Rockin the Suburbs

I thought I’d post an update that all is well and we are all doing just fine. Little Frankie is growing like mad (and consequentially, so am I) My new catch phrase is “I’m hungry”. I don’t have the courage to look at the scale too often, but I don’t think I am getting out of control. (Although I do make and eat one pan of brownies every week…and it takes all my self control not to just eat the whole thing instead of dinner – lets face it… in addition to dinner!)

E and I have been shopping and making decisions on what sort of nursery we are going to have, how ridiculous we are going to be about furniture etc… We were looking at a “lifetime” set of furniture… but then I thought back to my own childhood and remembered some stories from Erich, thought about my brothers furniture and noted some stories from our niece and decided that is a ridiculous notion and I am going to get something functional and practical. There is a cute dresser at IKEA that I like and Target has cribs that are reasonably priced. I came to the realization while at Babies R Us or Buy Buy Baby (can’t remember which). That the baby crap industry and the wedding industry are close cousins… They know they have your attention for a limited amount of time and their goal is to sell you as much junk as possible before you wise up. So now our motto is “keep it simple, stupid”

Here is a photo of the bump taken a few weeks ago and last night… expansion happens!

May 19th – 21 weeks

April 20th – about 18 weeks

update: The Doctors office called and our ultrasound was “completely normal”

We had our ultrasound last night and Frank is a girl! whoo-hooo! Of course this just proves many of Erich’s theories, namely the more convinced I am about something the more likely it’s the opposite. But I am no where near disappointed. I can’t wait to meet our little baby girl! Here’s the first pictures:

I think she looks like Erich already – she’s got his cheeks!

Here is some video of her moving around:

Yep – finally. E and I can say that we will be pleased to welcome a new baby on September 25. I am 15 weeks along and so far all is well, with the peanut anyway.

The following post is the saga of how we got here if you are interested… I was just putting down all the stuff I couldn’t say in case this time went like all the others.

OK so Monday (Jan 18) my cycle was supposed to have started 2 days prior – I was getting impatient because this was going to be the month of testing testing testing with the new fertility doc (Dr Charles Miller). So I decide that in order to make myself calm down I would take a pregnancy test that morning, hoping to be reassured by the negative result.

Holy shit it was positive. >insert shock here<

I walked downstairs with the pee-stained stick in my hand to show E and to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. I wasn’t – he had about the same expression of shock on his face. But due to our history, this was no time to dilly-dally, so I got on the phone with the new Doc’s office, told them what had happened and they said to come in and they’ll confirm with a blood test. So along with the 8 vials of blood they pulled out (those were for my initial screening looking for any disorders I may already have – aside from mental ones), they pulled a pregnancy panel. When the nurse called me back that afternoon she said my hCG was at 530.5 and progesterone at 21.7. What? That’s the highest my hcg has ever been. what? Wait what is happening?

While I was at the Doc’s office they wrote me a prescription for oral progesterone supplements (not to be taken orally… eeew). They confirmed that twice a day I should take the progesterone and they will repeat the blood test on Thursday – and we’ll have an ultrasound next Thursday and every week till probably 10 weeks. What, wait a minute – I’m still reeling!! (Of course I may just be faint from all the blood they dragged out of me!)

update its January 21 and the second round of blood came back to hCG 2461 and progesterone 29.2! Holy cow! The hCG is supposed to double and it did way better than that! Little overachiever already! Holy crap I think I’m pregnant! I am also immune to rubella and my blood type is O+ – the nurse threw that info in. And she said we would be due September 25 – which is perfect! Just between E & I’s birthdays. 1 week to ultrasound!

update it’s January 28 and we had our first ultrasound this morning. There is a sac and a yolk and the us technician said she couldn’t have placed the baby better herself. It’s measuring a little earlier than 5wks 5days, which is all good and normal. Here is the first picture:

my hCG went up to 29,592 and Progesterone when down to 20, so they doubled my progesterone up as a precaution, most women don’t even have theirs pulled more than once, this place just over tests so they can see more variables… yeah-rah, now I’ll never be able to stay awake!

On a side note I have been wretchedly ill this week – I have very bad nausea and I constantly have that “sparkle” feeling in my face like I’m going to hurl. Haven’t yet, mostly because I’m too stubborn. There was a stomach thing going around at work, so it may have been a little of that too. Yesterday I had to leave work early and go home and sleep, I just couldn’t take it. Today I feel better than yesterday, but still very nauseous. I guess that is a good sign, so I’m not complaining, its just uncomfortable!

update Its Monday, February 1 and I am still nauseous… Last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were brutal… I’m guessing I had whatever stomach virus was going around. Now it’s more dizzy/nausea… more like motion sickness. This is more obvious considering as soon as I got off the train this morning I had to go throw up! I feel better after a weekend on the couch and E very nicely fetching me what I asked for… ice cream helps with the nausea. Now I’m back at work and nobody to get me stuff!

update Its Monday, February 8 and I am still a bit nauseous… nothing like last week though. I was terribly sick all week. The nurses at the Doctors office said that when they see hCG levels jump the way mine have been, they expect to see you ill. Basically they told me to buck up! I called in sick Friday and slept. I switched to water (I had read that 7-up or clear, cold fizzy soda would make you feel better) and by Saturday I felt somewhat normal… I didn’t feel like I had something trying to rip it’s way out of my stomach anyway! It seems that any foreign object that goes in my mouth (toothbrush, finger, vitamin, food, utensil, etc) causes me to instantly wretch and gag… hmmm, that is not helpful. But, it seems to be getting a bit better, so I am keeping my fingers crossed this won’t go all the way to 14 weeks like they say on the internet! I’ve already lost around 5 lbs, I don’t think I need to loose any more!!

update Here is a postponed update from the Doctors visit last Thursday. We saw the little heart beating away – still a tiny thing, but way bigger than last week. The US tech said we’ll really be able to see it this coming week. According to the tubes, it should double in size! hCG jumped to 136,968 and doubling my prometrium supplement got my progesterone up to 25.6. They also adjusted my due date to September 27… like I’ll go on that day anyway, so I am sticking with the 25th. The original date was by the numbers, the adjusted is by the US measurements… 2 days behind is normal since they don’t know exactly when conception occurred. Here is a picture:

update Feb. 10 A & W Root beer is a god-send. My friend KB said it helped her and her sister-in-law when they were early on and feeling nauseous. After I have some I feel like a person! amazing stuff.

update Feb 24 OK, so I haven’t updated this in awhile… I have been SO tired and very ill this whole month. It’s so bad I am going on a modified work schedule starting next week – I will be off on Wednesday’s so I can try to keep myself rested. It’s really ridiculous, but by the end of the week I can barely function anymore. And at this point I go to bed at 8pm – no later than 8:30… so I get off the train at 6 or 6:15, eat dinner, take a shower, watch one 40 minute TV show with E and then I’m out. I feel bad, E is a pregnancy widow… he probably thinks I have World of Warcraft in the room, aside from the snoring it might be believable!! So anyway, update on the peanut. We were released to our regular OB after our last visit to Dr Miller. The ultrasound showed the baby the right size, shape and with a nice little heart just beating away. So seeing the heartbeat twice is their test to release you from their care. Today we had our first visit with RPW, who will be the primary OBs, this was just a nurses visit, they pulled 4 vials of blood and asked for some pee (which is no problem anymore) and they went over how their processes work and what to expect visit to visit. All seemed pretty straight forward. We see the regular doctor for the first time on March 1 and she’ll go over all the lab results with us then.

I am excited, I’d rather just post this now and get it over with… but we are going to wait till the 12 week mark. That is when I stop taking the prometrium. After a week of no meds and still pregnant (and hopefully not sick anymore) then I will feel better to shout about it.

update OK – posting this saga this weekend. I am now 14 weeks! I haven’t thrown up in about 2 weeks and the nausea has gradually tapered off. Now it is just the occasional evening, but mostly I can eat anytime now, I still have trouble with pills, but at least solid foods are my friend again! We went to the doctor on Monday. I am still below my start weight so they told me to gain weight (like I have any choice!) I think I ended up loosing at least 10 lbs to the constant puking. The Doctor had no problem at all finding Frank (I call him/her Frankenstein because ‘its alive!’) and it’s just easier than saying it or baby mueller or whatever – we aren’t going to name him Frank if he’s a boy – I believe that may instigate a war with the sovereign nation of Frankovia (ha ha – inside joke). There are also various nicknames of Peanut and Lucky… We won the swag raffle at the doctors office and got a bunch of formula-related stuff which I’ll probably donate, but you never know… Several American Pediatric Society books too – so a good haul. Back to my original point… the doctor found baby Frank’s heartbeat right away – he was sitting right in the center of the belly cranking away at a solid 144 bpm (average is between 120 and 160). So Doc said ‘great – we’ll see you in 4 weeks’.

So Johnny is officially over there. He says everyone is in good spirits but alas, he lost his cell phone on the plane. Which sucks, but it wouldn’t work over there anyway. Here is a picture he sent right before he got on the plane

the beard is supposed to make him “blend”. I’m not worried, johnny has natural camouflage and has since he was a kid. You can walk into a room, see nobody till he says something (and scares you half to death). Wish he would have quit smoking, but he says that is impossible (ha!). Anyway – think safe thoughts for my little brother please

Kisses does not like change, of any kind… much less being stuffed into a box, by E no less (not that E is in anyway ungentle or unkind, she’s just my cat), taken outside, put in the car and driven to the vet of all places!

Thanks E for getting the video rockin!

So my Mom and my brother Johnny are coming to visit… so of course today we are supposed to get 10 inches of snow (figures). I convinced Johnny to stay at Dad’s a bit longer – the roads are deplorable, Erich said the less than a mile trek to Target was crazy bad. So in light of this – I am having Mom take the El in from Midway and I’ll meet her downtown. She’ll get to hang out with me at work for a while (fun fun) and then we’ll take the Metra to the ‘burbs – that should shave about 4 hours off her travel, and also a lot of stress!

She’s flying thru this storm of storms now – miraculously she took off on time, hopefully they won’t have them circle around too long!

A friend sent me a nice Christmas card with a picture of her kitties wearing their Santa suits… So not to be outdone – Kisses and Dizzy are all ready for Christmas. Notice how happy they are, how much they LOVE wearing hats?

Dizzy and Kisses – dressed for Christmas

This morning I woke up actually a little uncomfortably warm – there was warm air in our room and it seemed to be moving around… Wierd because I couldn’t hear the furnace blasting away trying to push non-existent air… Very strange to have heat on the second floor – I’m actually going to adjust the thermostat timer DOWN for the morning run – stranger still. Guess the old dog was too small and old. The new one is awesome! See it here We got all the options – well, we got the whole house cleaning filter and a new digital thermostat, which is so much better than the POS we bought at Home Depot when we moved in.

Image of our new furnace

I can’t wait till next summer so I can feel the air conditioning up there too! (Yep, we did the whole system at once). On the plus, we have now updated all the moving-part type systems in the house. So as long as the electrical holds out, we’re all good.

Thanks to Dane at Dane Heating and Cooling ((630) 514-8916 also on Angie’s List) – they did a great job! (And thanks Uncle Tim for recommending them)

Our friends KB & EC had the baby shower for their first baby last weekend. KBs Mom said I could do the centerpieces. So after a few ideas didn’t pan out like I wanted, I ran across this great website, rookiemoms.com and found the “recipe” for a boozy diaper cake. The cake is made of diapers and the support structure is made of a champagne bottle! It’s a great site if you need crafts and entertainment ideas for your kids. I made some tag monsters to use with the cakes and I also crocheted a baby blanket for KB and with the spare yarn I made a little teady bear I found a pattern for online. Dizzy did something indecent with the bear the morning we were leaving, but Sue managed to get all his stuffing stuck back in, and after I put his little face on, he seemed no worse for the wear. Everyone seemed to like the cakes, and KB got 192 diapers to get her going!

Dizzy's bear

Side cake and green bear

Taggie Monster and side cake

Taggie Monster blankie

Boozy cake for KB and EC

I took all these with the new iphone – and I have to say the focus and camera are significantly improved from the previous version!