Nothing to Report Cuz I've got No Reporting

I've discovered I'm not a real fan of getting knocked-up naturally. For one, the total lack of information is just not for me. I called my OB/GYN and trumpeted my miraculous news and all I got was: "when was the first day of your last cycle? Oh...four weeks ago? Well...we won't see you for at least another month."

Wait a minute.

I must have went to at least 50 different appointments with my IVF. No joke. There was the whole pre-IVF testing, then the meds, and the training sessions for the shots, and then the actual Day Of. Then there was the post-IVF visits. I swear we were driving to our clinic every day for at a month. The testing, the blood work, the ultrasounds. Not to mention acupuncture and counseling sessions.

Now I just feel so neglected! My doctor doesn't even care about me! "We'll see you in a month!" Whaaaaa???

Don't-You-Understand-Lady?? I need information! I need to know what's goin' on down there! Shouldn't I be taking something? Anything? Shouldn't you be putting something up my netheregions and calling all your doctor friends to take a peek? Isn't there some sort of magic cocktail my husband should be injecting into my behind every night for an entire month?

It's just too easy which makes it way to disconcerting.

So. Here I sit. I have no numbers to report. I don't know how many follicles I had, how many eggs, how many embies, what my hcg levels were or are. I'm praying that this is the real deal and trying really hard to be patient. Worried that I don't have enough nausea, or that I've got too much. Or that it's disappeared altogether.

I'm trying to come up with some sort of excuse to get into the doctor earlier. I'll be starting my 10th week before I get to see her! I'll be practically into my second trimester! Ready to give birth at any moment! Maybe if I just call and beg with my whiniest voice they'll give in.

How do "normal" ladies do this? There must be some kind of stick I can pee on or monitor I can hook up to. If not, maybe I'll come up with something and make a kajillion dollars so I can actually afford #2!

Time for Number 2?

I know no one reads this thing anymore. Who would? I haven't posted in like, I don't know, two, maybe three months? For the record, here's a pic of Ladybug on her first birthday:
She's walking everywhere, and starting to say things like, "ooohhhh pretty," and "Oh Boy!" Well, at least we think that's what she's saying.

The real reason for this post? I'M PREGNANT!

It's true. I have no one to tell. So I had to tell someone. My blogger friends who no longer read my blog. But at least I have it out there.

The unbelievable actually happened. We wanted to start trying in February or March, even had the Clomid on-hand. Tried taking it in May, but DH ended up having to go out of town that weekend. The next month was Ladybugs Big Birthday Bash and we had Mom-in-law in town. So, no business besides being busy that weekend.

Then, last month, I went pee, and lo-and-behold, yes, this is TMI, I saw CEW! Seemingly impossible, I OPK'd and it came up with double lines for ovulation! This has NEVER happened. Ever. So, unbeknownst to my DH, we got down to business.

I swear, the next day, I KNEW I was pregnant. I was all crampy, I was exhausted. And this continued until 3 days before AF was due to arrive. I POS'd and WHAM that thing was positive! Crazy! Really crazy. I kept thinking: this is how it happens for most people. The most expensive thing was the test. I was so freaking out I went to Tar.get and bought another box and did them in their restrooms. Double Positive!

So, I'm freaking out. Not telling anyone but a very few close friends. Not telling my mom because her mouth is the size of Texas and she'll tell everyone she comes in contact with. And, I'm telling you, my long-lost blogging buddies.

It's Snot Funny

LadyBug has had a cold for eight weeks. Eight! Don't worry, I took her to the doc after three weeks and they said she'd have to just work through it. It did go away, just to return with vengence.

No one tells you that when your baby gets a cold, all that sweetness and goodness just goes right down the toilet. Talk about fussy! But, then again, I guess I would be too, if I couldn't blow all that snot out my nose. Poor ladybug has to just sit and let that crap run down at its own leisurely pace. Yesterday while feeding her, it funneled right into her mouth. A new strain of baby food was created - fruit n' phlegm. Mmmmmm. She didn't seem to mind too much.

I had enough, though, when as I was holding her and I looked down on my arm and it was covered in green snot. The damn had released and it flowed right onto me! When she had woken up, there was snot completely caked around and in her nostrils. There was snot in her eyes. She could hardly open them because so much snot was caked everywhere. Poor thing. Miserable.

When I took her to the pediatrician, they had me enter through the "sick child" entrance. Talk about feeling like a boil on someone's butt! I understand...I thought she had pink eye and that stuff is horribly contageous. But entering the clinic through a back door where you had to just wait until someone noticed you and could quickly find you a room...downright unsettling.

At least she's on antibiotics and the snot river should slow to a trickle and then dry up altogether. I went to the doc, too, because I'm sure we keep passing the stuff back and forth. The joys of parenting that they just don't tell you about.

My, What a New House You Have

So much has happened since my last post (and no, I'm not pregnant, thank-you very little!). We have been wanting to move to the 'burbs (gasp!) for a couple of years. With the real estate market in the tank, we've put it off. We decided back in March that we would get our house spruced up, and put it on the market in June and see what happened. So, of course any free chance I got I would end up on Red.fin, checking out all the big fancy houses that you can get for a song compared to our rinky dink fixer upper in Seattle proper.

Fast forward to just about five weeks ago. We decided to go for a drive and visit a burb about 10 minutes north of us. We didn't know much about it, printed off a few MLS's, and checked them out. All of the houses were in super clean, well maintained, beautiful neighborhoods, but one of them stood out from all the rest. It was amazing. It was on a culdesac. It had sidewalks. From the pics on the website, it had been completely remodeled inside. There wasn't a thing needing to be done to it. And it was in our price range. We were hooked. We called our realtor and sheepishly told him we really needed to see this house - it surely wouldn't last long (had only been on the market 8 days) at that price. He agreed and we saw it the next day and was even more impressed with the inside. The owner must have spent all her time cleaning the place - it was so insanely clean.

Next day - made a contingent offer.

Day after that - they accepted.

5 days later - put our house on the market (whaaaaa? That was so insane. Going from crazy messy house with a million to-do projects and painting. Ugh. 5 practically all-nighters).

Next day - got offer on our house (one day on market!)

Day after that - mutual acceptance

closing - THIS Friday!

It's true. We have to be out of our house in five days. We've been packing like crazy people and have had to rent FOUR storage units b/c our new house doesn't close for two weeks after this one. As luck would have it, we're in Maui for those two weeks, so being homeless isn't too bad. But, staging a house, packing a house, and moving a house with a 10 month old is absolutely insane. I do not recommend it unless you enjoy being poked in the eye with a sharp stick, because it is painful. But, Maui and a lovely new home looms. I just need to get through the next few days.

I've missed you, bloggy friends! I hope all is well with you~

30 day countdown starts with a SHOT

I got my second round of the varicella vaccine this week, fancy term for Chicken Pox. Apparently I never had it as a child (the pox). I thought all kids of my generation had it. Mothers loved to hustle their child over to the nearest kid with the pox, expose them, and get the rite of childhood passage over and done with. I guess my mom never got around to doing it with me. I found out right before my IVF that I didn't have the immunity. You can read all about the drama that came with that here.

NO ONE in Seattle carries the varicella vaccine. Which is weird, because I guess they give it to all babies/kids now. It seriously took my Doc an entire week to track it down at the Travel Medicine department at the UW Hospital. The same place you go to get all your crazy shots if you're traveling overseas to somewhere exotic (no, Mexico and the Bahamas don't count). I felt like a total loser going there for a Chicken Pox shot. They ask, "where are you going and when are you leaving?" I really wished I could have answered anything other than "just staying home and trying to get pregnant, thanks."

The nurse was ca-razy. No wonder she got stuck in that job. Zero bedside manners or social skills. She asked me what type of birth control I was on because if you get preggo within a month of the shot, you open yourself...well, your baby, for a whole world of hurt with birth defects. She flipped out when I told her I wasn't using birth control. It was like I was a 15 year old screwing the football team without visiting planned.parenthood first.

To make a very long story even longer, in one month, after the vaccine makes its way through my system, I will be "clear" to start trying for baby #2. We've already decided that no heroic measures will be taken. The most we're willing (and financially able) to do, is acupuncture and Clomid (which was a stretch because BigB really hates the way it makes my horns come out and my head spin around).

I have one month to get my mo-jo back. The thought of "trying" seems, well, trying. I need to figure out a way to make DOING IT fun. Not all wrapped up in pee sticks and ovulation charts and hampered by dirty diapers and teething babies.

In all reality, it probably isn't the best time for us to get knocked up or to even try. We're struggling financially and relationally. But, there's that whole age-related ticking time bomb. If we don't try now, there aren't a whole lot of months left before the eggs dry up. It's a lot of pressure to know I have like 14 months left before my baby-making days are over for good. Shop closed for business. So, here we go. Perfect timing or not. I keep telling myself LOTs of families were started/expanded without everything being perfect, right? Plus, who am I kidding. The chance of me getting pregnant on nothing but a wing and a prayer (and a bottle of clomid), isn't real high, anyhow.

Past Due

We got a bill yesterday from the hospital where LadyBug was born. Eight months ago. The bill was for Kate and for her ROOM CHARGES. Yes...they charged her a cool grand for her room and board.

OK. Let's think about this. They already charged me a kajillion dollars for my room. LadyBug didn't have her own room. She shared mine. In fact, they wouldn't let her leave my room. I asked. During one of those four-hour screaming fits I begged the nurse to take her, "just for a moment" before my head spun off and twirled down the hall. Ah...no. She smiled and told me no.

So, why the bill for LadyBug's room? I'm pretty sure you can't classify that plastic thingy that sort of looks like a bassinet as a hospital room.

And board? Scuze me? How many frozen popsicles and yogurts did they give my newborn? I PROVIDED BOARD. The closest thing o food they gave LadyBug was a free sample of Sim.ilac.

I'm a little confused, dear hospital guys. What am I paying for, and why are you billing me eight months after the fact? I'd really like to contest it. I'd really like them to try to explain the charges and prove that they indeed can bill for them.

Pearly Whites at Last

We "fired" NannyMann and BigB decided to take a month of Wednesdays off to cover. He texted me last Wednesday and said, "Guess what I found in Kate's mouth today?"

Freaked me out.

She's been totally shoving everything in her mouth. I was scared what she might have found on our floor that hasn't been vacuumed in, I don't know, months?? "Dog Poop?" "A quarter?" "Shards of glass?" I replied.

"Teeth!" He said.

Teeth! LadyBug has teeth. Plural! No warning whatsoever. No drooling. No fever. No whining. No tugging of ears. She's a little behind the eight ball...seeing as she's eight months, so we were looking for them. But they came on their own accord. She had grabbed BigB's hand and shoved it in her mouth and he felt the little buggers. It's now official. She's not a baby anymore. Tears in five-four-three-two-one.