Hoping...

I have a doctor's appointment today and I am not so secretly hoping that I am dilated far enough that they send me straight to the hospital to have this baby.
Yesterday we had a glorious day, weather-wise, with highs in the 80s. It was wonderful to be able to eat on our patio and soak up some sun. We even went for a pre-dusk walk around the neighborhood. It did make sleeping quite difficult. I was so hot. Even with two fans, no covers and limited clothes, I could not get comfortable. I am so happy to not be pregnant during the summer, I am pretty sure I would be miserable.
Should we be sent to the hospital, or when labor/delivery occurs, our good friend, *, will be our substitute blogger. She's awesome. (And because I have forgotton to ask her what she wants to be known as on our blog, her name is now an asterick....kinda like Prince).
Induction date is 6 days away.

Next Ultrasound Scheduled!

Our next peek at Nuggette will be March 22nd. I will be 35w5d. We haven't "seen" her since the 20 week u/s, so we are very excited. This is basically a growth scan to see how big she is and to determine if my April 17th induction date is accurate.

I do have full confidence in my body and in my daughter that she will come before the induction, because that's just how we roll in this house.

Yesterday's appointment was quick (+13 lbs so far this pregnancy). Today I have my weekly NST and we will attend our second child birth class. Tonight is the video watching. Oh joy! /sarcasm.

I am still waiting on a response from my superintendent about the possibility of my BFF giving me a few of her banked sick days. I should hear back from her today or tomorrow. She didn't say "no" though, just, "let me think about it." To me, that was a bit promising. If she allows the sharing of days, my last day of work will be April 1st instead of April 15th. I hope she allows it! Keep those positive thoughts and prayers coming. =)

The office is now completely rearranged and I love it. There are just a couple of house-keeping things that need to be done and this room can be crossed off the to-do list. B also completely cleaned and organized the linen closet, so that is pretty awesome too.

We bought two new vacuums...returned the first one and ended up with a Hoover Windtunnel. We. Love. IT. I didn't even realize our carpets could look like this. Pretty awesome.

14w5d

Today is a big milestone in this pregnancy. Today is the day we lost Sprout. At 14w5d, our little angel grew wings. Here we are in this pregnancy, with no complications to speak of (Thank GOD!) We have had no spotting, not severe pain, no contractions, nothing. I am so very grateful.
We are telling more and more people now. The baby bump is so very hard to hide. It's there. when I tell people, and they look, they are like, "Oh my!" LOL. Yep. Definitely pregnant.
We told both of our bosses yesterday and told some friends from church this past weekend. Won't be long before there is a facebook post. =)
I've had some insomnia lately. The amount of times I wake up during the night to pee, varies from night to night, but if I wake up between 1:30-2:00, I can't seem to get back to sleep. It was a good thing I was awake this morning and watching my clock, because we lost power a minute before my alarm was to go off. It came back on, but all the clocks were flashing 12:00, so we both would have been late for work. Our weather today includes a high-wind warning. We are expecting 50-60mph winds. Eek.
Tomorrow and Thursday are conferences and then on Friday is our Native American Trading post day and potlatch. It's a busy week!

Emotional

To say I have been emotional this past week would be an understatement. Let's take yesterday for example.

• My first tearing up happened on the way to school when I started to think of my high school friend that lost her twins last week at 22 weeks. They were born with heartbeats, but not breathing and died right after birth. Their memorial service is tomorrow. I am so sad for her and her family. These miracle boys were conceived via IVF. She's one of us, y'all. She had something called cervical funnelling which caused her to be put on bed rest, and then she she got an infection. Not good. She lives "up-north" but they drove her via ambulance to the hospital down the street from my house (where I will deliver). I never saw her when she was in town (and haven't seen her since HS), but I feel so connected to her. I have been emailing her and I sent a package earlier this week. When we lost Sprout, the ladies from Two Hot Mamas sent us a beautiful care package that included a small Willow Tree angel. It was such an amazing and thoughtful gesture. I wanted to find the same angel they sent us, but had no luck. Instead, I found two little ones called "Two Together" and thought it was perfect. I also got her an Angel of Remembrance.
• My second tearing-up, which became more of a cry, was when I posted a video on Fb. It was a video of a Father and Groom surprising the Bride with a version of L'Chaim. It was sweet and funny, but here I was, sitting at the computer, crying.
• Then, I was watching TV with B and an Oprah commercial came on. For those of you that do not watch TV or perhaps live under a rock, this is Oprah's last season. I love Oprah. We were able to go see a taping of her show 5 years ago. My dream has always been to be a guest on Oprah. Now I know my time is up and I won't get to. The commercials make me sad to see her go.
• I really wanted to watch the Stand Up To Cancer telethon that was on last night. Within the first minute, I was balling like a baby. They had all of the celebrities there who have survived cancer, and they had on these survivor shirts. Once I composed myself, they brought on the 46 moms. All of their children have cancer, so they all shaved their own heads. It was an amazing scene. Cue the water works. And then B was saying things just to make me cry because she thought I looked funny. Then I was crying and laughing at the same time, but in a weird way. I was a disaster.

So that was just one day. It's been a crazy emotional week here. Luckily, my "Pregnancy Week 8" newsletter said it's completely normal and may even begin to subside this week. Thank God.

Kitty Deluxe

One of our friends from church has her own little boutique in the city near our home. It is in a tiny little pink house that used to be a florist. They sell handmade jewelry, hats, scarves, books, stationary, and anything a little girl could ever want (including American Girl sized accessories). She often has birthday parties there for little girls and they love it.
Every Monday she does a give-away on her blog.
Check it out!
The online store is here.
Her etsy shop is here (although not much is listed here).
She will ship, or if you want me to be your personal shopper, I can do that too. =) Cat is a wonderful gal and will hand make anything for you. For my birthday, B told her the colors and theme of our nursery. She made me a beautiful necklace that I refer to as my "Sprout necklace." I love it.
Oh, and one last thing about Cat. Her husband, Curt, is one of the stars of an independent film made completely in Michigan called Annabelle and Bear. It looks like it is going to be an awesome film. We missed the preview this weekend because we didn't get our tickets in time and they sold out. Curt is not an actor, nor ever has been, but he fit the part perfectly and had a blast shooting the movie. Their daughter, Willow, even became an honorary member of the crew. How cool!

Surprised again.

Today is CD10 and I had my first HIGH on the monitor. I have been so concerned and consumed with the Met.for.min side effects that I didn't notice the impending ovulation!

My temps have been wonky because I'm on vacation and not taking them at the same time consistently and the temps in our house have differed greatly each night as well. I have to find the right balance of blankets and furnace heat. (I've now put plastic on some of the windows downstairs and am considering covering some of the windows upstairs...our house is old and poorly insulated.)

If the CBEFM is correct and my body cooperates, I will typically have 6 days of HIGH before the first PEAK. Sometimes I ovulate the night before the PEAK, sometimes I ovulate the day of the first PEAK and sometimes I ovulate on the day of the second PEAK. I will be saving my sticks and OPKs again this month to see the surge. (This worked quite well last month, with a textbook case of ovulation-go me!)

I emailed NKD this morning to check his availability. I am worried with the holiday, he may be out of town. I know his kids start back to school on the 4th though and he usually has them on Mondays, so at the least, I can squeeze a couple in. Hopefully though, we can do one on the 2nd, 4th, and 5th. We will see.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. We will be attending a burning bowl service at our church (which I blogged about last year.) Sadly, our former KD will not be able to share NYE with us, as has been our tradition for the past 5 years, because he lives in Boston now and is already back home. Luckily I was able to spend an afternoon with him while he was here for a short holiday visit.

We are having a small group of people from church come over to ring in the new year with us. Our minister is coming too and will be doing a midnight meditation. How cool are we? We have 2 full time ministers at our church of over 2000, one being Rev. Ric. Ric is openly gay and an all around great person. We are so privileged to call him our friend and are happy to be spending the last moments of 2009 and the first moments of 2010 with him. It's going to be a blue moon and a partial eclipse. What a special NYE!

*edited to add* NKD is available! God love him!

So great

In spite of our own disappointment, it's hard not to be happy for our friends in the TTC world who get the best news.

Gayby Rabies just got word that she's expecting...and expecting...and expecting! Go wish her congrats and send her your stickiest vibes!

So exciting!!