Never give up…

Tonight I was watching the end of the Bears game with Bob, after we got Sean down for the night, and with 5 minutes left in the game they were down 14 points. They needed to win this game to have any hope or chance of making the playoffs. Beyond that they would need to win five more straight games, but that’s getting ahead of things and at this point we’ll take it one game, one quarter, even one play at a time… Anyway, the Bears players (and fans) did not give up and amazingly they managed to come back and tie it up for OT in which they kicked a field goal to win it! WAHOO!!! 🙂 Never give up…

As usual, I like to make analogies between our life (especially our struggles trying to conceive and sustain pregnancies) and just about anything else that I find intriguing or inspiring and thus tonight I will compare us to the Bears, in that neither of us have given up…

Today we are 9 weeks and 1 day pregnant! 🙂 I consider every week (really every day) that passes and we are still pregnant to be a major milestone! Never give up…

Early this morning I had another scare when I woke up and wiped what I considered to be a significant amount of peachish fluid. I also had little brown spotting on my panty liner. It didn’t last long, but it still freaked me out and allowed me to imagine briefly that our miracle might not make it. I am happy to report that since this morning I have had no more peachish fluid or spotting. I did have a bit of brown discharge this evening, similar to what I had about two weeks ago, but that didn’t upset me as much, since I had seen it before and knew it was most likely normal. Bob was very supportive when I told him what happened this morning and we both quickly reasoned that we should not panic and based on what we had been told by our RE and the nurse last time, what I was experiencing was very likely normal. Just in case, I spent a good amount of the morning resting on the couch with my feet up. As time went on and things seemed “all clear,” I returned to more normal activities around the house. Never give up…

A few updates as far as our medications: On Friday I took my last Estridiol vaginal pill and tonight (drum roll please….), Bob gave me my very last Progesterone in Oil (PIO) injection!!! YAY!!! WAHOO!!! YIPEE!!! 🙂 I have only two weeks left to go of Progesterone suppositories and Baby Aspirin and then I will be med free, except for my prenatal vitamins! 🙂 It has and will continue to be an adjustment in our routine, in a good way, to phase out the administering of these medications on a daily basis, but I am certainly ready… It scares me a bit to be without these medications to support our pregnancy, but I trust our RE and realize that he has been doing this for a LONG time and would not be taking me off them if he didn’t strongly believe (from experience) that everything will be fine and my body will be able to support this pregnancy on it’s own in the weeks and months to come.

Tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. is my first appointment with our OB/GYN since we “graduated” from our RE! 🙂 I am excited to return there, share our good news and find out what their plan for us and our pregnancy will be! 🙂 Bob took the day off work (before he knew we had the appointment) and we decided it makes the most sense for him to stay home and then pick up Sean from school, since that will take place while I am at the appointment. We don’t foresee anything unusual happening at the appointment that he would need to be there or that I would feel the need for him to be there. But he is only a phone call (and about 10 minutes) away if something were to come up.

In other news, we had a very nice Thanksgiving celebration with my side of our family and some close family friends at my parents’ house, in Evanston, on Thursday and even slept over there along with my sister and her fiance! It was fun to all be under one roof for a night again! We alternate spending Thanksgiving with Bob’s side of the family and mine every other year. We do the same at Easter and thus get to spend one of each holiday with each side of the family each school year.

On Friday, the guys stayed home and watched football while my mom, sister and I joined the other crazy bargain hunters in the Chicago area and literally shopped until we dropped (with a relaxing lunch break around 1:15p.m. after the “door buster” deals and coupons had expired)! We finished most of our Christmas shopping and I even picked up a few more maternity clothing items, as I am not far off from making the transition into them from my “regular” clothes.

Saturday, Bob, Sean and I drove out to one of our college friends’ homes in the western suburbs for a leftover thanksgiving lunch. Two of our other college friends (who live out of town now) and their spouses/child joined us and it was so fun to catch up! It amazing to me when I think that these three women (who I was in a sorority with in college) and I have “grown up” and now live in homes with husbands and children! It was awesome to see two of my girlfriends be mothers, their husbands be fathers and one of the couples (whose wedding we attended last month) enjoying life as newlyweds!

A few prayer requests…

My great uncle, who I posted about recently, passed away on Thursday, November 15. Please keep his 2 daughters and 2 son-in-laws, his sister, 5 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren, 3 nieces (including my mom), 2 grand nieces (my sister and me), his great grand nephew (Sean) and and all those who knew and loved him in your thoughts and prayers as we reflect on cherished memories of him and the many special times we spent together. There will be a “celebration of life” on Hilton Head Island, SC (where my great uncle and great aunt retired and lived for many years along with my deceased maternal grandparents) in early June of next year honoring my great uncle and his wife (my great aunt/my maternal grandmother’s younger sister) who died last year (October 27, 2006). Unfortunately (but for a most wonderful reason, the impending birth of our child), Bob, Sean and I will not be able to travel there for the event. I am disappointed that we won’t get to participate in the celebration in body, but we will certainly be there in spirit! We plan to send along some of kind of tribute (of favorite pictures and memories) and look forward to hearing all about it from my parents, sister and her fiance who will be attending!

Our good friends, whom we met in college and actually introduced Bob and me, became the proud parents to two twin girls on Tuesday, November 13! One of their daughters got to come home with her parents and big brother (who is just a few months older than Sean) later that same week, however their other daughter (last we heard) was still in the NICU for some breathing issues. They had hoped she would be able to come home by this weekend and she may have already. However, they have been sending periodic email updates and we have not received one about her homecoming yet. Their doctors are very optimistic that she will be strong enough to go home soon and that there will be no long term repercussions. Please keep our good friends, their son, their daughters and especially those who are helping to care for their daughter, who is in the NICU, in your thoughts and prayers.

One of Sean’s neighborhood friends, from our playgroup, broke both the bones in her left arm on Thanksgiving and her family thus spent much of the evening in the ER. She has a temporary fiberglass/ace bandage cast until they her to see a pediatric orthopedic doctor next week. Please keep Sean’s friend, her parents and her younger brother in your thoughts and prayers.

In thanksgiving, that my online friend Sommer’s twin sons, who were born prematurely last month, finally got to come home from the hospital the day before Thanksgiving! Thank you to everyone who has continued to send positive thoughts and prayers to her, her husband, her daughter (the new big sister) and her boys! 🙂

I know this was a long one (that tends to happen when I go longer periods of time without blogging)… so if you are still reading, thank you so much for your support, positive thoughts and prayers for both my family and those I have asked you to remember as well this week as they try to make the best of the situations they are in right now and NEVER GIVE UP! 🙂 As I said last week, I am very thankful to have you all in my life and I hope that you and your families had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday weekend!

I will report back after my OB/GYN appointment tomorrow or at the latest on Tuesday!