Our Family Beginnings

Tonight I leave the beautiful Motor City to go home, and I am ready. There’s just not much to do here in Detroit. Plus, the bed here is a little old. I am excited to see my cats and sleep in my own bed.

As far as symptoms go:
1. Far less breaking out than any other cycle – which is welcome, though odd.
2. I admit that I had to pull out the big guns to deal with my, ahem, plumbing problem. I had to drink some java to get moving, which has helped things a bit. I’m less bloated than a few days ago for sure.
3. Boobs aren’t terribly sore, the muscle by my armpits just feel like I’ve done a boatload of chest presses.

Still very early, only being 5 dpo, so I’m not obsessing much.

My mom and I had a funny conversation yesterday:

Mr. Badger and I are going up to NYC to see the family for Father’s Day, and I was CONVINCED that it is the 2nd Sunday in June. Like sure as my name sure. I had my mom google it, and sure enough I was wrong. I’m not usually wrong about that kind of stuff, so I’m totally flabbergasted. My mom says, “It’s okay, you’re pregnant. You’re dumb now”. My dad in the background must have said something, cause my mom then says, “No, Bob, she doesn’t know anything yet, I’m just teasing her”. I thought it was cute.

Now between this, the number of follies, and my RE’s comment about multiples, I am both extremely hopeful and just as nervous about being hopeful. Yes, a common theme among us Stirrup Queens. Part of me feels as if I am equating hope with hubris, that if I am too hopeful, I won’t be pregnant.

For now, I’m just enjoying a nice day for flying!

Also, a quick shout out to Me the Bumblebee. She’s got amazing betas and deserves every ounce of cheering on. It’s hard for us queens to accept such good news, so go tell her how awesome she is.

We’ve arrived safe and sound in DEEEtrOIT, and I was Queen for a Day. Why, you ask? Because my father-in-law’s company had 10th row center seats to the Cavs-Pistons NBA Conference Finals game last night! It was at the Palace at Auburn Hills, and was a very nice arena. I’ve never seen a team with its own drumline before.

I finally got around to taking some pictures of the garden, so click on the picture below to take a gander:

Garden, May 2007

Finally, symptoms of the day:
If I could be more bloated, I could be used as a flotation device in the Detroit River. Let’s just say that upping my fiber intake may be in my best interest.

Welcome to our 2ww. The IUI went well, especially since I remembered to come with a full bladder. Seriously, if there is one piece of assivce I can give to someone about to do IUI is DON’T PEE FIRST.

Mr. Badger’s got lots to brag about today. The stats after the wash that I remember were:
1. 87% Motility (!!!)
2. 59 million count
3. Grade 3+

I think that they were inspired by the fact that Mr. Badger took a swimming lesson last night. He never really learned, and apparently did great. His teacher said he’s a fast learner. I am SO proud of him, and I figure that the swimmers were equally impressed.

When the RE came in, she was pretty funny. She said, “So, if you have twins or triplets, I am excited, but if you have more than that, I don’t know who you are. Never saw you.” She proceeded to tell a story of a patient of hers from 10 years ago that had sextuplets. Now, I am terribly encouraged by that (the conceiving idea, not as much the sextuplet part), but I suppose she should watch that kinda hopeful talk.

Either way, I am now, at the urging of my acupuncturist, taking it easy today, with my feet up on the couch. I did acupuncture yesterday, and will go at 2:30 today for good measure. Tomorrow, we fly to Detroit, so I want to make sure to get a post-IUI treatment in. We’ll be gone until Tuesday night, which will be a good distraction. His parents are so laid back, that I know I’ll have no choice but to relax. That’ll take care of a whole week of the 2ww. I will try to post while I’m gone, at least a bit, but I apologize in advance if I don’t get to as much.

Another plus, is clearly, not working this round. I have nothing to worry about right now, so I’m just going to focus on moving slowly and calmly – as much as I can at least.

Finally, I totally am remiss for not putting the link to that cute t-shirt. I bookmark lots of those irreverent-type sites, and have TONS of fun links like that. Click here for the shirt site.

I suppose I could have just waited on my last post to put this on, since right after I hit post, the nurse called.

Tonight I take the Ovidrel, then Mr. Badger goes in at 9am on Wednesday, and I’ll go at 11.

This is really great news because Mr. Badger and I can definitely go away for Memorial Day to visit his in-laws. We didn’t get to see them at Easter, but we didn’t know if we’d be able to get out there with the timing of the IUI.

Okay follies – you are nice and juicy, so you’re gonna have some friends come over to play. Please invite them in.

Shelby and I got together on Friday night and had a blast. You know how you say, “I’m from X city”, and the other person says “Oh, do you know Y person?”, and they say no, since the city is so big?

Turns out Shelby grew up with a friend of mine from my early-mid 20s! I know of at least two ladies who couldn’t join us and we’re going to do something again soonish. I’ll throw another date out after Memorial Day, and we’ll see what everyone can do…

No yard work this past weekend, Mr. Badger says he can’t be a task master all the time. So we went out to the outlets looking for patio furniture. So far, we really like something along these lines:

Then this morning I went for the follie check. For those following along at home:
IUI 1: 75 of follistim per day, one major follicle resulted
IUI 2: 75 of follistim per day, except for last two days of 150, one major and one mid-major follicle

For IUI 3 (present cycle), it was 150 per day, and the last two days were 75. The nurse was checking on everything and she said there was one big one on the left, and then she had a number to count – four maybe five ripe ones!!! Lots of little ones behind that.

The doctor came in to check, and said “well, I hope you are ready for multiples!”.
“The more the merrier,” I replied, “So long as it’s not a clown car in there!”. Everyone was all smiles for a Monday morning, which put me in a great mood. The nurse poked her head back after the RE left, and said “It’s a good thing you said you are okay with multiples, or she would have canceled this round!”. Whew.

In about an hour I should get a call about the blood work from this morning, so I’ll do a follow up post then and let you know the plan for the week. I am really, really excited though.

“Looking Good” says the nurse. Tonight I’ll do 150 of follistim, and then Saturday and Sunday, I’ll decrease to 75. Then I’ll be seen Monday again. I suppose that’s all good…

Grey’s. I’m frankly pissed off at the writers for putting me through the ringer last night. Acting was great, but the writing was so far sub par, that Saved by the Bell had less cliches.

• Say what you want about Meredith, I love her and Derek. Love them. But the writers never allowed them to express actual emotion, and so now they’re over? That’s just so frustratingly awful. It’s like we never really had a chance to see them together as a couple. I say that there’s plenty of good stories if scary and damaged Meredith had to actually work on her relationship with absent and smothering Derek. Pissed. Off.
• And George and Izzie? Barf. Seriously, that relationship never needed to exist.
• We’re supposed to believe that Alex had feelings for Ava? Sure, they turned it into that. But Izzie + Denny = Scandalous and Alex + Ava = Missed opportunity at true love? Eff that.
• I am so pissed off right now about that, but need to move on, since I’m getting worked up over people that DON’T EXIST. But I have many more rage issues with that episode.

At least the music rules on the show. Who do I love more? Brandi Carlile or Ingrid Michaelson? It’s close and I need to see them both in concert. If you don’t have their albums, you are really missing out. I’m just saying is all.

Also, loved the finale of “The Office”. Jim Halpert is my secret lover. Well, him and McDreamy. Don’t look at me like that, Mr. Badger gets Maggie Gyllenhaal.

I went to the RE this morning for bloodwork, and was going to go to yoga at 9:30, but I didn’t have enough time to do that and eat breakfast, so I’m gonna go over the weekend, and maybe go for a long walk today. Maybe start a new knitting project since it sucks out.

I also want to learn how to build my own layout and graphics for this here blog. If any of you know how to do that kinda stuff and have links to good tutorials or sources for pictures, lemme know in the comments?

At the RE, I had blood drawn (report around 4ish), and a sono. So far, about 5 10-12mm follicles on the left, and one 11mm and one 13mm on the right. Come on, fatten up ladies and gents. Twins welcome!

Tonight’s the DC GET TOGETHER! Don’t be shy! Come meet me and Shelby at Clyde’s – Chevy Chase at 7pm. We’ll be by the bar and will wait there until a little bit after that before getting a table. If you know you’re gonna be late, shoot me an email.