Progress

It has kind of been an odd week where I've spent most of it away from home while work was being done in various rooms. As much as I complain about being stuck within our house and not out very much - I can't wait for it all to be done and to be home again. I guess what they say is true - even though my parent's house is nice, "There's no place like home!" We actually ordered a crib and dresser and most of the painting in the nursery is done - here's a picture of what it looked like a couple of days ago.


Now the trim is complete and things look a bit more finished. The color is from Restoration Hardware and called Seagreen...but in person it doesn't look like it has any blue undertone at all - it looks greener than in the photos and I'm really happy with it so far. The bumper for the crib came in as well as the rug I ordered. I'll have to take some more photos soon. Hopefully this weekend my husband can put together the crib, we can add the rug as well, and I think we'll put the bassinet in there until we have the need for it in our room when little Spot comes home. I just got an email saying the dresser I ordered is on backorder for 2-4 more weeks. As much as I would like to have it soon - I don't really have any need for stuff quite yet :-)

My sister along with the help of my mom is planning a really small baby shower for us the weekend after labor day - September 7th. It sounds so far away, but it's really only less than 6 weeks away. I'll be about 27 weeks then - and so that is kind of like a little goal for me. It will be small with only a few close family and friends - like 20 people or so. My mother in law is having something for us in Ohio after the baby is born and we are all settled at home - whenever that will be. His family all lives out of state - and since I can't travel currently she thought that would be the best option. I'm really hoping things continue to progress and I'm able to make the shower planned for September because I get so excited over anything that seems like it is "normal" pregnancy stuff since so much stuff have felt far from that. With keeping it small - it would be easy to adjust things if for some reason I wasn't able to make it.

Nothing too much new and exciting other than the work we're having done on the house. But no news is great news to me these days - and I will gladly take that anyday! So sorry for the boring update - but this will have to do :-) I have noticed that the few times the song Low by Flo Rida has come on Spot really starts to booty shake a bit and kick up a storm. Even though the song has been out for awhile - she must be letting me know she really likes it, LOL! Hope everyone is having a great week and are looking forward to the weekend!

I'm officially dizzy - 21 week belly pictures

Well I haven't posted any belly pics for a couple weeks - so here are a few for your viewing pleasure. Something I noticed last week was depending on how Spot is lying is how my stomach looks. Today I am not lopsided at all - is this the promise of going forward as a level mama to be? Either way - as long as Spot continues to grow - no complaints here!





Even though I'm 21 weeks pregnant today - I still don't feel nearly as uncomfortable as I once thought I would be at this point. When I had my experience with OHSS after our IVF I felt way worse and actually found it more difficult to move than I ever do these days. It was funny because when I was at my worst with the OHSS, I kept thinking if I feel like this now - how am I ever going to feel in my future weeks of pregnancy? I think part of it is because a uterus (even my jacked up one) is made to stretch and carry a baby. An abdomen is just not made to stretch so much and carry fluid like it does with OHSS. Also my weight skyrocketed with the OHSS of 20 pounds in just a short few days - and little girl Spot has never gotten close to that much weight gain in a few days time :-) I know it will get more uncomfortable in the weeks ahead - but that's okay - and I just think it's funny to reflect back sometimes.

While I haven't been too uncomfortable lately - what I have been is dizzy. Stop the giggles - I know I'm a bit ditzy and always dizzy - but that has always been figuratively speaking! Now when I get up from the couch or change position too quickly I definitely feel the room spin. I now know what they have been talking about in some of the pregnancy books. Getting up slower helps some. It does kind of remind me of the times in college when you went to bed drunk, but barely remember falling asleep in your bottom bunk. Then you get up to go to the bathroom to pee in the middle of the night, and you wonder why the room won't stop spinning as you walk to the restroom. The vertigo is really similar. Except I haven't been downing anything quite that fun lately I promise :-) I can't believe I used to drink some of the drink concoctions we mixed. For some reason all the flavors of diet snapple were popular then (wasn't there a snapple spokesperson lady?). We would mix rum or vodka in some fruity flavored diet snapple glass bottle and hang out in people's rooms. Now I don't even think you can find some of those flavors like diet kiwi strawberry or diet island mango, etc. But all the girls loved the low calorie, super sweet way to disguise your adult beverage. Ahh - the memories.

Tomorrow the painting and plastering will be underway so I'll be spending the rest of the week down at my parents with our doggie - at least during the day. My mom already is all excited about spending some added time together and with her "grand-dog." Sorry for people who hate that phrase - it's one she says - I can't help it. Plus our dog soaks it all up. My mom said she has a house full of food for me too, gotta love moms and grandmas who try to feed anyone who is in a 10 mile radius of the kitchen. Tonight is Weeds on TV - yay! Last night's Big Bro.ther was pretty good and I am kind of glad to see the big body builder guy up on the block for elimination - because he's gotten a bit cocky for me. Also I started reading Bel.ated Baby by Browning and Enger. Thank you for the suggestion kaaron.

So far it's really good (I'm only 3 chapters in) - even though I'm a bit wary of parenting books and I think it's because they intimidate and scare the hell out of me. It's because I actually have to admit after all this time, I may actually be a parent someday. Denial is my best friend as I've said.

Meredith had some scary icky contractions over the weekend - so go give her a hug. And while you're at it make sure you congratulate Geohyde on the arrival of the twins!

21 weeks tomorrow

(photo from www.baby2see.com) Tomorrow I'm 21 weeks - another week under my belt (or should I say belly?) with little Spot. She's still making some crazy progress growing and I'm getting bigger by the day now I swear. But no complaints here - grow to your heart's content Spot!
* Length is now measured crown to heel.
* The fetus has grown to 10.5 inches (27 cm) - 12.7 ounces (360 grams).
* It is now gaining weight steadily, with fat being added to the body.
* Bone marrow has started making blood cells.
* Their small intestine is starting to absorb sugars.
Your baby's bone marrow has started making blood cells, a job done by the liver and spleen until this point. The placenta has provided nearly all of your baby's nourishment, now your baby will begin to absorb small amounts of sugar from swallowed amniotic fluid.
Based on the size of baby's head, which is about 2 inches (5cm), the date of birth can be determined to within one week. The fetus is steadily gaining fat and has grown a whitish coat of a slick, fatty substance to protect skin in amniotic fluid and to ease delivery.

In girls, the vagina is formed and the ovaries already contain over six million eggs which will be reduced to about 400 by the time of puberty. The baby can hear and recognize the mother's voice, and may respond to some types of music.

I think that little girl Spot can definitely recognize music that has any kind of a good beat to it - or anything with base. Whenever I'm in the car and music comes on with an upbeat rhythm - she starts moving all around. It's kind of funny. Spot also seems to move around a lot when the channel on Sirius radio is on that plays a lot of 90's music (lithium - 24). A little girl after her mom and dad's heart! Also amazing to me is that her ovaries already contain 6 million eggs - pieces of our future family so far away already present inside me (and her). I already have such hopes for her, hopes that involve her being free of all the problems we've had. I know it seems crazy to think of her life in these terms already - but how could I not want her to be free of any congenital abnormalities or problems?

Our house was a bit of a zoo this weekend - but it was fun to be around none the less. My sister's husband came over to help move out the remaining furniture from the nursery with my husband. Also my husband's parents drove a van up from Ohio and they took the furniture from our spare bedroom (it was their's actually) and some spare lamps so that we would have more room for nursery and baby stuff. The painter was also over at one point to solidify plans for some additional work he is doing. I can't wait to see how different everything will look.

Although there was a lot of activity going on around the house, I tried to take it easy on the couch. The control freak in me is so hard to restrain sometimes and I feel like there is person inside who just wants to jump up - say screw bedrest and start cleaning out some closets. My husband has threatened to duck tape me to the couch - so I guess I'll continue to go with the flow for now, LOL! Time has started to pass more quickly, but lately I've been feeling a little buggy - I think the last 8 weeks since the cerclage has been starting to finally catch up.

My husband finally convinced me to watch the first of the Lord of the Rings movies - I'm not usually into that genre of movies - but I have to admit it was pretty good and held my interest. We have the other two, so maybe next weekend we'll finish them up. I also started watching the John Adam's miniseries from Netflix (it had been on a wait list) - and it is awesome! I can't wait to see the other two discs. It was cool to see how they were trying do the smallpox vaccine way back in the 1776's by such old fashioned means compared to current vaccination methods for other diseases. Also, I had to smile at one scene where Abigail Adams heard soldiers coming down the path outside their house (around the time of the revolution) while she was the only one home with the children. Instead of hiding in the house, she grabbed a long rifle and went outside to see who was coming down the path at their house. Now that's a woman with some fight in her who takes action! Kind of gives a girl a little inspiration to keep fighting, huh?

I started two new books that are pretty good also. The rest of the time was spent filling my stomach with two of my latest cravings: oreo milkshakes (from anywhere) and buffalo chicken wraps from Buffa.lo Wild Wings. At night time I've turned into a peanut butter and jelly on english muffin loving kind of girl. Yum! Tomorrow is another trip to the OB's office, another shot in the bottom and hopefully a quiet afternoon. Maybe I'll be brave and post another belly shot - it's been a few weeks. Thanks for all of your feedback on the bedding last time - I caved in and ordered it yesterday. And the online shopping continues! What should I buy next?

20 week appointment and paint color decided!

Yesterday I had my 20 week appointment at the OB's. It started out with all the usual goodies: call your name, weigh in, blood pressure check, p17 shot in the bottom - the nurse once again asking if it hurt (nope she always does a good job - better than the IM ones I've given myself before), transvaginal ultrasound to measure my cervix and check the cerlcage, sitting down to go over everything with my OB afterwards, internal exam to check my cervix and exam for him to look at the cerclage stitch. Best part of the appointment was when my OB was doing the internal exam, little girl Spot actually moved so much that he felt her head pop up on my abdomen with his other hand. How he knew it was a head is beyond me - I guess that's why he's the doctor. But I got to see it while it was happening, which I didn't think I'd be able to see movement that clearly from the outside so early. Our little girl probably feels like someone's always knocking on the door of her home with all these cervix checks - and probably jumped back when we startled her yet again. Still, seeing (and feeling) such definite signs of life inside of me from our little girl brought a smile to my face.

Blood pressure, weight, and p17 shots - all smooth sailing as always. Cervix - ever problem child was 1.9 soft and squishy - not the best - but I guess can always be worse. Contractions - yes, there are still contractions. Huge ole contraction during exam, and my OB whom I love was not thrilled (not that I thought he would be). We discussed more game plans. Next week I'll pick up my script for the steriod shots to make sure that I have them filled and available for when I turn 24 weeks (three and a half weeks away only!) Monday August 18th when I turn 24 weeks we'll do the first round of steroid shots, and then the next day on the 19th we'll do the second round. For now we'll continue the p17 shots twice weekly and add indocin (to be discontinued in a few weeks). We'll continue frequent cervix checks, and add another growth scan to monitor little Spot's progress in a week and a half. If my contractions pick up to 6 or more an hour then he wants terbutaline and me to be monitored up in L & D. He told me that it may make me feel a little better if I had a little bag packed at home that I could grab and take with me to the hospital, "Just in case I needed it." Since my OB is a calm, cool collected type and not ever trying to get people all worked up or excited he quickly added, "Don't worry, just because if you end up in L & D and have to get terbutaline, and have to stay for a few days does not mean that the Mag Sulfate gods are going to appear and start dancing in front of you - holding you captive for weeks on end in the hospital. I want you to be home as much as you do, and we will do everything possible to keep you there for as long as we can."

I then laughed and smiled and said, "well I hadn't thought that far ahead to even start getting the fear of Mag in me quite yet. But it's good to know that just because I may have to go in for a few days in the future - it doesn't mean I will never return home before I deliver." Some docs will start terbutaline without the patient being monitored at the hospital, or up in L & D. But I think my OB just doesn't want to start me on anything that major, without keeping me on a monitor to see exactly how I react. There are a gazillion approaches to the same problems in medicine and that is just his - more than one way to skin a cat I guess. Hopefully when that happens I can just respond beautifully to some Terb, stay for a few hours and get the heck home. But I guess time will tell.

So that's pretty much what's going on for now. I'm not sure why I'm so reluctant to pack the little bag he talked about. Perhaps when I do that I feel as though I'm throwing in some proverbial towel and admitting defeat? Or perhaps it's the ugly stepchild named Denial that I'm fostering inside right now. Who the heck knows...all I know is that I'm having a little trouble making myself do that right now - at the 20 week mark. So instead I chose to come home and pick a paint color for the nursery at last - and it's a color I feel good about :-) Maybe I'll have a picture of the room actually painted that color sometime next week to share - that'll be a nice feeling. And a few people asked me what bedding I've picked out. Truth is I haven't actually decided on anything specifically yet. We have the bassinet - and the bedding that goes with it is the same that is in the picture I posted earlier. As far as for the crib bedding I'm leaning towards this one - but nothing set in stone. I found it at Restoration Hardware's new baby line, they have some cute stuff. It's not very frilly - but neither am I.


Hope everyone's week is going great - it's almost the weekend! As always, I truly appreciate all of your kind words, and asking how appointments went, and good wishes for the cervix and all- it has made the weeks fly by instead of dragging so much. If you get a chance go give Irish Girl a little reassurance or good thoughts - her IVF cycle just got done and her first beta was not that reassuring aka she is in beta limbo land hell. On a happy note Adriane had her twins at 33 weeks and they're doing great!

Lots of choices to make - paint and names

Slowly our computers are getting back up and running normally again. It's a pain to temporarily not have access to all of our equipment or files, or be able to scan things, but with reloading everything it's sure to work faster in the future. Also, we really needed to back up all of our photos especially on a separate hard drive because I would be heartbroken if something happened to them. So that's what my husband has been doing the over the last week. My sister and I joke that we're a bit of photo taking junkies - always taking pictures of things - although not necessarily good photos, just lots of photos, LOL!

The new hard drive my husband got is a terabyte (like I said - whatever the heck that means). And last night we were joking around because whenever he would say terabyte - little girl Spot would kick. So then he repeatedly said terabyte with his hand over where she was laying and tried to feel a kick. Yes it's offical - we are nerds and this is our current form of entertainment and about as exciting as life gets these days. But I wouldn't give these moments up for anything!

I am ashamed to admit I have begun to fall in love with my local UPS and FedEx delivery men. Not sure if it's the man in uniform or what (just kidding!) Or maybe it's the fact that I love getting packages, and since I'm on bedrest I order many things online now. Many things my husband can just pick up from most stores (one advantage to living in a larger metro area). But sometimes I just order the items on line because it saves time and running around for him - and then I get to have things come to my door! Yesterday, the UPS man was my knight in shining armor. He brought me two baby name books that I had ordered. We have a few favorites - but we can really get down to business and get serious :-) I wasn't sure what book to start with - but my dog made her suggestion so the choice was a little easier.

Last night while I watched Weeds on Showtime, I got through the letter H for girls names in the first book. We're both making a list of our favorites and will decide from there on any we agree on. After going through the book for a little while I decided a few things. First - there are a lot of freaky weird names out there. Those poor unfortunate future kids! (The name "douche" was actually an option for a girl, can you believe it? Also they listed Coco as a possibility for a boy. Girl I can see if someone liked it - for a boy no way.) Second - my husband thinks that I only like old fashioned granny names that sound like they're from the late 1800s or the 1920s. Probably true, since they are some of the more popular names these days - and I love older, very solid names. I don't find them granny - ish at all. I also have found that he likes several names I call late 1970s/1980s ditzy, stripper names. You can see where this process may take quite some time! The great thing is that instead of arguing, we laugh and make fun of each other's suggestions - at least we're having fun with it. Once we decide we'll tell people, it's not going to be a surprise.

We also heard back from out painter yesterday evening and he is starting next Tuesday - a week from today. It'll be a relief to have that portion done and then we can start to place things in the nursery as we get them. I tried to narrow down our paint color selections to three choices last night from Restoration Hardware. I love their paints - and the rest of our house is done in various colors from their store. It holds up well, and is easy to clean. When those paint sampler cans were being picked up I couldn't resist putting in my request for a little cute pink hat from one of my other favorite stores Janie and Jack. I had seen it online and knew it was on sale, plus that store is right next to Restoration at the mall. So I received my second little delivery of the day.

Once the paint was on the wall in a few sample areas - we realized that it shows up much darker on the can and swatch - so it's back to the drawing board. So much for the final three selections. I just don't want anything too dark for the nursery - and they look so light on the swatches, but so different on the wall. Otherwise, once the last piece of furniture is moved out this weekend - the room is ready for the work to start. The pale yellow will soon be gone - not that I minded it, I'm just ready for a little change.

Yesterday I had a quick appointment and got another shot in the bottom. The nurse always looks apologetic when giving my p17 shots because she forgets we did all the infertility meds and injections for months, and that I'm used to giving a similar type to myself. I only get them at the office because I have to go in every week anyways. The nurse at my OB office was shocked when I said that sometimes you are doing up to 5 (or more) shots a day during IVF or certain cycles. Since staff at most OB offices don't deal with anything infertility related (and instead send out to RE offices) - they really aren't familiar with the process that a lot of patients went through to get pregnant. Just kind of interesting.

Today should be a quiet day. Tomorrow I return to see my OB and get another cerclage/cervix check. I would be delighted if my cervical length would be anywhere near 2.0 cm or slightly higher and we could not be in the 1. anything range. Also, no funneling would also be a great thing. Cervical length can be a bit dynamic so just because it's 1.9 it could be as high as 2.5cm other times and vice versa - going up and down slightly. Other times, it just trends downward. When we started this process, I had no idea it could do that. Since mine has shortened the last few times despite the cerclage and bedrest - Meredith suggested hanging upside down from the ceiling like a bat. I've done that so we'll see if it helped at all, LOL!

My summer addiction Big Brother is on again tonight - and I get to see who wins Power of Veto...ahhh the suspense is building! Does anyone know if the cast memeber Reny (Renny?) is a breast cancer survivor? My husband and I were trying to figure that out the last few episodes - she never said so unless I missed it. Tomorrow is my favorite day - hump day (giggling again - will I ever stop?) Well, I hope it's a good one for everyone and thanks again for all the comments and imput. It sure helps keep a girl from going insane while on the couch. Honestly, it helps more than you will ever know.

Happy Anniversary from little girl Spot!

Well today was our 6 year wedding anniversary - it's amazing how quickly time flies. My husband is backing up all of our files on our desktop as well as our laptop and reloading all of our programs. I had a really funny picture of the two of us when we first met (when I was still in high school) that was taken before my homecoming dance, and one of us from this weekend. But I'll have to post them next time when I can use our scanner, and get to our files again, hopefully soon. But when looking at the two pictures - taken 11 years apart - it's hilarious how much we've changed! I'll have to let you decide for yourselves - it'll at least give everyone who sees them a good laugh.

Although we had a really quiet weekend, we actually made a lot of progress with things. As I mentioned, Friday afternoon my husband surprised me with some pretty flowers. His present? Well, since the guy loves electronics - he got a new hard drive that was a terabyte (whatever the heck that means). All I know is that he really wanted one and is really excited to have it. I prefer flowers, but he prefers hard drives. Saturday night we just got some Thai food from a really great restaurant and ate at home. I'm still a bit afraid to push my buttons and leave even for short trips since the contractions started. So I devoured my Veggie Curry thai dish while we watched I am Leg.end with Will Smith. Both were a good choice! I'm not too tough of a movie critic these days, thank heavens.

Saturday my husband also cleared out our entire spare bedroom that will be the nursery. Our brother in law is coming to help him carry the only thing left in there which is a spare dresser, next weekend. Already the room looks so bare - I'll post a picture when the computer is put back together. Tomorrow morning I'm calling our painter to schedule a time for him to come start - hopefully in a couple of weeks (he's also fixing some wet plaster in other areas of our house.) I still have to narrow down some paint choice colors - but yikes things are really moving forward! Other big development was that the bassinet was ordered and actually in stock so it's now sitting in our basement - double yikes! The bedding for it won't be in until early October - but heck little girl Spot better not be here before that anyways. And if she is, she certainly won't be home with us that early requiring a bassinet. Thank you for all the positive feedback on the bassinet, and for those of your who asked, it's the one from Pottery Barn Kids. I've always liked that one whenever I see it in the window of that store at my favorite mall nearby. My mom and grandma were so happy to get it - it made me happy to see them both smiling so much.

Best moment of the weekend was also the best anniversary present ever. Friday night while I was laying on the couch watching TV, my dog was laying across my belly (as always.) All of the sudden we both jumped, because we felt a little poke on my left side that came from within. No doubt in the world - it was little girl Spot saying hello! My dog looked at my belly a little confused. Then we both felt it again - not fluttering - but a poke, or tiny kick. Little girl Spot decided to pass over the whole fluttering, butterfly feeling and go straight to more direct forms of communication (plus I've probably been too dense to notice anything up until now.) What followed left me smiling as well. My little dog hopped off of the couch and went to the floor. She then jumped up and laid back down on my stomach after placing her tiny plush stuffed pink poodle toy on my belly. She then went back to sleep. Perhaps she thought little girl Spot wanted to play? My dog also brings her toys to the mirror when she sees her own doggie reflection in the mirror. The rest of the weekend, I have felt Spot moving around a ton all of the sudden. This is definitely the best part of pregnancy so far - hands down. My dog continues to bring numerous of her stuffed toys to my belly - it is the cutest thing!

Tonight my husband actually was able to feel little girl Spot do a little kick, which is just mind boggling since neither of us could feel anything just a few short days ago. I think she wanted to give her parents a special anniversary gift, and to celebrate that we're at the 20 week mark. And what a reason to celebrate that is!

Early Anniversary surprise

This weekend (actually July 20th) is our wedding anniversary - can't believe it's been 6 years already! Before that, we dated for 5 years so we've been together for 11 years which has flown by. I was plopped on the couch today catching up on an episode of Criminal Minds when the doorbell rang. My sneaky super sweet husband surprised me early for our anniversary by having flowers delivered. It was 6 dozen red roses (my favorite) - one dozen for each year we have been married. You can see why I love this guy? Sorry for the mushy, I love my husband lines...but I honestly am one of the luckiest girls alive. He is my other half, my best friend, and the person I was truly meant to be with. What made this even sweeter was the fact that he surprised me and had them delivered during the day, while he was at work. First of all he knows I go nuts to get a package - I get so excited seeing delivery trucks come to our house. Second, he knows I get bored and a little lonely on days when I'm home by myself and he's at work in the time I've been on bedrest. This way - it was a little surprise to brighten up the part of the day I would appreciate it the most! Since I took the flowers apart to put them in a few vases - I took a couple of pictures so he could see how they came. (I took it myself - so don't mind my arm in the photo. I really need to teach my dog how to take photos, that would be so convienent these days!)


My dog always loves deliveries as well. She just had to check stuff out and get in on the action.

This weekend my husband and I will probably try to eat from another new restaurant nearby for our anniversary. Since I'm stuck at home and we don't do much these days - we've been trying to make a habit of trying a bunch of new restaurants for fun. Most have been great - so tomorrow night we'll try another new one for our anniversary. He might try to take apart the furniture in our spare bedroom, which will eventually become the nursery. Yikes! Things will actually start moving along then I think. My mom and grandma are dying to order this bassinet for us - so I think I may actually have our very first thing ordered for the baby.

I know technically you don't need a bassinet, but since our bedroom is on the second floor (we have a bungalow) and the nursery will be on the first - I'm sure it'll be nice for us all to be upstairs at first. More importantly, I have learned over the years never to stand in the way of my mom and grandma when they are determined to do or buy something. So if they are intent on buying us a new bassinet - I will gladly allow them to do so. It's something that they both said would make them very happy - how do you argue with that? (As a side note, this is the same grandma who is almost 90 that I wrote my fourth of July post about - love you grandma!)

My dog has been funny lately when we sleep together on the couch. She used to sleep down by my feet and slowly has been making her way up higher to get closer and closer to me. Often now, I find we actually sleep cheek to cheek! It's actually kind of relaxing - and although we aren't cheek to cheek here, she's pretty close. My husband caught this one of us yesterday night when we were sleeping on the couch.

Well, I'll try to update this weekend and not let as many days go between posts - and also throw in a lopsided picture if I can catch a good one. But if you have a chance go give Mel a hug - she's had some bumps in the pregnancy and they put her on rest until she sees her doc again on Monday. I remember from a couple months ago how darn scary that can be, so go keep her company and good thoughts to help her stay positive. JJ is still resting it up as well, and I'm sure could use a hug or two herself. Heck - go give all the bedrest girls (from L & F) a little hello if you get a chance - you have no idea how much it brightens your day to get a hello and a nice comment when you're bunkered up at home. I know how much I appreciate them, and I'm sure they all will as well. So thanks for spreading some sunshine - kindness is contagious!

19 week belly shot

Here's a belly shot for week 19 - plus all the ones from my birthday post was 18 wks 6 days so I didn't really take any new ones with a particular shirt or anything. Each week that passes by I'm getting more and more lopsided - it's quite funny to watch. I'll have to take a picture like the one above from two different sides and the differece is huge. It cracks my husband up when he sees it - he thinks in a few more weeks I'm going to start walking lopsided or off balance as little girl Spot gets bigger. Sara the pregnant girl with the lopsided uterus and belly...that would make a good circus attraction at least, LOL!

I just realized that this is my third post is three days, wow you would think that I had something really exciting to say - but I don't and I think I must be bored. So thank you for bearing with me.

On a more exciting note: it's Farah's birthday! I hope she's having a great one, and getting lots of nice presents - or at least some rest.
Also my girl Tracy had some excitement up in L & D last night with the twins and had to get some of that nasty terbutaline - so go give her good thoughts for a more quiet evening tonight. Excitement is great - but not that type of excitement.

Most of the day I spent trying to track down a local compounding pharmacy in my area to continue to handle my p17 shots - especially since now I will be getting them more frequently. Most pharmacies in our area that used to help prepare them, like the one at our hospital, have consolidated into this one huge pharmacy nearby. So basically for a metro area of 5 million people there is one compounding pharmacy that does p17 shots. You can get them through mail order pharmacies like the one I used for several of my IVF drugs, but this one nearby that I am dealing with is much cheaper - surprisingly. Insurance companies have you pay out of pocket for most things compounded (including this) and then have you reimbursed. Sometimes you are not reimbursed for p17 shots from you insurance company if you have not had a previous second trimester loss or delivered a child prematurely before. Hmmmmm - kind of doesn't make sense to me, but I have known this for a few weeks now. I kind of felt like I was going through infertility treatments or an IVF cycle again with all the drug shopping through pharmacies and phone calling. Guess all that infertility training is good for something!

While I was phone calling around, I noticed that most of what was on the TV today either centered around the massive GM restructuring stuff due to the recent drop in their stock price and other things, or else the president was on talking about the economy, or the big drop in the stock market. I didn't really find any of this uplifting - especially with an engineer husband in the auto industry - so I opted for catching up on Weeds from last night and a Rachael Ray 30 minute meal episode I DVRed last week that looked good. I'm not a die hard Rachael Ray fan, but that particular food looked good. My only problem with 30 minute meals is that although there are a lot of great recipes - I have never in my life made one of those featured actually in 30 minutes. It's always like 45 if I'm groovin along at a good speed. Anyone else find that to be true? Maybe I'm a slow poke cook.

About half way through my day the phone rang and I noticed it showed up on caller ID as coming from the hospital that I work at. When I answered it was one of my friends from work (another CRNA) calling to say hi. She said she had something I might like to hear - I could tell that she was in the middle of one of the cases in the OR. Soon I heard a familiar bleep bleep bleep. It was the noise of our anesthesia machine and monitors and it was music to my ears! Now I know I'm strange and all - but so are most other CRNAs....because anyone who has been off of work for awhile actually starts to miss that sound. I may complain about work from time to time, but in reality I love almost everything about my job and miss it terribly. And that noise is one thing I miss. During a long case it is like this rhythmic background noise that can almost lull you into this peaceful state of mind. You get doing your job and an hour can fly by before you know it. So that was a really nice surprise to get today (even if you think we're all a little strange!)

Tonight Big Broth.er is on - whooo hoo! I definitely like several of the new members of this season's cast. I'm hoping that they explore the personalities of some of the female contestants a little bit more - the first episode last Sunday was mostly preoccupied by the male cast members and one outspoken female. Can you tell my life pretty much revolves around TV and food these days? I do read ocassionally :-) I have noticed outside of my couch potato bubble though, that something very strange is going on at gas stations lately. Not that I'm out and about much these days - but what is up with charging different prices for the same grade of gas if you use a credit card vs cash? Is this going on everywhere around the country, or just here in MI? Gas prices should be the same no matter how you pay for them, right? But if I'm missing something - someone please explain it to me so I can be clued in. I'm always open to learning new things.

I'm still contracting on and off - but all in all I have to say things are a little quieter. Little girl Spot probably enjoys not feeling like I gave her a home on the San Andres Fault line. Tomorrow I stop in at the office again to get another shot in the bottom and to touch base with my OB. Well, enough ramblings from my mushy brain. I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoys their "hump day" tomorrow. Hehe...I said hump day again and now I can't stop giggling!

19 weeks and appointment update

Thank you for all the nice birthday wishes, they always make a girl smile! Today we are officially 19 weeks, which feels like such a huge accomplishment. I know I say that every week - but I still pause each Monday and think that we have been so blessed to be at this point. Tomorrow I'll try to post an updated belly shot and a better update.

Today was a quiet day by myself, after a great weekend filled some time with the family. I have come to have a new appreciation for both. Yesterday my OB said that he would like to see me today for another cervix check since last week's was a little shorter and I was having what sounded like contractions. As I mentioned yesterday - I was a little surprised that he wasn't waiting the week between appointments like was the plan at the end of last week. But I never mind the close monitoring. Overnight I actually felt like I finally was having less contractions than I have in the last few days - like things were slowing down. Since this is my first pregnancy - it was weird to start feeling these things I weren't even sure were contractions at first. But now they have gotten regular enough and frequent enough that I now have no doubt what a contraction is. Basically my abdomen just tightens all of the sudden and gets as hard as rock. It then will relax, and in a little bit later, sometimes it happens again. Sometimes they are uncomfortable, sometimes they are not very uncomfortable.

Today at my appointment they could see on the monitor that I was having a contraction here and there - so that was reassuring in some weird way to know that what is actually happening is indeed a contraction. I despise the unknown, and it unnerves me a lot to not know when something is happening to my body. Or that something is happening, but not know what to call it. It's like I find if I know what's going on, or have a name for something or a cause of a problem - then I feel like I can start to deal with it. I can move forward, and pretty much get through things if we just decide to pull ourselves together, and move forward. Does that make any sense? I guess another way to put it is that I fear the unknown?

So yes I am still having contractions - although less frequently today. Yay! Game plan of today is to increase my p17 shots from once a week to twice a week (which was not something that I knew they did). This provides smooth muscle relaxation of the uterus and hopefully less irritability. If in a day or two they are not continuing to decreaes - then we will add indocin to the mix for the short term, and then see how I do with that. We can always pull out the bigger guns if necessary. One step at a time. My cervix is still a problem child. Can you believe that pesky bugger shortened a tad bit more from last Wednesday at my anatomy scan to today..less than a week later? It wasn't a huge change - but once again - shorter. Hmm, all these talks I've been having with Ms. Cervix don't seem to be working. Any suggestions? Perhaps a more stern approach is in order? I can be a little bit of a softie.

My OB wants to see me twice a week for a little while, just until things quieten down a bit. But instead of feeling like, GULP.... I feel more like PHEW. The extra monitoring makes me feel more comfortable, and not necessarily more nervous. So I go back on Wednesday. On a really happy note, I found out last night that a childhood friend of the family (the daughter of my mom's best friend) just got a BFP after doing an IVF cycle. They had been trying for 6 years to have a child and have had numerous failures. She lives out of state, but we have been in contact daily throughout her latest cycle - and I actually felt so happy for her that I felt like I myself got a BFP all over again. I am so excited for her and her husband, they have never before gotten this far along.

During my cervix check I got to peak at our little girl again, which made my heart smile. It's nice knowing that while she might feel like there is an earthquake going on in her neighborhood with the contractions and frequent internal checks - that all still is stable with her. In fact at the end of the ultrasound our little girl Spot gave us the thumbs up (if you look closely) to let us know that she was still doing okay, and wanted to hang around for awhile longer.


If you get a chance - go give Lost in Space some kind words and a hug or two - she's just been put through some beta hell after her IVF cycle. Also, if you want to read a really good post about why infertility should be covered by insurance companies for logical reasons - check out When all else fails. I think the bedrest insomnia bug has hit me again and that post sure makes for some interesting reading at 1AM- now if I could just fall asleep :-)

Birthday weekend

First, thanks for all the congrats and good wishes in finding out that Spot is a little girl! We are so excited.

Today I headed down to my parents house to be a bedresting couch potato on their furniture for a change of scenery instead of my own. This weekend was both my dad's birthday as well as my own, and my mom was cooking out for the afternoon. My grandparents and sister's family were there as well. My sister has four little ones (all under the age of 10) of her own so it's never a dull moment! Her oldest three are boys, and the youngest a girl who is 2. My niece thinks that all little girls are princesses, and so when my sister told her this week that "aunt Sara was going to be having a little girl soon" my niece asked if I was going to be bringing a princess to grandma's house this weekend. Hmm, my sister might have a little explaining to do. My niece spent the afternoon asking if I could let her play with the princess because she "really likes little princesses" and is "tired of her brothers" who are home from school for the summer! All this coming from a 2 year old :-) It'll be nice in the years ahead that my sister's youngest and our first are both girls.
Here's a picture of my sister and I at our parent's house today.

It was nice getting out of our house today, even if it was only to my parent's house and their couch to see the beautiful sunshine and grab a quick picture. I promise I was outside for like 30 seconds and returned promptly to where I belonged. My husband and my mom herded me like cattle - not leaving me much choice :-)


All in all it was a great weekend. Yesterday to celebrate my birthday my husband and I ate from a new restaurant nearby called Oce.an Pri.me that is very nice and serves mostly seafood and steaks. (It's funny - these days we eat "from" restaurants instead of "at" them - but it's still fun) I've avoided most seafood lately because it just doesn't sound good to me - but yesterday I choose some salmon in a ginger sauce that was so yummy. I also started out with an iceburg wedge salad that came with crumbled cheese, onion, tomato, and bacon on top. I love those type of salads for some reason - so I was a happy girl. It's definitely a place I would eat from again. Also, I got a really nice gift card for a prenatal massage package that I'm dying to use when I'm having a quiet week and it's okay for me to go. Since it's a prenatal massage - my OB said that it would be fine as long as I wasn't having active contractions, or any other problems that week. Now I just have to have that quiet week (since this wasn't one of them, LOL!) :-)

I'm also finally starting to acknowledge that Spot may actually arrive in just a few short months. I finally got off of my lazy butt and starting some planning - at last! Well, I didn't actually move off my rear, but I did call our painter to come give us an estimate for painting the room we'll be using as the nursery. While he was over we decided to have him plan on painting most of our first floor as well, and fixing some small cracks that we have in a few spots. He does a great job and since our walls are wet plaster instead of just dry wall - it's good to have someone experienced with repairing wet plaster and coved ceilings. Now I just need to get busy picking out some colors. I figure the two weeks he's working in our house my dog and I will just have to spend our days parked on my mom's couch in front of her TV instead of our own so we don't get high off of the paint fumes. Spot might appreciate not getting high as well :-)

As far as what I spent rotting my brain with this weekend - we watched Over my Dead Body with Eva Longoria which was a really cute movie. Also, we started watching a miniseries that was out a while ago called Tin Man that was based on the Wizard of Oz. I wasn't sure if I like it at first, but we're about 2/3rds through and it's pretty good. Tonight starts the next season of Big Brother and we're excited to see this season's cast. My husband used to watch it faithfully and got me hooked the last few seasons. On a more educational note, I ordered the John Adams miniseries from Netflix, so hopefully my already softening brain won't become total mush (thanks Tracy for the suggestion).

I spoke with my OB again this weekend, and although my next appointment wasn't supposed to be for another week from now, he wants to see me again tomorrow. They want to measure my cervix again to make sure things aren't changing too much too quickly, and because I'm still having contractions. I'm not complaining because I always love sneaking another peak at our little girl Spot - but I'd prefer that my doctors weren't seeing me for the second time in less than a week because they aren't thrilled with how things are going. But, once again - I'm just going to try to make believe that I'm a normal boring pregnant woman who just happens to have a lot of doctor appointments and am on a long vacation from work! It's my own little take on the old saying "ignorance is bliss!"

Anatomy scan 18 weeks

Yesterday late afternoon was my 18 week appointment and anatomy scan. My husband picked me up and we headed to the OB office together, luckily traffic during rush hour wasn't too bad and we made it through the city making good time. Once called back for our ultrasound my favorite ultrasound tech was there and had me undress from waist down. I still have a transvag ultrasound to measure my cervix along with the abdominal one for the remainder portion of the scan. Almost immediately little Spot appeared on the screen. Reclining back watching the screen I felt like I was watching a movie where our little Spot played the staring role - honestly they should offer you some nice buttery popcorn while you viewed. Perhaps that will be one for the suggestion box? The tech goes well there's the vagina...and I waited for her to say and there's the cervix and cerclage - but she didn't. She was staring at me. Once again, the tech goes, "there's the vagina." Huh? Wait a minute..does that means Spot is a "Girl Spot?" Yup she smiled, you're having a girl!

I turned to my husband and said, we're having a girl! I still couldn't believe that Spot who I thought was a boy all along was actually a girl! My husband has thought girl all along. Not that we even cared what gender it was, but it's so nice to have some more identity to put with our little one. The rest of the appointment breezed by because I think I was still riding on my little high of realizing that I was not longer just carrying our little "Spot", but rather our little Spot- our daughter.

On the cervix and growth front as well, it was pretty good news as well. Spot was measuring in the 30% - so our little girl is on the smaller end of the spectrum. But heck I will take that, she had all of her parts, no abnormalities were seen, and 30% isn't too bad in my opinion. As I've mentioned with a unicornuate uterus, IUGR (growth restriction) is a main concern - so this is something that we will watch every 2-4 wks with growth scans from here on out. On the cervix front, the cerclage itself is intact which is great. My cervix did get shorter once again from the last measurement - that pesky little bugger! But it didn't get a lot shorter, so once again we'll do more of the same. More bedrest, more monitoring, more watching my cerclage.

I am so grateful that we are fortunate enough to have caught this weeks ago when we did. Since even with bedrest and a cerclage in place my cervix is still shortening - I know without doing the two we wouldn't even have our little girl Spot at this 18 week mark. My OB said that he was so glad we were able to get to the point to enjoy a 18 week growth scan and to be able to find out that Spot was a girl. I know each week is a blessing and that we have all our ducks in a row and everything lined up to do the best we can with what we have. Basically the game plan is that my cervix may continue to shorten, but we all have to hope that it shortens at a slow enough rate. Technically with a cerclage in place, you can shorten to very low levels and hope that you have a strong enough stitched that was placed high enough up to hold things in place.

Most days I'm still having some contraction like cramping. My OB is talking with my peri and I should know more today about what the game plan is for that. All in all, I couldn't be happier. We now know Spot is a girl, she isn't measuring too too small, and my cervix is shortening - but it could always be worse. Yes I'm having contractions, but you know what - I'm only contracting because I still have Spot with us! My husband and I joked that the contractions are just girl Spot's way of say, "Hi mom and dad - yup I'm still here...don't forget about me!"

I'll try to update more if I know anything else as the day goes and hope to have some pictures up later as well. Hope everyone is having a good Thursday, it's almost the weekend!

What Spot is up to this week

(cartoon from babygaga.com)

Happy hump day to all! In middle school whenever we would hear that phrase all the girls would burst into giggles. I have a secret confession to make - I still giggle like a 10 year old girl when I hear it sometime, or at least break out in a smile!

Well Spot is doing some more growing and activity during his or her 18th week:
* The fetus is now 6 inches long and weighs 7 ounces.
* They can hear sounds and may be startled by loud noises.
* Recognizable active and rest periods.
* The skin is building a protective wax layer (vernix)
Vernix (a white cheese like protective material) forms on baby's skin with the lanugo, a soft lightly pigmented hair covering the body and limbs, both help to protect your baby's skin during the months in water. This is a big week for their baby skin. There are now two distinct layers—the epidermis (or the surface skin) and dermis. Currently, their skin is covered Your baby may hear your heart beating, your stomach rumbling or blood moving through the umbilical cord. He or she may even be startled by loud noises.

Tiny air sacs called alveoli begin to form in lungs and the vocal chords are formed. Baby goes through the motions of crying but without air doesn't make a sound; yet.

Your baby may have the same awake and sleep patterns of a newborn. Baby will have a favorite position for sleep and recognizable active and rest periods.

Fun fact for momma’s with baby girls: it’s a uterus within a uterus! Your little girl will have developed a uterus and vagina canal by the end of this week.
Your baby measures about 6 inches (15cm) crown to rump and weighs about 7 ounces (200gm).

I had to giggle (again!) when I read about Spot being startled by loud noises - I wonder if my evening gas sessions count? It's crazy that Spot practices crying and has a favorite sleep position. I wonder if Spot will take after my husband who is a stomach sleeper or me who likes to sleep on her back. (I miss sleeping on my back the last few weeks - the whole side thing just isn't the same.)

As far as the changes that occur in the mom side of things this weeks are:

And how's mom doing? POP! If you haven’t yet, you will soon be seeing the last of your inn-y belly button—until after you’ve pushed your little monkey out. If it’s getting difficult to breathe, you can thank your not-so-small belly for squishing your lungs—which will be more and more cramped for space as the pregnancy progresses. Not that this is surprising as everything else in your mid-section is getting properly squooshed as well. Keep in mind that as you grow (and grow and grow) in size you produce more blood (for both of you), which lowers your blood pressure. So standing up quickly and/or occasional fast movements may cause slight dizziness or lightheadedness. This is totally normal, but means you shouldn’t be too quick to jump to your feet when your team scores a goal. It's better to just punch the air in excitement or clap gleefully. One more fun pregnancy symptom to add to the list: you are producing more melanin, which can cause dark patches of skin to occur on random parts of your body. Don’t worry—these dark spots (unlike your parent’s age spots) will retreat soon after birth.

Well, I definitely don't think that belly button has popped yet (oopps - I almost wrote pooped, LOL!), but it definitely has changed in appearance and shape. I've already become somewhat lopsided due to my unicornuate uterus. My bump is more to the left than the right (I have a left UU). Also, the vertical slit that is in inside my belly button looks more like a 45 degree peace sign line tilted to the left since Spot is sitting mostly on my left side in my left sided uterus. I'm hoping that the bigger I get and the uterus expands, that things shift a bit more midline.

As I'm typing this on my laptop a commercial for the Honda CR-V has come on. It's the one where they start out mentioning the word "crave" and they show a soft baked chocolate chip cookie baking and as it gets more formed it turns into a chocolate chip cookie car that is the Honda CR-V. Genius - anything that can combine a yummy chocolate chip cookie and tie it in with a boring car commercial sure grabs my attention! I think all commercials should either contain pictures of vacation spots, puppies, or dessert food aka chocolate chip cookies. But that's just my opinion!

Late this afternoon I have my next OB appointment and anatomy/ growth scan. We have a late day appointment so that my husband can come especially for the ultrasound appointment. I'm hoping that traffic isn't too bad because even though my OB's office is only about 9 or 10 miles away - it'll take a good 45 minutes to get through the city that time of day. Thank you for guessing whether Spot will be a boy or girl - it looks like most people think that there is a lot of blue in our future (my hunch all along as well)! The great thing is that my husband and I don't have a preference either way. As long as my cervix continues to hold Spot in for several more weeks and doesn't try to pull any shenanigans, I don't have a care in the world when it comes to the gender.

So until later this afternoon I will be keeping my fingers crossed for a good cervix measurement and to see that Spot is measuring close to where they should be size wise. I'm interested to see exactly what my cervix is measuring because my last exact measurement by ultrasound of it was two weeks ago. Last week my OB looked at my cerclage and did an internal digit examine of my cervix to see how it was doing - and they can tell pretty well how things are, but they don't have exact numbers like a transvag ultrasound produces. The gender I'm excited about, but not worried about. Now what I am worried about is seeing if I can come up with something that resembles a chocolate chip cookie in my kitchen!

Technologically challenged at the moment.

Ugh, I've been trying to get online and stay online for awhile today. Our home landline is static filled and keeps dropping in and out - we have MCI. Our TV keeps muting on and off and getting fuzzy - we have Comcast cable (we even pay extra for the good channels - double ugh!!) Our internet has been down more than up so far today - we have Comcast cable internet (why oh why have you forsaken me Comcast?) My cell phone has dropped two calls today and also keeps saying "call failed" - I have T Mobile. Well that involves a total of four electronics and three providers. I think I must have seriously pissed in someone's Cheerios this morning or last night and not realized it. Either that or the technology gods are not smiling on me and sending me not the best karma. But, alas...the day is young and I'm hoping that by afternoon some of this is fixed! As long as the ultrasound machine works at the doctors office - I can live without the rest. I'm hoping I can email my sister and mom some pictures of the appointment later, and maybe smack an update on here - but I'll need a little cooperation from the technology gods for that...do you think that they would like a rain dance, or some chocolate chip cookies?

18 weeks

I hope everyone had a fabulous and restful holiday weekend. Thank you so much for the kind words about my grandfather and WWII in my previous post. My husband's parents came up from Ohio and spent the weekend with us. On the fourth in the evening our city does fireworks over the golf course. It's a really nice show and best part of all, we have a clear view from near our house - perfect for me especially right now!
Our first "family portrait with our little Spot" taken at 18 weeks.

Alright here's our first "complete" family photo with our first "furchild" and Spot.


Spot is 18 weeks today - hip hip hooray! Less than two days until our anatomy scan and maybe seeing if Spot is a boy or girl (thanks for voting so far - looks like most people think Spot is a boy, that's my secret hunch as well. But my husband thinks girl.) Most pregnant people are excited about finding out the gender - I am, but am more excited to find out what my cervix is doing, and to find out if Spot is measuring okay size wise.

If you have a moment go over to give Adriane a little hello. She was just put on hospital bedrest for possibly the duration of her pregnancy due to an incompetent cervix - yuck - one of my most current dreaded fears. She is looking for ideas to keep her entertained and good websites that are entertaining as well. I myself can't think of too many great suggestions - so go give her some cool ideas if you can. It's hard enough to keep busy at home on bedrest, but being in the hospital would be so much worse to stay entertained. So if you can - go give her a bunch of good websites, entertainment ideas, or just a hello.

Some more things I learned about bedrest the last week:

1. When you send your husband to the grocery store asking for organic fat free skim milk, he will call from the dairy aisle. My husband is such a sweet guy he phoned and said, "Some milk says fat free and some says skim milk. Which one do you want?" I then say, "Either one honey since they're the same." He tries to get exactly what I ask for, and the poor guy looked through two aisles of milk for one that said skim AND fat free on the label before he called!

2. Speaking of groceries again, my engineer husband has even taken his new duty of grocery shopping and made it all his own. I rarely if ever shopped with a list in the past. When he started going, I had to start making a detailed list for him to take. After about two weeks one evening he showed me the laptop screen. My husband made an excel spread sheet with all of our most common grocery items in categories and blank spaces to add new things. He now obviously has his own little system :-)

3. Most of the time while lying down I do so on my left side. When I roll over to my right side - it's like I'm seeing the room through a whole new set of eyes - aahhh magnificent!

4. I still haven't felt Spot move (which I know it's still early) - but I'm looking forward to this moment so much. During the day and evening I try to lay very still and see if I can distinguish any fluttery feelings or something more recognizable. This is what I have discovered in my grand journey of trying to feel Spot move: I have gas - a lot of gas between 8-9AM and 6-8PM. Yes, I know the baby can feel like gas - but I'm pretty sure Spot isn't releasing the fart that follows these movements during these times, LOL! So I definitely am having movement, just not baby movement yet!

5. While glancing out my window or while sitting outside, I have discovered that five families on our block alone have children that were adopted from various countries - one from Russia, two from Korea, and two from China. I knew that there were a couple of families - but I didn't know the number was as high as 5. The kids range from 3-7 in age. Every Tuesday evening the moms and kids get together and meet at one house for a little dinner/discussion/playgroup/support system for each other. How cool is that?

6. I read two quick and easy reads this weekend that made me laugh the whole time:


Bedrest by Sarah Bilston is a hilarious book about a busy New York lawyer who is put on bedrest for a couple of months towards the end of her first pregnancy. I could really relate to her funny spin on things and about how she struggled to go from having a crazy busy job that she loved, to having to leave it all behind to be a prisoner in her house for weeks on end. The author had been so busy with her job, and then could do nothing when being put on bedrest that she suddenly finds herself weeks away from the baby's arrival with not a single thing bought or prepared for the baby. Yup - that's me. Despite being home all the time now on bedrest - I have not a single thing bought or prepared for the arrival of our little Spot. I think that may have to change, sometime soon. I think my husband has been more worried about getting things settled for us and getting used to doing everything I used to do. Baby preparation has fallen by the wayside the last few weeks, as we adjust to me occupying the couch for the next four months.

Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy is just plain funny. I don't really have to give much explanation - she talks about every untalked about pregnancy body change. She even includes my "Blue Twinkies" that I talked about recently as McCarthy calls them (swollen lady parts). Sully you were right - good choice of a read!

In between those two books I continued to read Middl.esex - which is still really good as well - I'm almost done with that one. One pleasant surprise in that book, is that it takes place in Detroit and makes references to suburbs and landmarks I grew up around.

7. My dog and I are on the same bathroom schedule. I mentioned before that my dog uses a doggie litter box (very different than cat litter) in our back room. Well, whenever I get up to go to the bathroom - if she isn't too busy stealing my pillow - she goes to the bathroom in her litter box. Kind of like the thought that women living together or are close get their periods on the same days.....well my dog and I relieve ourselves on the same schedule! Well now that is one loyal dog :-)


Neela got all spiffy for the holiday weekend and broke out in one of her new shirts for company at our house yesterday. But by the end of the weekend, I think she was glad to rejoin me back on the couch. I have to admit I did miss her while she was running around with my husband's parents from lap to lap.

Well, I'm off to rot my brain on some more TV - I'm finally caught up on America's Ne.xt Top Model from last season so far. I'm thinking maybe it's a Crim.inal Minds kind of TV watching day perhaps? But more importantly, I really should start browsing some websites for baby things. I swear the whole bedrest thing may have me taking online shopping to a whole new level. I seriously have not looked at anything, or heavens forbid bought anything for Spot yet. One of these days I have to start because if not my husband will be running out to buy an infant car seat the day we're released from the hospital!

Fourth of July Memories

My grandparents were married at the start of WWII, and shortly afterwards they gave birth to my mother in 1942. They lived in Detroit (originally both from Poland) at the time, and my grandfather played baseball for a semiprofesstional team. Soon he actually had two offers of interest from two professional teams. This was all put on hold when he made the decision to enlist and go overseas to join the numerous American soldiers fighting. He left behind my grandmother, and my mother who was two years old at the time. In December of 1944 as the war was getting closer to the end, my grandfather was killed east of Metz, France close to the German border. At first my grandmother was notified that he was missing and presumed to be dead, but it was several months before she could be at peace with the actual knowledge that his body was finally found. My grandfather was buried in St. Avold France.

The picture up top left was taken when my grandfather's brother visited his grave in France shortly after the war ended. You can see the fresh dirt that covered the cemetary with footprints in the soil - so new that even grass hadn't grown yet. The one on the top right is of my grandparents and my mom here in Detroit prior to him leaving for the military. When my grandmother gave me these pictures years ago, they were already old and crinkled, so the quality is not the best - but they're something I'll always treasure. After my grandfather's death, my grandma worked three jobs and raised my mother on her own for several years. With so many others doing the same - it's no wonder they've been nicknamed the "Greatest Generation."

My grandmother has been over to France to visit his grave a couple of times when she was younger. She is now close to 90, and doesn't make many trips other than to church or out to eat. Something that I always wanted to do growing up was to visit my grandfather's grave at the American Cemetary in St. Avold. So last fall, my husband and I booked a three week trip to France and one of our stops was St. Avold. To say it was one of the most moving experiences of my life would be an understatement. Were there was once dirt and the footprints of soldiers like my great uncle in the top photo is now green grass, trees, and a chapel. The cemetery has thousands of American soldiers buried there that died in WWII, the grounds are impecable, and it is run solely by the American government even though it is located in France. Staff from the cemetary meet you at the train station (St. Avold is super tiny with not a lot of taxis), take you on a tour of the cemetary to your loved one's grave, help you with lunch arrangements, and help you catch your train ride out later that day.

Here are a few pictures from the cemetary. The man from the army helping us locate the grave helped my grandfather's name show up on the marker for our picuture. Because the crosses are so smooth and all white, the name won't appear in pictures taken. So the military men working at the cemetary put actual sand from the beaches of Normandy that they keep on site, over the name so it will temporarily be visible for a photo. I thought that was the coolest idea, and was very symbolic as well.


We had a really nice trip and although we rented an apartment in France for three weeks, the time flew by. I do have to admit it was nice to get home to see our little dog that my parents watched for us and took great care of!
(we were traveling just the two of us, so my husband got better each day at holding the camera out in front of us and blindly taking photos of the two of us. That's why his arm is in a lot of pictures. We took over 600 photos, but here's just a few.)

Some pictures from the Tuileris Gardens:





We took a few boat ride tours on the Seine - windy hair days :-)

We tried to walk somewhere new to dinner each night - definitely got a lot of exercise!


Church where much of the DaVinci Code was filmed (where the line lights up)



After the Da Vinci movie and book, alterations were made to the actual church structure and that are over a hundred years old- wiped out - kinda crazy!

One day we climbed to the top of the church Sacre Couer and the sky was all windy and stormy with different layers of colors.


On the major holidays my husband and I have flowers sent to be placed on my grandfather's grave. Someday, we'll return again to visit - this time with our little Spot once they get old enough to make the plane ride. I think it's important to show the next generation in our family the sacrifies that their relatives made for them. I wish I could have met my grandfather, I would just like to give him a hug and say a simple, "thanks." This weekend on the fourth of July, I'll remember all of those who made that similar sacrifice. I hope that everyone will take the time to thank someone serving our country as well as the thousands who already have.