Save the Frosties Update

I am just blown away by the generosity of the virtual world.  We are well over half way to our goal of raising $500 to help Genevieve save her frozen embryos!  If you look to the right there is now a thermometer helping track our progress.  If you want o the whole back story please go check out this post.

If you've been waiting to look at stuff in the Etsy store, don't wait much longer!  Tomorrow (Tuesday), I will be posting about 20 NEW ITEMS in the store.  I'm also extending my Save the Frosties Sale, so for every item sold between now and Labor Day (September 5th) $10 will go to the Save the Frosties fund. 

Please consider donating to the fund.  On top of everything else, Genevieve and her husband were impacted, like so many others, by Hurricane Irene.  Thankfully they didn't have any major damage, mostly just a lot of rain and wind, but it was another hurdle to climb over.

Can you help?  Even $5 will get Genevieve's little Peanut closer to a brother or sister.  Click the PayPal button to donate!

Save the Frosties!!!

We're going to take a break from...OK from my break....for a very special message.  Someday soon I'll be back with the second half of Bryan's birth story and an update on my 4 month old! (Holy cow is he really that old already!)  For now, I'd like to put a plea out there about something that is very dear to my heart.

If you have followed my blog, you know that I had a IVF cycle buddy, Genevieve.  Gen and her husband went through their IVF less than a week after A and I did, and their little boy Phelan was born about 3 weeks before Bryan, after giving his mommy pure hell for 35 weeks.  She was such a trooper, but had every bad pregnancy symptom in the book, except preeclampsia which I took care of.  Amazingly Phelan didn't have to spend a single minute in the NICU, even at 5 weeks early.

Unfortunately for Gen, the issues didn't stop there.  Because she was on bed rest for the majority of her 3rd trimester, she had used up nearly all her leave and only got 6 weeks of maternity leave.  That on top of a preemie baby made it difficult for her to establish a good milk supply, and although she hasn't given up (you go girl!) she has had to supplement with formula from the beginning.  Then you throw in bum renters who don't pay their rent and trash your house (not to mention your good name when you throw them out), and DH losing his job (that he can't get unemployment benefits from because he was an independent contractor) it's been a rough couple of months for them.

Now Genvieve and her husband were lucky enough to have some extra embryos from their IVF that they were able to freeze.  When DH lost his job, they did some research into their baby daddy (they used donor sperm) and discovered that there is no baby daddy juice left.  They got the last of it for their IVF.  What this boils down to is that in order for Phelan to have a full blood sibling, they have to use the embryos they have frozen.  This means paying storage fees now that a year of free storage has passed.  This is NOT CHEAP, and with only one income really hard to do. 

I am a firm believer that no one should be forced to make a massive decision like what to do with remaining embryos because of money.  Most of us who are lucky enough to be part of the ALI community already have, to some extent, had do base whether or not to have kids in the first place on money.  Letting it tell you when you can and can't keep your embryos just isn't fair. 

Genevieve and her DH want 2 kids.  They want a brother or sister for Phelan that will have the same DNA.  But they know they're not ready for that second baby now, even if they could afford the frozen cycle.  The only way to make their dream come true is to keep those embryos on ice for a while longer, and that's going to cost $500.

I'll tell you.  If I had a spare $500 lying around, I'd sent it to Genevieve in a heartbeat.  If anyone deserves a second chance at pregnancy and being a mom its her.  Unfortunately I don't have that kind of extra cash right now.  But I do have $50.  And I'd bet that you have $5 or $10.  And I have an etsy store.  And for everything in my store that sells before September 1st, I'll add another $10 to the "Save the Frosties" fund.

Can you help?  Even $5 will get Genevieve's little Peanut closer to a brother or sister.  Click the PayPal button to donate!

Update 1

Birth Story Part 1 - The week before

So My little man is already 8 weeks old.  It's probably about time I shared his birth story isn't it?  I'm going to put it up in parts.

First, the week leading up:
Monday: I've been on bed rest for 10 days due to Preeclampsia.  I've been monitoring my blood pressure with an at home monitor with strict instructions to call the doc immediately if it EVER goes above 150/100.  I'm home by myself, and have been having what we now know were gallbladder attacks pretty frequently.  Around 11am, another one starts, and I take the gas-x hoping it won't get too severe this time.  Within about 5 minutes the pain escalates to more severe than it's ever been, and I'm freaking out.  As a precaution I take my BP and its over the not good threshold. (I don't remember what it was now, but it was HIGH).  I call the OB's office and the nurse tells me that Dr. O is at the hospital in surgery, and with it that high I should just go there to be monitored so he can come see me.  OK.  I tell her I'm home by myself but will call my husband to come get me.  She says you need to be there within 30 minutes.  If you don't get him, call an ambulance.  She's calling Labor & Delivery to tell them I'm on my way.  I hang up with her and call A at work. No answer.  I try his cell.  No Answer.  I try our friend J, no answer.  I try her cell, no answer.  I try her husband, D. No answer.  Just as I'm about to call 911, J calls me back.  Sure she can come get me, she just has to load up her 2 toddlers.  I'm working on getting the dogs locked up D calls me back.  I explain to him whats happening, and before I can tell him J is coming, he says he's on the way and hangs up.  Since D's office is less that 5 minutes from my house, and J didn't even have the kids in the car yet, D came instead.  While I'm waiting for him, I try A's coworker's desk.  No answer.  They must be in a meeting so I try the coworkers cell.  He actually answers.  I asked him if A is with him, he says yes, I ask him to have A meet me and D at the hospital.  The co-worker looks at A and says "You, hospital, Now!" and that's it!  A meets D and me at the front door with a wheelchair and up to L&D we go.  I get all hooked up, to the monitors, baby is doing fine, but my BP goes haywire each time the pain flares up (surprise surprise).  After about 3 hours the attack subsides and my BP stabilizes.  The OB has some blood work drawn and checks my protein levels again, and says as long as my BP stays good I can go home at 7.  I have my 38 wk appointment and an Ultrasound scheduled at the office for the next day, so he'll see me then.  We have no other surprises, and I go home at 7.  My SIL, K, and her 2 kids also arrive that evening.

Tuesday: I have my US scheduled for 10 and the Doctors appointment right after that.  We go into the US and got to see great pictures.  The baby was measuring about 7 1/2 lbs at that point (give or take a pound she said) and everything looked great.  He was head down and facing back and settled into about a +1 or 0 station.  We get into the room with Dr. O and he pulls out my lab work results from Monday.  My protein levels look good, and most of the blood work looks ok, but my bile salts are on the rise.  This is the one level that has been rising over the course of the last 10 days, and now it's to the point of being too high.  I asked him and what does this mean?  It means we're having a baby by the end of the week.  At 38 weeks, the risks of what's happening with me are far higher than the risks to the baby being delivered.  So we schedule the induction for Thursday night at 8pm with the plan to start a low dose of pitocin overnight in the hopes we can jump start my body into labor and not have to crank it up too high in the morning.  Now keep in mind, my MIL is scheduled to have an angioplasty on Thursday morning.  This is why my SIL was at our house.  She came to bring her kids to D&J who were graciously going to watch them while A and K were in St. Louis for her procedure.  K was going down Tuesday evening so she was there for all the pre-op stuff on Wednesday and A was going to go down Thursday morning for the procedure and come back Friday.  Not so much anymore.  But at least this way we would have the news from her procedure before we went to the hospital.

Wednesday - Thursday 8pm.: We have a mad dash finishing all the things that have to get done to head to the hospital.  Packing bags, installing the car seat, making arrangements for the dogs.  We did go to bible study on Wednesday, and my BP is the lowest it's been in ages while we're there.  A goes to work both days to prepare for being home for 2 weeks with us.  I spend most of the day finishing reading a book on Hypno-birthing, hoping to still have a natural childbirth, even through the pitocin.  A gets home Thursday at 5, we pack up the car, take the dogs to the kennel, hit McDonalds (I know such a healthy last meal before giving birth, but we ran out of time), and head to the hospital.

Up Next: Birth Story Part 2 - The induction

6 Weeks? Really???

Oh Wow has it really been over a month since I posted last?  Holy cow how the time has flown.  My little man is now 6 1/2 weeks old and just absolutely amazing.  Things have been going really well around here, especially since all the family cleared out and we got on our own routine.  Don't get me wrong, I love my family, and was so glad they all came to visit, but A and I realized that in the first 4 weeks after we came home from the hospital we had a total of 5 days just the 3 of us.  5 out of 28.  It was a little chaotic around here for a while.

So anyway, things are going really well. The Boy is sleeping and eating and pooping like a champ.  He's a pretty content baby most of the time.  We're finally starting to get a schedule going, including a solid afternoon nap time and being awake when daddy comes home for lunch and in the evening.  Now we just have to work on a realistic morning routine, but that would require me getting up at 5am, and I really don't want to do that yet.

While the Boy is doing great, Momma is having some issues.  Let me back up to about 2 weeks before he was born, right after I went on bed rest.  I started having these really weird pains in my upper abdomen.  They would build slowly and then *BANG* it was like someone had tightened a belt around my ribcage and wasn't letting it go.  I would have trouble taking a breath, it hurt so bad to breathe deep.  It would last anywhere from 20 minutes to 3 hours at the worst and then SUDDENLY disappear.  Both A and my SIL (who has 2 kids) were convinced it was gas brought on by a sensitivity to dairy since it only seemed to pop up after I had a glass of milk or some ice cream.  It was so BAD the Monday before I delivered that it caused my BP to skyrocket and an emergency trip to Labor and Delivery.  Anyway, I delivered, and the pains didn't change!  I was still getting this crazy painful pressure under my ribcage on the right side, although it still appeared to be brought on by dairy.  Finally after 3 weeks of this not going away (silly me was thinking ti was just because all my insides hadn't gotten back to normal and it could still be gas) I finally called the OB and said we had to do something.  He scheduled me a sonogram, and sure enough, I have 5 small to medium sized stones in my gallbladder!  They called that day and scheduled me an appointment with a general surgeon to consult about having it out.  That surgery is scheduled for this Thursday.

The good news is that this extends my Maternity leave by 2 weeks, the bad news is I will be spending it recovering, and if I didn't have a 6 week old at home I would probably recover much faster.  The will be doing it outpatient and laproscopic, so assuming no complications I should be home Thursday afternoon.  If it's anything like my LAP, I will be OK by Sunday, so fingers crossed.

Ok I've got to go wake up the boy so we can pick up Daddy from work.  I'll leave you with a couple pictures of course :-)

Easter Sunday

BATMAN!

Milk Coma

1st Bath

Pirate Baby! (for his cousin's 3rd Birthday Party)

Super Baby!

Tummy Time (just taken Yesterday)

The first 10 days

Holy cow.  I can't believe it's been 10 days already.  It seems like it was just yesterday that I was getting ready to head into the hospital to be induced.  It's been a really crazy time, but I have to admit I am LOVING it.  I love being a mom.  Even the hard parts, the stinky diapers, the engorgement, the lack of sleep, all of it is so worth seeing that little face every day.  Here's a quick recap of the last 10 days.

• We came home on Sunday afternoon after a trip to the pharmacy to pick up my prescriptions.  We all pretty much slept the afternoon and evening away, and the first night was actually really easy.  Bryan slept from 12-2 and from 3-6, and then Adam got up with him after the 6 am feeding and let me got back to bed 7-10!
• Monday night was horrible.  I think my milk was coming in, and it came in on one side sooner than the other.  This threw the little man all out of whack.  After snacking for 10-20 minute sessions every 90 minutes all day, he wanted nothing to do with the side that had no milk after about midnight, and would not settle down to sleep unless he was being held.  Finally around 3am he zonked out enough for us to get back in the bed, and was up again at 5:30 and wouldn't settle down.  When I went back in the nursery it was so cold, so I brought him into our room to warm up and eat, and before I knew it, it was 10:30!!!  Apparently he was just cold!
• We saw the pediatrician on Tuesday  Bryan was down another 6 oz to 6lb 5oz, and right on the border for too much weight loss plus his bilirubin was up a little bit from where it was in the hospital.  Since my milk had just come in, the doc wasn't worried though.  As long as he gains weight and is peeing and pooping appropriately, we're good till the next appointment this Thursday.  Doc thinks his system just needs flushing (which btw it looks like he was right, Bryan looks much better now)
• Tuesday night went SO well A slept through the night I had no idea I even got up with the baby!  I had been up at 2 and 6, and had to wake Bryan up to eat both times!  We figured out that long sleeved sleepers and tight swaddles are what he needs to PASS OUT.
• Thursday afternoon we took my Niece and Nephew (who had been staying with a friend while my SIL was with my MIL in the hospital...who had been there since the day Bryan was born) to give our friend a break.  They hung out with us from lunch through dinner.  It made for a crazy day, but the friend really needed a break and we were happy to help.
• Friday my SIL made it back here, but unfortunately without my MIL.  She developed a case of bronchitis, probably while in the hospital, and was not going to come around the baby until it got under control.
• Saturday we had a visit from A's dad and Step-mom.  That was a tough day for me I'm not gonna lie.  A's step mom (Nana) is a bit of a baby hog, and I wasn't assertive enough to say when I needed my son back.  She was snuggling him nearly the whole time they were here, and he was perfectly content to sleep in her arms, but as has been his MO, he didn't wake up and fuss when he needed to eat.  Because he wasn't eating as often as he had been he wasn't dirtying diapers, so I had no good excuse to ask her to give him up.  All on top of the fact that this is a weird relationship anyway, and I was really trying to not do anything to rock the boat. This all lead to a major emotional breakdown and me spending nearly an hour rocking in the nursery crying because I felt so out of control of the whole situation.  It was BAD.  Lesson learned, I have to be more assertive about my son's needs, because he is so easygoing he's not going to do it for me.
• Sunday we took our first trip to church and it was amazing.  A sings in the praise band, and one of the songs they lead was a song that was on the recordings we played on my belly before Bryan was born.  A sings lead on it.  he was awake but drowsy during the whole first part of the service, but as soon as A started singing his eyes popped WIDE open and he was very alert.  It was SO COOL!
• After church my dad came to visit.  That was SO much more laid back than with A's dad, and for that I was thankful.  Especially since on top of everything the day before, engorgement had set in in my right breast and it HURT.  I actually ended up coming home from church, feeding the boy, and then pumping it dry to try and relieve it.  I got a full 3 ounces AFTER the kid ate for 25 minutes.  I have no idea if this is a lot or not, but it sure seems like a lot to have left since if I was bottle feeding, he'd be getting about 3oz per feeding.  Ever since then I've been able to keep it under control thankfully.  I certainly do not what to go through that pain again.
• Yesterday and today have just been chilling out at home with the toddlers and recuperating from the weekend full of visitors.
• I've done pretty good with the postpartum emotional roller coaster I think.  I have a couple of completely irrational breakdowns...like the one when Bryan filled 3 diapers in a row and I was about ready to scream at him, or when I chewed A out because he had spent the day on projects other than what I felt needed to be done first (like cleaning up the yard or mowing or cleaning up the kitchen).  What we have learned is the overtired mommy = emotional mommy and a good nap usually takes care of those emotional issues.
• I am also dealing with those feelings of being some what of an impostor still.  Every day a stare in amazement at my son and can't believe that we get to keep him.  Part of it still doesn't seem real.  This was my one semi-reasonable breakdown.  I was loving on him one morning while he was laying on our bed and I was supposed to be getting dressed.  All of the sudden I was just overcome with how absolutely perfect and wonderful he is and what an absolute miracle he is and I just lost it.  A came in and saw me all huddled over him crying and about lost his mind.  I can't help but wonder if he thought something was wrong with the baby instead of me.  At least he understood why I was crying THAT time :-)

Ok that's all for now.  I'm hearing an urgent code MOO coming from the hubby's lap, and then we have to get ready to go to bible study.  Hope you're having a great week!