Getting even closer!

64 days left!! Holy Moly!

The nursery has made some huge steps towards completion. The hardwood floors are DONE! and look amazing. Derick and Kevin really worked hard, and had sore backs to prove it. Now we are just waiting for the furniture to come in. The crib, changing table and chest are slated to come this week. I can't wait to put them all together. Once the nursery is done, I think I will be 'ready' for this baby.









Derick and I had our one-day birthing class this past Saturday. The strange thing is that I didn't really learn anything new, but I really liked hearing it again. The more I hear the options, the more open minded I am becoming on going with the flow. Although ideally I would like to go IV-free (epidural included), I know I can't control this, and as long as I have a happy, healthy baby, I don't care how the baby gets out!

Also, I have included a couple of my favorite maternity photos. A friend of ours, Sarah Swan took them, I love how they came out. Just one more way for Derick and I to be together and get mentally prepared for this baby!

Making Progress!

Now I am nearly 27 weeks along, which means only 94 days left to go!!! We have kicked the nursery room planning up a couple of notches. The hardest part by far was cleaning out all the STUFF we had in that room. Four years in this house, and we have accumulated a lot. Some of the boxes were from moves over 10 years ago. It was kinda fun going down memory lane, but after a while it gets overwhelming. We moved Derick's office into our bedroom for now because we have a pretty big room and I didn't want to lose the guest room for when we have visitors. The plan is that we will permanently move the office to the basement, when we finish. (No real start date on that, just "someday")

My inspiration for the nursery came from the movie, "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium". I thought it would be really cool to have a Toy store themed nursery. I like the idea of not having the room too matchy-matchy, and toys can be girl or boy. We have start acquiring fun things to go in the nursery like a sock monkey, kids books, and lots of firetrucks from Derick's old collection. So I thought yellow was a good gender-neutral color, and the stripes were fun.

Below you can see the start to finish progress of the painting. I had the best helpers for the painting, Mom and Whitney. Dad, Jonathan, and Derick also provided the 'muscle work' when we needed it. I am so thrilled with the end result, but I doubt Whitney will ever opt for painted stripes in her own home! The chair rail is a basket weave, and was stained to match the baseboard and window trim. You may notice that we put Koda and Winston's paw prints on the wall as well so the baby can know how excited the dogs are to meet him/her.

BEFORE:



DURING:









AFTER:



Derick and i are going out in search of flooring today. I think we decided on a dark bamboo floor. The room is so big, and the color is bright so I think it will work out great. Once the flooring is in, we can order the furniture and wait til we have a precious baby to use the room!!!

Whenever I think of how many days are left, I keep singing, "99 bottles" song. Except this time it will be "99 bottles of MILK on the wall...."

Week of the Carrot

Weeks seems to keep flying by! 21.5 weeks this is really happening. I sometimes want to pinch myself because I can't believe it. I still feel great. I am starting to feel the baby. I am not talking about feeling it move, but actually can feel the baby's weight resting on my organs. Sometimes it is uncomfortable, especially after a 2 mile walk, but most of the time it is a cool feeling.

Because we just bought the store, we don't have the oppurtunity to go on a real babymoon. So instead of taking a week to go somewhere "one last time" we are trying to take a few weekends to do fun things. This last weekend, we went to Mohegan Sun for business and pleasure. The New England Pharmacists held a continuing education program so we were able to get the rest of our required CE for the year, and we were able to dabble in the slots. Derick and I broke even, but Courtney won over $100! Yeah Courtney. It was great seeing her and Neal. We are psyched that their pharmacy is doing well also. Just a bunch of pharmacy geeks.



I am especially excited for this weekend because Derick and I are going to Babies R U to register! Mixture of all my favorite things; being with Derick by ourselves, getting excited for the baby and most importantly...SHOPPING! I think this might be an overwhelming task for even me, but I am ready for the challenge. :)

Two last thoughts...
1. My roomate Em is doing the Ironman this weekend in Kona, HI! For those of you that are not familiar with triathalons, this is like the biggest and best of them all. Can you imagine doing an 2.4 mile swin, 112 mile back, followed by a full marathon??!! Nope neither can I, makes me tired just thinking about it. But Em is doing it and I am so proud of her. Not only did she spend the last year training for this, she also put her life on hold to care for her brother. She is such an inspiration...GO EM! You can follow her progress this Saturday at : www.ironman.com her bib # is 1763.




2. Derick and I are blessed to have such wonderful parents. They have all been more than generous, helping out in ways that only they can do. Even though we are "grownup" we still depend on them. I hope we can be as great at parenting as they are.

Halfway there!

I can't believe I am already posting that I am 20 weeks! Time has flown by. I still feel amazing. Aside from becoming a hefflelump, I wouldn't really know that I was pregnant. :) Every week brings new things. I am really feeling the baby move around a lot, it is one of my favorite things. We were all in the car yesterday and baby was moving. Derick likes to think it was because the baby has good taste in music...he was listening to Metallica! As I mentioned my body is definitely changing. I started to notice a bump around 16 weeks, but now you can really tell. I do like the changes, but I must admit, I didn't realize how emotional I would be about it. I feel like I am active and eating well (or at least better than before pregnancy), but gaining a lot of weight. I know it is for the good of the baby, so I try not to worry to much about it.

On the way to work two weeks ago, I was hit by another car. I went straight to the hospital to get checked out. Baby looked perfect, we even got a shot of the baby sucking its thumb. It is my mom's favorite picture yet.

So now that this pregnancy is "really real", Derick and I are starting to make way for the baby. We will be changing our office into the nursery. When I say office I mean "room with a desk, computer, and LOTS OF JUNK." Right now it is where something goes when we don't know where else to put it. So today is going to be the first of many days working to clean it up and prepare the space. Neither of us are too excited about this step, but it has to be done. It will be interesting to see what we find. Some boxes have been in the room untouched since the day we moved in.

Since we are not finding out the sex or sharing baby names, I will try to update the blog on other things. Especially the nursery. The inspiration for the room is the movie ' Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium'. I want it to be a fun room filled with classic toys and colors. The current idea for the walls is a solid sunbeam yellow on top, and a yellow striped bottom half with chair rail separating the two. I think it should look nice. More to come.

We are having a BABY!!!

Yup that is right! We are pregnant! 13 weeks pregnant to be exact. Everything looks perfect (knock on wood) so far. We have seen the heartbeat, heard the heartbeat, and seen the baby swim around!! We are more than thrilled. This is truly a blessing for us. And to think we got pregnant the cycle after the Reproductive Endocrinologist said everything was o.k.! Guess this was meant to be.

Here are pictures from 4 of our ultrasounds, 6, 7, 9, and 12 weeks. It is so amazing to see how something started as the size of practically nothing and is developing into this wonderful miracle. We are beyond words.

I am excited that all of our family and friends will be able to follow along with our pregnancy and see all the progress.

By the way, the baby is due on or around February 17th.

New life path

So, some of you know about our good news. Derick and I purchased a pharmacy! We are now the proud owners of J.E. Pierce Apothecary in Brookline, MA. It unfortunately happened quickly, and under less-than-ideal situations. But as they say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Pierce is where Derick and I met 10 years ago, so it feels like just another chapter in our life.

Derick has put so much work into the store, just in the last month. During the transition, we had to close the store, and as a result most of the scripts were transferred out of the pharmacy. Luckily, we have wonderful independent pharmacy friends who were willing to serve our patients with the intent of transferring them back to us. We are very thankful for these friends and colleagues.

We are also fortunate to have the two full-time pharmacists stay on with us. They are both so so great. They really bring a great personality to the store and the patients love them. Although our favorite pharmacist, Steve, may be in retirement for now, our goal is to keep his spirit, and mission to serve patients alive in the store.

So if you are ever on Beacon St in Brookline, MA, please stop by and say hi.

Under Construction...

I suggest coming back in the next day or two. Lots of pics/news to share. Just need the time to do it!

:)

T stands for Terrific!

Had my ultrasound today. In fact, I had 3. I had to show up with a full bladder. Let me just tell you how uncomfortable it is when you know you "can't" go to the bathroom. It just makes you want to go that much more. I went 11 hours without going. The first thing the U/S tech said was that I got a "gold star" for the fullest bladder she had EVER seen!

Anyways, she said that my pictures looked great and that everything was normal. Then the Doc came in and did the whole saline/betadine thing so that the picture would be more clear. He agreed that everything looked great. Said that I had a follicle that looked healthy and ready to release. On the last snapshot, they both confirmed that I have a T-shaped uterus. Then they both proceeded to say, "phew that is a relief."  I looked at them with a confused look because I thought that was a kiss of death for a health pregnancy. 

When I met with the doctor afterwards, he explained that it isn't a big deal. And that it is much better than having a septum. The way he explained it was that a normal uterus should be a triangle shape, but that mine was T-shaped. They don't really know for sure but they think T-shaped uteri (like cacti, but less prickly) have an increased risk of miscarriages because it is harder for the embryo to get good blood supply. They don't do anything to fix this, just a matter of try, try again. The doctor was very positive that this will have a good outcome. He said that I might have another miscarriage (or two), but that in the end, we will have a healthy pregnancy. 

I was so relieved after meeting with him. He was really great at acknowledging that this is stressful, emotional, and unfair. But then he said he KNOWS that we will have a beautiful baby. After his years of experience, I am going to believe him.  I feel a lot better, as if some invisible weight was lifted off my shoulders.  Now I am not so worried about WHEN this will happen, because I know it WILL someday. 

I will attach some pictures of a normal vs T-shaped uterus, for your viewing pleasure. The one on the left is normal, the right T-shaped. Don't worry...they aren't mine.  :)

It's been a while

A little birdie reminded me that I haven't updated this page in a while. I can't believe that it has been over a month since my last post. Actually, a lot has happened. Days after my last post, we found out that I was pregnant. I was immediately cautious, trying not to get excited. I had my betas drawn. Betas are a lab to detect how much pregnancy hormone is present. Any thing over 5 indicates being pregnant. But the more important part of betas are whether or not the numbers double in 48 hours. This is the true indication of a viable pregnancy. Ok, enough biology lesson...so my first betas were 27, seemingly good news. However, when I had them repeated 48 hours later, they had only gone to 35. My OB thought this was acceptable, but my instinct said otherwise. I insisted on another round of betas 2 days later. The OB office called back on Friday at 4:45 pm (the waiting is really the hardest part) saying that my numbers had actually decreased back down the 20's. 

So, we have now had 5 miscarriages. I was very sad, but truthfully, I was really expecting it. The "good" news was that this 5th one was during Kristanica (instead of one day of birthday presents, I get 8 Crazzzzy nights) and Derick and I spent my birthday weekend in NYC with our friends Courtney and Neal (the other pharmacy Andersons).  We really had a great time in NYC, doing all the touristy things everyone needs to do once. We saw Ellis Island, Miss Liberty, Times Square, and even rubbed the Bull in the Financial District for good luck. 

After number 5, Derick and I decided to go to a Reproductive Endocrinologist. Dr. Reindollar, from Dartmouth Hitchcock, was highly recommended, and more importantly, covered by my insurance. I think I was expecting him to find this secret explanation. As if he would just look at my chart and shout, "Eureka!" I should have known better. He reviewed our records, and said, "you have both done every test possible and they all look normal."  I swear I have heard this before. The one thing he did note was that my HSG (the x-ray with dye) showed that I might possibly have a T-shaped uterus. He wants to further investigate this. So next Friday, I will go and have a 3-D  ultrasound to confirm this. I have been doing some research and it looks like T-shaped uteri are very rare, and usually were the results of DES (a medicine they used to use to prevent pregnancy loss, but later found out to be teratogenic) exposure. My mom wouldn't have been exposed to this as it was taken off the market in 1971. Even more rare are naturally occuring T-shape uteri. So I guess I will have proof that I am 'one in a million' like Derick tells me on occassion.  If it is confirmed that I have anomaly, the treatment is unknown. Most references say to just keep trying till one sticks. Not exactly the answer I have been looking for.   Most days I handle all this in stride, but other days I get really disheartened.  I know that this story will have a happy ending, but it doesn't make these chapters any easier. 

On a different note, my 2 dog babies are my comic relief. Koda has definitely made room for Winston. The two get along just like brother and sister. When I watch them play, I get flashbacks of Jonathan and me fighting. On the outside it looks serious, but upon closer look,  you can tell they enjoy each other's company. Koda has really become a bossy big sister. She loves pushing Winston out of the way so she can get more attention. I have NO idea where she gets that from. 

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. I will keep you posted when I get the 3D ultrasound results. 

We have an addition to the family!!!

Last weekend we adopted our second baby dog, Winston. He is a lovable chow-pug mix, who was rescued from W. Virginia just like Koda. He is 2-years old, and is the same size and similar color as our baby girl. He took some time getting used to things, but he seems to have fit right in. Koda has decided to also "adopt" him as her baby. She loves to mother him when he does something wrong. It is so interesting to see how similar they are to people. Koda gets jealous of him at times. Like, when he has his arm on her bed, she gets flustered and pulls the bed out from under him!! Now I can appreciate how stressed my parents got when Jonathan and I would fight. 

We got the results from Derick's chromosome testing, everything came back perfect. That was the last test that we were waiting for and now have a green flag to try expanding our human family. We are in no rush, and have decided to let nature take its course. God has a plan for us, and we are going to follow it. :) Who knows, maybe we will end up with 7 dogs! (Just kidding Mom!) 

The good thing with waiting is that we could potentially have a baby in 2010. Why is that important you ask? Well it is a bit of a Napoli tradition to have babies (specially girls in years ending in '0'. Ok here we go, Cousin Karen was born in 70, I was 80,  Cuz Vanessa was 90, my flower girl Kassidy was 00, and potential baby to be would be 10. Pretty cool, hunh? No pressure! 

Happy Birthday Derick!

This weekend Derick and I went to Bartlett, NH to celebrate Derick's Bday. We had a great time. Stayed at a Bed and Breakfast for the first time. I had always been nervous to try this because I never liked the idea of being in someone's home sharing a bathroom with perfect strangers. This was nothing like it. The innkeepers at the Bartlett Inn had a separate area on the property, and we stayed in cute little cottages. Each room had its own gas stove, tv, and yes...its own bathroom. Nick and Miriam, the owners put a lot of care into getting to know everyone, helping with fabulous suggestions for food and entertainment, and providing delicious home cooked breakfast every morning. I would really stay there again, and hope that it will be soon. 

While we were in Bartlett, we went on our first winter hike. We rented snowshoes, packed lunches, and got Koda equipped with her backpack and boots. She was hilarious when we first put them on her. She looked like a marionette with someone moving her legs. I get belly-pains from laughter every-time I watch the video. Once she got in the snow, she was fine. But the boots didn't last. She actually wore through all of the boots. So we let her finish the hike barefoot. The hike was a lot harder than I thought. It takes a lot to balance, truck through the snow, and not fall off the edge. Going down is harder than going up, as it was steep, ungroomed and we fell quite a few times. Koda was the only one in her element. We did have a great time. The scenery was breathtaking. Once you got to the top, you instantly forgot about the fatigue and curse words you may have used earlier. 

That night we treated ourselves to a well-deserved dinner at the White Mtn Cider House. It was recommended from our knowledgeable innkeepers and we loved it. A wonderful four-course meal by a husband and wife chef team. I think I enjoyed Derick's birthday as much as he did, and maybe a little more. 

So what about our TTC  (trying to concieve) journey? Well, the visit with the MD revealed that nothing can explain the 4 m/cs. I have gone through every test possible, and they all came back normal. With the exception of one. When I had the HSG procedure, the films showed that I have spina-bfida. Of course, it is a passive form, so I don't have any real health concerns. But having this makes it exremely likely to pass it on to offspring. So the OB started me on a very high dose Folic Acid, and after 1 month of being on it, it reduces the chances of my future kiddos having it to nearly zero. So I guess, everything really dose happen for a reason. I would have never known about this if I didn't have the HSG. 

So our next steps are to have Derick's chromosomes tested, which will probably not show anything. We were going to have it earlier, but it isn't covered by his insurance and costs a lot of money. We figured we should just get it done now so there aren't any gaps in the testing. Should find out the results soon. In the meantime we are enjoying our freedom and the luxury of being DINKs (double income-no kids). Someday down the road here we will try again. But for now we are loving being just husband and wife. 

So sometimes no news isn't good news.

I had my HSG today. I was so worried that it was going to be painful, but being a pharmacist, I knew to load up on naproxen. It was a totally awkward thing to have to do (I will save you from the details), but I have to say, it wasn't so bad. Would I want to have another one? Uh, no thanks, but it could have been a lot worse.  That is the good news. 

The "bad" news is that everything came back normal. You might scratch you head and ask why normal is a bad thing. And I guess it isn't really, but I was hoping this test would find a problem and be able to fix it. Not the case. So, I guess it is back to the drawing board. But I just feel like we have searched for all possible answers and that there is no explanation to why this keeps happening. 

The only ray of hope today is that, I have heard anecdotally, women who have an HSG tend to get pregnant a month or two after the procedure. I have heard that it could possibly "flush out the lines" if there was a small blockage in the tubes, and that sometimes it can aid in fertilization. So I guess we will wait and see. Maybe the doc has some aces up his sleeve that I am not aware of.  I will follow up with him in a week or so.

Thanks again for all of your love and support. Keep it coming and I will keep you all posted. :) 

I'm a lucky gal.

Nothing really major this week. Just back to the grind after the holidays. Not that it is a resolution or anything, but I have been going and even enjoying the gym. Nothing really impressive, but Yoga on Monday, and Gym- Wednesday, Friday, and usually one day on the weekend. For me, that is pretty good.  Maybe someday I will get the desire to run a Marathon , ha ha.  Em, don't hold your breath. :)

Today, I got to officially use my office! This is a huge deal as nothing in the government is quick. I am still waiting for the lock to get changed, the heat fixed, and arrange the furniture, but at least it is my first office.  I have no expectations that these will be tended to in any sort of a rush, but that is what space heaters are for, right?  It was exciting being in there because after being there for an hour, I had two patient consults, and lots of introductions and welcomes from the staff and providers. They all seem really happy to have clinical pharmacy services.

To make the day even better, Derick sent me the most yummy edible arrangement to the office. There are few gifts more exciting than having a surprise package come to you for no reason, other than to say someone special is thinking of you. We just finished polishing off the pineapples and chocolate covered strawberries....yum yum.  Know what made it even more special? After I took off all the fruit, and discarded the sticks, I was able to wash and reuse the bowl, and compost the lettuce that used to arrange the fruit. It was delicious AND earth conscious! 

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2009! Thought you would never get here. :) 

I had a follow up visit with my OB. Everything is back to normal and doing well. The next step will be for me to get an HSG (hysterosalpingogram). In a nut shell, they will inject a dye into my uterus and take an x-ray. This will be able to definitively diagnose if I have a septum, or heart-shaped uterus. (What a nice name for such a troublesome condition) If in fact this is the case, I will go for a hysteroscopy to remove/fix it. 

So this is actually great news. There is now a more clear picture to what keeps going wrong, and there is an easy (but somewhat painful) fix. I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. 

So what else has been going on? Well we had a fun New Years with Jonathan, Whitney, Heather, and Kevin. We ate chinese and watched the new year come in while rocking out to guitar hero. Koda was not thrilled that we were up so late, way past her bedtime. 

Also, the new job at the VA is going really well. It has been a long orientation process as it is much different from the "real world", but I am really enjoying it. I hope to be in my new office this week. They have also dubbed me as a diabetes expert (hope I can live up to it) so I will be an active participant in the diabetes care. Starting to feel like I am a real clinical pharmacist. YIPPEE!  

My mom likes to say, "as one door closes, more seem to open." I used to secretly roll my eyes at that thought, but who knows, maybe there is something to it. 

What is my New Years resolution? Going greener. Seriously, once  you start to make little changes, you want to do more and more to save the environment. Do you have Comcast? Check out the 'Go Green' channel (#233 for us). It has a lot of cool shows, like 'Renovation Nation', and 'Stuff Happens' (With Bill Nye the Science Guy...he is why I love science so much).  It is amazing how something so easy as using canvas bags vs. plastic can make a difference. Ok...I am off my soap box....time to go hug a penguin. :)