Nursery Smorgasbord

Waiting is hard to do.  It is getting closer to the day that we would have inseminated if not for the whole jacked up thyroid thing, and it’s making us sad that we aren’t going to be doing it just yet.  Just being sad about not being able to try to get pregnant makes me very nervous about how we will handle all of the other possible disappointments in the future, ie- if S turns out to not be a one hit wonder.  So, I thought I’d cheer myself up by looking at baby nurseries online.  I want to start decorating so bad, but I know it’s too early.  My mom is coming down to visit in like two weeks and I mentioned to her how we will be turning the office into a nursery eventually and she is so funny, she wants to get it started while she is here.   And it’s not time yet and I told her so, but she still wants to take out all of the office stuff and combine it with our art studio (which is the plan, to make a half art studio half office) and paint the office and make it into a guest room for now.  And I kind of want to do it.  Even though when/if/once our roommate moves out we will already have a guest room.  So the question is, IF we do this, what color do you paint a room that might be a nursery for a child that you haven’t conceived yet and therefore have no idea if it will be a boy or a girl?  Plus, it needs to be a color we can live with as a guest room for possibly a long time, seeing as how we have no idea right now when we will even be able to start trying to get pregnant.  It’s a weird/fun thing to think about.  So I have gathered some of my favorite nursery pictures to give you all (and S) an idea of what I’d like our nursery to look like.  The main thing that I want is for it to be bright, uncluttered (some nurseries have wayyy too much stuff in them and ours won’t be very big), and not too matchy-matchy with the fabrics and theme, if you know what I mean.  So here you go, enjoy.

-L

$143 Bedroom Make-over

This weekend I had a three day weekend due to a shift in scheduling and S also managed to have a three day weekend, but we didn’t spend it together like you’d think.  S went on a fun little trip to New Orleans with one of her best friends to have one last wild weekend before all of our TTC stuff gets in the way.  And while S went out of town, I stayed at home with our animal farm and gave our bedroom a mini make-over with the help of my BFF.  Before the make-over, our bedroom was depressing.  First off, it was such a mess all of the time that no one was allowed to see it, pretty much ever.  So I had to do a lot of cleaning before I could even start.  Most of the mess was clothes.  We have so much clothing that it is taking over our life/room.  Also, nothing about our room was very grown up, it was just a lot of random art, some furniture and a bed.  I took some before pictures, but really they are too embarrassing to post.  So I’ll just talk about the after.  I got two pretty bedside lamps from Marshalls for $30 each.  Before we only had the weak overhead fan light.  Then I made a cloth headboard for the bed by building a wooden frame, wrapping it in a double layer of cotton batting and then covering the whole thing in fabric.  It was super easy and I got the idea and the directions from here: http://www.younghouselove.com/2008/07/how-to-upholster-a-headboard/ and I think that the supplies from the wood, the cotton batting and the fabric all together was about $55.  It was really easy to hang too, it basically sits on the box springs and then is nailed right through the whole thing to wall in the upper two corners.  Then the last thing I did was go and get some cheap wooden frames from thrift stores, spray paint them all silver and then using some white Bristol paper that I already had, hung them up with photos from our wedding.  I think that all together the frames were $22 total and that it was about $6 for the spray paint.  So the make-over all together ended up costing me $143, which was $7 below my goal of $150.  Not bad, eh?  The whole thing is a surprise for S when she comes home late tonight.  I told her that I was working on a secret project, but she has no idea what it was.  I want her to be surprised, so I’ll be posting this on Wednesday after she has had a chance to see it, just in case she some how manages to drive from New Orleans to Austin and check our blog all in the same day.  I’ll update this with her reaction.
**Update, S was thrilled!  She loved the update.  But I think she is a bit unhappy that I now expect her to help me to keep our bedroom looking this good.**

Moxa

So, L posted about the weird things that you burn that seem like incense.  It is actually Moxa or Moxabustion.  If you think of sage, and how fuzzy it is, it is the fuzzy, woolly part of some plant..maybe sage, but I cannot remember if it was sage or something else.  When my acupuncturist uses it, he has a little tin(kinda like a small cigarette box) that is full of what looks like wool.  He rolls it into little cones and puts them on your body and then lights them and puts them out on you.  It can be intense, more intense than the needles.  The at home version is very different.  It looks like little fireworks and has a base that is sticky, that you stick to your body in the specific points and then you light it and it slowly burns.  I am supposed to take it off once I feel the heat.  Just get the sensation of heat, then you take it off and put it in water (like birthday candles).  I will attach some pics, including the one my acupuncturist drew for me so that you can partake in it if you like.  I have done it a few times and really it is just relaxing at this point.

Pill Popping

S has become a pill popping junkie.  It’s funny to see her go from being a girl who I had to beg to take a simple over the counter pain killer when she got a headache- I had to develop a rule that she wasn’t allowed to complain about being in any sort of pain until she had taken an ibuprofen- to the supplement taking fool that she now is.  In addition to the pre-natal vitamin, she is now taking her thyroid medication, a fish oil supplement that was recommended by our RE for smart babies, and a sea kelp supplement for her thyroid that her acupuncturist recommended.  So many pills that some time this week we are going to have to go get her one of those days of the week pill organizers.  Such a funny transition.  I’m just glad it’s not me, I have a hard time keeping up with medications of any kind.

So S has been seeing an acupuncturist from time to time for fertility and will begin going again once we get this whole thyroid mess figured out.  And the last time she saw him he gave her this crazy little things that you put on each of your ankles and also two inches below your belly button and basically they are like ¼ of an inch of some sort of insence (or at least that’s what they smell like) that you light and let burn down until you feel just the tiniest bit of heat and then you pull it off and do it again 3-5 times.  It’s supposed to increase fertility and so you do it starting around CD 5 and keep doing it up until you ovulate.  Yesterday S let me try a few on her just for fun to see what they are all about.  They have the funniest packaging, so I took a picture to share.

So while S was getting all of her fun supplements yesterday from Whole Foods and Central Market, I got a new water bottle.  It’s a Life Factory bottle, and it’s so pretty, I love it.  Though it was $20 and totally unnecessary, I got it anyway.  I’m sure some of you have seen the Life Factory baby bottles and I have been obsessed with them and so I was very excited to see they made an adult water bottle as well.  Has anyone ever used the baby bottles? I wonder if they are as a great as I think that they might be.  

The only other big news here is that as of an hour ago, I am credit card debt free!  I paid off the last little remaining bit and it feels so good to have that monkey off my back.  S should be able to pay hers off this month as well, so now we can start really saving some money.  
-Liz

Cha-Cha-Changes

This year for once I was able to really surprise S for Valentine’s day.  I actually gave her the present early, on Saturday, because I just couldn’t wait any longer.  For Valentine’s day this year I went and legally changed my last name so that we have the same last name now!  I had a super talented friend of ours make these cute announcements to send out to friends and family letting them know of the change and I wrapped them up and gave them to her as her present.  It was very exciting.  Getting my name changed was quite the ordeal though.  It’s so much simpler if you are legally married, you just take your marriage certificate to all of the agencies and they change your name for you.  For me, I had to go and get finger printed, fill out and file this long legal form, petition the court and actually go to court and see a judge and then go to all of the various agencies to get my driver’s license and what not changed.  But in the end it was so worth it.  I feel like a different person now, it’s strange.  But good strange.

But the rest of the weekend didn’t go quite as smoothly.  On Sunday S and our roommate and I decided to go grab dinner at Chili’s and when we got there we went to park and S’s car wouldn’t turn off!  The key was stuck in the ignition and it was stuck on.  So we had to drop it off at the dealer and though we tried to disconnect the battery, we couldn’t so we had to just leave it locked and running over night to die a slow gasless death.  We picked it up $500 later yesterday and they had to replace the whole steering column.  At least it’s fixed now. 

Yesterday, as a result of the car problems, we ended up locking ourselves out of the house.  Monday morning we took our roommate to the bus station so she could ride up to San Antonio to catch a plane to go to the UK for the next few weeks to visit her boyfriend there.  It will be sad to not have her around the house.  That afternoon after picking up the car, we decided to go to Town Lake, a cute little walking trail downtown by the water, with the pups and go for a walk.  We came home and realized that we only had the car key and not the house key as we had disconnected the house key the day before when we dropped off the car.  Ugh!  And of course it had to happen when we A) had the dogs with us, B) when there was no chance of our roommate coming home to let us in and C) with no cell phones on us to call anyone.  Luckily we managed to pry open the kitchen window because it has a funny lock and wasn’t locked all that well.  But it’s a pretty high window so to do that we had to pull the table off the front porch and S had to stand on it and then hoist herself up and through the tiny window.  So in the end it worked out, but only because S is a spider monkey and we got lucky with the window.  

I guess the only other news is that S has been taking her thyroid meds for a few days now and so far so good.  She was afraid that she might have some sort of discomfort or side effects from the pills as she is very sensitive to medication of any sort, but it seems like she is just feeling a bit more like her old self and nothing else.  So hopefully things will be moving forward on our TTC front in the next few months.  Keep your fingers crossed!

-Liz

One tiny set back

I came home from work today because I panicked when I got a call from my Dr. with my results from my physical.  My thyroid is not doing what it should be doing.  It is at a 22.7 and it should be between .34-4.  Um…not good!  The part that made me panic is I talked to the nurse at the Drs. and asked if I could be pregnant while on this drug that I am starting tomorrow.  She said, well, wait and talk to your OB and it would be High Risk if I was pregnant.  I was not sure if I could even be pregnant and they would not even tell me if I would be on this stuff for the rest of my life or not.  Even if I would be preggie, that totally ruins my plan with giving birth at the birthing center that I love.  I was panicked!

But…I talked to the nurse at the specialists and she was not concerned.  She said once I get my thyroid under control, that I can carry to term and it was a really good thing we caught it now because it is very hard to carry to term when your thyroid is off, especially as much as mine is.  Plus, she said I will feel sooo much better and truthfully, I didn’t even know I was sick!  I guess I will be  a new woman now!

It does set our dates back a month or two so I can monitor the medicine and make sure I am taking the right dose, but a few months is not biggie.  It will give us time to save a little more money and to chart for a few more months.  Plus, with the pills, I should have more energy to exercise, which is more like I used to be!  So, a minor set back, but if L is not real concerned, neither am I.
-S

Dr Dr

So, today I found the Dr. that will be inseminating me.  He spent 2 hours sitting across a large dark wood desk explaining options and how it works and the steps to pregnancy.  That is what I am talking about!  A plan…here we go.  He works in a small office of him, his nurse and a receptionist.  He is passionate and thorough, and patient.  He will explain every little tiny detail to you and give you tons of options and then say, what option would you like.  It could not have been any better.  Well, it would have been better if L had been there and it was not all so expensive, but all in all, good visit.

That means around March 7-9 I will be inseminated and then 2 days later.  The third day of my period, I have to go in and get different tests done so that the insemination goes as well as possible.  They even have a cryotank where they can store the sperm and they will for free.  Oh, and I no longer have to take my temp at 6am every morning.  It’s too all over the place to be useful.  Now we just have to pick which bank we are going thru and get all the newly presented ducks in a row.

On another positive note, I had acupuncture done today.  For fertility and I will once a week until insemination day.  It was great.  I cannot say I have ever been a fan of acupuncture, but I adore our acupuncturist at the place I work and I get a good discount, so I thought I would do it…just for the hell of it.  Then, it turns out, it was great! I was relaxed and smiling on my hour drive home.

All good things and ONE HIT WONDERS!
-S

Nite Nite

S just sent me an email with a bunch of pictures of this artist, Adele Enersen, that takes these amazing pictures of her baby while she is alseep.  I loved them so much that I just had to share a few!  There are lots of other pictures by Adele out there, be sure to check them out.  Enjoy!

The Big O

S called me earlier from work today, so excited because she got a positive on the OPK today, which means that she is/is about to ovulate!  I know that to most of you who are reading this and are just friends and family, that is not exciting news, but any of you out there who have gone through or are going through your own TTC journey know that this is big news.  You see, this is the first time S has gotten anything on these OPK sticks and for us this means that her body really is doing all of those things that our books and the different website say it is supposed to be doing.  Today is cycle day 15 for S, which is exactly right on. I guess we were just a bit worried because her BBT chart (temp chart) is just all over the place and like she posted the other day, the Dr. told her that it looked like she was ovulating 3 days ago, when we knew she wasn’t.  So maybe tomorrow on the BBT or the next day we will see the big temperature spike and the chart will make sense.  This is also exciting because that means that about 28-29 days from today, if all goes according to plan, we will try to do our first insemination!  That just about blows my mind.  Of course, we might have to wait and not try next month, but we will see.  S has an appointment at the fertility clinic next week and we are worried that they will think that we arn’t ready next month, that S needs to do more charting, that more testing needs to be done, etc.  I really hope not, I really hope that next month is the month.  I made S a CD today, a CD of “One Hit Wonders” to jazz her up and get us both in a positive frame of mind.

Here is the track list, in case you are interested:
1.  Lovefool- The Cardigans
2. Better Off Alone- Alice Deejay
3.  A Thousand Miles- Vanessa Carlton
4.  Melt With You- Modern English
5. One of Us- Joan Osborne
6. Walking in Memphis- Marc Cohn
7. Ice Ice Baby- Vanilla Ice
8. The Freshmen- The Verve Pipe
9. I Believe in a Thing Called Love- The Darkness
10.  Stay (I Missed You)- Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
11.  I Ran- A Flock of Seagulls
12.  Breakfast at Tiffany’s- Deep Blue Something
13.  Bitter Sweet Symphony- The Verve
14.  Steal My Sunshine- Len
15.  Counting Blue Cars- Dishwalla
16.  Hey Jealousy- Gin Blossoms
17.  Flashdance..What a Feeling- Irene Cara
18.  Closing Time- Semisonice

I think it’s a really fun CD.  Some of the bands are actually pretty great, but they were still only considered to have one “hit” in their career.

In other news, yesterday we actually got a snow day in Austin!  It was pretty crazy to see snow here, it’s been a long time.  And I’m sure most of you who live even two or three hours north of here would have laughed at how 2 inches of snow closed down the whole city for the day.  Still, it was nice to stay on the couch all day instead of being at work.  And the really crazy part is that today it’s 67 degrees and sunny with a nice breeze.  I’ve got the windows open and it’s hard to believe that just yesterday was a snow day.  Things change quickly around these parts.  Off to enjoy some of this strange sunshine.
-L

It’s Egg Drop Soup in this house

So, we are totally obsessed with ovulation.  I went to the OBGYN today and she said it looked like I was ovulating.  I know for a fact I am not and should not for a few days.  I then asked for more clarification on when to ship the sperm to them and when to inseminate.  She was unclear and unsure….thus, I have an appointment with another Dr. on Tuesday.  I don’t want to spend the money and ship the sperm and pay them out of pocked to do the IUI and they don’t know what they are doing.  I have and appointment with a fertility clinic.  I figure they know how to inseminate someone.  I don’t want to do any crazy fertility stuff yet, but I do want a Dr. that will walk me thru the process and not be shocked when the sperm bank ships them sperm.  Already, they had me fill out tons of paperwork asking all the questions I felt my Dr. was supposed to ask and I am meeting with the Dr. to come up with a “plan”.  This is my type of Dr.  I want to be as prepared as possible since I get one shot a month(no pun intended).  I don’t feel like that is too much to ask and I don’t think I should be the expert on my own ovulation…my Dr. should.

On another note, the Dr. said I need to be doing the ovulation stuff around 2pm in the afternoon.  That means I am going to pee in a cup and then sit in the bathroom for 5 minutes in the middle of my day at work.  Since they can’t know, they are just going to have to wonder what I am up too and I am going to have to just bring a book or something to waste 5 minutes.  Fortunatly, we have nice, private bathrooms at my work, so it should not be a big deal other than employees wondering what I am up to.  All in all, I am just glad to hopefully find a more knowledgable Dr. for the IUI.  It does mean that I am going to see 3 Drs. on Tuesday, but I figure this is just the beginning of Dr. visits, so no biggie.  I just hope this Dr. is a better fit than the current one!  -S

Almost Ready For a Count Down

S with our OPKs



S with "What to Expect
Before You're Expecting"

 I am getting more and more baby crazy the closer we get to our first insemination.  It's about 5 weeks away at this point.  S is doing everything so perfectly.  She is taking her temp, peeing on things, staying away from booze, eating right, exercising, taking prenatal vitamins, all that jazz.  I wish there was something I could be doing too.  This is the hard part I suppose of being the "other" mother, it's hard to participate in this life changing experience in any way other than just observing and supporting.  I think that this is probably similar to what some husbands feel when their wife is pregnant, but not the same I don't think.  I want to be a mother to this baby we are going to be creating soon, not just an observer.  I've been thinking a lot about the future and I think that I want to try to be at least a part time stay at home mom.  I'd like to ideally just flat out stay at home and be with the baby for the first 2-3 months and then just work part time, 2 or 3 days a week.  That way I'll be the primary care giver and not some stranger in a day care.  I think that with some careful planning and budgeting that we can afford this, but I know that it will be hard.

Yesterday, we went to Babies R Us to get a shower gift for one of my co-workers.  His wife is due on the 20th of this month and they are having a baby boy.  It was really fun to look around at all of the baby stuff.  So many cute things to buy!  As we were about to check out, I saw this little baby polo onesie.  So cute, I die.  I can't wait to have a business baby!  Had to share.  Somehow, I was able to resist buying one.  I don't know how, other than I am stronger than I realized.

Nothing much else is going on right now on the TTC front.  Just a lot of charting and waiting.  Oh, and if you haven't yet, be sure to vote on baby names in the poll on the right side of the blog!  Not that your vote will influence anything, but it is interesting to see what people think. 
-L