TTC a Miracle 2009

Kate - I have used Prune Juice and apple juice to help things along with all of my kids too. Of Course it was okay'd by the doctor first. It never got to the point that they needed suppositories but I know that they have some for babies out there. If you don't want to use the Thermometer you can use a q-tip with a bit of Vasoline on it and just rub it around the rectum too not really inside and it will help stimulate him too. If that makes you feel better than actually sticking anything into the rectum. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

Jeanette-Thanks soooo much! I was worried about aiding him too much so he won’t be able to do it on his own. I really really hope the doctor says it’s the simple solution of juice in the bottle. What do you mean if it’s like a snake (big long poop) it’s squeezing around something in there? Like another poop? Or something in his anatomy?

Gigi-Thanks! I only go into the rectum just a little with the thermometer….Just keeping my fingers crossed he says to stay on the Target brand formula but go with a little juice.

Kate ~ we had to do supposatories with Alexa. We also tried apple and prune juices and when they didn't work, the pedi had us do an ounce of undiluted baby pear juice everyday. And if that made her stools too loose, we did it every other day. I hope you can get him to go!

Hi Ladies. Not much going on here, except I am still feeling kinda sick. I am achy--but I had a deep tissue massage on Friday evening so that could be the cause of achiness. Otherwise I feel blah and my sore throat is persisting. I am debating on whether I should call in sick tomorrow. I'll have to wake up early to figure out what I'm going to do b/c I have to call in before 5:30am which is my normal wake up time.

On the TTC front I am trying to not get my hopes up. I am on CD 32. We did not track ovulation whatsoever this month. I had some AF like cramps yesterday, but nothing today. The earliest I would test would be Thursday. I guess I will just wait & see.

Maureen ~ I hope your sicky-ness is not sicky-ness at all. Everytime I get a massage it's always a deep tissue and this last one hurt like H-E-Double hockey sticks. I say if you're feeling unwell, stay home. If you are getting ready to catch something, a hospital is probably not the best place for you. As for your DH's gma ~ I thought amiodarone right off the bat, too, but like you said, it's old. Maybe it's just new to her? And how sweet for her to be scouting out jobs for you! Feel better.

Kate-
He may just have some hard poop in there and some of the other poop is squeezing around it. I've actually had that happen myself. I used to have basically chronic constipation when my gallbladder wasn't working right and a lot of times I'd have a BM like that from being backed up. I sure hope Ben is feeling better soon!

Kate - He definitely sounds constipated. Gwen gets that way because we have to put cereal in her bottles to keep everything down. She gets one ounce of prune juice mixed with her regular bottle one time a day and it seems to be enough to help her.

Jeannette - That is really scary. I hope everything turns out alright and you get some good news tomorrow.

Clare - Honestly, lots of people with MFI do NOT get pregnant with IUI and do have to move to IVF. It is probably even more people who have to do IVF than who do IUI with this condition. HOWEVER, some people DO get pregnant with IUI. In my opinion, it was worth several tries of IUI before moving to IVF. Also, the IUI cycles are so much cheaper than IVF that even if it took until the 4th IUI, it is still much more affordable than going to IVF right away. That being said, the success rates with IVF are wayyyy higher than IUI, even without MFI. So I think that is why many doctors just send people straight to IVF. I agree with your doctor that it does happen for people and is worth trying. My hubby doesn't have low counts but has low morphology and IUI worked for us twice. Hugs...and try to remember that everyone is different. Don't listen to everyone else who will surely have an opinion, when in reality none of us know what will work for you.

Denise - Yay for Alexa being one. I can't believe it already.

Heather - Wow. What a frustrating situation. I hope someone can help your husband out soon. You guys have been dealing with this for such a long time and it doesn't seem to be getting better. Hugs.

So the show is over!!!!! Yay. I spent almost all day sleeping and get to relax tomorrow! I have nothing on my schedule until Wednesday. I am soooo happy about this. =)

Happy Monday

Heather- yay for vaca!!

Heather A- good luck with everything!

Maureen- SOrry you are sick. Hope you feel better soon. I will keep DH family in my thoughts.

Kate- poor Ben.

Denise- glad the party went well.

Aara- that is cute Nathanial was excited about getting the lo's santa gifts!!

Man did we havea busy weekend. Bday party on sat. afternoon then we went to Ikea to get the boys furniture. We ended up with bunk beds. We didnt want them at first but I liked them more! I just worry about Leo trying to climb up. Yesterday we went to a Christmas party with DH dads side of family. Then I moved more stuff around in our room and the boys. Luckily both boys were in bed asleep by 8:30 so I got a lot of wrapping done. All the boys gifts are done except the 2 DH has to put together.

Hi girls!
We ended up with like 23" of snow here. Olivia is off of school today. Need to convince the kiddies to help me clean up around here some and then maybe we'll bake some Christmas cookies or something. Nick is working from home today so I need to keep them out of his office. We are having a date night tonight! Going out to dinner alone

Jeannette- wow that is a lot! Enjoy your date tonight!!

Hey ladies--home sick today. My throat is a lot worse, I can barely talk and when I try to cought to clear my throat it hurts to swallow. And of course I woke up at 4am today...finally I am tired again but DH should be home from work in about 40 minutes so I am going to try to stay awake til he gets here.

Maureen- sorry you are sick. I hope your throat is feeling better soon. Try to take it easy and rest

Jeanette-Thanks!

Densie-I hope it won’t last long with him but who knows what the doctor will say.

Maureen-I’m jealous of your massage. I think I need to schedule one of those before I go back to work!

Holly-Yay for the show being over! Now you get to relax a bit

Becky-I’m so jealous you went to IKEA I want to go so bad. I know it’s going to be crazy at this time of year though. I need more baskets for my bookshelf thingy.

I’m hungry! I better go get something to eat..hummm what shall I have…..

Holly - Do you remember what your husband's morphology was by chance? My husband has excellent counts and motility - the morphology is 1% though. I'm starting to think that maybe we're just going through the hoops to get to IVF. If that's what we have to do to have our baby, it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would be nice to be able to avoid it too due to the expense of it and the physical and emotional toll that it takes on a person. I guess I'm just going to go with my doctor's plan and try around four IUIs total - then we'll move on to IVF. I have to believe that he knows what he's doing. I had a really hard night last night for whatever reason. I started getting sick of everything with not getting pregnant and decided that I wanted to look at nursery bedding. I showed the bedding that I like to my husband and he said that he just couldn't look at it right now. It was a bad idea to even start looking at the stuff - I started crying and couldn't stop. Why do I torture myself like this? This month has been really hard for me.

Maureen - Sore throats are awful! I hope you feel better soon - especially before Christmas. I had a sore throat last year at Christmas time. As soon as we left our house to travel to see our families, it started to get a little sore and was super sore for the next few days.

Becky - Sounds like your weekend was super busy. Hopefully you get some time in the next few days to relax before Christmas.

Jeannette - Have a nice date night tonight! You guys got a lot of snow too! It's nice when everyone has a snowday though.

okay...so...the school called alst night about 9ish and said two hour delay this morning...
baked some cookies while the boys tried killing each other and destroying the house...house smells great but is a disaster I could cry, I am hosting Christmas Eve and my house looks anti Christmas except for the tree b/c we decided not to get everything out b/c we did not know what was going on with houses...
Poor Alex is bugging to go out in the snow and play...Aislynn does nto like going out in the snow, she will stand in only one spot and if you walk away from her she will begin to cry...she did the same with the leaves, I don't think she likes having anything unsteady under her little feet

Clare - My husbands morph was 3% strict. I have heard of at least a couple people get success with 1% and even one get lucky with 0%...so it can happen. I am pretty sure we were set up to do 4 IUIs before moving on to IVF also. I am so hoping this works for you. This is the WORST time of year. The holidays are so tough for everyone trying hard to conceive. I remember being at functions and spending time with the happy families and babies and then crying as soon as I got in the car because we did not have a baby to take home and our house was empty. =( I am thinking about you and everyone who is struggling through the holidays. You deserve to experience this all through a child's eyes.

So I have been a really lazy mom today. I have not given Gwen much interaction and have dozed off while she has played by herself. I feel bad, but also great that I have the chance to do that!

Clare-
Thinking of you today. I used to start looking at baby stuff too and get myself worked up. It's hard not to want to look at stuff and just dream about the future. I'm sending you tons of hugs.

Maureen-
I'm sorry you are so sick I sure hope you feel better quickly. It stinks to be sick at the holidays.

Aara-
We baked cookies today too. Of course I burned the last 4 b/c I got caught up playing with the kids! Going out to play in the snow drives me nuts. I'm a bad Mom!

Hi Ladies!

Well I have been baking all day! I have made Chocolate Crinkles, Coconut Macaroons, Coconut Cookies, Kiss Cookies, I still have to do snicker doodles and sugar cookies.

Clare~ I hope the best for you!

Maureen~ I hope you and DH have a wonderful holiday together and hopefully you will feel okay soon. I hate being sick.

Jeanette~ Did you ever hear back about the Fifth's D. and you & baby?

Heather A~ I know it must be very hard! It is soooo though when you want/need to help some one and you feel so helpless because you aren't getting the answers needed.

Hi EOE !!

** This is kinda long**

This morning I woke up to a message on FB from an unknow person at the time. Here it is a long lost Aunt of mine searching for my brother and I. My mother was killed when I was 7 in 1993 and I lost touch with all of her family. I gained a relationship with my mother's brother 8 yrs ago after they hired an investigator to find us. So after all these years I am gaining a family that I had lost. After 16 years of my mother's passing. It is exciting but nerve racking at the same time. I do know that my mother's parents passed 1 and 2 years after my mother was killed but they had 5 kids counting my mom. Four girls and 1 boy.

I went shopping this weekend and score some shirts for the boys at $1.99 at Old Navy!! I also got DH his gifts. I got him a mider saw, shop vac, and some tools for the house.

Well got to go get the boys in bed and start on my end of the year books!! YUCK!

Jeannette - I am looking at the Swaddle me's right now. I have added them to my shopping list. Thanks. Wow Colin already wants to sleep in a big boy bed. I would have never guessed they would grow out of the crib so quickly. Wow, I am praying for you. I hope you are feeling ok and have Immunity.

Heather C. - I hope you were able to hold back and buy new rain coats. YAY for a girls night out, hope you had fun.

Maureen - That vacation policy sounds great. I think more places should follow suit.

Clare - Praying for you!! I know IUI worked for me the second time around so maybe I am partial but honestly I am not a Dr. so you should not listen to me but rather listen to your Dr. and it sounds like he has faith about what is going to work. Yes, IVF has higher odds of working and you always have that as a next option but I would give IUI the effort your Dr. would like to see. I know it is very difficult and those other ladies mean well but there is a reason why the Dr. has patients paying him for advice. Plus your Dr. knows everything about you and DH and is using all that info to determine next steps. I really think those ladies are trying to help with the advice they are giving you but they need to realize, infertiliy is in no way shape or form "one size fits all" even two couples who "appear" to have the same diagnosis can have very different underlying complications with one treatment vs another. That is why infertility treatment can be so expensive. The Dr. needs to figure out what approach is going to work for each couple given all the information he has at hand. I know you know all this but wanted to confirm it for you. I really pray that you are blessed with a child very soon.

Becky - I hope the migration to the new beds is working for both boys.

Holly - Wow, your DH is 6'6" Gwen is going to be one tall little girl. No wonder she was born early, poor thing ran out of room.

Gig - Wow what a day you had. Hope you were able to get bread and milk before the snow storm hit. LOL We had the same storm hit us this past weekend. DH and I actually had to do regular grocery shopping but decided against it. So I braved the store to just grab some staples and it was horrible. I swear people were acting like we have never had a snow storm before. It was insane. LOL Praying for your nephew, poor thing!!

Shannon - YAY for DH!!! Praying for your sister!!

Denise - I hope Alexa had a very fun party.

Candice - The nursery sounds so cute!! So glad to hear everything is going well.


Heather A. - Wow, you have a lot going on. I am so sorry, you have had such a rough year.

We got 6 inches of snow this weekend, I was bummed because the news said we were going to get much more. Now they are saying it is going to snow on Christmas so that should be exciting. DH is such a sweet heart. My Birthday is Christmas Eve and he always feels bad because everyone forgets about my brithday every year and nothing is opened so he can never take me to dinner and make a big deal about it. Well he called around all over the place and found this one restaurant which is near our house that is opened. It sits on a pond and has a huge fiureplace so he asked for a table where we could see the pond and be in front of the fire and he got it. He is so excited. I am used to everyone forgetting my Birthday and not being able to do anything cause everything is closed. I do not mean that in a negative way, I have come to terms with that fact that people do not forget on purpose, Christmas is just a very busy time of year and I am content to spend the evening with him at home. I love that actually but it makes me so happy to see him so excited about what he has planned. I am so excited and hope it is the perfect romantic evening. Especially since it will be a while before we get to enjoy romantic evenings slone after the baby gets here.

Oh yeah did I tell any of you the name we picked yet. We are keeping it a secret from everyone else but I know you girls will not tell. We are planning to name our son: Broderick Miles

We picked Broderick a while ago and it took us a while to come up with the middle name but DH wanted to use "Miles" after Miles Davis. I cannot believe I am due in only 6 weeks and actually considered full term in 3... AHHH I should not get my hopes up though. I just know I am going to be one of those girls who goes late. I am so scared and excited and uncomfortable that I can barley contain myself. This little boy has decided his favortie spot is to wedge himself right under the right side of my rib cage and he also thinks it is fun to use my lungs as punching/kicking bags. When he does it I can not catch my breath and I have a major coughing fit. Well at least I only have 6 more weeks of this. Lord please do not let me go really far past my due date, Please. LOL

Holly ~ it's ok to doze while she plays. You need your sleep, too, and believe me, I've done it more times than I can count!

Stacey ~ we had a couple Swaddle Me's but Alexa hated them. She looked like a psych patient trying to get out of a straight jacket. That is so sweet of your DH! And cool name for the little Mr. Wow. Six weeks. I swear your pregnancy just flew by! Oh - and I got all of your snow ~ all 24" of it. Blech.

Heather ~ it's nice when something like FB can reunite people. I just found a girl I went to elementary school with AND she's married to a guy I graduated with. Small world.

Maureen ~ I hope you are feeling better.

Jeannette ~ have you heard anything from the doc about your blood work for 5ths disease yet?

Clare ~ I have high hopes for you. I don't know why but I just feel it in my gut. And I don't see anything wrong with doing IUI before IVF. And if you need to move to IVF, then at least you know you've tried everything and they led you to it!! I remember I went through 2 Christmases when we were trying to get pg and they sucked. Hang in there!

Aara ~ aww, poor Lynn. We haven't had Alexa out in this snow b/c she doesn't have a snowsuit. I mean, she does but it's at my mom's and since we got so much snow, we haven't gotten it yet. Not that I mind b/c I'm not a big snow fan.

Hi to EOE. Can I tell you that I ate 3 pieces of cake today?!?!? I mean, they were small but seriously, THREE?? I did do a heck of a workout on my spin bike today so I don't feel AS guilty. I'm getting ready to head to bed early tonight. Alexa has been down since 8:30 b/c she only took about an hour nap today. TTYL.

Here is a little video I took of Alexa as she was eating cake. The loud voices were my neighbors and they had her cracking up!

Ben and I went to have lunch with Daddy today…Ben’s first experience in a restaurant other than Panera and he did very well.

Aara-Yay to a yummy smelling house. I made some cookies this weekend and it smelled good too.

Holly-No worries I’m sure Gwen had fun by herself and it’s good you got a nap in.

Heather C-Mmmm sounds yummy! That is really cool that you have family looking for you. It must be so nice to know that these people care about you and your brother even if they don’t know you. I hope you are able to establish a good relationship with them.

Stacey-You are getting so close! That is a unique name….what does Broderick mean? I hope you don’t go over your due date. I was really surprised when I had Ben 10 days early because he is my first so you never know! Ben hated his swaddle me’s too…we stopped swaddling him at like 3 weeks because he likes having his hands out. Some people told us to keep doing it but he’s happier without it and still sleeps so no harm no foul!

Denise-Mmmmm cakkkkkkkke. The video is too cute!

Not much happening around here. Tomorrow is our new mom’s group and Ben will get to see his friends. Other than that I think I just have to stop at Target for some formula then I am going home! Too many last minute shoppers…I’m not crazy about going to Target but the baby’s gotta eat! Ben was too cute tonight after his 6pm bottle he played with Matt and I until 8:30. Usually he gets fussy but he was really good. Ok I better get to bed!

Clare--I'm sorry yesterday was rough for you. The whole TTC process is very emotionally taxing. We are here for you anytime you need us!

Holly--I'm glad you were able to rest today. Don't feel guilty about it, a happy mom=a happy home...or so I've always been told! LOL Just think about how you need to conserve your energy to spend Christmas with Gwen!

Heather--How wonderful that you aunt tracked you down! I'm sorry you lost your mother at such a young age. I lost my father when I was 19 in 1995. I think it really changes your outlook on life when you lose a parent. Those cookies sound delicious!!

Stacey--How sweet of your DH to plan a special celebration for your birthday! I can't believe you only have 6 more weeks. I feel like you just found out the gender last week! Now you really need to post some updated belly shots on your blog! Hehe

Denise--That video of Alexa is precious!

Kate--Have fun with your mom's group!

AFM: I am feeling better today. DH is disappointed b/c he wanted me to be able to call in sick on Christmas day so I could stay home w/him. LOL. My voice isn't totally back to normal, so I will have to wake up early again to see how I am feeling.

I started working on my resume today. It really shouldn't be that hard, but it just makes me nervous. I want someone to proof read it for me when I am done, but I think it would be tacky to ask my current boss to look at it. Maybe I can ask my old manager to look at it...what do you guys think?

P.S. I am starting to get more hopeful that I did catch the egg this cycle. Still no sign of AF. I had some cramps this morning, but they were up higher than usual...more like if I had been working out my lower abs-type feeling. I am trying to not get too excited. I'm afraid I might jinx myself. I need to disctrac myself from all these thoughts!!!

Thanks, guys!!

Maureen ~ I don't think it's tacky to ask. They know you're leaving, you're not leaving on bad terms, and it sounds like your manager loves you. I would think she'd be happy to do it for you!! KFC for you! I won't say much so we won't jinx it.

Kate ~ I loved it when Alexa would start to "get older" and stay awake more and play. Now that's all she wants to do. She wears me out. She was yelling at me tonight, pointing and giving me a mean face. I still don't know what I did to deserve that...........

LOL...Denise...Aislynn does that all of the time to Rob, yells and points at him...lol

Wow Stacey, where did the time go? I am so glad DH is doing something sssooo sweet for your birthday as for the swaddle me...Becky S had gotten me one and Aislynn loved being swaddles and slept so well in it, but Alex when he was a baby would have nothing to do with being swaddled...

Heather...that is great...I remember finding my dad, I had not seen or heard from him in 20 or so years, he wrote a letter to my half brother and sisters apologizing...he didn't like being tied down for long I think was his problem back then...my "stepmom" called mom to let her know that she may be getting one as well and of course she called me to "warn" me...I called my "stepmom" (honestly it has been so long I do not even remember her name) and asked for the address from the letters he sent b/c there was no way in hell he was going to find where I was to send one, told her I wanted to write him a nasty letter back, couldn't tell anyone that I was writing him a forgiving letter...
anyway I lost track of what I was saying...lol...that is great that you are able to find people you lost

Jeannette...Rob was picking on me the other day b/c I HATE being cold, cannot stand it...but I love the snow...lol...

Well yesterday I baked about 10 dozen cookies...I think...Nathaniel got home and asked how many there were...lol...told him I will never count b/c then I will know how many I ate
baked peanut butter and peanut butter blossoms (kisses)
today I will be baking sugar cookies at the request of my darling husband...
AF has arrived for me and she is killing me...she has been so heavy I went through a 3/4 pack of pads yesterday and I am not usually one to be in a witchy mood from her but yesterday I felt like I was ready to kill...so my loving husband when I told him this stopped on his way home from work and picked me up a king size pack of reese's peanut butter cups ...lol

real quick I got the proofs from my book yesterday and I should be seeing something about the cover and all today or tomorrow...

Hello EOE...love you all