birthday--yay! Any guesses how old I am now? :)
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Weirdness
I was talking to a friend the other day about Mother's Day, and we agreed that people who say that "once you are a mom, all the pain of infertility goes away" are just wrong. It isn't that you aren't happy, but you still remember it all. So, I did have a lovely Mother's Day today--Mr. X gave me tulips and a card yesterday (I saved the card till today), and I got a card in the mail from my parents. Lots of people wished me a happy Mother's Day at church, which was really sweet, and I stood up for the blessing at the end. I did remember vividly how I felt last year, and I prayed for all my friends (blogging friend and other friends) who are waiting.
The weirdest thing happened today, though. After singing for mass at my own parish, we went across town to another parish for a family friend's first Communion. And we heard the worst homily I've heard in years. Seriously. It was so bad, Mr. X finally got up and left for a few minutes. The priest was talking about the importance of community, and he talked about how we need to have dialogue in order to grow in our faith. He talked about how we are the church. He said that to blindly accept something the church (meaning the Magisterium) teaches even if you don't really believe it lacks all integrity, but to say "what I believe must be right and the church must be wrong" lacks all humility. Then he gestured to the white wall behind him and asked if he told us that the Magisterium had just infallibly stated that the wall is red whether we would believe it. What??? He said that, if the Magisterium tells us the wall is red, but everything in our experience of life tells us the wall is white, and that's what our community believes, then, since our community is the church, the wall is really white. Huh??? (This is the point when Mr. X couldn't take it any more.)
He never gave a concrete example, just talked once about "proposition A" versus "proposition B" and then spent the rest of the time on the whole white-wall-is-red thing. It was a total straw man fallacy--I mean, how often is the church going to give us a teaching on faith and morals that is demonstrably, objectively false? Though Mr. X pointed out that it's particularly insidious to be giving this kind of homily at a first Communion, where the children's senses tell them that the Eucharist is bread and wine, but the church tells them it's the body and blood of Christ! I'm not up on these things, but is it actually heresy to tell the congregation that we can reject an infallible teaching of the church if we come to a conclusion as a group, based on our experience, that it's wrong?
Just had to get that off my chest. For the most part, it's been a really nice weekend!
The weirdest thing happened today, though. After singing for mass at my own parish, we went across town to another parish for a family friend's first Communion. And we heard the worst homily I've heard in years. Seriously. It was so bad, Mr. X finally got up and left for a few minutes. The priest was talking about the importance of community, and he talked about how we need to have dialogue in order to grow in our faith. He talked about how we are the church. He said that to blindly accept something the church (meaning the Magisterium) teaches even if you don't really believe it lacks all integrity, but to say "what I believe must be right and the church must be wrong" lacks all humility. Then he gestured to the white wall behind him and asked if he told us that the Magisterium had just infallibly stated that the wall is red whether we would believe it. What??? He said that, if the Magisterium tells us the wall is red, but everything in our experience of life tells us the wall is white, and that's what our community believes, then, since our community is the church, the wall is really white. Huh??? (This is the point when Mr. X couldn't take it any more.)
He never gave a concrete example, just talked once about "proposition A" versus "proposition B" and then spent the rest of the time on the whole white-wall-is-red thing. It was a total straw man fallacy--I mean, how often is the church going to give us a teaching on faith and morals that is demonstrably, objectively false? Though Mr. X pointed out that it's particularly insidious to be giving this kind of homily at a first Communion, where the children's senses tell them that the Eucharist is bread and wine, but the church tells them it's the body and blood of Christ! I'm not up on these things, but is it actually heresy to tell the congregation that we can reject an infallible teaching of the church if we come to a conclusion as a group, based on our experience, that it's wrong?
Just had to get that off my chest. For the most part, it's been a really nice weekend!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Well, so much for that resolution!
Still working on the de-stressing thing . . . not working out quite as well as I'd hoped!
Things are going along well, though. Our adoption paperwork is hung up in process right now, so I'm working on my patience! I'm already almost 31 weeks, too, which is kind of surreal. Every once in a while I have an "oh my goodness, this is really happening" moment. The doctor was able to tell that the baby is head-down at my appointment this week (hooray!), and last night at choir practice, she seemed to have decided her foot really needed to be lodged under my ribs, which makes singing quite interesting. My progesterone has been high for two tests in a row, so no injections!!
I really, really need to start working on the babies' room, though. It's still full of junk. Our kitchen and bathroom are fully functional, so I think it's time to move on to the baby prep. We've picked out furniture--finally settled on I.KE.A for cribs and dressers. Unfortunately, we live more than 8 hours from the nearest store, and shipping is outrageous! So, after wavering for ages about our last pre-baby vacation as a couple . . . we're going to drive to I.K.EA in our new minivan! Aren't we the most exciting people ever? Just so you know, our original plan (ages ago) was a month in Italy. With the uncertainty of the adoption timing, we scrapped that idea and opted for a cruise instead. I was just getting ready to click "buy now" for the cruise tickets when I read the fine print that no woman more than 24 weeks pregnant is allowed on a cruise ship (really glad I read that before clicking "buy now"). Then we were going to have a Florida Keys snorkeling trip, but booking the plane tickets using miles was getting a little crazy. So. We had much more thrilling plans originally, but I.K.EA it is!
OK, there are other attractions to the trip, we're not just going to I.K.E.A. We're looking forward to having a little road trip and relaxation. I think I'll turn off my cell phone, too. Or at least program special rings for people I'm willing to pick up for. The only hitch in the plan so far is that I called customer service at IK.EA today, and they will not hold merchandise or let you order to the store. I guess we just have to hope our cribs and dressers are in stock!
So, that is the latest update, and in the interest of reducing stress, here is something that made me laugh out loud today.
Things are going along well, though. Our adoption paperwork is hung up in process right now, so I'm working on my patience! I'm already almost 31 weeks, too, which is kind of surreal. Every once in a while I have an "oh my goodness, this is really happening" moment. The doctor was able to tell that the baby is head-down at my appointment this week (hooray!), and last night at choir practice, she seemed to have decided her foot really needed to be lodged under my ribs, which makes singing quite interesting. My progesterone has been high for two tests in a row, so no injections!!
I really, really need to start working on the babies' room, though. It's still full of junk. Our kitchen and bathroom are fully functional, so I think it's time to move on to the baby prep. We've picked out furniture--finally settled on I.KE.A for cribs and dressers. Unfortunately, we live more than 8 hours from the nearest store, and shipping is outrageous! So, after wavering for ages about our last pre-baby vacation as a couple . . . we're going to drive to I.K.EA in our new minivan! Aren't we the most exciting people ever? Just so you know, our original plan (ages ago) was a month in Italy. With the uncertainty of the adoption timing, we scrapped that idea and opted for a cruise instead. I was just getting ready to click "buy now" for the cruise tickets when I read the fine print that no woman more than 24 weeks pregnant is allowed on a cruise ship (really glad I read that before clicking "buy now"). Then we were going to have a Florida Keys snorkeling trip, but booking the plane tickets using miles was getting a little crazy. So. We had much more thrilling plans originally, but I.K.EA it is!
OK, there are other attractions to the trip, we're not just going to I.K.E.A. We're looking forward to having a little road trip and relaxation. I think I'll turn off my cell phone, too. Or at least program special rings for people I'm willing to pick up for. The only hitch in the plan so far is that I called customer service at IK.EA today, and they will not hold merchandise or let you order to the store. I guess we just have to hope our cribs and dressers are in stock!
So, that is the latest update, and in the interest of reducing stress, here is something that made me laugh out loud today.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
No More Stress
Things have been a little crazy these last few weeks. I was letting a lot of things get to me--waiting for adoption paperwork and worrying about whether anything had gone wrong, buying a car in a way more complicated way than I ever imagined, and lots of stress at work. I think I may have to cry "uncle" because my go.ogle re.ader now has more than 100 unread posts, and I don't think I'll be able to catch up. But I decided that the stress has got to go! I hit the third trimester on Saturday, which is so hard to believe. The previous night, we were driving around in terrible weather, and I was feeling a bit sick to my stomach. When we came back home, I had the tiniest bit of spotting. I called my doctor and got into bed and then started berating myself for letting things get to me, for not eating right (we're almost finished with our kitchen remodeling, but our kitchen hasn't been functional for the last two weeks), and for falling down on my exercise program. The doctor called me back and said that if the discomfort and the spotting stopped, then it was probably nothing to worry about. Thank God, they went away and have stayed away so far.
So. No more stress. I'm not saying that spotting and stress are connected--I have no idea. But it made me realize that I have to start putting things in perspective. I'm doing better at handling the tough things. Last night, I was exhausted after a really rough day. We did our relaxation practice that we're supposed to do for the Bradley training, and I wasn't able to focus my mind on it. But Mr. X checked my shoulders, which are usually like iron bars if I'm stressed, and they were actually relaxed. I made it through a really tough day today, remaining much calmer than I usually would. That's my new project: remaining calm and relaxed. I'll let you know how that works out . . .
So. No more stress. I'm not saying that spotting and stress are connected--I have no idea. But it made me realize that I have to start putting things in perspective. I'm doing better at handling the tough things. Last night, I was exhausted after a really rough day. We did our relaxation practice that we're supposed to do for the Bradley training, and I wasn't able to focus my mind on it. But Mr. X checked my shoulders, which are usually like iron bars if I'm stressed, and they were actually relaxed. I made it through a really tough day today, remaining much calmer than I usually would. That's my new project: remaining calm and relaxed. I'll let you know how that works out . . .
Sunday, March 29, 2009
5:30am = Bad time for phone to ring
I just finished some work for a deadline tomorrow! Yay!
That reminded me . . . last week, I was happy when my employer used the emergency notification system (on which I have registered our home phone, my cell, and Mr. X's cell) to let us know that we were closed for the day due to weather conditions. All of our phones rang simultaneously at 6am. But that seemed appropriate.
The next day, all of our phones rang, in sequence, beginning at 5:30am. The recording said that the weather was fine (which I knew) and that we would be open for the day (which I would assume unless I got a call saying otherwise). The result was that I stumbled sleepily around the house, turning off phones and muttering nasty things.
I'm hoping for no phone calls before 8am tomorrow!
That reminded me . . . last week, I was happy when my employer used the emergency notification system (on which I have registered our home phone, my cell, and Mr. X's cell) to let us know that we were closed for the day due to weather conditions. All of our phones rang simultaneously at 6am. But that seemed appropriate.
The next day, all of our phones rang, in sequence, beginning at 5:30am. The recording said that the weather was fine (which I knew) and that we would be open for the day (which I would assume unless I got a call saying otherwise). The result was that I stumbled sleepily around the house, turning off phones and muttering nasty things.
I'm hoping for no phone calls before 8am tomorrow!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Good progesterone news!
Thanks for checking on me, TCIE! I'll post more later this week, but I thought I'd do a quick update now. Today, the weather is so hideous that we're holed up inside (it took Mr. X 2 1/2 hours to drive 15 miles home from work!) and I'm in a great mood! I've been feeling really overwhelmed between adoption training, childbirth classes (we're taking the Bradley method course), work deadlines, finding a new car, refinancing our house, remodeling the bathroom and kitchen, and general getting ready to be parents (trying to eat well and exercise, read up on parenting, shovel out the office-turned-babies' room, and figure out what stuff we have to buy!). The weather may be nasty today, but it gave me a reason to cancel everything and stay home to catch up on things.
So, I heard from PPVI this afternoon, and my 24-week progesterone level is in Zone 3! Woohoo! I get to stop the progesterone injections (at least until my 26-week progesterone test--depending on that level, I may have to start again). If it's good for the baby, I'm happy to have the injections right up to birth, but it's nice to see a good high level and know that I can skip a couple of needles!
Speaking of which, I have to get back to work, but I finally scanned in the latest ultrasound pictures, so I'll leave you with a picture of our little girl! She's on her side, facing the camera with her head on the right. This is a pretty good shot of her face, and she looks like she's smiling!
So, I heard from PPVI this afternoon, and my 24-week progesterone level is in Zone 3! Woohoo! I get to stop the progesterone injections (at least until my 26-week progesterone test--depending on that level, I may have to start again). If it's good for the baby, I'm happy to have the injections right up to birth, but it's nice to see a good high level and know that I can skip a couple of needles!
Speaking of which, I have to get back to work, but I finally scanned in the latest ultrasound pictures, so I'll leave you with a picture of our little girl! She's on her side, facing the camera with her head on the right. This is a pretty good shot of her face, and she looks like she's smiling!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
It's a . . .
GIRL!
It was really kind of funny, because Mr. X and I both have thought the baby was a girl all along. Of course, we had a 50/50 chance of being right, but our reaction was more of a "oh, yeah, that's what we thought" than a big surprise. Still very cool, though. The ultrasound was funny, because the ultrasound doctor (my regular doctor doesn't have an ultrasound, so I have to go to another doctor) was held up (had to assist on a delivery in which the baby came out and the IUD didn't--yikes!). So, the PA and a med student came in and said they wanted to play with the machine before the doctor came. It was a riot. So, we had lots of time on the ultrasound, and Mr. X (who is really good at visual stuff) was able to identify the baby's sex before they were. Then, the doctor came and confirmed that everything was OK. It was amazing to see the baby's heart (we could even see the valves working) and her little hands opening and closing into fists. She was moving all over the place, too! Unfortunately, the pictures we ended up with are mostly of the "alien baby" variety. I haven't scanned them in yet, but I need to in order to post them here and send them to family.
Last week was insane between a ludicrous deadline I had for work (deadline was online submission by Friday, and I finished on Friday night . . . at midnight) and my parents coming to visit (which was great fun). My parents helped us out a ton with things around the house. My dad put in lots of baseboard and helped Mr. X install some new cabinets in the kitchen, and my mom and I ran errands all over town to do returns and donations from all the junk we have piled up in the babies' room.
I had kind of a scary day today. I was on my way to a doctor's appointment, and I had probably the worst car accident I've ever had. I was driving on a four-lane highway with a full lane in the middle for turns. I was in the left lane and the man in front of me in the right lane decided to make a (not so legal) U-turn. He pulled right across my lane and then just stopped. I honked my horn, and he moved a little bit, but then stopped again with his car across my lane. I tried to slow down and go around him, but by that point, I couldn't. I just caught the side of his car near his rear bumper with the driver's side corner of my front bumper. My airbags deployed, tearing off the passenger side visor and shattering the windshield. It scared me to death! I called 911, and he pulled into the middle turn lane. I waited till I could judge the traffic and then pulled over onto the shoulder. Since I wasn't in pain, the fire fighters who arrived just told me to go ahead to my doctor's appointment. By the time I got to the doctor's office, I had been feeling the baby move, and I still wasn't having any pain, but I still couldn't relax until the doctor checked her heartbeat. It was fine, and he said that I should just go home, take it easy, and call him if I had any bleeding, pain, or contractions. Evidently the main concern with an accident is placental abruption (the placental separates from the uterus, and the baby isn't getting enough oxygen or anything else, for that matter), and if that happens at 22 weeks, there's not much they can do. He described the uterine muscles hardening during a contraction, and I did panic a while later when I felt a little twinge and the muscles seemed hard, but only on the right side, where I'd been feeling the baby move. So, I called, and he said that it's common at this point for the baby to hang out on one side, with the result that the uterus feels squishy on the side with the fluid and harder on the baby's side. It looks like everything is OK, thank God!
The man in the other car seems to think this was my fault! From what I've been able to figure out, it sounds like he thought he was in the middle turn lane, not a traffic lane. But, given that he pulled his car into the middle turn lane after the accident, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for him to stick to his story. As we were exchanging information, he said, "Now, remember, this was your fault!" Ha! We have to go down and make police reports because the police in that town don't come out for accidents. Should be interesting. He told my insurance company his version of the story, so it sounds like we may have a battle between insurance companies on our hands! Not fun. My car is totaled. And Mr. X's car is a stick, which I can barely drive (I practiced tonight, but I get very nervous, and I have a really hard time starting again after I stop). We reworked our finances to cover our adoption expenses, and a new car is really not in the budget right now. We'll probably get between $3000 and $4000 for my car. It's a bummer, because the car was 11 years old and nothing fancy, but it was very reliable and had several good years left. At this point, I'm just very grateful that we seem to have come through without injury. At this point, I think I'm going to take a bath and relax a bit and then get some sleep.
It was really kind of funny, because Mr. X and I both have thought the baby was a girl all along. Of course, we had a 50/50 chance of being right, but our reaction was more of a "oh, yeah, that's what we thought" than a big surprise. Still very cool, though. The ultrasound was funny, because the ultrasound doctor (my regular doctor doesn't have an ultrasound, so I have to go to another doctor) was held up (had to assist on a delivery in which the baby came out and the IUD didn't--yikes!). So, the PA and a med student came in and said they wanted to play with the machine before the doctor came. It was a riot. So, we had lots of time on the ultrasound, and Mr. X (who is really good at visual stuff) was able to identify the baby's sex before they were. Then, the doctor came and confirmed that everything was OK. It was amazing to see the baby's heart (we could even see the valves working) and her little hands opening and closing into fists. She was moving all over the place, too! Unfortunately, the pictures we ended up with are mostly of the "alien baby" variety. I haven't scanned them in yet, but I need to in order to post them here and send them to family.
Last week was insane between a ludicrous deadline I had for work (deadline was online submission by Friday, and I finished on Friday night . . . at midnight) and my parents coming to visit (which was great fun). My parents helped us out a ton with things around the house. My dad put in lots of baseboard and helped Mr. X install some new cabinets in the kitchen, and my mom and I ran errands all over town to do returns and donations from all the junk we have piled up in the babies' room.
I had kind of a scary day today. I was on my way to a doctor's appointment, and I had probably the worst car accident I've ever had. I was driving on a four-lane highway with a full lane in the middle for turns. I was in the left lane and the man in front of me in the right lane decided to make a (not so legal) U-turn. He pulled right across my lane and then just stopped. I honked my horn, and he moved a little bit, but then stopped again with his car across my lane. I tried to slow down and go around him, but by that point, I couldn't. I just caught the side of his car near his rear bumper with the driver's side corner of my front bumper. My airbags deployed, tearing off the passenger side visor and shattering the windshield. It scared me to death! I called 911, and he pulled into the middle turn lane. I waited till I could judge the traffic and then pulled over onto the shoulder. Since I wasn't in pain, the fire fighters who arrived just told me to go ahead to my doctor's appointment. By the time I got to the doctor's office, I had been feeling the baby move, and I still wasn't having any pain, but I still couldn't relax until the doctor checked her heartbeat. It was fine, and he said that I should just go home, take it easy, and call him if I had any bleeding, pain, or contractions. Evidently the main concern with an accident is placental abruption (the placental separates from the uterus, and the baby isn't getting enough oxygen or anything else, for that matter), and if that happens at 22 weeks, there's not much they can do. He described the uterine muscles hardening during a contraction, and I did panic a while later when I felt a little twinge and the muscles seemed hard, but only on the right side, where I'd been feeling the baby move. So, I called, and he said that it's common at this point for the baby to hang out on one side, with the result that the uterus feels squishy on the side with the fluid and harder on the baby's side. It looks like everything is OK, thank God!
The man in the other car seems to think this was my fault! From what I've been able to figure out, it sounds like he thought he was in the middle turn lane, not a traffic lane. But, given that he pulled his car into the middle turn lane after the accident, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for him to stick to his story. As we were exchanging information, he said, "Now, remember, this was your fault!" Ha! We have to go down and make police reports because the police in that town don't come out for accidents. Should be interesting. He told my insurance company his version of the story, so it sounds like we may have a battle between insurance companies on our hands! Not fun. My car is totaled. And Mr. X's car is a stick, which I can barely drive (I practiced tonight, but I get very nervous, and I have a really hard time starting again after I stop). We reworked our finances to cover our adoption expenses, and a new car is really not in the budget right now. We'll probably get between $3000 and $4000 for my car. It's a bummer, because the car was 11 years old and nothing fancy, but it was very reliable and had several good years left. At this point, I'm just very grateful that we seem to have come through without injury. At this point, I think I'm going to take a bath and relax a bit and then get some sleep.
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