40 Days

There is a lot of talk today about the next 40 days (Lent). However, I'm a bit confused, because my ticker says that I have 40 days left until induction (on Palm Sunday). Don't these Lent-celebrating people really have 47 days then? I've never really counted the days. (Growing up Catholic, you just learn to believe what they tell you and not question anything.) However, now....

Anyway, NST was...well..hmm. They kept me hostage in the antepartum testing unit until my doctor called back. I knew something was up when they let my NST buddy leave before me. (Since I was hooked up a few minutes before her.) Apparently there was one abnormality in the very beginning, but then I was having contractions every 3-8 minutes. They were lasting 30-45 seconds. Of course, I wasn't feeling a thing. B was in the car (last week's appt only took 25 minutes, so she just waited outside for me and knitted.) She kept calling and texting, but my phone was off. I was finally able to call her and give her the update. I told her to just wait in the car and I would update her after the doctor called. No dice there. She was parked and up those elevators fairly quickly, just in time for me to get the go ahead to go home and eat and drink. Both the doc and the nurse are guessing the contractions were due to dehydration.

We were late to our childbirth class because of this, but the first session was on monitoring, so she fit us right into her lesson.

Once we got home, B filled me with enough water that I felt like I was floating away. I was up several times last night to use the bathroom. I will be sure to space my water out during the day.

I'm wondering if the doc will call me today to ask me to come in for any reason or if she will just wait until my next appointment in 2 weeks. Should I call and ask?

I also found out last night that my superintendent will not let my BFF give me her sick days. Bummer. Looks like I'm working until April 15th, or until baby comes....whichever comes first. Moneywise, I really need to make it until the 15th. It will be cutting it close, but with a week off for Spring Break, I think I can do it.

Thrift Store Shopping

So I scored some great steals at our local thrift shop this weekend. Why spend $19.99 at the maternity store, or even one of the big box stores, when I can get a pair of pants for less than $5. Woot! Today they are going in the laundry so I have more clothes to wear. I have a few pair of pants that I can wear with the bella band, but some are just too tight to even try. I am very grateful for more options!
My next appointment is on Wednesday. I am very excited to hear the heartbeat again. I will also have to do my one-hour glucose test. They didn't tell me to fast or anything...do they make pregnant women fast? Dr. Google says no. What has been your experience?

5 weeks

Can you believe that there is a little heart beating in there already. It is only 4-6mm long and it has a heart. Wow.
Ladies, I have gone the past 2 days without testing. I know, right? I can't believe it either. Monday is just 2 more wake-ups away.
I hoping for a very strong number. No ambiguous-ness.

I thought I could do it...

you know, go a day without testing. I couldn't. I tested right before bed last night. Line came up clear as day, very quickly.
Heartburn has been gone for a few days. All of my symptoms are gone, really. I have somewhat tender bbs, but other than that, nada.
I know symptoms come and go, so I am not too worried. I am getting very excited about my beta on Monday. The nurse told me that they space their betas a week apart! So I go Monday for beta #1 and have to wait a WHOLE WEEK for beta #2. Then, another week for beta #3. I told her that most doctors ask you to go within 3 days, but she kind of ignored that comment. I think she is just following the protocol for the research study. She did say that when the beta is between 2000-4000 she will bring me in for an ob ultrasound. Technically, my beta could be in the range when I go on Monday (23DPO), but most likely she will wait for the second beta to make sure it's rising.
Oh, and I still don't have an ob. Since we moved, I have wanted to get one, but then I was waiting to see if we were pregnant or not. I guess I should call once I get my beta numbers. I know they usually won't see me until 8ish weeks anyway, but I should still try to get "on the books" if they are booking ahead.
Today is 19DPO or 4w5d. Time seems to be standing still. Monday will be here before I know it, right?

Results are in...

I'm pregnant.

The office does not do the betas until 1 week after the positive qualitative test, so now I have to wait until next Monday to get my first beta. That will put me at 23DPO. I know I could call my high-risk doctor or my old pcp's office and get one before then, but I really don't have a problem waiting. I know I'm pregnant. Obsessing over numbers won't help any situation. Now, I may change my mind mid-week..lol.

The nurse told me on the phone to not get too excited yet, until we see the numbers rising. I felt like say, "I know lady, I've been around the TTC block a few times." She's really nice and means well though. She just doesn't deal with informed people too often, I guess.

The only symptoms I have had is heartburn...oh the heartburn. Every day. Almost all day. Not so much fun. I may have a few hours of relief during the day, but not much. I haven't tried Tums or anything yet, I have just been watching what I have been eating to see if that made a difference. Also, tender bbs, and some tiredness. Other than that, all is well. The line on the hpt was almost as dark as the control line today. I am glad they are getting darker still. I am not sure when I will stop testing.

Today, after our day of errands and IKEA, I went upstairs to take a nap. We have a door at the bottom of the stairs to keep the dogs out of our living space upstairs. Our kitties enjoy it upstairs because it is the only carpeted place in the house. As I was dozing, our cat, Joey jumped on my back (I was laying on my stomach). He started kneading my back (which is not unusual). He was trying to make a comfy spot to lay down, or so I suspected. He jumped down and I started to smell something bad. Poop. I turn over and he had POOPED ON THE DUVET COVER. Now our cats don't have accidents. They are very well behaved and neat. BUT HE POOPED ON ME. This wasn't just a little turd or two. It was like a big pile of dog poop on the blanket. He was locked upstairs and couldn't get to his litter box downstairs, so HE JUST POOPED ON ME. WHAT? Needless to say I was awake then. Luckily, it was fairly easy to clean-up. But still, MY CAT POOPED ON ME.

Later, when I was back downstairs, I was going to eat my leftovers from our lunch out today, and as I was walking into the den, I dropped my entire lunch on the floor. Nothing was salvageable. I was so upset!

So first, the cat poops on me, then I loose my lunch.

I guess I will never forget B's 30th birthday.

Darker Still

The line was darker today. I am still have some off and on brown spotting. I'm happy it's brown.
Tomorrow is the day I get the qualitative test done. I am hoping that when they get the positive from that blood, they can just run the quantitative and I don't have to go in on Tuesday for my first beta. We will see though. I have to go to a lab associated with the hospital/university of the research grant. Luckily, one of the labs is located just a few miles away from IKEA. Tomorrow we will get the bloodwork done and head over to our favorite Swedish Superstore.
Tomorrow is also B's (30th) birthday.

Per N's request...

Here is a picture of yesterday's test (13DPO) on the right and today's test (14DPO) on the left. I think you can clearly see the difference in darkness.

Thanks for keeping me in check

I spotted pink a few times yesterday and then it switched to light brown. Then it was barely there (only crazy TTCers would even notice). I wore a pad to bed. Nothing when I woke up. After I went to the bathroom, I noticed the barely-there-tinted-brown stuff, but I still took a test. The line is WAY darker than yesterday. I'm feeling better.
I also took my temp this morning, something I haven't done since 4DPO. 99.0. HOT.
So today I am officially 4 weeks pregnant. And boy does if feel like I've been pregnant(and worried) for much longer than 5 days.

So we B went out and bought a digital...

There is no denying it..right? And I wasn't seeing things with those second lines...right?
From the top down. 10DPO, 11DPO, 12DPO (digital), 12DPO

Now I just have to get confirmation from the doctor. Because I am part of a research grant, they won't pay for the betas until the qualitative is positive. So when do you think the qualitative will be positive? Should I go tomorrow (and probably not get results until Monday), go on Saturday (and probably not get results until Monday) or go on Monday (and probably get the results on Tuesday). I'm leaning toward Monday, just so there is less wait time, and more of a chance for the test to be positive. On Monday I will be 16DPO.

Perfect

Yesterday, B and I drove about 30 miles north to hit up a new-to-us vegetarian/vegan/organic/etc restaurant. (I, of course, had a coupon-I use restaurant.com when it is 80% off.) Well the food was Ah-mazing. It wasn't crowded at all (we went at lunch time) and the atmosphere was lovely.
As we were waiting for our lunch, I was looking at the artwork displayed around the room from a local gallery. I fell in love with a painting. Like seriously "IneedthatRIGHTnow" fall in love. I went over to see who the artist was and made a mental note of the gallery. I told B we HAD to go to the gallery, because I needed that painting/print. I said, the only thing that would make it better was if there were two women in the picture, instead of just one.
After lunch, we walked around downtown and found the gallery. Shortly thereafter, we saw the painting on the wall, but it was small, and framed in a way that I didn't like. So we searched through the small bin of prints. Sure enough, it was there. But wait, good folks, there was another one, with two women! It was perfect. We even bought two mini-prints to frame next to our big one. Ladies and gents, we have our nursery art.
The artist is local, from Traverse City. We lovelovelove her work. The title of the big piece we got is "Sisters." (It's at the bottom of this page on the left)
Oh, and I had a positive OPK yesterday, spent the night out with fabulous friends, went dancing, had a friend meet us up at the club to tell us he got engaged that night, and then came home and crashed. I'm up early this morning to go meet up with NKD to do one last insem. (I got my PEAK reading this morning!)
Everything is just perfect!

Confidence is slipping

This morning, my CBEFM stick did not look the way I wanted it to. I expected the second line to be darker and it wasn't. It seemed like the estrogen line was even darker than before (this is the one that should be getting lighter). The monitor still gave me a HIGH reading, but I was a bit discouraged. Then, when I did my opk this afternoon, it was lighter than yesterday. Now yesterday was pretty dark, but I would expect today's opk to be positive. hmm.
I am thinking it could be 2 things:
1. My body is playing tricks and is still wonky, even though I am on the drugs.
2. I surged yesterday, but didn't catch it on the opk.
I guess we will know if my temp shifts tomorrow morning or if the monitor switched to PEAK. NKD goes out of town on Saturday for a week.

New Template

So, our "Cutest Blog on the Block" template was removed from photobucket so I had to pick a new design. If you are reading this in a reader, please click over and let me know what you think. I love the little chick. It looks a lot like our matching Sprout tattoos.
Anyway, today is CD10 and my first HIGH on the monitor. I am looking forward to ovulating at a normal time this cycle due to the mystery meds. We are hoping to do an insem tomorrow and another on Tuesday, unless the OPK is positive today, tomorrow, or Monday, because then we will do one on Monday instead of Tuesday.
I'm feeling very good about this cycle.

98.9

I was freezing through-out the night (no reason really, it was still warm) and woke up covered in sweat. My temp was 98.9. Uh..that's HOT. My bbs have been terribly sore for about 5 days, but every hpt is negative. I'm thinking it's just the pro.vera causing these symptoms. I've also been extra hungry.

I took the pro.vera for 10 days and the nurse said I should start bleeding anywhere up to 10 days afterwards. It's been 5 days since my last pill.


FF finally agreed on 3 of it's methods that I am 18DPO. The only method that doesn't agree is fertility monitor, which things I am 19DPO. I'm still not convinced any of them are right. I am including my chart for your viewing pleasure. My VIP membership expired 3 days ago, and I haven't renewed, in hopes of not having to.

No news.

FF is confused about my chart. Either I'm triphasic (at 13 or 14 DPO) or 4DPO. Research and Fertility/Monitor settings give me the later DPOs, but Advanced and Fertility Awareness give me the other. Either way, tomorrow is my last day on the pro.vera.
I had good news when I went to the drug store to renew my Fol.gard. It's now covered under my insurance. Woot. I'm wondering now if my prenatal will be covered too. I guess I will see when I transfer it over. (Do you guys play the prescription transfer game so you can get $25 gift cards?)
I've been testing every day, and it's still stark white. I'm thinking I'm only 4DPO, so the chance of me being pregnant is -.4555%. I'm looking forward to my next visit with research doc. It will be next Friday.
It has been hella hot in our parts lately. Heat advisories and such. We are looking at over 90 every day, and add humidity on top of it and people are melting. We aren't used to these temperatures in the north..at least not for days on end. I am very grateful for ac in the house. However, my van's ac has to be repaired, so I limit my driving on these super hot days. Today I am tutoring at the zoo. It will be a hot one, but perhaps we will spend a lot of time in the Arctic Zone. =)

Happy 4th of July!

Well, I'm either 8DPO, 9DPO, 3DPO, or never ovulated. Regardless, I started the pro.vera on Tuesday, so I have been on it for 4 days. My prescription is for 10 days, and then I should start bleeding. If I had any hope that I might be pregnant, I wouldn't be taking it, however, the liklihood is so slim, that I'm taking my chances. The nurse said it wasn't a big deal if I ended up pregnant while on the pro.vera, but to stop taking it if I do.
I have upwards of 40 hpts in this house (ordering mishap) so I may take a test or two before this possible tww is over. We will see.

Another decision

If I don't get a temp spike tomorrow, I am going to take a precautionary pregnancy test (given to me by the clinic) and start on the pro.vera. I will take the pro.vera for 10 days and then start bleeding within the next 10 days. We will see.

Timing is everything

I'm not sure if the timing was right on this cycle or not. I never got a positive OPK (I know I could have missed the surge by only testing once a day). Also, my temp has not shifted how I would like to see it shift. Check out my chart and let me know what you think. Fertility Friend
I think I will know more in the next few days.

Non-stressed

This whole move has done wonders for my stress and anxiety. I feel safe. I don't worry if we go to bed upstairs without a phone by our bedside. I am fairly confident I will not hear gun-shots or someone will not break in. I never realized how unsafe I was feeling in the old house. I didn't like being home alone, especially at night. I didn't like B driving home at night. Here, it is a completely different story.
Apparently my body is reacting to the non-stress. I got a PEAK on the monitor today on CD16. FF thinks I will O tomorrow. CD17 folks. That's awesome. I texted our donor, so I hope he is in town and available.
*Edit* He IS available. Love it!
My newest doc prescribed me some prenatals. (Pre.nate Plus) I went to the pharmacy and neither my insurance nor B's insurance covers them. How is this possible? I am so frustrated. Luckily, a local chain of mega-grocery stores offers them for free. I took my prescription there after I found out. We are not poor people, just budget conscious and until December (after our credit cards are paid off), every nickel counts. However, had I not known about the free prenatals and I was poor (or uneducated) I may have just skipped getting the prescription filled. I know there are ways to educate women who don't know about these resources, and I would like to help.
Another thing that bothered me was dealing with unemployment. For the first time in my 16 years of working, I was laid off. I had to file for unemployment. (Luckily, I got my recall letter last week-so I won't be needing unemployment). Again, for uneducated people, or those without internet access, the process can be daunting. I just want to fix everything and help everyone. One step at a time.

I made a decision

Today is CD14 and the first HIGH on my CBEFM. If I don't ovulate in the next 6-8 days, then I am going to hop on the Pro.vera and get this show on the road.
We are one of the most fortunate lesbian TTC couples around because we have an AWESOME known donor who helps us out of the kindness of his heart. Therefore, cost is not an issue when it comes to trying each month (besides, of course, the CBEFM sticks, OPKs, pre-seed, Instead cups, etc). We are very, very, lucky. Not to mention, his swimmers are in the top 95 percentile. SCORE!
Settling into the new house has been amazing. We feel so much safer and calmer. Even the dogs have calmed down. It's absolutely wonderful in so many ways. We even have a local fruit/flower/specialty market that is a very quick walk from our house. We probably walk up there at least once every three days. LOVE IT.
All in all, life is good. B has been on vacation this whole week and it has been perfect. She goes back to work tomorrow, so I will be lone wolf for a while. Luckily I have tutoring and a conference to keep me busy this week.
Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there and the moms that take the place of dads.

Radio Silence

Sorry for the radio silence lately....we have been quite busy. I don't have time for a proper update, so bullets will have to do:

• Saw new research doctor for initial screening visit. It was the longest I have ever spent with a doctor. He just sat and listened, it was sort of nice.
• I go back on June 15th for the physical exam, u/s, etc. Luckily I do not have to do another HSG since my last one was done less than 3 years ago.
• Went to 5th grade camp. Sent 3 of my boys home for "fighting." This happened during cabin time when the fathers were supposed to be watching. Every year it is the fathers that are disappointing disciplinarians. I don't know how to solve this problem.
• Got pink-slipped. Found out I can start claiming unemployment on June 14th. I will likely be called back since 8 elementary teachers are retiring.
• I applied for a Curriculum Director job in a big district closer to home. I hope I can get an interview. Usually those jobs are hired from with-in (especially in a big district like this one), however I have the perfect qualifications.
• We have keys to our new house and have been moving all weekend. We will take mini trips over all week and move the rest of the stuff on Saturday with our friends. As of right now, we have no way to get the box spring over to the new house. How come no one owns a pick-up? We may have to tie it to the top of a van/suv.
• The Sunday after we move is Motor City Pride. We have gone every year for the past 10 years (at least I think so). We will go again this year. Last year at Pride I was pregnant and my back was hurting.
• 8.5 more days with children. 9 work days for me. Love it.
• B has been vegan for over 40 days. She is a rockstar.
• I haven't temped/opk'd/monitored since CD23. Currently it is CD36. I will begin charting and doing all that fun stuff after we move.