More Knitting

I finished the ear flap hat earlier this week to go with the yoda sweater I made for my stepbrother's baby boy who is due in March. It was a very quick and easy knit. I do have to say that I hate knitting i-cord, especially out of cotton. It is very hard to maintain the tension and keep from separating the yarn. But the end result was good, I think, and the 2 pieces match well. Here are the pics...


So is all this knitting helping to pass the time away? I don't know. I've gotten to the point where I count the amount of time until the ultrasound in terms of events. For example, I get together with my friend Jenny to watch American Idol every Tuesday. (Well really we're mostly gabbing, but whatever). So I've got just one AI night left before the ultrasound. The same thing with my knitting circle on Wednesday nights...just one circle left until the u/s. I also count by weekends, but sadly there are still two of those left. Hmmm. I am starting to wonder about my mental stability though, given that I can waste an entire paragraph discussing the measurement of time until my next ultrasound.

Seattle and Snow

Last night I was promised snow. Up to 4 inches of it. I even conveniently forgot my laptop at work. I was totally ready for a snow day. But of course nothing came of it, and instead I was handed a chilly rain.

I realize that those of you from colder climates scoff at the idea of a snow day with so little snow. But you haven't been to Seattle. The people here completely lose it at the slightest hint of the white fluffy stuff. Now you can blame this reaction on the hilly terrain, the lack of snow plows, or vehicles and drivers ill-equipped to deal with slippery streets. But I think the real problem is the local news. Those guys can fill an entire newscast with snow coverage, which they usually label with exciting names such as "Extreme Weather 2008" or "Icy Arctic Blast". In fact, they often extend their newscast to provide special coverage on the latest icy conditions. They'll station reporters at various spots throughout the Puget Sound Region to provide up to the minute reports on local conditions. There is video of cars sliding off the road or into ditches. Interviews with gleeful children enjoying the snow day. Important national or world events may be going on, but thanks to the all snow all the time news coverage we in Seattle will be ignorant of all this.

So despite my disappointment this morning, I figured that at least I would be spared the constant news stories. Unfortunately I was wrong. They sent one newscaster to Bellingham (basically the furthest north of Washington) in hopes of finding snow there. Instead all she found was rain despite the weatherman's assertions that the temperature there was 23 degrees. But nothing would deter the local newscasters from their snow coverage. They emphasized the dangers of snow mixed with rain. They spoke of convergence zones and reminded us that there may, somewhere, perhaps still be a pocket of snow left in the lowlands that had not come to their attention yet. They showed us picture after picture of the snow yesterday. They alerted viewers to check out the running tab of school delays and closures, although few districts listed much more than "limited bus transportation". They could be speaking of the State of the Union speech or the declining economy. But instead we got snow coverage minus the snow.

Soon winter will be over and then there will be spring floods to cover. Next will come summer heat waves when temperatures hit 80 or 90 degrees. Then the fall windstorms will sustain the local media until winter is once again upon us.

Well on other fronts in my household, Jeramy's stepdad got out of the hospital yesterday and is doing much better. It amazes me how cardiac care has reached a point where you can have a heart attack one day and then home and feeling much better 2 days later. And apparently "the growth" is still hanging out in my uterus although I have no symptoms to reassure me. But I've been checking my underwear for spotting incessantly and there has been nothing, which is a good sign I guess. The 2 weeks remaining until the ultrasound feel like an eternity at this point, especially given the turtle's pace of this last week. Operation keep Jen busy is obviously failing in its chief mission.

A Crazy Weekend

Jeramy's stepdad Mark had a heart attack on Saturday morning. We go the call from his sister while we were at the Outdoor Sportsman show in Puyallup, and immediately rushed to the hospital. They found that an artery near to the front of his heart was 100% blocked and did an angioplasty to clear it up. He was feeling much better after the procedure on Saturday afternoon, but we won't know for a little while how much damage may have been caused to his heart. Please keep Mark in your prayers so that he may have a speedy recovery and a healthy heart. This was his first heart attack and was really unexpected.

So that and a birthday party pretty much wiped Saturday out. Sunday Jeramy and I ran some errands and tried to lay low. Here are a couple pics of the better times from this weekend:

Jeramy helped our friends' son Ryan pain duck decoys at the Outdoor Sportsman show. Doesn't Jeramy look like he is having fun???

I started knitting a cardigan for the baby girl our friend Debbie is having in May. I absolutely adore the design which is from the Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman so I was pretty excited to get started on it. It is knit from the top down and almost seamlessly. So what you are looking at is the neck and shoulders. The pattern itself takes a little getting used to as the instructions are a little lacking..."pithy" is the word the author used. The yarn I'm using is Rowan cotton/wool blend, which is very soft and much easier to work with than plain cotton. Plus it is machine washable, which is a must when knitting for babies.

Yup, I'm Paranoid

First of all your comments from the names post had me cracking up. And I agree with Maria about not wanting to choose too common of a name. As a Jennifer, I know what a royal pain in the ass that can be.

Anyhow, for the past week or so, I've been having an on-again, off-again throbbing pain near my right ovary. Last night I woke up with it and couldn't fall back to sleep for an hour or so. So this morning I called the RE's office to get their opinion, and they told me to come on in for an ultrasound to check it out. It only turned out to be a pretty small cyst that looked to be draining. My doc said the draining could be causing the pain or it could simply be the uterus expanding. In any case, I felt like an idiot for coming in over nothing.

But I did get a sneak peak at what DH has termed "the growth". Obviously we need a better nickname. Anyhow we saw the gestational sac measuring about 5mm, which my doctor said was a good sign. From what I've found via google that is on par with what you'd expect around the 5 week mark. And since I'm somewhere between 4 weeks 4 days (if you count from LMP) and 4 weeks 6 days (if you count from the IUI) that is right on target.

Now back to the previously scheduled program...waiting. Just over two more weeks until the "real" ultrasound.

The Name Game

Some girls have names picked out for their future children by the time they're 10. I on the other hand have just begun to think about it at 30. And based on the conversation Jeramy and I had tonight on this subject, coming up with a name might just take the remainder of my 9 months. Here are the names we've ruled out...

Aquanetta (I actually saw that name in People once)

Morphius

Elvis

Jesus

Eclipse

Chuck (Jeramy really likes this one, but I'm putting my foot down)

Mr. T

Aqua Man

Rambo

Godzilla

Any other ideas of names to avoid?

Knitting the Time Away

In an effort to keep worry at bay, I've kept busy with knitting projects. Yesterday I finished a Yoda Sweater for my stepbrother's baby boy who is due in March. It was so easy to knit, but it was my first time working with cotton. Cotton is great for babies because it is machine washable and very soft. But it turns out that it can be a pain to knit with since any change in tension can show up in the stitches. Overall though I'm pretty happy with it, and I just started a matching hat with the leftover yarn.

I also finished my first sock. It is not the best looking sock ever as I kept forgetting to knit through the back loop in the proper places. However at some point I realized that I had to press on despite the mistakes as I would never get it finished otherwise. I've now started on sock #2, and I'm about half way through the ribbing at the top. Let's just hope #2 doesn't take me 4 months like #1 did!

On the baby-growing front (as opposed to the baby-making front) I have noticed a little cramping today. It was a bit worrisome, but Dr. Google (I know I said I'd stay away, but it is just so hard!) says this is normal as the placenta is digging in to the uterine lining and setting up camp for the next 9 months. And since I'm determined not to drive myself crazy with nervousness, I'm doing my best to ignore any sensation below my waist and trying to distract myself with hobbies.

You Can Call me Impatient

First of all thanks for all of the congrats comments! Honestly, I was very overwhelmed by it all. You are all so wonderful, and I greatly appreciate the support.

So I know in my last post I said that I was going in on Tuesday for the second beta. Well make that today. When the nurse called with the first beta result on Saturday she said I could come back for the second on Monday or Tuesday. Since I have today off for the MLK holiday, I figured I would go in on Tuesday since the RE is within walking distance of my work. But yesterday Jeramy and I sat around making up all sorts of excuses as to why I should waste the gas and drive into Seattle today. So there you have it.

In any case the news is good as the second beta came in at 670. I ran the numbers online to see how they stacked up and got the following chart. I'm running a little above singleton levels, but I'm 99% sure there is just one in there as only 1 follicle was within range when they gave me the trigger shot. If memory serves, the next nearest was around 13mm or so.

Next up is more waiting. I scheduled the ultrasound for February 12th. I'll be 7 weeks by then and hopefully we'll see a heartbeat then. I have no idea how I am going to get through the next 3 weeks. But I think it will involve much knitting and a ban on google searches. Seriously...nothing good ever comes out of Dr. Google.

In Complete Shock

I woke up at 6am this morning and tiredly went in the bathroom to pee on yet another stick from the Dollar Tree. But at 13dpo/14dpIUI I had little hope. I watched as the urine passed through the window and the control line formed. After a minute of staring there was no second line so I set the test aside and put my contacts in. It took a few minutes as the lenses were being difficult, and when I finished I looked over and saw it. A second line. The faintest of second lines. I woke Jeramy up in hysteria and made him confirm that this was indeed a line and not some figment of my imagination. He agreed it was real. I cried. We hugged.

Despite it being the weekend I managed to get an appointment for a blood draw. Less than 2 hours later the nurse called. She asked how I was doing, and I said "good". Then she said that my day was about to get even better. She told me how they like to see a first beta of 50. She tells me mine is 210. With tears streaming down my face I go to the other room to give Jeramy the good news.

Yes it is early. I'll be on pins and needles until the next beta on Tuesday. I'm crazy happy and completely scared at the same time. But I am trying to listen to the advice my grandmother gave me on the phone this afternoon to take this good news and run with it. To block out the bad and don't let it invade on my happiness.

I owe so much to my family and friends who have supported me through this. However I have to especially thank the women I have met on line who have supported me from the time I had just began this year-long journey. Because of them I got help for those 60 day long cycles early. They listened and supported me through my difficulties even though they had gone through so much more for me. When the information I received from my RE on the cysts didn't quite add up, they urged me to push back. Nancy, Katie, Tammy, Kel, Mon, Jenn and Jewels and all the other blogging gals, I owe you so much and hope your journeys will end very, very soon.

Testing, but not Much to Tell

KCMarie left a comment reminding me that I hadn't updated you all on my adventures with home pregnancy tests over the past couple of days, and I realized I had been a bit neglectful in my blogging. Rest assured, however, that you have not missed much despite my negligence. Wednesday's test at 10 dpo (that's days post-ovulation for those at home) was negative, and no matter what angle I looked at the test I couldn't make out the faintest line in that blizzard of white. But I reminded myself that it is still early and planned to test again today.

This morning I woke up, groggily dragged myself out of bed, and went to the bathroom. Just after I finished I realized that I was supposed to pee in a cup not the toilet. Crap. So my plans to test this morning went out the window. But there is always tomorrow I guess. Perhaps I should place a pee up on the toilet seat lid lest I am less than alert tomorrow morning as well.

So the bottom line is that there is no news to share. Maybe tomorrow folks.

Knitting Porn

Nothing exciting has happened in the past couple of days, so in lieu of something interesting you get this post. My mother in law bought me a subscription to Interweave Knitting magazine for Christmas, and my first issue arrived yesterday. I loved looking at all the pictures and dreaming of all the things I might knit. I still need to read the articles though. Jeramy called it my knitting porn.

My favorite pattern was the Henley Perfected. It has such a nice mixture of casual and girlishness.

Hmmm...So What did I do This Weekend???

I don't know whether to describe this weekend busy or relaxing. It was a mixture of both, I guess. Anyhow, here is what I was up to.

Shopping. And lots of it as I had birthday money to blow and the sales were awesome! At Target I got new shoes and a new white shirt since I stained mine at the party last weekend. Oops! Alcohol, punch and white shirts don't mix. At Victoria Secret I bought new bras and underwear. At Bath and Body Works I got yummy smelling lotions and shower gel. At Ann Taylor I bought a skirt, cardigan, a hoodie sweater and a couple shirts. At Bass I bought new brown knee high boots and a couple necklaces. Phew!

Dinner out. Dad took us to Applebees Friday night for my birthday.

Football. We had friends over for the Seahawks game. While the first 4 minutes went well, it was pretty much downhill after that.

Babysitting. During the football game we watched our friends' 1.5 month old baby girl while they had tattoo appointments. So cute and quiet. I mean eating, pooping, sleeping and flailing of the arms is apparently about all that goes on at that age. I was a little nervous when we agreed to it as I've got very little small baby experience. But then I realized Stacy would be over for the football game so a mom would be on hand to help. (Thanks Stace!!!)

Knitting. Look, I finally turned the heel on my first sock! Jeramy calls it the sock with a hole in it. I hope to rectify that soon.


Meanwhile, Cujo kept busy in his own way this weekend., as he spent the bulk of it like this:


Nothing new on the baby-making front as I'm 8 days post-IUI. I'm feeling kind of blah and not too hopeful about it right now. But that is likely to change once I commence the POAS frenzy on Wednesday.

That Room

Jenn and Kathy V's comments on my waterbed fiasco, got me thinking about "that room" in many of our homes.

When we first bought our house six years ago, we knew it would be at least a few years before we started trying for kids. We could barely afford to support ourselves and pay the mortgage, so adding a third human being to the mix did not seem like a good idea. Our house has three bedrooms as well as a bonus room. So when we first moved in we had our bedroom, my office, his office and a pool table room that you could refer to as "man land". A couple years ago, we sold the pool table to a friend (thereby dismantling "man land") and moved Jeramy's office into the bonus room so that we could free up one bedroom for that future baby. We figured the room could temporarily house the spare bed for the guests we rarely host along with a pile of junk. Temporarily. 2 years later (just 1 of those trying for kids) it is all still there.

To me, this room is just a sad reminder of what is not in it. In many ways it is just easier to close its door and try to forget its existence in my home. I wouldn't dare make it a true spare room. Doing that would signal that I'd given up hope, which is not the case. But I also don't dare start turning it into that future baby's room for fear of jinxing the whole thing. So the room continues to sit full of junk yet empty.

I'm Edumacated

I just took a test to determine what level of education is necessary to understand my blog and got this result. So either I'm very smart or my writing is so awful that it takes an advance college degree to understand me.

You Know What's Not Fun at 3:30am?

Finding out that your waterbed is leaking. The mattress is nearly 10 years old, and it's the second leak for no apparent reason in a few months. So I guess we'll be forking out the money for a new one. The good news was that Jeramy had cleared a big pile of crap off the bed so that the spare room could be inhabitable for any guests after our party. Any other night we would have been fighting over who got the couch.

I do have to admit that one of the bonuses of my birthday was that it made us clean up our house. We have a few rooms that get little usage and instead act as a magnet for junk we don't want to throw out but don't want to organize either. As a kid my parents would throw a party for their friends about once a year, and that was the only event that ever triggered our cleaning the house. When my sister and I were teenagers, they would go out of town and leave us a substantial sum of money for food. We'd buy beer with it, clean the house and throw a party. They knew what we were going to do, but we never articulated it in advance. They were always just happy that we cleaned up the house.

I swore that I'd never fall into such habits as an adult. But obviously I've failed.

Happy Birthday to Me

30. Wow. When I was 20, I imagined 30 very differently. I thought of 30 as old. Much older than I feel now. When I was a teenager I remember parents in their thirties as being very unhip, lacking style and out of touch. But those are not words I would use to describe the parents I know in their thirties now. At 30, I did not think people would still refer to me as the kid. I didn't think that I'd encounter situations where people doubted my capability or knowledge because I was so young. But then again I always thought I'd look 30 at 30, and that hasn't quite happened either (but that is not necessarily bad). At least I won't have to go on that Look 10 Years Younger show on TLC any time soon.

I thought that at 30, I would have 2 young kids, an amazing career, and a stay-at-home dad husband. But it took us longer than we expected to feel "ready" to have children. Then we put it off another couple of years so that I could get my master's degree. And then we spent the last year trying. Oh and the idea that Jeramy would be a stay at home dad was pure craziness. It turns out that construction workers can make as much or even more money than individuals with advanced college degrees. I do have a good career though. Amazing might be too extreme an adjective. But I've come to learn that I don't really want to be defined by my career, so perhaps this is less important to me now than it was even just a year ago.

It is just so interesting how our perspective changes so much with time. In so many ways life has gone exactly how I planned it. But then again in some ways it hasn't. But of course, if I've learned anything during my tenure as a 29 year-old it is that not everything in life goes as planned.

Definitely NOT a Lazy Saturday

Well if last Saturday was a lazy one, yesterday was anything but. It started off with dropping Cujo off at the vet for his semi-annual exam. Then I had to run back home so that Jeramy and I could go into Seattle for the IUI. It went well, and I had much less cramping this time than I did last time. Now its just back to waiting. After that it was time to watch the Seahawks game...we won despite some nail biting moments! Then we had about 40 people over for my birthday where I took my friends up on their advice about drinking and conceiving.

Anyhow if I can just come out of my post-party foggy state, I'll be in a much better place.

Primed and Ready to Go

My CD12 ultrasound was this afternoon, and apparently letrozole works faster than clomid for me. Here are the stats:

• Lining: 7.2mm (They told me this is on the lighter side but adequate. Any thoughts on this?)
• Right Side: a few follies with the largest being 21.5mm
• Left Side: one follie of 13mm

So they gave me the trigger shot, and we scheduled the IUI for late tomorrow morning. It's going to be a crazy 24 hours as I need to get home and clean the house tonight, get the IUI tomorrow morning, watch the Seahawks game tomorrow afternoon, and then have a bunch of friends tomorrow night over for my 30th birthday party. Phew!

Go Seahawks!

Just a quick post to say Go Seahawks! Playoffs start tomorrow and it is imperative (in my mind at least) that we clobber those Redskins! It's a home game so the 12th Man will be in the game although I'll be viewing from the comfort of my living room.

Oh and here is a pic of what I'll be wearing during the game. Our good friends gave me my birthday present early so I'd have it for the playoffs. I'm loving it as I am all about having the pink version of everything...I even have a pink fishing vest.

Flashback Wednesday

To kick off the new year, I thought I'd take us back nearly 10 years for a wedding photo. Yup, 10 years. I can hardly believe it myself. How is it that it seems like we met only yesterday but at the same time it feels like we've always been together.