[infertilitynovice]

Eggy ~ First, let me just say how much I enjoy the wording and imagery of your posts...and I'm going to totally steal your phrase "batsh*t crazy"....LOVE IT!

Secondly, I'm so relieved to hear that you had a better session this time. I was so worried that she would disappoint again...darn kids, I tell ya! And as far as being born a unicorn goes, I think little Mini Eggy will be fine. They certainly can look a little lumpy/bumpy in those images. I do understand the concern though. I'm not worried about Marlee sporting horns when she's born, but I am a little concerned about her nose...yeah, I know...stupid. DH and I kind of have a nose thing and with us using DS instead of DH's own DNA, it is just a little worry I have. In the first u/s pics she looked like she'd have a cute little upturn nose, and even in the 3D ones we got last week it looks like it could be my family's nose, but I'm still a little concerned. When picking the donor we were able to see infant and early childhood pics of the donor but no adult pics. We had to rely on the bank's assessment when comparing DH and donor's looks as adults. Long story...sorry...my point is, I think it is fairly normal to worry about everything from "abnormalities" to fear of the culmination of all your families' "bad" genes landing on your one child (ie, uncle Bob's Dumbo ears, great-grandma's lazy eye, and aunt Sally's bird nose).

And, so sorry to hear that the Oatmeal Cream Pie was a disappointment, but I know you're not one for sweets...it is pretty gooey, I admit. I think, though, that you could make your own version with some hand wipped cream instead? Let me know what you come up with!

I promise to get some pictures up as soon as I finish the quilt...maybe some time this weekend?

[eggy]

Melissa -- I totally like sweets! (But so kind of you not to ascribe a sweet tooth to me. Makes me feel less piggish.) But as much as I enjoy sweets, I've had an on-and-off aversion during pregnancy to the taste (and aftertaste) of high fructose corn syrup, which explains my limited enjoyment of the oatmeal cream pies. I had a hankering for Oreos for several weeks during my second trimester, but instead of getting the standard ones, I went for the more "natural" ones at Whole Foods, which were much less revolting than the o.g. ones at the regular market (though the same number of calories, lame). Nevertheless, I am enjoying this box of Fruity Pebbles I bought earlier in the week, so maybe it's just a psychological block? My husband was cracking up as he watched me down not one, but two bowls of the stuff this morning. I'm eating like a total stoner these days thanks to my trippy little finger-flicking unicorn baby.

Meanwhile, I did a double-take when I was reading your post. (I hope you find the following funny instead of creepy!) For a second, I misinterpreted the acronym "DS" and thought you were referring to one of your stepsons! Then my preggo brain adjusted to reality and as I kept reading, I knew what you meant! OY. I cannot be allowed to walk among society. I am mentally deficient. And this has been a long devolution from the beginning of my first trimester when I told one of my college students to wait a sec while I pulled a stapler out of my ***. (He asked a stupid question....)

Heather - I think your shower is today. ENJOY! And let us know how it went!

[SDlawyer30]

Hey guys, yep, my shower is this afternoon. I have been getting ready for it slowly this morning in spurts so as not to be out of bed too long - since I have to do my hair and makeup, of course! I will report back in later! I am also awaiting the arrival of my furniture - well at least most of it. I am sure you guys will have a laugh at this one, but after waiting 12 weeks for all the pieces to show up instead of the 6 they quoted, they called yesterday to say that although the manufacturer said both my dresser and nightstand were on the truck, only the nightstand showed up. I swear, my luck this pregnancy has just sucked. Long story short, the store actually had my exact dresser on the floor so they are loaning it until they figure out what the lunatics at the manufacturer did with my dresser. I am hoping it doesn't have to travel all the way from China, which is apparently why I had to wait 12 weeks this time (imagine my dismay after I ordered the furniture from what is a Canadian company - I was born in Toronto, so I thought it was cool it was made there and not overseas - only to find out it really is still made in China ).

I will hopefully post some pictures of the room soon, although DH has managed to lose the piece of our camera I need to upload pics to our computer! He managed to forget he needed this extra piece last night and stuffed our memory card into our printer only to get it stuck - good grief, I had to get tweezers to pluck it out of there, after he almost mangled the thing with pliers! I swear, men would use an atomic bomb to kill an ant if they could.

Eggy, so glad your U/S went better! I can't wait to see pics. And I am sure your little girl will not have any bumps on her head when she comes out - don't you remember my post about the 6 toes? I think its only natural for us to freak out about stuff like that. DH is still laughing at my hour long session staring at the pictures in magnification on the computer trying to decide if he has 6 toes on one foot. And I don't think the images are that clear to begin with, so it could have been fluid or something that made it look like that. She will be perfect, I am sure

Okay, better go finish putting my makeup on for the shower!

[eggy]

Heather -- First of all, you're 31 weeks! That's huge. Meanwhile, I can't believe your furniture travails! Mine is also coming in from a Canadian company (and is also delayed); the crib is by Morigeau-Lepine. Who makes yours? As for the camera debacle of the day, at least your husband seems to have an inkling how to use it. Mine, not so much. In fact, I'm the one in charge of all technology in the house; I also do all assembly (like a cabinet from the Container Store for the baby's closet, which I put together last week). We have to assemble the PBK nightstand later, which is to say *I* have to. Thanks for the reassurance vis-a-vis my unicorn baby and have a great time today. Can't wait to hear all about it!

One question to all the ladies.... Any swelling? Gone are my dainty ankles and feet; in their place, there's just flesh, flesh, flesh. So hideous. Drinking lots of water, moving around as much as possible, elevating as much as possible, but nothing doing. Going to try to swim later today, which hopefully will help. What have you been doing to keep the swelling at bay?

[infertilitynovice]

OMG Eggy!! I almost feel out of my chair when I read your last post!!! No, we may be from the South but we don't play that way...DONOR SPERM, not DEAR SON...LOL!!!

And I guess I must have misinterpreted your past comments about high frutose corn syrup as a dislike for sugery stuff in general. I totally agree, it is a bit much, and it is probably best that that craving has passed. Now I'm on to cottage cheese again...oh, and plums, but not together...MUCH better for us than gooey sweets!

Heather ~ I couldn't agree more in regards to your comment about men...I swear I don't know how they even manage to tie their shoes in the morning! I really don't think my husband was this stupid when I married him...I feel tricked!

Oh, and I can't wait to hear about your wonderful shower today!

Eggy ~ Just read about the swelling...for me, I only notice it when it is really hot or I've been on my feet for a long time. I know that compression hose will help but they are FAR from sexy. Other than that I only know to do what you're already doing, drink lots of water and watch the salt intake (I assume you're doing that part too). "They" recommend sitting with your feet elevated on a box or something if you sit at a desk during the day, but as a teacher/professor I can't imagine you spend a lot of time sitting at a desk...or at least I didn't when I taught 4th grade. If you're doing all you can think of (which I'm sure is the case) then make sure to mention it at your next appt. In the meantime, cankles aren't so bad when you know they'll be temporary.

[eggy]

Melissa -- Cottage cheese and plums -- you are a paragon of nutritional virtue! I just got back from acupuncture and had my THIRD bowl of Fruity Pebbles today, finishing out the box in a record three days! What can I say? I'm an overachiever. (At least the stuff has folic acid in it, right?) We have a fridge full of fresh stone fruit from the local farmers' market, so I need to get back on track with that asap.

Meanwhile, even temporary cankles are a total bummer -- especially since my calves are fuller than usual, too. I do have support socks (knee-highs) that I can wear under pants (prescribed by my OB a few months ago), but they're a size small (based on my previous leg measurements) and now I can't bring myself to wrestle my way into them. Plus, I'm so friggin' hot all the time. I need air! Gasp, gulp. I think I need to just lie around in the a/c for a long while and watch "90210," which I have saved on the DVR. Though I cannot imagine it is as good as the original, even if they filmed the new Peach Pit scenes at the restaurant on our corner. Has anyone seen it yet?

Say, has anyone been reading to your unborn children? I always hear people saying to do this -- and I've even received a prenatal book to be read in utero as a gift -- but I just can't bring myself to do it. Feels silly, no? Does it really make a difference?

[hopefull79]

Yeah, plenty of swelling here. I've been meaning to get some compression hose, but have yet to do it. It is awfully unattractive!!
Heather - how did the shower go??? Who's is next? My first one is next Sunday, I can't wait!!

[eggy]

Rennae - The compression socks/hose are indeed heinous, but if you're wearing long pants over them, no one will know the difference. I got them in nude, so no one even notices if I wear them under jeans or yoga pants. When I do use them, however, I mostly just wear them overnight while I'm sleeping, which helps me out quite a lot. (Not so sure my husband loves them, but it's a small price to pay to have a cankle-free wife.) If you decide to get them, see if you can get your OB to write you a prescription; in our case, insurance covered part of the expense, which was great because the good ones can be $40-$50 a pair!

My shower is not for another month, but invitations went out this week and they are adorable. They were a total surprise, and I think the hostesses did a great job. So far, so good! In the meantime, I'm looking forward to hearing about Heather's -- even better if some pics get posted! Rennae and all you others who are soon to be showered should do the same!

OK, time to shower the chlorine off and get ready to go out for the evening. Might as well take advantage of these last weekends of freedom!

[infertilitynovice]

Eggy ~ So sorry to hear about the cankle depression, but it is good to hear that the hose are helping during the evenings at least. It is still really warm to be wearing those types of things right now though. I don't think I could sleep in them myself. I've always been the cold one but lately it is my husband all bundled up in bed like a hibernating bear while I'm the one hardly even using the sheet to cover up...pregnancy is a strange beast, I tell ya!

Speaking of last few weekends...so I reminded DH that we'll be reaching the 30 week mark this Tuesday and asked him how he felt about it...DH isn't known to be a real deep thinker, he just sort of lets things come to him (probably a better life strategy than my over thinking every little "what if"). He said he was both excited and nervous. I think he's more nervous for me and the delivery than what will happen when we bring her home. Personally, I'm not nervous about the delivery at all. I've been with 2 friends during their entire induced labors, so I've seen a lot already for someone who has never had a child personally (I'm not delusional, I know it will be different when it is actually me, but I feel I'm doing my best to prepare myself as best I can for something that my body is perfectly able to do/handle). Anyhoo...so I'm really freaking out about what will happen after she's home...my oldest doesn't clean up his testing/diabetic supplies when he's done using them, so I'm worried that once she starts crawling she might happen upon these little pieces of whatnot he's not thrown out...I'm worried about their friends knocking on the door when she's sleeping, or worse, trying to go to sleep b/c our dogs bark their heads off whenever someone knocks on the door (I'm planning to put a sign up that says "call, don't knock")...I'm worried about how in the world I'm going to be able to fit a baby in her carseat in the grocery cart AND a weeks worth of groceries for a family of 4 1/2...As you can tell, I'm a little worried about things I'll probably work out, but da*n there's a lot to think about! I wish I could be like a man and just shut my brain off sometimes!

Rennae ~ Can't wait to hear about your shower next weekend too! Mine is the weekend after that and CAN'T wait!!!

I know it is just terrible, but I can't wait to go through and find a place to put all the baby stuff in the nursery...seems like it will make it feel even more real then...to get a chance to "oooh and aaah" over the little outfits and put up the accessories...It is like Christmas come early!

Marie ~ We put the travel system together last night. I was a little disappointed to see that the Poetic pattern we purchased is actually 2 shades of gray and yellow, not blue and yellow like I thought from looking at it on-line. It is okay, she's going to be in super girly-like clothes most of the time so I'm not worried about having a unisex system, I was just so surprised how wrong the colors looked on-line. Anyways, I know we both went with the Keyfit 30, but did you also go with the Cortina? I didn't notice how little room there is to access the basket below when the stoller back is laid all the way back to accomodate the carseat. I probably won't use it to store the diaperbag b/c mine can be worn several different ways, including as a backpack, but I think it will be hard to get stuff in and out of it when the carseat is being used with the stroller. Just something I didn't notice before and was wondering if you've already received yours too and noticed this potential problem. Or maybe since you've already been through this once with your son, you may know that it doesn't really matter?

Oh, and just b/c this post isn't already long enough...I think I'm going to have to organize an intervention for my mother. Yes, I believe she has an addiction...an addiction to buying stuff for her future grand-daughter. She calls me a couple of times a week to inform me of yet another box that has either arrived at her house or will be arriving at mine...a bit of an internet shopaholic...so this is one of the latest diddies she's purchased Chasing Fireflies-mod baby girl playsuit ...too cute, but kind of crazy-expensive for a little onsie type outfit, don't'cha think?

[eggy]

Hey Ladies -- With my due date so close to Election Day, my husband and I decided to request absentee ballots so that we don't miss out on the opportunity to vote. After all, I could be in labor that day or in the hospital or maybe even home with a newborn. Or maybe I'll just be too enormously pregnant to waddle over to the polls. Anyway, I just want to encourage the other November moms-to-be and their partners to do the same. After all, this election is pretty important....

Heather -- How was the shower? How are YOU?

[SDlawyer30]

Hi everyone! So I am happy to report that the shower was wonderful! We got so much loot that it took 2 SUVs to get it all to our house. I tried my best to behave and lay on the sofa, but I did have to sit up to open gifts, and it took forever. A lot of people left during the gift opening, which was the last thing so it was fine, but ugh, I so hate opening stuff in front of people! By the end of the shower I was sweaty and exhausted. My dress was very cute but silk and I was stuffed in a corner on the sofa and thought I was going to suffocate. Whoever mentioned being hot all the time I am right there with you. I swear, I have like a cooker on my belly and am only comfortable with our AC cranked down to like 70 - which is frightening, since I was ALWAYS the cold one in the house who didn't want to run the air. DH even commented the other night when he came home from work that it was a meat locker in the house - of course I thought it felt great

So I loved just about everything about my shower! I am feeling a little bad right now because I so could not sit still when we got home and spent quite a while last night digging through things. I know I am supposed to be on bedrest, but she did say I could get up to move around a little and to shower, and I just couldn't help myself. I wanted to look at all of the gifts and figure out what was duplicates, etc. I hope my little guy is okay - I was doing a little more this morning too. I laid in bed half the night wanting to get up and go look at the stuff more and it was all I could do not to get up right away! I have to say, I did get quite a few duplicates - odd, since I was only registered at one place, but it seems like sometimes people must have forgotten to give the cashier the registry when they checked out. DH is on his way to BRU right now with my returns and a list of things I want - poor guy, he isn't thrilled, but I didn't know what to do since I am not supposed to be running errands and such. I am curious to see how it goes!

DH is supposed to be picking up a new piece for the digital camera, so hopefully I can load some pictures from the shower later today, as well as maybe a few nursery pics -although the room is kind of a disaster with the stuff from the shower

[hopefull79]

I'm so glad you had such a good time and got so much stuff Heather!!!

[Daney]

Heather- so glad you had a wonderful shower and got a lot of stuff!!! I cant wait mines on Sat!!! Glad all is well

[infertilitynovice]

Heather ~ Wonderful news about your shower!! I'm sure it is torture to have all that stuff in the house and be on bedrest...I wouldn't be able to help myself either! I agree with what you said about opening stuff up in front of people, I'm the same way.

How long did your shower last? How many were there? I'm asking b/c I'm thinking 3 hrs is about avg and with 20 or so people coming to mine, I would think it would take that long to just enjoy ourselves (mingle, eat, open gifts, etc). My GA friends who are organizing it looked at me like I had 2 heads when I said it would probably take that long. Just wondering...anybody else have an opinion on this topic? As far as other showers that you've been to go, about how long do you tend to stay?

[eggy]

Heather - So glad to hear you had a terrific shower and got beaucoup de loot. You and the baby deserve it! It's terrific that you have so much stuff now; if our baby were to come tomorrow, all we'd have on hand are some books and a stuffed animal.

Melissa - I agree that a shower lasts around three hours. I don't think you're off base at all. Curious to hear Heather's responses to your good questions.

So... we just got home from our second childbirth class. My husband and I think the teacher can't stand us. I ask a lot of questions -- I don't interrupt or anything, but the other parents-to-be in class are pretty much silent the whole time. How can nobody have any questions? As a professional student and now an instructor, I have always been a big believer in speaking up and asking questions (at appropriate intervals, of course). Mainly, I think she's put off by the fact that we are very much pro-drugs (not, like, crack or anything, just pro-epidural, etc.), while she is all about the natural childbirth thing. Of course, my husband is openly squeamish about a lot of this stuff, so he's not exactly Mr. Natural Childbirth. It's all kind of amusing to us. We did watch some videos in class today -- and I kind of wish we hadn't. Good info, to be sure; but part of me would like to go into this birth thing knowing a little less than I do right now. Also, although I won't schedule a c-section unless my OB deems it medically necessary, I now understand why people do! (To touch upon a conversation from earlier this week on here....)

And how were YOUR weekends?