Long Time No Blog

So it has been forever since I have written everything. I told you I am a terrible journal keeper. The reason I am back is really for my own purposes. As if a personal blog is anything but that.
Anyway, we are back on the infertility treatment train again. Well, actually......we jumped on the train months ago, now we are apparently on a cross country journey. I want to have the timeline written down so I can refer back. SO here goes.....

Aug 09- Back to RE for consult
Sept 09- IUI #1...BFN
Oct 09 IUI#2...BFN
Nov 09 IUI #3...BFN

All IUIs were done with me on increasing doses of Clomid until I began to get visual changes with it and was told no more Clomid for you!

Nov 09- decided to move forward with IVF. We were given the choice for gonadatropins with IUI or IVF. We are out of pocket for IVF and all injectibles medications so we decided to skip injectibles with IUI as we did not want to waste the money on possible multiple cycles when that money could have gone to IVF.

Dec 1st - Saline Hysteroscopy...all clear
Dec 21- IVF consult
Dec 23rd- CD 1
Dec 24th Start BCPs
Jan 10th Start Lupron 5u BID
Jan 13th Last BCP
Jan 18th Supression check- all clear
Jan 21st Start stims

To be continued........

Thankful

What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, I was scared, depressed and unable to very thankful unfortunately. We had just had our first appointment with the infertility specialist and did not yet know what direction we would be heading. I remember Thanksgiving Eve well. Frank and I had some wine, dinner and just spent time together. No TV, no computer. It was nice. It was a little reprieve before the holidays smacked us in the face with reminders everywhere that Christmas is about children and we had no guarantees we would be parents.

Today, I put the baby down for a nap in his crib. He laid there awake for awhile, quiet and content as I watched him on the monitor. He was too precious to leave there. So I scooped him up, declared family nap time and laid him in the bed with me ( Terrible I know). I laid him next to me and watched his big blue eyes slowly start to close as he wiggled as close to me as he could get and I cried remembering how I felt last year.

There are so many things I am thankful for this year.
- a happy, healthy, beautiful baby boy
- my wonderful husband who really is an amazing dad
- the doctors and technology that enabled us to become pregnant in the first place and the insurance that covered most of the cost
- my family and friends who supported us through our treatments and have welcomed Liam with love and generosity

I hope all of you ( the 2 people still reading) have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you all can feel as blessed as I do either now or very very soon.

Things you do not want to hear during labor...

From the Dr.....

This really should have been an easy delivery

Most women have at least 3 cm of perineum. You barely have a centimeter.

From your husband.....

Don't worry, the contraction is almost over...look at the monitor. (pre epidural)

Birth Story

The boy is finally here! Liam Francis born 10/29 at 12:15am. He was 8lbs 9 oz and 20 in long and perfect if I do say so myself. Here is the story

We arrived at the hospital at 7am on 10.28 for induction. I had pretty much begged them to induce at my 39 week apt for many reasons. One, we knew he was a good size already and I did not want a 10 lb baby. I also had to give work a stop date for my scheduled patients which was 10.24 and I did not want to waste maternity leave without a baby. I had also been dilated to 3 cms and 75% effaced for 2 weeks. So we scheduled the induction and tried everything to bring on labor naturally before then which did not work.

We arrived at the hospital at 7am and got settled and waited for the shift change to be over to get started. Once I got all hooked up to monitors and got my IV in at the hospital they checked me and I was STILL 3cm and 75% effaced which I had been for the past 3 weeks. I was not happy. I was, however, contracting every 2-3 minutes altohugh they were not not strong enough to do anything. Anyway at 8:30 they started the Pitocin at the lowest dose and gradually increased it while we pretty much just hung out and watched TV and played on the computer. I could feel the contractions but they were not much more than menstrual cramps. The hospital had wireless internet which was a Godsend. At 2:30, the OB checked me and I was STILL 3cm. I was very frustrated to say the least. She decided tyo break my bag of water at this point to see if the contractions picked up. Lets just say they did. By 3:30 I was ready for the epidural but it was 5pm by the time the anesthesia got there as they were pretty busy that day. I was pretty much in tears at that point. I was contracting every 1-2 minutes and not getting any break in between. Not helpful was my husband who would inform me when the contractions were "lessening" by looking at the toco monitor. Thanks.

The epidural was a Godsend and I had a really good one. I could move my feet and feel pressure but no pain. I was 5cm dilated when I got the epidural placed. Next time, God willing, I would get it sooner. After the epidural, I vomitted once but then felt great and watched Jepordy and Its a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. At about 8:30 I was fully dliated but the Dr did not want me to push yet. It was the on call Dr at this point which was fine with me and he apparently likes the baby to drop as much as possible before pushing. At about 9:15 my nurse had me start pushing for about 40 min and then the Dr had me rest again. I managed a little catnap which was nice. We resumed pushing at 11:30pm. Pushing is quite tiring. They has me do 4 reps of 10 counts with each contraction and by the last rep I was done by the 8 count. It felt like I was trying to take the worlds largest poop.

By midnight the bed was broken down and the delivery table in place. The baby had pooped while in utero so neonatatolgy was also there for delivery which actually made me really happy. Meconium is really common and usually no big deal but if the baby aspirates it, it can be a major problem. We ended up needing the vacuum and an episitomy to get him out because despite having rather large hips, my pelvic outlet is quite small and I have almost no perineum....but that is another story. At 12:15 am on 10/29 Liam finally popped out with lots of intense pushing from me and pulling from the OB. He was deep suctioned multiple times for mec but not intubated and cried immediately. Once I was all stitched up, I felt pretty good. I never needed anything stonger than Motrin after the birth and was walking around by 5am.

We are completely in Love with him more and more every second.

Tour

Today we went on a tour of Bryn Mawr Hospital where I will be delivering. We are not taking any birthing classes and I thought we should at least know where L&D is as the only part of the hospital I knew how to get to was the infertility office. It was a tour and we saw where everything was. Perfect! What amazed me was the questions people ask. "Can we delay the Vitamin K?" "How will the nurses know whether we want to breast of bottle feed?" What kind of epidural can I get?" Now maybe those are all honest questions but TAKE A BIRTHING CLASS THEN. I just kept rolling my eyes. I really need to work on not being so judgemental.

A letter

Dear son

We are getting closer...only 8 more weeks until we figure out what you look like. We are all very excited to meet you. However, if you do not stop kicking my cervix we are looking at some serious time out time after you are born.

Much Love,

Your Mother

Shopping Spree

This past weekend we did a lot of shopping. It can pretty much be divided into the good, bad, and ridiculous.

The Good

We got the kid a car seat so I guess we are good to go. I am not sure why but this really made it seem real. Maybe because you can't bring them home without a car seat. After much deliberation down to when we were leaving the house...we ended up with this one. We also were able to get a bunch a stuff that we had not gotten from the registry, really exciting stuff like crib pads and bassinet sheets. Sunday, I went to the Carters outlet and got a bunch of sleepers and onesies. Let me tell you that is one dangerous store.

The Bad

I was/am in desperate need of new (read bigger) maternity clothes. It is not fun to spend a fortune on clothes you will only wear for a short while. The shirts I bought back in April are just not quite covering my belly at this point and we are starting to border on obscene. I was able to get some long sleeves tops at Mimi/Motherhood. I may still need another pair of pants for when it gets too cold to wear Capri's anymore to get me through til Nov but otherwise I should be good.

The Ridiculous

I had a gift card to Baby Gap burning a hole in my pocket so while we were out and about we made a pit stop. I picked up this and this which are too adorable for words. I am thinking of going with the brown one for the baby's coming home outfit. We have a super cute knit pumpkin hat that one of my mom's friends made which is a good fall look for the newborn crowd I think. The point where Frank thinks I really lost it, however, was in Gymboree. I insisted on getting a Halloween Costume for the baby. I am aware that he will be a few days old at most and that we will likely have it on him for a grand total of 2 minutes for a picture...but it will (it better be) his first Halloween and he needs a costume!