Our Family Beginnings

I decided to go in and get my beta today.  I told the nurse that I knew this cycle didn’t work and I just wanted to get on with things as opposed to waiting another 2 days full of drugs I don’t need.  I’ll post the official results later today.  Don’t sit on the edge of your seats though, seriously.

In the meantime, I have something much more fun to talk about.  The next meeting of The Order of the Plastic Uterus is happening on this coming Sunday.

If you are going to be in the DC area for the Resolve conference the day before, you should think about staying on another day and meeting up with all of us.  Lurkers, bloggers, new moms and new to the crew are all welcome and encouraged to join.

If you’d like details, leave me a comment and I’ll shoot you an email (just make sure you fill the box that asks for your email address).

Basic details are:

• 1pm, Sunday, April 13th
• Grilling and Dessert Fest (bring me something to throw on the grill, or bring something sinfully delish.  Soft drinks would also be good, or a side.
• How long?  Until you feel like leaving.
• Where?  My house!  (that’s where me emailing you comes in)
• Who?  Quite possibly the most awesome and fun group of women you could ever dream of meeting.

So if I haven’t heard that you’re coming from the DC Stirrup Queen google group, leave a comment so I know how many buns to pick up.  Also – there will be veggie burgers, so if you have a specific kind you like, let me know.

Laying on the couch again, and feeling pretty good.  Like the Magic 8 Ball says, all signs point to yes.  They say that the average tries for IVF to work is 2.6.  This is #3, so we should be covered.  We had good embryos, the best we’ve probably had so far.  Heaven knows we put enough back (though mixed evidence as to if that actually improves odds, but shhhh!).  Scientifically, this should work.

Even my therapist, who is not a fan of magical thinking, was encouraging a bit of it.  I mentioned that the transfer was on Easter, and we got 7 embryos – covering Christianity and Judaism.  She said, “Well, all you need is a Muslim link, and you have the three linked religions covered”.  So if anyone can think of a reason based in Islamic faith – or heck, I’ll take Buddhist or Hinduism, shoot ‘em my way.  Plus, my folks cleared out my grandmother’s apartment last week, her home for 52 years.  I figure, her spirit has nowhere else to go right now, so she’s probably watching out for us.  That’s the romantic side of the reasoning.

I go in Monday for my E2 and P4 testing, to make sure levels are in a good range, but I would bet my beta will be two weeks from yesterday.   I’m hoping to at least make it to a week from this coming Sunday for pee-sticks.  I’ll go nuts (as I bet will Leah – mwah!) not testing and not knowing.  However, I’ll go mentally insane if I start testing, because then I won’t be able to stop.  If it’s negative, I’ll start losing hope and needing to test every day just to see if our luck has changed.  If it’s positive…well, I’ll be waiting for the stick to be wrong, like last time.  Mr. Badger was not being helpful last night as he said, “Hey, did you know Pee-Sticks are a reimbursable medical expense [for flex spending]?”.  OOH, so we get them cheaper cause they end up being paid pre-tax, which is already withheld from paychecks so it’s like FREE ’cause we already spent it?  NO!  I will be strong.  Not to mention I have a healthy stash to burn through.

I need ideas for this 2ww.  You’d think with this being the 14th ART cycle (double 7, just sayin’), I’d have the 2ww down pat.  This is what’s on the agenda:

Today:  Nada, not even a new episode of Lost tonight.
Friday: In the morning, we’re going to meet with the landscaper at the nursery.  Did I mention we’re going to totally redo the landscaping of our house?  I’ll make a post about that for y’all soon.  Friday night, we’re thinking of going to see “21″, the movie based on the book “Bringing Down the House”.
Saturday:  Not much planned, just going to help LIW with prepping for an interview.  That’ll be fun, but only kill about an hour.  Unless we gab after, which we probably will.
Sunday: As a resident of the DC metro area for the last 5 years, I’m sad to admit I’ve never been to see the Cherry Blossoms.  In order to beat the tourists (before we want to beat the tourists, lol), we’re gonna go in the morning, and then have lunch.

The weekends really aren’t the issue, it’s the weekdays.  I’m home by myself all day, with nothing but my computer for work.  So next week will be the tough time.  I need to go find somewhere to work where I can take calls, but not sit around my house.  No good comes of that.

Next weekend, I am getting my hair cut on Friday, before heading out to Rehoboth Beach for the weekend with friends.   At least that’s a distraction.  All ideas are welcome – along with those religious meanings – in the comments.

Someone thinks I am a whore for not updating my blog in over a week.  She’s right.  I am a dirty dirty whore.  Lest you think it is a mean thing to say to someone, I assure you, it is a total term of endearment.

It’s hard to write when I don’t have much going on to write about.  I have, however, been a busy girl.  Daylight savings is this weekend (yes, it is now earlier…if you don’t believe me, you’ll be late to work on Monday).  Days are getting longer.  We are in meteorological spring now (March 1 – May 31), and I see buds on the trees.   As a result, I have had this urge to get things done that I haven’t had in ages.  Here is a smattering of what I’ve been up to:

• Our beloved Jeep, she has gone to the great car auction in the sky.  We donated her to the local NPR station, mostly because of the efficiency of how they operate.  That and I’m a dirty, liberal, NPR-lovin’, hybrid coveting whore.  We haven’t driven it since November, and so Monday I took it off of our insurance.  Then I went to the DMV site, where I was instructed to return the plates before canceling insurance.  Um.  So off to the DMV I went, and on Tuesday the Jeep was gone.  We are now a one-car family.  Frankly, with Mr. Badger walking to the Metro to go to work all day, and me working from home, there is just no need to rush out and take on a car payment.
•  I found out how to return the EZPasses that we have – one which hasn’t worked for a year that we’ve been too lazy to return, and the one that we had in the Jeep.
• Mr. Badger picked up paint for the kitchen.  I had a post over a year ago where we took down the wallpaper in there.  It’s kinda taken us a little while to get around to this.  We already painted the ceiling white, and primed the walls, so all we need to do is tape off the edges and paint away!
• We have a dead patch of grass in our front yard.  Mr. Badger totally turned the soil, overseeded, watered it…yeah, still dead.  I called a horticulturist to come out and find out why it’s dead.  I don’t do yardwork, I get eaten alive by mosquitoes within 30 minutes of being in a garden, so this is the least I could do to contribute to the effort.  We also now have seen 2 years’ worth of seasons in our yard, so I am having a designer come out and help us figure out what to do with our yard.
• Right now, we have a guest room, a room downstairs where we keep our gym stuff,  and a family room/playroom sized space where we had a leather couch, tv, and our extra kitchen stuff, since we have a small kitchen.  We want to change the guest room into a baby’s room, the gym into a guest room, and the open space into a gym.  To start that, I sold our couch on craigslist.  I then had a flooring guy out to look at our guest room.  Right now it has a sliding wood door, and we want to remove the track it in on and put in flooring to match it.  Then we can put in a double door, which is much prettier.
• Next up, I need to call a designer/contractor for the guest bathroom.  Mr. Badger recaulked our shower last weekend, and we had to use it.  Mr. Badger said, of all home renovations we could do, he wanted to do our bathroom first.  I thought the guest bath was more necessary.  After taking a shower in there on Sunday, he came out and said, “You win.  We need to do this bathroom”.  If any of you local ladies have good designers/contractors or want to design our very small guest bathroom, let me know – pretty please?

So I’ve been doing stuff. I’m striking while the iron is hot.  I started Lupron on Sunday, and I took my last pill on Tuesday.  Just waiting on AF now to get the big guns started.   I know, however, that as the month goes on, I will get more and more exhausted from the drugs, so I while I have some motivation, I am acting on it.

Plus.  I am a big whore!

If you are free and in the DC metro area, me, Lori from Weebles Wobblog and LeaBee from Not How I Planned It are going out for Happy Hour. We will henceforth be known as LoLiLa, and discuss all thing “L” – love, laundry, liquor.

So, tonight – Zengo @ the Gallery Place Metro Stop. 781 7th Street – near the Verizon Center. I’ll be there around 6ish. Gray top, black pants, and short curly hair.

If not tonight, then meet the DC gals at Cosi in Dupont Circle this Sunday from 3-5.

I’m glad I brought my cell into the bedroom – the RE called bright and early for our last update before the transfer. Only one of the embryos has slowed down at 4 cells, so we still have twelve left – though I am sure others may not last until Monday. I forget the number of each, but I think we had some 5-6-and either 7 or 8 cells. More than one at each. She seemed happy, so I’m happy. Frankly, I am impressed that so many have made it this far. Not easy to find stats, but I hear that 50% making it to blast is great, so I figure, anything over 4 at this point is in that great category.

And also, due to our age, and how well the embies have done so far, we’re leaning towards the safe 2. We could do 3, but we’ve had such a string of unusual good luck that we don’t want to get greedy. Well, we DO want to be greedy, but we’re probably not going to push our luck.

Also, I’ve been slackin’ on an announcement for the October get together. I’ll get on that this weekend, we can pick out dates for the rest of the year. I do better with deadlines. I know that I want to do a cookie exchange in December, so if folks have ideas for November, I’ll be soliciting those on the google group.

Today I’m off to buy clothes. It’s probably time, since I basically only am wearing Mr. Badger’s sweats these days. Luckily there are all the Columbus day sales…

Hey all,

This one’s been long in the planning, so if you’re even semi-local, I am hoping you can make it. Reply to part 1, part 2 or both below, and on Thursday or Friday I’ll do a post with everyone’s blog on it, so you can catch up on your faves.

Part 1 – Just the ladies:
9/23, 11am-2:30
La Madeleine

TEL: 301-984-2270

Part 2: All are welcome – BYO everything
Starting at 1pm, Football will be on the big screen at our house, which is very close by. If you are on the DC Metro google group, I will post my address there. If you aren’t on the group, email me and I’ll get you the info. People can come over as early as 11am, but you’ll just be hanging out with Mr. Badger and the cats.

Our rule is, you bring it, we can grill it. The only thing I have to offer up are some frozen Veggie Burgers and and array of liquor, cups, paper plates and napkins, so if you want anything from appetizers to beer to lunch/dinner, to desserts, to soda – you’ll need to bring it. If you’re coming to this part, make sure to leave a comment and what you are bringing (totally optional to bring anything), so folks know what else we need.

I will say, Mr. Badger and I are open to bribes. Along with the Steelers game (Steelers v. 49ers at 1pm), we have access to all games in the NFL. So if you bring a REALLY good treat, we can be bought. Even for you misguided Ravens fans.

Who: You! Come see DC in the fall, your partner is invited for our special afterparty…

What: Monthly DC Blogger/Lurker/Visitor get together Brunch

Where: La Madeleine

DC Metro Bloggers/Lurkers/Friends get together.

Where: The Melting Pot DC
When: 7pm this Sunday (I’ll try to be there early to get a big table)

I’ve totally lost count of who is coming, so if you want to read up on folks, sign in below so people know to freshen up on your story if I missed you.

Those who I am fairly certain are coming:
Me!
Mindy
Changing Expectations
Shelby
Laurie (not a blogger, but a regular reader)
Leah
Melissa
Desiree
Meghan
And another lurker who emailed me, but isn’t blogging…yet.

I’ve been toying around with this idea for a bit, and I’ve created a little user group for the DC metro girls.

I’ll still post when there is a get together here, but this also isn’t meant to be a place where I only want to relate to locals. My blog is for everyone, and I want everyone in DC (lurkers and those without blogs too! you know who you are) to have a little corner of the world to chat and discuss things that really are locally based.

I’m the moderator, and have added those of you who have come to get togethers in the past, but please don’t hesitate to click on the link here or the widget on the side of my blog to join. I’m just keeping it semi-moderated in that I only moderate new invitee messages, not for content, but just to make sure that it remains the safe haven I intended the monthly meals to be.

Okay, I’m really giddy about this, so if you’re in DC, go join. If you aren’t, I’ll try to keep my DC stuff over there so I don’t bore you or make you feel left out.

I have a few calls for Sunday 8/19, which works for me. I know JJ wants to come up on a true weekend night, so JJ pick a Saturday (we have a number of folks who can’t make Friday nights) in September, since I know you’re coming from a distance, and I’ll get the word out about that.

So – I need two votes from everyone. One for date and one for location. We’re going to the Melting Pot to satisfy a craving by Shelby. They are all over, so I am listing a few, and I want you to rank them in order of preference.

VOTE!
1. 8/19 or 8/26
2. Gaithersburg, Downtown DC, or Arlington

Also – a PSA. We have some great things going on for Changing Expectations, Karen and Shelby, but we also have folks who are mid-cycle, dealing with anniversaries that are painful, and going through some difficult times right now. I know that we are all EXTREMELY good to one another, so this probably goes without saying, but just be mindful when we go out. This is, and will continue to be a safe place for all of us. We’re all scared, we’re all hopeful, and we’re coming together to support one another. So if someone needs to change seats or is really quiet who isn’t, just be supportive. Okay, off my soapbox now. You’re lovely, all of you.