Liven up your costume!

I have always loved the month of October. Maybe because to me it signals the real beginning of fall. Maybe because Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Or maybe just because it starts the beginning of what I call the "Holiday Season." Around this time every year, I get out my fall decorations and Halloween pumpkins. And it's time to start thinking about a Halloween costume! This year Zenni Optical can help you take your costume to the next level with their Zenni Optical Halloween eyeglasses. There are several different frame colors and shapes or even lens tints to choose from. These orange and black ones are my favorite! ZenniOptical is the #1 online eyeglasses store offering high quality prescription eyeglasses from $6.95. They take great pride in offering high quality eyeglasses at truly unheard of affordable prices. If you're looking for the perfect frames to match your Halloween costume, hurry over to Zenni Optical and place your order to ensure Halloween delivery! **This is a paid post for Zenni Optical through SponseredReviews.com

Come see my new blog!

Okay, so I know that I have been neglecting this blog in the worst kind of way. But I started a new blog over on Wordpress. I wanted to not only keep a personal journal of my journey but also try my hand at reviews and giveaways. It's not earning me enough money to quit my day job (unfortunately!) but I have gotten some pretty cool products. Anyway, come follow my new blog Healthy Housewife Files to keep up with how my pregnancy is going and to have the chance to win some cool products!

12 weeks and 2nd OB appointment

Yay for finishing the first trimester and moving right in to the second with flying colors! We had our 2nd OB appointment today and it went really well. It was really short...we sat in the waiting room longer than we were actually with the doctor. We heard the heartbeat which was awesome because it was much louder with their machine than it is on mine. I showed her where I had been finding it and she found it right away. It was in the 150s. I have gained ZERO pounds!!!!!!!! She was so proud of me. (Remember she told me it wouldn't hurt me to lose a few pounds.) My bp was great and my sugar was great! I love my doc. She ended the visit by giving me a hug and saying, "I'm so excited that you're feeling good and that everything is going so well for you!"

Best Moment of the Week:Definitely hearing the HB on the doctor's Doppler.

Entertaining Comment/Question of the Week: Can't really think of one. DH has made any funny comments lately. He's been working too much. :-(

Obsession: Still popsicles. And SweeTarts. Mmmmmm!

What I Am Most Looking Forward to This Week: Vacation! We are heading out to Branson, MO on Saturday. A whole week away from work and every day bothersome things.

What I Miss the Most: Sleep is still at the top of this list. However, i have greatly enjoyed being off work this week so that I can take as many naps as I want to!

Symptoms: Still feeling really good! I do seem to get full really fast when I eat and hungry more often, which has led to eat less more frequently. Maybe that has helped with the no weight gain!

11 weeks

Best Moment of the Week: Definitely this would be hearing the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler that I ordered off eBay. It took me forever to find the HB because I really didn't know where to look or what I was listening for, but when I found it, I knew exactly what it was! What a cool sound!!!

Entertaining Comment/Question of the Week:These all come from sweet DH. The other night we came in from dinner and he said, "Do you think we're ready for a baby?" Uhm....too late to worry about that now!!

Obsession: Still digging the popsicles. Cool and refreshing in this nasty heat!

What I Am Most Looking Forward to This Week:This is actually not even baby related, but I am most looking forward to being out of school for our 2 week summer break. Friday is my last day of work for awhile and it cannot get here soon enough!!

What I Miss the Most: Still sleep. Will I ever sleep again???? Between dogs wanting to go out, not being able to get comfortable, and having to pee all the time sleep is just not happening for me.

Symptoms: I seem to be one of the fortunate ones who doesn't have a lot of symptoms. I have had a few nauseous moments (mostly from eating too much) but cannot say that I have experience morning sickness at all. I am most definitely still tired, but there have been many days lately that I haven't needed a nap to get through the day. Yay for being so close to 2nd trimester!!!

10 weeks

Wow. We are 25% of the way to a new baby! At times, it seems like it is going by too fast, but at other times it seems to take forever to get to my week milestones. I'm so excited to be in double digits now and getting sooo close to sliding in to the 2nd trimester.

Best Moment of the Week: Hmm. Maybe being hungry again. And being able to eat without wondering if it will all come back out later. I still have not experienced full blown "morning sickness" but I have had a couple of overwhelming waves of nausea and not been interested in food. Even food that I normally love. That seems to be getting better now though.

Entertaining Comment/Question of the Week: This would be courteousy of my dear husband while walking through the baby section of Walmart. Me: "That's a Pack N Play. We'll need one of those." DH: "What for?" Me: "To take to the lake with us or on vacation or to our parents house so the baby can take a nap and not have to be on the floor." DH: "We don't need one of those. We aren't going anywhere until the baby is at least 3. That means we won't need a stroller or a car seat either." He has a lot to learn about babies.

Obsession: Popsicles. So refreshing!

What I Am Most Looking Forward To This Week: I bought a Doppler on eBay and I can't wait until it gets here so I can try to find the heartbeat. Hopefully the Doppler will be easy to use and the heartbeat easy to find so that I don't stress out about not hearing it!

What I Miss the Most: Sleep. Still. And I know this is just the beginning.

Symptoms: I'm still really tired after work each day and need a nap most nights. I'm so excited that my bloating seems to be getting a little bit better. Other than that, I'm still pretty much symptom free. Still praying it's a huge blessing and not a sign that something is wrong.

Bright Beginnings Formula

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PBM Products for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have always just known that when I had kids I would breast feed.  As an Early Childhood major, all of my early development classes stressed the advantages of breast milk over formula.  And  on paper there's no way you can argue that it's best for baby to have breast milk.  However, I know that there are certain circumstances that are out of our control that may completely derail our plans to breast feed.  For example, when my sister had my nephew, her milk never came in.  You can't feed a baby if there's no milk there!  She had no choice but to use formula.  Some women have trouble getting the baby to latch on correctly and end up using formula to make sure that the baby is getting the nutrition that it needs.  So while, I plan on breastfeeding this little one, I know that there is a chance that I will end up needing formula.

With so many different brands out there to choose from, how do you know which one is best?  Or which one will agree with your baby?  One brand is Bright Beginnings.  Bright Beginnings is now available to buy on diapers.com.  There are several different varieties such as Organic, Soy, Premium, and Gentle.  You can choose a single can or a 6 pack.  Right now www.diapers.com has free shipping on these products as well as a coupon code for 10% off for new customers. 

Please visit Bright Beginnings on Facebook to find out more information about Bright Beginnings products!

9 weeks

Again, yes, I realize that I totally skipped over 8 weeks. I believe I might have slept through week 8 as well as week 6. I can barely keep my eyes open once I get home from work. We finally had our first OB appointment after a long and anxious wait. I was so excited that she did an ultrasound to help ease my mind and see that yes, I really am pregnant, and yes, things really are fine!

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing our little jelly bean's heart flashing away!

Baby is measuring right on track and growing like he/she should. Because of my age, I have to go to Little Rock for a Level 2 ultrasound just to make sure that all is well. I'm actually very excited about this because we'll get to see our little one in detail!

Entertaining Question/Comment of the Week: My Dad's response to our news was, "I wonder if it will have 2 legs or 4. Everything other living thing at your house has 4."

Obsession: Chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, & chocolate milkshakes. YUM!

What I Am Most Looking Forward to This Week: Every week I just look forward to making it to the next week. I am estatic to be at 9 weeks!!! But in the back of my mind I always know that anything can happen at any time.

What I Miss The Most: Sleep. Definitely. I wonder if I will ever sleep a whole night through again. It's difficult to find a comfortable position and I can only sleep for a couple of hours at a time before I have to pee!

Symptoms: I am so tired! Every day. Even when I first wake up. I have to take a little nap when I get home from work in order to make it til 9pm. My house is a wreck because I don't have energy to do anything! And this bloated up belly! Wow. I look like I'm least 4 or 5 months along. I'll be glad to reach the 2nd trimester so maybe this bloat will ease up some!

7 weeks

Yes, I am well aware that I completely skipped over 6 weeks. I'm pretty sure that I napped pretty much all the way through week 6. Sorry! But here is the latest update! Time is still dragging by as we wait for our very first OB appointment. We still haven't told anyone in real life other than a couple of my close friends who have followed our journey very closely.

Best Moment of the Week: Shopping for and trying on maternity clothes! My jeans and shorts absolutely will not button! I tried a bella band, and it works for most times, but there are some shorts/pants that it just won't stay put. So I have busted out the maternity shorts to wear to work. My XL work shirts cover up my belly for the most part, but it won't be long before people will start noticing. I'm sure that most of my belly at this point is just bloat as the baby is only the size of a blueberry.

Entertaing Question/Comment of the Week: Hmm. Nothing really entertaining being said this week. But I expect that will change as soon as we start sharing the secret with others!

Obsession: Looking in the mirror to see if I have a real bump or just an extra roll of fat!

What I Am Most Looking Forward to This Week: Definitely our doctor's visit and hopefully an ultrasound showing a beating little heart. That will make me breathe a small sigh of relief. My biggest fear is that I will go in to my appt and the doctor will have me pee on a stick and it will be negative and they will wonder what kind of psycho I am thinking I am pregnant all this time.

What I Miss The Most: Working out at the gym. I know that it is perfectly safe and normal and even good for me to work out, but I am still paranoid. I hope that after visiting with the doctor, she will help to put my mind at ease and I can get back into my gym routine. I have been doing Prenatal Yoga and Prenatal Pilates DVDs at home so I am at least getting some exercise.

Symptoms: Still T-I-R-E-D! My boobs have quit hurting and aren't quite so sore. I had a couple of days of on and off mild queasiness but (knock on wood) no full blown morning sickness. I am thankful for that, but in the back of my head I can't help but wonder if that means things are not developing like they should. And the newest: constipation! Ugh! I'm trying to drink lots of water, eat healthy, and do my exercises to help keep things moving, but so far I've not been too successful.

5 weeks

Already! This week went by pretty quickly and for that I'm glad! It still feels like the time until my first appt is dragging by so slowly! We still haven't told anyone in real life other than the same select few friends. It's so hard to be around our families and not share our news though! I can't wait until we can spill the beans.

Best Moment of the Week: Getting my box of maternity clothes in the mail from Old Navy! We're going to Branson this summer and I needed cute stuff to wear. I picked things that are high waisted and flowy, because I won't really be showing by then, but I won't be able to wear my normal shorts & jeans either.

Entertaining Question/Comment of the Week: I was talking to a coworker earlier in the week and we were discussing our husbands. I told her that DH told me that I had been extremely cranky lately, and she asked "Are you pregnant?" Uhm, yeah! But I didn't tell her that. I just kind of blew the comment off. :-)

Obsession: My Baby Center app on my phone. It gives me a fact/tip every day. At lunch I *have* to read my fact/tip!

What I Am Most Looking Forward to This Week: Making it past 5w4d. That's the day I had my miscarriage the last time, so I think that if I can get to 5w5d I will feel so much better!

What I Miss the Most: Sleeping all the way through the night! I have a hard time getting comfortable since I am used to sleeping on my stomach. And I wake up to pee around 3am or 5am (or both!) every night. I guess this is God's way of preparing me to get up with the baby!

Symptoms: Still very tired. I took a personal day Friday to work on my transcription class and had to take a 2 hour nap after lunch! Still have a strong aversion to the smell of oranges. One of the children opened his orange juice and the smell almost did me in. I had to stand on the other side of the room until he finished it! And a new addition to the list: indigestion! I've always heard that if you have indigestion, then your baby will have a lot of hair. We'll have to see if this turns out to be true!

4 weeks

I'm excited to have made it this far!!! And I hope I have many, many more weeks ahead. We are still not telling anyone in real life. My first OB appointment is May 26th. Hopefully we can do an u/s and then have pictures as visual aids when we do tell. Doc is keeping me on the progesterone. She says it can't hurt. I know that it may have absolutely nothing to do with anything, but in my mind it is what's making everything okay, so I appreciate them indulging me.

I'm going to steal the format for my weekly updates from Mrs. D. simply because I like it. :-) I've been following her story and have enjoyed reading her updates hoping that I may some day be able to follow in her shoes. Thanks for all the encouragement Mrs. D.!

Best Moment of the Week: Seeing that precious word "Pregnant" on the digital test! And knowing that these lines are so much prettier than the ones I had with my last pregnancy.

Entertaining Question/Comment of the Week: None yet since really no one knows. However, I did find it highly entertaining that my husband evidently feels that pushing a buggy around Walmart is too strenuous for a newly pregnant person. He almost fought me in the store when I tried to push. LoL!

Obsession: The 13 positive tests on the bathroom cabinet. I look at them everytime I go into the bathroom just to convince myself that it is real. I also pee on a test every morning just to verify that the line is still there and is still dark.

What I am Most Looking Forward To This Week: Making it to 5 weeks. And I know this is going to sound crazy, but I'm looking forward to more symptoms. I never really had any with my other pregnancy and look how that turned out. Some symptoms might help to convince me that everything is okay.

What I Miss The Most: My afternoon cup of coffee. I have read in many places that caffeine can be blamed for some miscarriages. I definitely do not want to do anything that might possibly cause me to miscarry again, so I will have 1 cup of coffee in the morning and NO MORE!

Symptoms: I do have some symptoms. I am extremely tired. I went to bed last night in the midst of all the tornados and storms. I'm am usually glued to the numerous weather radars and websites watching the storms because I am so fascinated by them. I have had a little wave of nausea here and there. Yesterday when a co-worker was eating an orange the smell of it almost sent me over the edge, and then again this morning before breakfast, but once I got something in my stomach it was okay. I'm not really a big fan of throwing up, so it will be okay if that's NOT one of the symptoms. :-)

It's starting to sink in

Now that the initial shock has worn off and our happy Easter news is starting to sink in, I'm a little nervous. For several reasons.

1. It is so freakin early! This could just be a chemical and I could start my period at any time.
2. We really don't know what caused my miscarriage last time. I am on progesterone supplements, but what if it was genetic?

If you read my blog and know me in real life, please keep our secret. So far only DH and a few choice friends know the news. We haven't even told our families and probably won't for awhile. For several reasons.

1. It is so freakin early!
2. We really don't know what caused my miscarriage last time.

I only made it to 5w3d last time. I imagine my OB won't even see me until at least 8 or 9 weeks. That is still so long away. I called the RE this morning, but they were closed for Good Friday. He mentioned wanting to do some tests (not sure what) if we got a positive, so I guess I will wait to hear from him on Monday. There's nothing really to do to sustain the pregnancy other than progesterone which I am already doing, so if it isn't going to last, there is nothing I can do about it.

I am extremely paranoid considering what I went through last time, but I have decided that I am going to try to relax and enjoy every minute that I get to be pregnant. Whether that is 1 day, 5 weeks, or an entire 9 months. I hate that a m/c can take so much of the joy out of any pregnancies that may follow. I told DH and he didn't seem very excited. When I told him that his response was, "Well, I got excited last time and ended up even more disappointed." I can certainly understand where he is coming from.

So any prayers from any of you would be greatly appreciated!

and the Easter bunny came early!

This is what he brought:

Hoping for an Easter egg!

Sunday I will be 12dpo.  I'm hoping to see two pretty pink lines.  I feel pregnant.  I'm wiped out by 5pm.  Can hardly keep my eyes open.  My back is killing me.  Have not slept good the past 3 nights.  These, of course, are not only pregnancy symtoms, but also symptoms/side effects from the Prometrium (which by the way was not as bad as I thought!)  I would love to see a positive test, but at least I know that if I see a negative I will at least have the assistance of the RE on the next cycle!

This is the longest cycle ever!

I am ready to 1) be pregant or 2)know I'm not pregnant and move on the the RE's plan.  Obviously choice #1 is my favorite of those two, but knowing how my luck works it isn't the most likely.  I *think* that I might have ovulated.  I had pos opks for the past 2 days and felt some minor ovulation pain night before last.  I really thought that my temp would jump up this morning, but no such luck.  Hoping to see that jump tomorrow. 

I went to the pharmacy yesterday and picked up my Prometrium prescription.  Did I mention that they are suppositories?  That ought to be interesting.  I'm to take them at night.  Supposedly it's less messy.  Hopefully they won't make me sick and they will get my progesterone numbers where they should be since I'm not doing Clomid this cycle.

After 14 days of Prometrium, I test.  If positive we all sing and dance and say Hallelujah.  If not, we fuss and stomp and cry and call the RE to set up CD3 testing for both me and Matthew.  I sure would enjoy a good song and dance.  :-)

and the RE says.....

Wow. What an overwhelming day. We left around 8am and got back home around 7pm. I got to do lots of shopping and lots of eating and had a great time with DH. But man, our visit with the RE left us both with wide eyes and spinning brains. I loved the RE. He's from Guatemala and has an acccent so you have to really concentrate on what he says. He had an emergency surgery, so he was late to our appt and apologized profusely for keeping us waiting (only about 30 minutes) on our first visit. He went over all the records from my gyn and previous tests as well as my FF charts. He told us in detail how IUIs and IVF works and in what situation he would want to use them. He told us we had excellent insurance but that we have $15,000 lifetime for infertility and we want to make sure that we use that in the best way we can.

He wants to do another SA for DH because for diabetics morphology is a concern an his last SA didn't measure that. He did an ultrasound of my uterus to measure it. Said it's normal and my lining was thin but prob due to being at the beginning of my cycle. Then he did a vaginal ultrasound to look at my ovaries. In my left ovary I had 5-6 follies with one looking really nice. Then he poked and prodded and dug around but couldn't find my right ovary. I was extremely alarmed, but he didn't seem concerned. He said that if my bladder had been a little more full he might have seen it easier or that sometimes ovaries are sitting up high????? Anyway, then we went back to his office and he gave us our options

1. come back tomorrow for an HSG and schedule another SA to measure mophology then move forward with timed intercourse for this cycle and start with CD3 baseline and IUI for next cycle.

2. continue this cycle as is and start fresh with CD3 b/w, HSG, SA and IUI next cycle if we don't get a BFP. He gave me a Rx for prometrium to take during the 2ww so that prog will be where it needs to be

We chose #2 because I couldn't go back tomorrow.  Plus, he says that the 1st month off clomid is notorius for BFP and maybe we will get it by ourselves without having to go through more testing.

All in all I feel good with what we discussed. I wish I could have done the HSG today.  He said that if he hadnt been running late, he could have gotten me in. I'm very concerned about the lack of finding my right ovary. He told me that he could tell I was upset about it but not to worry because it could just be because my bladder was empty. He said we'll look again next time. Wow. What a lot of info! Gotta let it all process for awhile.

Tomorrow is the day!

I'm so excited about my appointment tomorrow.  I've got the new patient packet (all 11 pages-front and back) filled out in a folder with all my insurance info, all my charts, and a list of questions I want to ask.  When they called to confirm my appt, the lady said she had checked my insurance benefits and wanted to let me know that I would be responsible for the 20% that insurance didn't pay.  WOO HOO!  I was so afraid I would be responsible for 100% that insurance didn't  pay.  Yay for insurance!  That took a huge load off of my shoulders. 

One of the questions in the new patient packet is:  What do you expect to gain from this visit?  Hmm.  A baby????  Yes, in the end, but probably not in this visit.  So how about, uhm, I don't know, A PLAN!  Yes, a plan would be great!  Preferably a plan that does NOT include Clomid.  I'm mad at dear Clo Clo and need a break from her. 

I probably won't be able to sleep tonight due to excitement and nervousness.  Prayers for me please. 

We're off to see the RE!

After another disappointing cycle, my doc agreed to refer me to a Reproductive Endocrinologist.  I really figured that we'd have to wait at least a month to get an appointment, so you can imagine my surprise when she called and told me my appointment is THIS Tuesday.  I'm beyond excited.  I figure that this first appt will be a "get to know you" type deal where we discuss our history and look at all my b/w, charts, etc.  Hopefully though, we can come up with a plan to find out what is going on and what needs to be done about.  I was hoping to get my new patient packet in the mail today, but it wasn't there.  Maybe tomorrow. 

Spring break has arrived!

I am so excited to say that I am finally on spring break!!!!!!!!!!!  I plan to fully enjoy my week.  I have a whole stack of books calling my name. 

Sunday we are going to Bossier to was the first round NCAA regional.  I was over the moon happy to find out that my Lady Techsters will be playing!  Can't wait to cheer for my girls again. 

I will be going to get my 7dpo prog test before we leave town.  I hate that it falls on a Sunday because that means I have to check in through the ER and they don't always know what they are doing in there.  Hopefully I can get the results back by Wednesday.  I'm not sure what to expect this time.  I don't think that my prog is as high this cycle as the last 2.  My temps  have not been even close to as high this time and they've been a flatline.  Someone suggested that maybe I needed a new thermometer, but it has different temps at other times during the day, so I don't think that's it.  Maybe the fact that this chart is different is a good thing?

Sick Day

I got up this morning, took a shower, had a cup of coffee, and then called in sick.  I have a bajillion sick days because I hardly ever use them.  I'm saving them in case I need to take lots of trips to RE.  (translation for Mandy:  reproductive endocrinologist)  But today, I just have to use one.  I feel WAY better than yesterday, but still have some soreness.  I just didn't feel like chasing kids.  Still hurts a little bit to move, and I don't even want to try to put on clothes.  So, I went back to bed, slept a few more hours, and now am lounging on the couch in my night shirt with the dog.  I prob could have made myself get up and go, but I think I will use my hard earned sick days to relax and let the sperm and egg have a very calm and quiet environment in which to meet up!

I still don't like Clomid

So finally yesterday (CD 17) I get my postitive opk.  Ovulation seems to get later every cycle.  I was really hoping for a temp jump today but no such luck.  And then this afternoon about 4, the pain started.  It's a constant ache with sharp stabs of pain every now and then.  Like every time I try to stand up.  Or change position.  Or breathe.  This is like the worse AF cramps I've ever had.  Times 10.  I did manage to cook supper, but could hardly sit at the table to eat.  My sweet hubby cleaned up the kichen for me so I could go back to the couch.  If I wake up and I still hurt like this, I'm not going to work.  I can't.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a new (and better) day!