Transfer

Monday (my mum's birthday) was transfer day and the day started with a very long wait for the call from the recovery room nurse about the time we would have to go in and the status of the embryo. We tried to keep busy and of course the call came at 11, just after I had put N down for a nap. We had to be there at 1, it's 45 mins away and I had to figure out dropping N off with a friend first.

N has only ever been cared for by J's parents or my sister. Although we talk about needing to find a regular sitter we haven't done it, but a good friend offered to watch him for us so I nervously headed over there to drop him off. Having to wake him up after only 45 mins made me feel even more nervous and had J so worked up that we decided she wouldn't go for the drop off part and I'd take him and either meet her at the RE's or not if he wasn't ok with being left. Luckily he was a star. He slept a little more on the car ride and woke up when we got there. He was clingy and wanted to make sure I was with him. So we hung out until he started to feel better and started playing. Then I gave him a kiss and headed out. He didn't cry and only asked for me once. Our friend sent us some texts letting us know he was ok. So that helped us both feel better and concentrate on baby making.

Once we got the RE's we still didn't know anything about the embryo. They have changed procedures and defrost the embryo as close the transfer time as they can, cutting down the time it is hanging around. So we were sitting in the office still not 100% sure that there would be a transfer. We headed back to the recovery room and got ready. I put my scrubs on and felt strangely as nervous as I did when we were getting ready for N's c-section! The nurse told us that there was something to transfer, although she didn't know any details and J had a course of acupuncture. The Dr came in and said that the embryo looked the same as it had before it was frozen and that we were ready to go.

We moved into the procedure room. J got comfortable and the embryologist came in and introduced herself. She told us that we would see the embryo on the screen and off she went to get to work. On the screen I could see a drop of liquid with a tiny little dot in it. Turns out the dot was Emy. We watched her suck it up in the catheter, check the catheter to make sure it was well positioned and then it was brought into the procedure room. Then the pic changed to an ultrasound of J's uterus. I'm not sure that either of us thought we'd see much after that, but to our surprise we actually saw the embryo shoot out of the catheter, aimed at just the right spot at 2.33pm. It looked kind of like a firework against the grey of the ultrasound. Then J was moved back to her bed, where she had another course of acupuncture and 25 mins of bed rest.

After the transfer J headed home to rest and I went to pick up N. Who started crying the minute I walked in the house! I had said to J that he probably would cry after holding himself together for the 3 hrs that I'd been gone and that's what he did. He was quickly distracted by showing off his new skill of peeling a clementine without help and we played for a while longer before heading for home.

Now we wait! Our test is scheduled for Wed and J has declared that there will be no cheating with testing at home before then. Let's hope testing on a leap year brings us luck!

Valentines

I started preparing for Valentine's day over a week before the big day by 'helping' N make 28 Valentines for a MOMS club party. I've been in the States for almost 12 years now but I still find the whole Valentine thing strange. Unless things have changed since I last lived in England, Valentines were only exchanged between couples, or sent by horny teenagers to the people they fancied. Here it's so commercial that you can buy Valentines for anyone, from anyone, even the family pet!

We headed to the party on Wednesday and N had a great time. As soon as we got there he wandered off to play, obviously remembering the place from the last party. That is so not like him, usually he stays close to me until he's checked everything out. We played, ate and decorated bags to collect all his Valentines in.

Sadly lots of Valentines were not the only prize N brought home from the party. He also picked up a nasty stomach bug and spent Thursday night throwing up. He or maybe I have gotten so much better at hitting the bowl while it's all coming out. I hate for him to be alone when he's sick - goes back to my own childhood I think. So I slept (or tried to) with him in our guest room, with it's newly installed bed rail for just such an occasion. The last time we shared a bed he fell out, so I was glad to have the bed rail. The next day he was sad and off his food but otherwise OK.

Over the weekend J was not feeling great, so we assumed she had some form of the bug. Just as I was patting myself on the back for escaping it, I got it on Tuesday. Yep, Valentine's Day! As our babysitters have flown south for the winter I'd planned to cook a nice family meal, which I made, but J ended up eating alone when N turned his nose up at it and I couldn't stomach it. It was a rough night and long day on Wednesday at home with N. He was so good and really patient with my desire to stay close to the couch.

Then yesterday we had plans to go to a friend's for dinner. I called her on Wednesday to say that I was recovering from the bug and did she still want us to come. She said she didn't care, so we were still on. Just as I was putting brownies in the oven J called to say she was on her way home from work. The bug got her too! I called our friend and told her we weren't coming and took N shopping instead! Poor J is still feeling rough tonight.

In other news our FET is scheduled for MONDAY! Our precious little Emy, as we nicknamed our embryo is going to be put exactly where it belongs to grow into N's little brother or sister! J started PIO shots on Wednesday, wow I don't think I've ever seen a bigger needle! And I'm the one that is giving them to her. Thanks to the wonderful Internet I read up lots on the correct positioning and lots of tips on how to make it less painful. Again I am amazed and in awe of what my wonderful wife is prepared to put herself through for our family.

After a temporary break N is back to being a potty pro. He made the choice to go back into diapers and we put the potty training on the back burner. Then he started complaining every time his diaper was wet and crying if he pooped. So I asked if he wanted to go back to undies and he said yes. So that's where we've been since last Friday and he's been dry. I think he was only back in diapers for just over a week. He just likes to do everything in his own time and way!

N's language has come on so much. He does a great job of getting across what he wants/needs. Even my parents could figure it out when we were skyping with them. But he has one sentence that is our favourite right now. He says "here go Mommy/Mama" when he's giving you something. It's so cute and much better than his other favourite "I don't want it!"

I love our little guy so much!

Overheard..

N and I took the big boy to his gymnastics class on Thursday and while we were hanging out eating a snack I heard a conversation the big boy was having with one of his buddies. His buddy was talking about the snack N was eating and the big boy said 'That's MY baby eating popcorn!' (It was actually goldfish).

One of the other mother's asked if I'd heard it and commented on how sweet it was. It definitely warmed my heart to hear. Of course only an hour later they were fighting over the same toy, but it was cute while it lasted!!!

Potty regression...?

N has been potty trained for well over a month now. What started with him refusing to put a diaper on, turned into him running around naked and using the potty successfully. Then we introduced underwear and braved leaving the house in them. He has been so great and had very few accidents. But the cold that he got last week and the messed up sleep schedule seem to have caused a regression with using the potty. When I saw his pediatrician the other day, she was first totally amazed that he's using the potty and then said it was totally normal to regress when sick and that he'd get back on track when he started to feel better. But as I picked poop up off the carpet this morning I had my doubts and even wondered if he needs to go back into diapers. He's stopped telling me that he needs to go and if I ask him or take him to the potty he says no! Today I asked him if he wanted to wear a diaper or his 'big boy underwear' and he picked the underwear so we stuck with that and he was clean and dry for the rest of the day.

I'm just not sure what to do. I don't want to confuse him or take away from what he's done but also don't want to be cleaning up accidents all the time, or feel like I'm watching him like a hawk for signs he needs to go. I'm not sure if it's because he's been sick, or because the novelty has worn off. Or if he's just too busy with other things.... His language has really taken off and he now uses 2 or 3 word sentences and is constantly adding new words.

Because he led the way with the whole potty thing I never used any kind of rewards - stickers, candy, prizes etc. And never have with any of the kids I've potty trained over the years. I also don't use pull-ups as I think they are the same as diapers and too confusing. At this point he only wears a diaper at night, he stays dry during naps, and is sometimes dry in the morning too.

He's only 20 months old and his pediatrician said that most kids aren't potty trained until they are 3. Most kids that I've taken care of have been potty trained between 18 months and 2.5yrs so I guess I'm going to give him a bit longer and see what happens.

Snow

We had our first snowfall of 2012 yesterday. I headed off for a 24hr stint at work leaving J and N at home to enjoy the snow.

As much as I love the beauty of the snow I hate driving in it. My usual 25 min commute took close to 45 mins and some of the roads were pretty slick. I certainly didn't grow up dealing with a lot of snow in England and am very thankful that my little car is 4 wheel drive as my boss' didn't plough their steep driveway this time. Guess they aren't banking on the snow hanging around too long.

It was a long day for me, my boss' took their oldest to a 60th birthday party leaving me home with their 3 yr old. I had heard from their other babysitter that the big girl would be brought home to me with her cousin, but as it got closer to 10 I thought it wasn't going to happen. Thinking that they were all going to come home together I decided to go to bed. Then at 11.15 I got a text saying that 3 girls were on their way back to me. I got out of bed and made up the beds for the girls and waited for them to get in. At 11.40 they finally made it home. I had all 3 of them into bed within 10 mins. They were so tired!!!

I think my boss' made it home sometime around 1am and by 3am the big boy was brought into my room by his mom. It's been so long since I've done an overnight there. I forgot that it often ends with me sharing a bed with one or both of the kids! It wasn't the most restful night for me and I was happy to head home this morning! I actually said to my boss that I'd been hoping for a good nights sleep there as N has a cold and has been up a lot during the night the last few nights. Of course the night I'm gone he sleeps through from 8.30 - 8.30!

While I was at work J hung out with N and played around the house. They finally decided to venture out once the snow had stopped falling. I'd been saying that I didn't think he'd really be into playing in the snow this year, but I guess it's not really the snow he hates. It's the clothing that he has to wear that he really hates. He can hardly move in his snowsuit and hasn't mastered using his hands in his mittens.

Not happy with the getup necessary for playing in the snow!

Heading out to check out all the white stuff!

After I got home today I was skyping with my sister when N brought me his coat and hat and said he wanted to go outside. So I bundled him up and out we went. I think it took me the same amount of time to get us ready to go out as we actually spent out there. It was a lot of work for 15 mins!!! But he sure looked cute in his monkey hat :-)

Little monkey!!

IVF

It's been a pretty emotional week for us. We heard on Monday afternoon that our 4 embryos were 'growing slowly and a little disorganised.' So the decision was made to try and freeze them and schedule a frozen embryo transfer instead, as J's lining would not be at the right stage for where the embryos were even if the transfer was pushed back to the afternoon.

On Tuesday morning we heard that one embryo survived the freezing process. That was a shock, going from 7 to 1 was not really what we expected. I don't think either of us thought all 7 of them would survive but we hoped to end up with more than 1. Now J has changed her meds to get ready for the FET in early Feb. All our fingers and toes are crossed that this little embryo will be N's brother or sister.

I feel like J and I have been on some kind of roller coaster with all of our emotions related to this stuff and I hate roller coasters! We do a pretty good job of taking it in turns to be the positive and negative one. But it has definitely been a week of ups and downs. Now we are regrouping and putting all our energy and thoughts into our next attempt.

Seven!

Seven....that's the number of eggs that are growing of the 10 that were fertilized using ICSI on Wednesday, 13 were retrieved total and we are thrilled with the numbers.

I'm in awe of my wonderful, amazing wife. She has handled the IVF process better than I could. She had been giving herself shots every day and enduring my bumbling attempts at giving one every day without any complaints. She has bruises in almost every shade possible!

Now we have to wait. Our RE just implemented a new policy where they do all transfers on day 6, so we have to wait until Monday afternoon for the call letting us know how many embryos we have and how many they plan to transfer on Tuesday. Waiting is so tough, especially as I'm not working this week, but N is keeping me busy with his obsession with play dough! We got him some for Christmas and he can spend hours playing with it - I definitely get bored of it before he does :-)