Rainy Day

Good morning! It’s a pretty rainy/stormy day here in Chicago. Today I am 7dp5dt (12 dpo). I changed my Estraderm patches for the fourth time this morning and only have one more time to go (on Thursday morning) before our Beta on Friday! I continue to have pretty much the same symptoms or side effects (depending on how you look at it) that I had during our 1st IVF cycle (fatigue, increased appetite, crampiness, twinges, etc.). But as I have said all week, I am not taking that to be positive or negative, since I really do think they are side effects, more so than symptoms. The one thing that has been sooooooo much better about this cycle, than the 1st one, is that I have been very proactive with taking Metamucil, to help ward off constipation (which is definitely a side effect of the meds), and have had little to no constipation! With IVF#1, I was unbelievably constipated and so bloated and uncomfortable for much of the two week wait (TWW). But not this time! 😉

Yesterday continued to be a great day, after finding out about our 3 frozen embryos and Sean getting into morning preschool! I made a couple loaves of homemade chocolate chip banana bread in the early afternoon and am enjoying a yummy piece now for breakfast! Sean and I went to our neighborhood playgroup in the late afternoon and Sean had a blast playing with his friends and I really enjoyed the conversation with my mommy friends! 🙂 My one friend brought her 4 week old daughter to playgroup, along with her two older boys, for the first time since her baby girl was born, and she was adorable! I got to hold her and later my friend told me that she has heard it is good luck to hold a baby when you are trying to conceive. So I am hoping, that in addition to bonding with my friends cutie pie little girl yesterday, that maybe she rubbed a little bit `o luck off on me! 😉

Also, while at playgroup Sean was playing with one of his friend’s, whose house we were at, baby dolls. He was really enjoying pretending with her and apparently she has many baby dolls. So before we went home his friend’s mom talked with her daughter and they agreed to give Sean one of her baby dolls! It was so thoughtful of them and Sean was ecstatic! His friend wanted to know immediately what he was going to name the doll. Sean at first wanted it to be a boy and name it after himself, Sean! 😉 But I encouraged him to give the doll it’s own name, so then he came up with Jack (after Jack Jack in the movie The Incredibles and after one of his good friends Jack)! Then on the way home in the car from playgroup he had been thinking about it and changed his mind. He decided that he actually wanted his baby doll to be a girl and to name it Molly (after Andy’s little sister in the movie Toy Story)! Then we had to call our friends, who gave Sean the baby doll, on our cell phone to tell them that Sean had renamed the baby! Too funny! 🙂

As a side note, if and when we ever are able to conceive again, one of my current front running girl names is Molly (not because of Toy Story), so it is interesting and a bit bizarre to watch Sean carrying around this little baby doll and call her Molly, since we got home yesterday! When we got home I found Sean a little blanket (that my deceased paternal grandmother had actually knit for one of my Cabbage Patch Kids many years ago) to wrap his baby in. Then he wanted something we could use as a crib. I found a small basket that was long and deep enough to hold the baby doll and he was happy to be able to put “Molly” in it before his bedtime! I know some people might not think it is a good idea for little boys to play with baby dolls, but I think it is fine. I am not really going to encourage or discourage it, but I don’t think it is a problem if Sean wants to.

A note about SYTYCD last night, in case any of you follow it as I do… 😉 I was so happy to see that my favorite girl Sabra and my favorite guy Neil, made it to the final four, though it was touch and go for a bit there, as they weren’t the first ones to be told they were safe!! 🙂 🙂 I am fine with Danny and Lacey also making it, though I wanted Lauren and Pasha to make it slightly more. But they are all extremely talented dancers and tomorrow night’s show is sure to be awesome, no matter who would have ended up in it! I can’t wait!!! 🙂 I was having trouble falling asleep again last night, so I watched a few of my favorite dances from this season on DVR to relax me, which was enjoyable and did help me to wind down.

Later this morning Sean and I will be picking up his Great Grandma (Bob’s mom’s mom), a.k.a. “GG,” and going to see a local children’s musical production of The Little Mermaid, which should be fun! Afterwards we will likely go to lunch at GG’s favorite restaurant Baker’s Square. At times like this I appreciate activities that help to get my mind of things (like whether or not I am pregnant), so seeing the show and spending time with GG will be a good distraction for me, not to mention Sean who likes to go to children’s plays and musicals!

Another prayer request, my friend that I told you about about a month or so ago, who at the time was about 24-25 weeks pregnant and spotting, is now struggling with pre-term labor at about 29 weeks. The baby appears to be doing just fine, but if my friend moves around much, contractions start. She is already dilated to 1cm and has been to the hospital for monitoring twice this week. Anyway, she is on strict bed rest, at least until her next appointment (on Thursday), which is frustrating for her and hard for her family, since she has two young boys. So please pray for my friend, her husband, their baby and their two sons. Thank you.

Well, I am going to try to get a few things done before we head out in about an hour or so. Thank you for reading and for your continued support, positive thoughts, sticky vibes and prayers!!! Only 3 more days until we find out if Sean is going to be a big brother! 🙂