mom2binnyc

met with our OB-GYN yesterday; she said "it's like greased lightning!" because we got pregnant so fast. She checked me out, said everything looks fine, and we did yet another ultrasound . . . it looked like a kidney bean with a heartbeat.

I braved Bloomingdales and FAO Schwartz today (I didn't buy anything, I was just over on the East side taking a walk) and I have to say I get SO excited about all the holiday decor and the big city. I love all the window displays and the lights and even all the tourists getting their pictures taken by the FAO Schwartz employee dressed as a soldier.

I feel great still, no nausea, nada. A bit extra tired, that's all.

I'm meeting with a professor at the GC tomorrow to hopefully get the ball rolling with my dissertation.

The semester is almost over. I only have to go to Staten Island 4 more times this semester! We're watching Le Genou de Claire in that class since they discuss it in the textbook. So far, I'm not impressed. A man is attracted to 15 year old girls, especially one named Claire, but he only allows himself the pleasure of touching her knee (hence the title). Yuck. Lots of long boring discussions of love and passion, very French, very philosophical. I don't think I'll show it again.

Fun with family over Thanksgiving . . . we went to the Metropolitan Opera and saw "The Barber of Seville" (in Italian). It was my first "real" opera; of course, I had played in the pit for "Die Fleidermaus" in college, but that doesn't really count. :)

I bought my first pair of maternity jeans today from Old Navy. I don't really need maternity clothes yet, I'm not really showing yet, but a couple of my tighter pants are now too small, and I have been getting bloated a lot.

I got a really good message from my advisor. I haven't done ANYTHING this semester for my phd program . . . now that I'm done with classes, I feel really out of the loop. But now I feel like I have some direction, and I feel much better about things. She told me what my next steps are, and I'm determined to follow those steps!

C and I went to the RE's office this morning for an ultrasound. We were VERY nervous since last time we went the doctor said the yolk sac looked too big. And then, when we got to the office this morning, it turned out that our regular doctor who we had the appointment with was gone on an emergency, so we had to meet with the same doctor as last time. So we thought she'd be all negative like last time.

Luckily, as soon as she looked at the ultrasound, she APOLOGIZED for making us worry needlessly!!! She said the fetus looked perfect with a strong heartbeat. She said it looks like a gummy bear (and it does, with a big head, short stubby arms and not really any legs yet) and it's probably the size of a gummy bear as well.

We also asked about the blob, which she said the proper name which is long and complicated and technical sounding -- so we still call it a blob, but she said it should not be any problem at all.

She said congratulations and that we are DONE with the RE's office (until we are ready to try for a sibling) and to send them our baby pictures.

We are so relieved and happy to have gotten good news (finally!) from them.

Now we get to refer to the baby as a gummy bear :)

We went to see the Dixie Chicks documentary last weekend ("Shut up and sing") and I keep thinking about it. I have always liked the Dixie Chicks but after seeing the movie (and after listening to their newest CD a billion times), I LOVE them and I'm bummed we missed them when they were in NYC in August. They'll be back soon hopefully! Anyway, the documentary covers the aftermath since the singer made a comment about being ashamed Bush is from Texas. All the country music stations banned them, she got death threats and everything, it was just crazy how it turned into a huge deal.

There was a side story about the two other Chicks (who are sisters) and their struggles to get pregnant. They both used IVF (and both had twins!) and there's a great song on their newest CD called "So Hard" about AI which is great.

I definitely had pregnancy nausea today. This afternoon after teaching I felt nauseous and exhausted. Then it went away quickly. Otherwise, I'm feeling good. I'm looking forward to my family being here for Thanksgiving. I don't think my parents and all three of my sisters and I have all been together since my youngest sister's bat mitzvah last spring (2005). So it's cool we'll all be together.

I'm going to bake a pumpkin cheesecake which I have made every year for the past 4 years but it's SO easy and good and everyone likes it so I'm going to stick with it.

The embryo is now the size of a raspberry, according to babycenter.com.

Yesterday morning, C and I went in for our 2nd sonogram. The "blob" that we were worried about is probably a blood clot, and the doctor didn't seem concerned about it.

We also saw the heartbeat!

BUT, the doctor said the "yolk sac" (which I never even heard of) seems like it might be disproportionately large, and that this might indicate that something is wrong with the fetus (embryo? whatever). And that I might have a miscarriage.

Well, we were SO upset afterwards. We both had big work days afterwards (well, I was being observed teaching and C had a billion meetings) and it was hard to concentrate on anything. Maybe we overreacted but I just feel like we just keep having to wait and see what happens.

Because my numbers (the hcg levels) didn't quite double between the 1st and the 2nd pregnancy test (113 to 180), they're worried something's wrong and I might miscarry (even though the numbers more than doubled after that, going up to 680 and then 1470).

Because of that weird blob hanging out in my uterus, the doctor said something might be wrong, and I might miscarry.

And now, because the yolk sac looks bigger than normal, something might be wrong and I might miscarry.

We had to give a pep talk to my belly yesterday to encourage Avery/Nora to grow grow grow!

I ended up telling my parents yesterday night, and they were pretty encouraging. They also sent me this: A very large yolk sac may exist in normal pregnancy. When embryonic heartbeats exist, the poor quality and early regression of a yolk sac are more specific than the large size of a yolk sac in predicting pregnancy loss. When an embryo is undetectable, a relatively large yolk sac, even of normal shape, may be an indicator of miscarriage.

This is a good thing to keep in mind; after all, we saw the heartbeat and that seems important. and the yolk sac did not seem to be "of poor quality."

On the 21st, we'll go in for another sonogram with our regular RE, and hopefully he'll have good news for us.

every morning this week I have woken up at 6:30 to the smell of bagels or bread being baked in the bakery downstairs. C can't smell anything but it wakes me up and makes me feel famished! Until I shut my eyes and fall back asleep for a while longer.

I still feel fine. My boobs have grown and I think I'll need new bras soon. They are extremely heavy and pretty sore. I have been a little extra tired too, but not bad at all.

Tomorrow morning, we'll go back to the RE for what will hopefully be one of our last visits there (afterwards, we can just go to our regular OB GYN). They'll look and see what is going on with the "lentil bean" (the amniotic sac) and that weird blob thing.

Maybe it's twins? We keep seeing twins everywhere. There are adorable red-headed twins that are maybe 2 years old in our neighborhood I keep seeing. And today, C saw twin boys that look like Doug Heffernan as a child (from King of Queens) on the train.

By the way, we might be moving to Long Island. We really don't know yet. It's a definite possibility.

I really hope the doctor brings good news (that the lentil bean is developing into a kidney bean and that the blob is either gone or a twin).

C and I went to St. Louis last weekend. She had a conference and I went to relax and see my in-laws. We told her parents they're going to be grandparents, and they're pretty excited. We ended up telling her sister, brother, grandparents, a cousin (whose twin sister is having a baby in December!) and 2 aunts and an uncle as well, since we hardly ever see them and it's news that's nice to share in person. Everyone reacted really well; I was a little nervous about their reactions since I'm the biological mom and so there's not a genetic relation there, but they all got it. I made a big deal about how we're using C's last name for our kids, and I think that made everyone understand better.

I had my 4th and final pregnancy test last Wednesday (thank god - my right arm is all bruised from the blood tests). The numbers were around 1470 which is higher than the 1000 I had been hoping for. The ultrasound last Friday went fine. Yep, we saw the amniotic sac. There was also a weird blob hanging around in my uterus and the doctor didn't know what it was. Could be just a weird blood clot that will get re-absorped or could be an amniotic sac that didn't quite make it, or . . . we don't know. When I go back this week, we'll see what's happening.

I feel totally fine still. My boobs are sore and it was uncomfortable to give everyone hugs in st. louis. And I've been getting extremely tired at night. But really that's it, I feel totally fine.

The doctors were very wary about me going out of town -- they said I should be very careful and basically to anticipate a possible miscarriage, NOT due to travelling, but because it is so early and it's a fertility clinic so they have to be extremely cautious and expect the worst to happen. But so far, so good.

I think I will try and wait to tell my parents when they come for Thanksgiving, so we can tell them in person. But I'll warn them ahead of time that we have some "big news." That's what we had told my mother-in-law and she TOTALLY guessed our news.

We have sort of decided on a theme for our nursery -- "farm animals." :)