Shutterfly part 2

Hi there,

Those of you who commented - please let me know if you received your code. DinoD that means you :) and carebear - I need your email address otherwise I can't send a code. Melissa yours should be in your inbox as well!

Honest there will be another post soon... I promise. With pictures - stay tuned!

Shutterfly - Christmas Cards, etc

So... I know I know I'll put up a really good post shortly, but for the moment I need to write about Shutterfly. Primarily because they're being very generous and giving me 50 free cards.

I've used shutterfly for about 6 years now and have made our <a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards">Christmas cards with them for quite a few as well. I generally come up with 3 or 4 designs and then have D help to choose which one to go with. Every year I have been pleased with the results. Shutterfly's customer service is great as well. A few years ago - must have been 2007 because it was a mug for Papa as a Christmas gift - it was delivered, but it was broken. I called and they immediately sent a replacement. I've also had problems with printing on a mug and they sent a new one without questions.

When Peanut was born I knew I would go ahead and do her http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/birth-announcements">birth announcements by shutterfly and I did. I was again pleased with the results - there were a variety of options from expensive to not so expensive. I ended up going with the not so expensive, but I will admit to being tempted by the more expensive options.

Over the years I've also made a number of tp://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books">photo books including one with all the pictures from Peanut's first two weeks and the photo shoot from that. I've got probably 4 photo books that I've kept and I've tried to do a photo book for the grandparents at least once a year. They love it. I have found that Squeaker oddly enough loves photo books of his family. He sits and looks at the pictures probably once or twice a week if not more frequently.

The gist of all this is that I love shutterfly and use them regularly and store my pictures online there as well. This post was sponsored by shutterfly and I have 3 gifts to give to the first 3 commenters on this post :)

Baby Girl Has arrived

At 1:04 pm I became the mother to a beautiful baby girl. Cecelia Elise was born at 1:04 pm and is 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long. So far she's nursing like a champ and is doing great. I am doing well as well. I've been up walking once so far. Biggest challenge of the second c-section was getting her out - she didn't want to come out so there was quite a bit of tugging/pushing. They delayed cord clamped and got her to me to nurse pretty quickly. Overall a great experience. The nurses were wonderful and I have a great room which is really nice.

Stay Tuned...

Sometime today - most likely tonight there will be an announcement with pictures. I'm going to leave it to your imagination as to what that is, but it'll be up.

Wow...

I have two night shifts left before I start my maternity leave... tonight and tomorrow night. Now to get through them. I've been pretty fortunate to be able to tolerate the 12 hour shifts without too much pain, exhaustion, etc so I'm hopeful the last two should be fine. In theory of course :)

I will be 38 weeks on Wednesday. I'm still in awe that I'm pregnant still this has been a blessing as D has come up with project after project to complete. The current one is that he'd like me to wait to have baby girl until after they complete a deck off the back patio door in the next two days. Gee no pressure. Did I not tell all of you that D is a comedian?

I'm still trying to get things around and make sure I have all items completed, but to be honest while the spirit is willing the motivation is lacking.

So nothing to see here... will keep you posted though.

36 weeks 2 days

I now have been pregnant 4 days longer than I was with Squeaker... I made it through 6 nights of work (with one night off in there so it was 3 on, one off, 3 on) and am now happy to say that I can hopefully get a few things accomplished like packing that pesky bag for the hospital in case something happens. My placenta has officially been classified as low lying but still on the border so it's a wait and see kind of game as to what's going to go on with that. We've chosen after a lot of considerable thought, consideration and listening to what my physician has to say that a VBAC is probably not the best option for me at this time. I'm okay with that. D is as well so that is where we stand.

I am still trying to plug away at my list of things to accomplish before baby girl arrives... that would include packing a bag. The car seat is installed so that's at least taken care of and Squeaker's swing set that has been sitting in our garage since April when we bought it is now completely put up (only 57 steps, 3 people and 4 days). I'm going blueberry picking today and hope to freeze some of my bounty and take some blueberry trifle to a blessingway for another momma on a natural parenting board I'm on. I also hope to stop at work and work for an hour to get a few things done there so I can not worry about them kind of thing.

Tonight I couldn't sleep so this could be interesting to say the least. My goal of 37 weeks is just around the corner... Watch I make it to the scheduled c-section date :) It'd be a new thing for me.

34 weeks...

So far we are chugging along - I feel like I need to say to some people - move along, nothing to see here.

I had an appt on Thursday with the OB and we've scheduled the repeat u/s for next week to see if that pesky placenta has moved or not. I think he's more hopeful that it has since I haven't had a bleed, but we shall see. I think it helps that she's so stinking low in my pelvis that it's putting pressure on the placenta which may help or so I've read. Either way we'll know next week which is nice as I'm supposed to be in charge Thurs, Fri, Sat, and then again on Mon, Tues, Wed... ideally I just want to get through that work week and then anything can happen although it'd be nice if she waited until 37 weeks. Ultimately I know it's not in my hands and we shall see what this little girl decides to bring to the mix.

In Squeaker news he's picked up yet another charming phrase... totally from his Dad. "You know better than that." Which is at least better than some of the stuff he could be picking up. I'm struggling with potty training - we're not actively trying, but we're not ignoring it either. He'd rather pee outside or when out in public in a public rest room... however getting him to pee in the toilet at home is a battle of wills. He'd rather pee on the fence. I know it's a novelty and I'm trying to be patient. Tonight I bribed him with a cupcake to pee in the toilet rather than outside. I know one of these days it's going to be like a switch has been turned on. As his teacher said in his eval - he can do it, but it's not a priority for him so he chooses not to. Now how to make it a priority that is the real question. Telling him he's a big boy is about for the birds.

In other news he's now claiming the baby as his... when talking about his little sister he says "My baby sit on my lap", or "My baby sleeps here." It's very cute and hopefully he doesn't want to return her to wherever she came from once she arrives.

6 years... really?

Holy moly people... it's been 6 years since I started this blog. 6 years... wow. Just wow. I want to also say thank you to all the wonderful friends I have made because of this blog... you are all special in my life and I think of you often even when I don't write :)

Let me also say nothing bad happened on June 15th this year and I did not spend it curled up in a fetal position with the covers over my head which as we all know for me is a miracle. It was spent at a motel with a water activity park thingie for Squeaker to play with and me to feel like a beached whale in a swimsuit - fortunately no pictures were taken of me - lots of pictures of Squeaker.

Today I celebrated my birthday with my husband and son and then went out to dinner while Nana watched Squeaker. Everything was great about dinner... except dessert which we brought home. I was sorely disappointed in the caliber of the dessert... seriously? This was a fancy restaurant and the dessert was just not right.

All in all things are good here. I'm 33 weeks and change and have another appt next week with the good old ob. So far no bleeding which is a very good thing. After having a frank conversation with the good doctor in regards to what's the likelihood of bleeding I learned... that it's a pretty high probability of having a bleeding episode. Needless to say I was a bit deflated by that, however I'm hopeful we can get to 36 or 37 weeks... (It's a goal people) and we all know that I enjoy just having small goals right?

In other news Squeaker has taken to a few choice colorful things to say... I have yet to figure out how to respond when he says "I'm tired of this s*it." in a completely appropriate tone and situation - dogs barking mercilessly (this is a total Nana and Daddy phrase)... I think I choked on something the first time I heard it and now just say "Squeaker that is not nice to say we don't say that." Needless to say I think we're going to have to institute a penalty jar or something for the potty language that goes around this house.

He also told me the other day in a completely forlorn voice "My p*nis no pee" when told he could watch Bob the Builder once he peed on the potty.

So speech therapy - it works for us! :)

30 weeks and change...

Hi there... remember me?

Yeah sorry about that long absence... I just didn't have a lot to say. Things here have been uneventful. Well they were until yesterday that is.

Yesterday was a prenatal appt and u/s to check and see where my placenta was lying. In the hopes of it hopefully lying somewhere far far away from the cervix. Because I'm me and we all know that nothing with me ever goes smoothly we learned that that darn placenta hasn't moved a millimeter. I somehow was living under the mistaken impression that while it was low it was a few centimeters away from the cervix... not so much. It's exactly 7 millimeters away. So after the u/s we waited patiently for the doctor's appt where I got to learn all about what to watch out for as if to say - it's not a matter of if you'll have a bleeding episode it's a matter of when. I was a bit deflated at that point, but I still had the heads up to ask so - how was that glucose tolerance test... where I then learned my results were right at the cut off for doing the 3 hour test. We've elected to not do the 3 hour test, but to monitor my fasting blood sugars and see where they are. I'll do some pre and post ones as well as I'm an an*l retentive freak, but hopefully it's nothing.

Needless to say my balloon has popped a bit... things are going relatively well, but I feel as if I'm waiting for a shoe to drop right on my head... In the good news category - no bleeding, she's healthy and she's not breech. We'll take what we can get right?

So...

Sorry to keep everyone in suspense. D finally got the card opened (the u/s tech had stapled it about 10 times) and we are having a little girl. My mother and my in laws are tickled. My sister is already shopping and my brother in law sent D a note saying look out... My niece is delighted as now she's not the only one. As for Squeaker... he just wants a baby :)

Stay Tuned

Well... I am 24 weeks plus days... and we had the big ultrasound. I do not know what I am having... I do know that all the heart parts were there, that the spine was closed and the baby had a brain, bladder, and diaphragm as well as 2 arms and 2 legs. All good things in my book. Tonight we'll find out with D's parents as well as my mom and Squeaker. It should be interesting. It'll probably be anticlimactic, but there it is.

I also learned I have a marginal placenta previa... apparently my doctor has never had the placenta grow over the cervix at this stage of the game, but we'll have another u/s in 2 appts and just for shits and giggles the baby measured 1 week behind by femur length, but right on for weight so who knows. We're confident of our dates so I think I just have a peanut. But when your doctor says... "this would be a perfect u/s report if it weren't for *bum bum bum*" it makes your teeth clench. D of course does not understand most of this and couldn't understand why me and Dr. Google were becoming friends again. I'm not too worried... just of the thought process this should be monitored. Fun times here ladies and gents.

In Squeaker news when asked what he wants a baby brother or a baby sister his response is... "A baby." He takes after my dad who lived with the philosophy of gender doesn't matter, health does. I agree.

Halfway there?

Where on earth has the time gone? I'm 20 weeks and a few days and to be honest I got nothing. Our big u/s is not for another 3.5 weeks (because I'm a pansy who doesn't want to see anyone else in the practice). Truthfully that whole big u/s - I could care less about gender... I want to know that this babe has all the parts it's supposed to have. You know... chambers of the heart, outflow tracts, 2 kidneys, 2 lungs, a closed spinal column... I know I'm so romantic aren't I? But in all seriousness that's the things I worry about, not whether it will be a boy or girl. I live with my dad's philosophy that gender doesn't matter... healthy does. I almost grabbed a peds cardiologist and begged for a fetal echo the other day... if I had just been a little faster I would have caught them and probably fallen on my sword asking for one.

Last week was the anniversary of my dad's death and while I usually put a post up about it, this year I didn't have anything new to say. I miss him. I always will. March 12th will never be an easy day for me. This year I worked and that was a different animal.

No easy way to transition away from that, but we have had just sheer craziness in this household. I can tell you that I think Ernie is Hooch reincarnated from Turner and Hooch... the darn dog ate my favorite pajama pants when he got perturbed. While I don't think Hooch would do that... Ernie did. Squeaker is no help when Ernie gets in trouble either - he wants to let him out of his kennel and tells us loudly that "Ernie out here!"

Oh have I not mentioned Squeaker is now quite the little talker. He's a regular Chatty Charlie. It's quite cute and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It still has it's frustrating moments, but he's doing great on the vocal front. Now to get him to potty train. Today he chose to pee out the patio door... to be honest I don't care if it means we get out of pull ups. Although I'd prefer the toilet. My mom on the other hand will be horrified if she catches him doing that... and I know it'll happen. She's terrified he's going to go out the patio door and walk in our fenced in back yard. Seriously - that's probably a safe spot for him to wander. I've learned that as she ages she becomes more paranoid about things that she didn't even bother with when I was growing up... which is probably why I had so many visits to the emergency room.

Anyway so that's what's up with me. Not a lot.

Nuchal...

First off... I really for some reason have an odd dislike for the times new something or other font. You know that default font. Arial it is for me. Just something quirky about me okay.

Oh hell, I forget how far along I was, but about 2 weeks ago we had our nuchal translucency done. The measurements were 1.7-1.9 every time NN13 flipped and turned. Apparently we picked active time to do this. They were able to see all the things they wanted to see and I have as with Squeaker a posterior placenta... not that I cared, but just an odd side note. The blood work for the first part was done and by Friday we had the results which was a 1:10,000 risk for trisomies. I'm pretty sure I did a happy dance in spite of the fact that I had been woken up in the middle of sleep and had to work that night.

This past week has been not so fun though. Couple reasons... I am/was/am sick. I have a sinus thing that first made it impossible to not go about five minutes without blowing my nose or attempt to suffocate myself because NO AIR movement and have been battling that out. Tuesday the snow whatever showed up and I was working which meant... I spent all day Wednesday at work and then all night Wednesday night at work. They gave us a place to sleep, but let me just say the accommodations were about as good as they could be, but I got stuck by a coworker who didn't disclose that they snored... and they snored... and they snored... and I wanted to kick them or shove a pillow over their head. Needless to say I was a bloodshot mess Wednesday night and quite bitchy. The coworker and I ended up getting into it over something else. This is the same one who made me come out of the closet when I was 5 weeks because I needed them to do an MRI. I apparently still have some pent up animosity. The next time I work with her I'm going to have a talk with her. I need to get over this and since things are progressing with this pregnancy I need to let it go.

I have never been so happy to come home, climb into my own bed after giving D and Squeaker a kiss and telling my mom how much I loved and appreciated what she does for Squeaker and for us. I didn't have to worry about him while I was stuck at the hospital, because I knew he was in safe hands and that my mom could handle it. I probably could have slept for 18 hours straight, however I had a meeting yesterday afternoon.

Oh and Squeaker and D decided to try and outdo me. Both of them have this sinus crap as well. Nice and my mom has it as well. I'm tempted to call my OB. I just haven't made that phone call. I have chronic sinusitis but this... this just sucks.

We're at 14 weeks and some change now... all is well here. Another appt on Monday. Will try to keep posting.

Strange Conversations

Hi everyone! Sorry to be quiet for so long... no idea how long it's been.

Yesterday I had an actual OB appointment. I am currently 11 weeks so it was going to be the first real visit. This was after I had a phone consultation with a nurse - who literally told me nothing and should have been able to glean most of the information from the records the RE sent.

Anyway... So I was kind of surprised to be handed a consent form for H I V testing... since I hadn't had one handed to me with the last pregnancy. I knew how I felt about it, but there was no - lets talk about this, these are the reasons you have this testing done, these are the reasons you don't. It was handed to me at the front desk check in with a pamphlet which I thought was just odd. I thought that a nurse should have at the very least talked with me about it.

After the preliminaries we got down to business. My doctor came in and we talked for a little while, asked if I had a plan for delivery and I said yes - healthy baby, healthy momma. He laughed and then launched into the schpiel regarding risks and benefits of both various types of delivery. I told him at the end of the schpiel that I was not at a point yet to make a decision regarding birth choices yet and he nodded and said he understood, he just needed to talk with me about it. We ended the appointment after the whole deal with a listen to NN take 13's or Fetus 2.0's heart beat which was clipping along at 163.

I go back in a week and a half for the nuchal screen and blood work. D and Squeaker will be with me for that... as no one is there to watch Squeaker. If I had been even a little bit on the fence about doing the nuchal I no longer am as one of my friends just had awful results triggered by the results of the nuchal. I would rather know in advance. Not everyone chooses that, but I would rather know in advance if things were not going along as smoothly as one would have hoped.

In Squeaker news - he's had gastro for a week... I hate gastro!!!! I'm over it.

Whoops...

Sorry everyone for the radio silence... nothing to see here keep on moving forward. We were released from the RE's office by Dr. Sarcastic. NN 2.0 was growing appropriately and had a heart rate of 176. It was measuring right on for all that business. Next up... a year in review... a stupid nurse call (I'm not sure what she wants to talk about but it'll be enlightening), first ob appt and then the nuchal.

I've been working and will be for a few more days.

Squeaker is doing well and talking a lot more. Ernie (Dino D this is for you) has been not so willingly playing the part of Brutus from "The Ugly Dachshund" he has been walked on a leash for I don't know how many hours straight. Lola has played the part of the 4 bad doxies in the movie... with the help of Meg and her pups. Squeaker also likes the w i i fit running... and is now learning yoga. D took a picture of him doing the cobra pose from the yoga part. Nana has been doing the w i i as well and is enjoying it.

So... now I patiently wait for the time when I should be able to find the heartbeat via doppler... because as we all know - an u/s is only reassuring the day you have it... after that you're living on a wing and a prayer. We all know how I feel about that.

Update

Move along... nothing to see here.

Appropriate growth and a heartbeat of 117. It measured between 6 weeks 2 days and 6 weeks 4 days. Repeat u/s on 12/23 right before Dr. Sarcastic is out of town on vacation. We could have done it on 12/27... a part of me wants the reassurance before the holidays and the other wants it for when NN 2.0 is a few days older etc. I don't know what the right answer is... go at 8 weeks 1 day or at 8 weeks 5 days... I have a few days to make up my mind definitively. Go with Dr. Sarcastic or Dr. Sensitive...

My mom is upset that we haven't told D's parents... they've kind of pissed me off right now, so yeah I'm probably punishing them for it... I've apparently taken an angry pill in regards to all of this.

Grrrr...

So... this morning I received a phone call from the RE's office stating they were changing my u/s time. 1.5 hours earlier than the original appointment and that it would be with Dr. Sensitive rather than Sarcastic as Sarcastic will be in procedures. Here's the problem... D works tonight so he would not be home in time to go to this appt. I begged... I pleaded... the other alternative was to wait until Monday and have the u/s then. While I know I had the reassuring u/s last week I don't know that I could go that long since to be honest - I'm not positive I saw any flickr like he said he did. I'd rather know hey you can stop the progesterone or nope carry on... After much deliberation it was decided that we both would rather know one way or the other... so u/s tomorrow it is... alone. I may have D on speaker phone for moral support...

I also told D if I received bad news tomorrow I would never go to another u/s again without him. He agreed. He said - lets stay hopeful okay? Maybe the PTSD let up for a minute. I on the other hand am working on an ulcer.

So wish me luck... I'll keep you guys posted and positive vibes are appreciated. NBHHY

NBHHY or is it NCHHY?

I know it's been a long time since I've posted about something like this... as most of you know back to the RE we went at the beginning of November and in our usual fashion we jumped in with both feet. Why not right?

Then of course the panic set in... and then I did the obsessive compulsive how many dpo am I? When would I get a positive if it was going to be positive? Would I still have the ability to diagnose a dismal beta just based on the color of the stick?

Needless to say I've probably been a lot more anxious the last month than I normally am... About 2 weeks ago we had the first beta done and it was 76 at 12 dpo. The repeat was 210 so great doubling for me. We were slated for the first u/s on this Friday... however as always with me things never go quite as planned.

I was meandering in a field I had never known before... a pregnancy without any bleeding when wham... I slid off the road and landed with the front end into a tree. No air bags deployed, I was fine... the rental car not so much, but no one was injured. I of course as a good patient rather than the normal pain in the ass that I am notified the RE's office and was told - should be fine, no need to worry everything is well protected. 24 hours later I had my friend spot to keep me company. At this point I believe I was 5 weeks and a day. So the nurse said we should have you come in to at least reassure you that all is well. I had to work that night and while I was having some mild cramping I'm firmly of the belief with my body that it would either happen or not happen whether I worked or not. The next morning I drove the hour up to the doctor's office and met with Dr. Sensitive... Dr. Sarcastic was booked up. He came in and did the u/s. Miracles of miracles there was a gestational sac and a something or other... he swears there was a flickr and I think I saw what he was talking about... either way no evidence of bleeding so that was good.

So... now we're headed into those murky waters... our next u/s is Friday. Positive thoughts would be appreciated.

*I had to come out at work sort of last night, which is what prompted this. I didn't want to, but I know that you shouldn't do certain things if you are... and the person was being rather a pain in the ass when I asked her to do something for me she said "Why" and I said it's a personal reason, hoping she would drop it or take the hint... nope she goes no really why? I wanted to punch her. Then she got all freaky on me which is - oh are you okay, don't push that bed, etc. I thought to myself - you are psycho and I hate you for making me tell something I obviously wanted to keep just to myself rather than have every tom, dick or harry talking about me.

*The other reason I wanted to keep it quiet is that I wanted to tell another coworker first... she's actively trying and they have male factor infertility and I know how I felt about drive by pregnancy announcements. Unfortunately I haven't figured out when I'll see her next and it's driving me bonkers.

*So NBHHY - nothing bad has happened yet or should it be Nothing catastrophic has happened yet? You pick. Those are the vibes to send either way.

* Oh yes and while my mother knows... my in laws do not know as of yet... that's a whole nother post. I'll be back to post about that fiasco.

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Do they count?

So... I forgot to mention a weird conversation at the RE's office...

When asked about my past pregnancies I responded with 11. The little medical assistant looked at me quizzically and wrote it down... when good old Dr. Sarcastic came in he looked at it and said "really? I thought it was 6" Which then made me want to punch him because then I thought - do we just not count the positive pregnancy tests, but really sh*tty betas? Kind of like a do over?

While I think of them as chemical pregnancies... or pregnancies that just decided to screw with me - you know the one... beta of 5 then suddenly 4 days later 25... they still gave us that moment of hope before I was able to accurately predict my quantitative beta hcg based on the color of the pregnancy test.

So... if I go in there again I'll probably have to print out my about me page and say - see here... these are the ones you didn't know about because we didn't want to take the chance you wouldn't let us cycle or waste our money on lab tests when my ability to guess my beta was within 2 points. Yes, we really were that determined to get knocked up and no amount of "resting" was going to slow us down. Oh and by the way Dr. Sarcastic... that number should probably be 12 as I totally forgot to count the pregnancy that happened in 2001 where I had the boyfriend who asked me when I told him I was pregnant "you're kidding right?" Oh yes and Thank you so very much for changing the coding diagnosis from "habitual ab*rter" to "recurrent pregnancy loss" I appreciate it.

*Wow... this could be a bit rough going on here...