Overdue!

This update, along with the baby, was/is overdue!

Our little Chicklette #2 -- let's call her Little G -- was born at 41 weeks on April 22nd. As with her older sister, I was induced and had a blissfully drama-free vaginal birth. One great epidural, roughly 6 hours of labor, and 8 pushes and she was out. She was 7 lbs. 10 oz., which shocked me -- I guess a 39-pound toddler will skew your view of babies.

So, 5 weeks in and we're doing great. The 2 weeks post-birth were pretty grisly -- including but not limited to a pair of cracked and bleeding nipples, and numerous rounds of resulting blood-laced spit-up -- but we are thankfully past that. In fact, breastfeeding has been a breeze since she was about 2 weeks old. I won't lie and say I love it, but Little G is gaining weight, latching great, and I'm even building up a modest stash of frozen milk. So I guess it doesn't have to suck the second time just because it did the first.

I thought I would have mixed feelings about being done with the whole pregnancy and childbearing thing (I was feeling very weepy towards the end of my pregnancy about this) -- but I am unequivocally thrilled and relieved. No more IVF. No more nervewracking ultrasounds/amnios/bouts of random spotting/etc. I feel very lucky. I know I'm lucky. And am so grateful.

This may be my last post -- I am obviously horrible at keeping this blog updated, and feel pretty confident that there is not anything especially interesting or valuable that I have to add to the interwebs on the subject of parenting. So, just in case....thank you to everyone out there who might still be reading for all of the support over the years, and thank you to the amazing women whose blogs I still avidly follow and read -- you've been and continue to be inspiring, enlightening, amusing....and a very special part of my journey towards becoming a mom.

Nesting, nesting, nesting

26 weeks and all is well. Our full amnio results came back normal, and the little one is kicking up a storm in there all day (and all night -- yeesh) long.

And the nesting bug has bitten me HARD. And it's a good thing, because we are still in the same tiny house that barely fit one kid. And because we don't have to buy all of the baby gear we did the first time, I can channel all of my nesting energy into home improvement. Which the Mr. is THRILLED about, let me tell you.

So, IKEA has been visited, paint chips have been taped and tucked in various places, rooms have been measured, and excess belongings have been (mostly) purged. Here's what we have on tap for the next 6 weeks or so (in rough chronological order):

• Paint and install crown molding in master bedroom
• Build and install wardrobes in master bedroom, move husband's clothes from room which is currently the office but will soon be a playroom
• Move desk from office/playroom to kitchen nook; move play kitchen and bookshelf from Chicklette room to office/playroom
• Install new sofa bed, rug, TV and assorted other items in playroom
• Move all toys possible from various locations in house to playroom
• Buy new toddler bed and install in Chicklette's room (she will share with #2 -- although she doesn't know that yet!)
• Install new lighting fixtures in master bedroom, playroom, dining room, kitchen
• Pray that baby doesn't come before above list is completed

So, we've got our work cut out for us.  But I'm having a ball planning all of this.  Will post before and after pictures if I remember!

21 week update

I usually log into Blogger every couple of days to check in on all of the blogs on my reading list....but never really look at my own. Which I guess explains how 6 weeks have passed since my last update?!?

Anyhoo, here's what's going on:

• I'm 21 weeks today. How did that happen?!?! I'm officially into the maternity pants, which is kind of nice....especially so on Thanksgiving.
• I've only gained about 10 pounds since we started our FET cycle.....which is huge for me given that by this time in my last pregnancy I think I had gained close to 20 (and that's not counting the 30-ish I'd gained during our infertility odyssey). I know that weight should be the least of my concerns, but I'm really committed to staying in shape and not letting things get out of control like they did last time. Sort of hard when I'm craving pizza with a side of bread followed by a bowl of ice cream....
• We finally had an amnio last week....we'd been trying since 16 weeks, but due to some weirdness in my uterus (the two layers of the lining -- the chorion and amnion, I think? -- hadn't fused an apparently this can make miscarriage post-procedure more likely), we'd been on hold. The procedure itself was no big deal -- pretty much just another needle in the belly -- but it was oddly emotional. And weird to see all that fluid being sucked out.
• The results of said amnio -- at least the preliminary FISH results -- are normal. Yay! Full results to come later this week, so hopefully there are no chromosomal surprises in our future.
• And finally.....we're having another girl! I was totally surprised, but am excited for the Chicklette to have a little baby partner in crime. (We haven't told her yet -- more on that later.) And of course it's nice to not have to buy a whole bunch of new crap, although I'm sure somehow a few girly accoutrements will find their way into my shopping cart at Target.

So, that's the scoop. Now we're just trying to savor our last holiday season as a family of 3....

Hangin' in at 15 weeks

Still here. Still pregnant (at least I think so). Exhausted after a weekend of a toddler with gastrointestinal distress -- I now literally know what it means to be elbow deep in poop.

Somehow, I've rounded the corner into the second trimester. I'm sporting a little pooch, and am in that delightful not-quite-ready-for-maternity-clothes-but-obviously-larger stage, which is garnering some odd looks at work (where I'm not "out" to the wider world quite yet). The morning/afternoon sickness is more or less gone, as is the fatigue, which is nice.

Not so nice: the positive results from the first-trimester screening, which means I'm headed for an amnio next week. (In this context, "positive results" are not necessary positive.) I'm not worried about the actual test -- oddly enough, big needles don't really scare me much anymore -- but I am of course worried about the results.  It's a small chance (1 in 72) that something is wrong....but somehow that's not super-comforting at the moment.

The bright side: Getting to find out just a wee bit earlier than planned what flavor the baby is....which I guess means we won't have any more excuses for delaying the talk with the Chicklette about Becoming a Big Sister. Can't wait to see how that one goes!

Deja vu

I don't know what it is, but my uterus is such a drama queen. Last time around, I had a bleeding episode at around 8 weeks that foreshadowed the loss of a twin. Last night (at 8 weeks, 1 day), I woke up for my usual 2 a.m. pee to find a pantiliner soaked with red blood. Which, of course, incited total panic.

Our RE was able to see us at 9:30 this morning, and thank God everything looks great. The nugget is measuring a little big, with a heartbeat chugging along at 167 BPM.  The doctor said that the bleeding is very common -- he sees it in 50% (!) of IVF pregnancies, and it's almost always benign -- and that I shouldn't worry as long as it tapers off.  Easy for him to say, but comforting (I guess) nonetheless. There was no sign of any clots or other scary things in there, which is apparently also good.

So, we have a another scan on Tuesday, and then I'll graduate to the regular OB. (Of which I need to find another, since mine retired.) This is all going by really fast....and really slow....at the same time. Yikes!

Still growing....

Both the beta number and my chest.

First, the beta. It was 375 yesterday. So we're doubling nicely, and in range for a singleton. It's so odd, the numbers this time (182/375) are almost identical to the numbers last time (188/389). Of course, last time was a twin pregnancy that became a singleton....so I guess this means these numbers are stronger if there's only 1 in there? I don't know. I'm just glad they're doing what they're supposed to do.

Secondly, my girls. They already look like they are ready to breastfeed. If this is a harbinger of my body remembering this pregnancy stuff earlier the second time around, I should be sporting maternity clothes in about a week. Not that I'm complaining....but.....it's going to be harder to stay under wraps for long.

Anyway, looking forward to a weekend of naps and 8:30 bedtimes. And I couldn't be more excited about that!

182

That's the beta number. I am in absolute shock. Happy shock, but shock.

Getting the news from our doctor was a hilarious comedy of cell phone errors. The Mr. and I are both working from home today, and my cell phone reception is not so great in my house. So the doctor called about 90 minutes ahead of schedule, I picked up and put him on speaker, and just as he said "Well, I've got some...." the phone went dead. So then I called back from the landline, and got put on a call queue at the clinic. The whole thing probably only lasted 45 seconds, but it felt like AN ETERNITY.

So, anyway, great news. Next blood draw on Friday. Hopefully by then it will have started to sink in a bit....