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.