MIA Blogger

Wow, I'm not a very good blogger lately. I would love to say that life has gotten in the way and I have been so busy, but for the most part that isn't the case.

This past weekend we had hubby's grandpa's memorial. As far as sad events go, it was as good as it could be. Hubby's uncle lead the memorial. It was perfect for grandpa. He was a scientist and very intelligent. He would have likely told us not to have one at all, but I think in the end he would have approved. The family and friends took turns telling stories. Many detailed his fierce intelligence and many others made us all laugh through our tears.

Our little munchkin had a fairly staring role. Some of the family knew that grandpa had developed the nutrient medium that was used in the first successful IVF (and many later IVFs), but some did not. Several relatives mentioned that we have a legacy with Fin. While technically, the medium grandpa developed was not used in our IVF, the medium that was used was derived from his medium.

Aside from that (and the brutal 7 hour drive to get to Colorado which I do not recommend you making if you are pregnant), not much has happened. Hubby finally finished his big project and now we are just waiting to hear about funding to keep him at this job. Fingers crossed, we should find out soon!

My sister-in-law brought me a huge tub of hand-me-downs from her and my other sister-in-law for Fin. He now has a decent amount of clothes. I can't wait to get some hangers and hang it all in his closet.

Well, thats all I have for the moment. I'll try not to be such a slacker in the near future :)

Half Way Baby!

             18 Weeks, 2 Days                                                               20 Weeks!

Today I am officially 20 weeks pregnant! I think I have been holding my breath to get to today for a long time. I know its not viability, but for some reason I feel so very much more secure now. I'm still leery, but we are now thinking about buying some of the big stuff. We have been collecting small bits so far, but we may buy go buy our stroller and carseat while we are in Colorado this weekend. Not totally sure yet, but we might. 

Now I'm off to pack. We are headed to Colorado for hubby's grandpa's memorial service. I hope you have all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

Ultrasounds, Tummy Pics & Placenta Previa

But not necessarily in that order. At the 18 week ultrasound this past Wednesday, the doc discovered that I have placenta previa. For those of you who don't know what that is, well, its not terrible, but its not great. Basically the placenta is too close to the cervix. Luckily its not over the cervix. There is a good chance that the placenta will move up the uterus wall as the uterus grows. We need it to move a bit more than 1 cm farther away. So I'm not worrying yet. If it doesn't move, I will likely have to have a c-sections and could end up on bed rest before that. So here's hoping that it moves! As of now, I have been put on pelvic rest (aka no doing the naughty with the hubby) until I get checked at my next ultrasound on 12-6.

                     16 weeks 2 days                                        18 weeks 2 days
What a difference 2 weeks makes!!! I know that I'm standing differently so it may not be as much of a difference as it looks, but either way, the tummy over took the chest this week. For that matter, I think my chest looks bigger too :)

Finley's heartbeat. 155 bpm. Perfect!

My cute little man! (I love saying that. He's definitely going to be called "My Little Man" a lot!

Semi-cute 3D pic. He was rubbing one eye the whole time! I am surprised that he looks babyish and not alienish. 

Well that's all for today. Now I'm off to start Fin's baby quilt. Maybe. Either that or try to get us ready for our trip to Texas next weekend. Not sure which.

Fin is Gonna Look So Handsome in His New Outfits!

Yep, that means we are having a boy!! I guess I should have stuck with my intuition. I was convinced it was a boy, but then a weird dream made me reconsider and think maybe it was a girl. 

We got him the Built Tough outfit and his Nana got him the other two. Nana sent a box with two sets of gifts, one for a girl and one for a boy (plus the gift reciepts cause Nana is always thinking).

So yay! Now I'm gonna go plan my nursery decorations! We are going to skip the big crib set. I'm going to get plain color or simple pattern sheets. I'm going to make a quilt (featuring monkeys and jungle animals, but mostly monkeys). And I want to choose some of the monkeys and make some cool wall decorations. So now I'm off to be crafty, if I don't start coughing again.

Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Politics

I'll start off by saying I'm sick so I may ramble or make less sense than usual, but I'm also pissed off. Have you heard about Mississippi's Initiative 26?

If not and you are a woman who has dealt with IF, be prepared to get PISSED!!! And if you haven't read Mel @ the Stirrup Queen's post about it, you should. She is far better with words than I am.

I also want to add, that I don't want this to turn into an abortion debate. We all have our take on abortion. So to that end, any comments that are hateful or hurtful will be deleted.

I am 17 weeks and 5 days pregnant. This fetus would not exist without the help of IVF. This Initiative in Mississippi would take away or limit a woman's right to choose IVF. If IVF is still available under the crazy law, a woman would have to put all of the fertilized embryos in because they might not survive a freeze. Freezing them would be taking their rights away. We have 4 frozen embryos currently. We hope to have two children from them (I know its not a guarantee, but I'm talking best case scenarios here). If it works to have a second child from our first FET, we would still have 2 embryos left frozen since we plan to transfer only 2. But the way this insane law is written, I would have had to put in all 5 in the first transfer. In other words, I would never have done IVF to begin with. No reputable RE would transfer all of your embryos every time! That is an insane risk to the health of both the mother and any possible babies.

Aside from my own personal situation, Mississippi would also like to take away birth control pills. Many pills have several ways of preventing pregnancy. The last line of defense is making the uterine lining "inhospitable." If personhood begins at conception, this type of birth control would be illegal. This type includes almost all methods except barrier methods (condoms, etc..) and abstinence (which lets face it, we were all horny teenagers at one point, so we know that doesn't really work that often).

If I am able to carry this child to full term and I find out tomorrow (yep, a happier post to come tomorrow) that its a girl, I want her to live in a country where she and only she can make choices about what does and doesn't happen in her uterus! If this passes, it will be a truly sad day for our country.