1.30.2007

And Now We Wait

Remember all those eggs from the other day? Well only eight of them were actually mature and seven fertilized. I'm really surprised that we didn't have more viable eggs, but we have something, so I'm not complaining. We popped four of those in the oven yesterday. The other three are being cultivated to see if they make it to blast stage. If so, we will freeze them. For whatever reason, we don't seem to have much luck with the frozen embies, but you never know.

My baseline test is scheduled for next Tuesday, thank goodness. I don't know if I could wait for a full two weeks.

In the meantime, my hubby and I are still trying to get to the Super (Soul) Bowl this weekend without breaking the bank. I'll keep you posted. Miami or bust!

1.26.2007

The Egg Report

They aspirated 20 eggs today. Wow wee! I knew things were tingling down here, but this is way beyond my expectations. Thanks to you all for your kind words and thoughts. I should have a fertility report tomorrow or Sunday.

1.23.2007

Cycle Update

Sometimes I can't believe that we are in the midst of our fifth cycle. If it doesn't work this time, I think I might be done. I am sick of this quest to have a baby consuming my life. I am sick of stupid shots. And pills. And wanding. Giant ovaries. ick. Nausea and fatigue with no guarantee of a baby at the end. Sick. of. it. all. (Okay, I might be having some sort of hormonal surge right now.)

Anyhow, besides feeling emotionally unstable right now, everything is still on track with this cycle. They saw about 12 follies at my last appointment, my lining is nice and thick and my E2 level is where it needs to be. I take the big shot of HCG tomorrow night and the retrieval is scheduled for Friday. If all goes well, the transfer will probably be on Monday. Right now, I need a nap. Wish me luck.

1.16.2007

Stimulation

I started my stims yesterday, and I swear, my ovaries are already pushing up against my bladder. Gah! I feel rather blah about this cycle. I really don’t want to get all worked up for the fifth time. So for now, I am trying to act like everything is normal. I’m not talking it up with everyone around me and really, I’m trying not to think about it too much. Tomorrow afternoon I go for my first IvIg treatment for this cycle. After that, most likely I’ll go in for retrieval next Wednesday or Thursday. If all goes well, I’ll go for transfer Saturday or Sunday.

So here’s an interesting possibility. My husband is a Bears fan. And by fan, I mean fanatic. For those of you who don’t follow football, the Bears are one game away from going to the Superbowl, which is being played in Miami this year. Of course if the Bears go to Miami, so is my husband. And so am I. However, if all goes as planned with this cycle, we will be in the midst of our two week wait. I don’t want to risk flying during this time, so we plan to make it a road trip. All. The. Way. To. Florida. Wish us luck.

On the tv/entertainment front…I am so proud of Jennifer Hudson. She looked pretty and was so gracious when she accepted her award. She did Chi-town proud. Also, congrats to Eddie Murphy, Forest Whitaker, Shonda Rhimes and America Ferrera on their Golden Globes.

Did you all watch 24 this weekend??? Oh. My. GOD! This show continues to raise the bar each season and last weekend’s four-hour event was no exception. My favorite highlights:

  • Jack went all Hannibal Lechter on us to escape from the terrorists.
  • “You aren’t my friend! You can’t even pronounce my name correctly!”
  • Jack shoots Curtis in the neck! (Oh my God! You killed Curtis!!!)
  • And the coup de gras (sp??) was the actual detonation of a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. Wow wee!

What the heck was the crying episode about? Suck it up Jack! There’s no crying in baseball! Or national security! Ahh, I love his show.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how pleased I am that Barack Obama is taking the next step toward making a run for the presidency. This country is ready for a change. I just pray for his safety and the safety of his family.

1.10.2007

100 Things About Me

So I started this list about six months ago. And I finally finished today. Whew. Enjoy.


1. I live on the south side of Chicago.
2. The south side is scary to me because I grew up in the west suburbs.
3. I have two brothers.
4. I only grew up with my baby bro. My older brother grew up with his mother.
5. I only met my older brother once and I don’t know where his is now.
6. I couldn’t stand my little brother when I was a child.
7. He is one of my favorite people now.
8. We both attended private schools until college.
9. We attended the same college, seven years apart.
10. I am married to a lawyer.
11. Most of his clients are criminals.
12. He represented one of my former staff members after she doused her husband in hot oatmeal. She got probation and had to go to anger management class.
13. I hate fighting with him because he fights dirty. Thankfully, we hardly ever fight.
14. We met at a nightclub.
15. I am too embarrassed to tell people where we met, so I usually make something up when people ask.
16. He is proud of where we met.
17. Shortly after we met, we discovered that my mom’s good friend grew up with his mom.
18. And our brothers knew each other in college.
19. And my brother married a girl that my brother in law liked in college.
20. I didn’t know my husband was ticklish for the first year after we met because he told me he was not.
21. When I found out I vowed to tickle him every day. :-)
22. I play the flute and the piano.
23. I own a guitar, but I don’t know how to play (yet).
24. I sing better than I play.
25. I used to sing in a Christian rock band.
26. I am a classically trained singer.
27. I plan to audition for the Lyric Opera Chorus every year until I get in.
28. I am on the praise team at church.
29. I regret not majoring in music in college.
30. I have a degree in print journalism.
31. I actually work in my chosen field.
32. I often wonder if it is too late for me to choose a different field.
33. Eight people report to me, including an administrative assistant.
34. My parents have been married for 39 years.
35. People usually think my mother is my sister.
36. My parents recently bought a five bedroom house in the south suburbs.
37. My mom is retired. My dad works because he was bored when he retired.
38. I think they secretly won the lottery.
39. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 1999.
40. After the race I did not run again for almost a year.
41. I gained 25 pounds during that year.
42. Now when I run, it is usually 5 miles or less.
43. I am an iPod/iTunes junkie.
44. I have 4,237 songs on my iPod.
45. The genres range from opera to hip hop and everything in between.
46. I currently wear a “fusion” weave. It is FABULOUS.
47. I wore braids in college.
48. I had a jheri curl in high school and my first year of college.
49. I’m convinced the curl affected my popularity in college.
50. Being a manager affects my popularity at work.
51. I don’t care about being popular (anymore) (hmph).
52. I love to eat.
53. I hated cooking until I got married.
54. I learned to cook against my will from my mom.
55. I am now an excellent cook.
56. We host Christmas every year because of my cooking.
57. My dad secretly thinks I have Christmas dinner catered because I never cooked when I lived with my parents.
58. Christmas is my favorite holiday.
59. When I leave corporate America, I might start a catering business with my mom and brother.
60. I love to read.
61. I was a late bloomer. I blame my parents for allowing me to get a jheri curl but not allowing me to wear makeup until I was 16.
62. Now I rarely leave the house without at least a little makeup on my face.
63. I am addicted to The Sims 2.
64. I am also addicted to chocolate.
65. It took me five years to graduate from college because I changed my major four times.
66. My majors were engineering, education, English and journalism.
67. I should have majored in music.
68. All of my college roommates married and had children before me.
69. I introduced one of my roommates to her husband.
70. I am reproductively challenged.
71. I dated a drug addict for three years after college. I didn’t know he was an addict when we met.
72. We met at church.
73. He got one of my fellow choir members pregnant. He denied ever sleeping with her.
74. One of the reasons we broke up (besides the drugs, lies and cheating) was because I didn’t want him to continue denying his child on my account.
75. He is now a minister. It’s hard for me not to judge.
76. I have never used drugs.
77. I dated a host of other losers before I met my wonderful husband. None were as heinous as the drug addict.
78. One ex-boyfriend left me a long voicemail on the day before my wedding to tell me how he regretted the way things ended between us and that he hoped I would be happy with my husband to be.
79. I never called him back.
80. The last time I saw him was right before my birthday. He wished me happy birthday.
81. It was creepy that he remembered, considering we broke up almost 10 years ago.
82. I am addicted to beauty products—makeup, skin, hair, it does not matter.
83. I rarely leave the house without makeup, unless I am going to the gym.
84. I was not allowed to wear makeup until I turned 16.
85. I started wearing makeup secretly in 7th grade
86. I was not allowed to have phone calls from boys until I was 16.
87. I still struggle talking to the opposite sex at times.
88. My brother was allowed to have a girlfriend in 8th grade.
89. I plan to work really hard at not having double standards for my boy and girl children (when we have children).
90. I have a tendency to misplace/ lose things.
91. I have a pet cat named Betty. She lives with my brother’s cat Nina at my parents’ house.
92. I was on the basketball team in high school. Our coach was so intense that I used to have nightmares about running suicides.
93. I use to talk in my sleep. Sometimes my dad would have entire conversations with me while I was sleep.
94. I love going to the movies. We hardly ever went to the movies when I was a growing up. Now I go at least one a week.
95. I have a weird obsession with mob movies (e.g., The Godfather, Casino, Goodfellas). I can watch them over and over again.
96. I was in the movie Hoop Dreams. My brother was on the basketball team featured in the movie. I was taking pictures at their awards banquet.
97. I love gadgets.
98. I love to travel. I’ve been to London, Paris, Madrid, Tahiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas. I have also traveled all over the U.S. including Hawaii and most recently Napa Valley.
99. I hope to go to Italy next time I go overseas.
100. I am addicted to St.arbucks and I hold my husband fully responsible. I didn’t drink coffee before we met.

1.02.2007

Happy New Year!

I took a little hiatus from blogging for a while, but I'm back now, and I hope to update more regularly.

On the IF front: We are starting a new IVF cycle with retrieval planned for late January. We learned from the last cycle that I have a PAI 1 gene mutation. This mutation is not uncommon, but coupled with my elevated NK cells it caused the blood clot in my uterus, which led to my last miscarriage. We are trying everything but the kitchen sink for this cycle.IvIg, met.for.minmin, vitamin B and folic acid supplements, prenatal vitamins, baby aspirin, dexa.methasone and hepa.rin after a positive pregnancy test. This is the first cycle that we will have to pay for ourselves, since my insurance coverage has been exhausted. Thankfully, we have been really good savers and my hubby's business is doing well. And for whatever reason, my insurance company still covers most of the drugs. Miraculously, I am still hopefully and cautiously optimistic.I did not think the whole therapy thing would work, but I feel pretty good these days, so I maybe it is worthwhile afterall.

We had a lovely Christmas this year, with no hosting responsibilities for me. (Yay!) The hubby and I exchanged gifts first thing in the morning. I gave him a new watch. But not just any watch. I splurged and got him a Ro.lex. I know this was extravagant, especially in light of our upcoming expenses, but I know that once we have kids, this kind of extravagance will be out of the question. His look of utter shock and subsequent joy was worth it. He gave me a Gucci bag, a new wallet and a new phone. Later we went to my parents' house for brunch. My mom made some deeee-liciouis shrimp 'n grits. Even my hubby, who formerly believed that "grits are the enemy," could not get enough. We exchanged gifts with my folks and my brother & sis in law.

That evening, we went to the in-laws for dinner and yet another gift exchange. We could not resist going a little overboard with the gifts for our nephew. I especially loved the enormous stuffed dog that my husband picked out. Our final destination was my brother's wife's parents' house (they live around the corner from my in-laws) for games and frolicking with the numerous kids who swarm over there at Christmastime. We got to meet the twins--my brothers God daughters who were born three months prematurely. They only had a 50% chance of survival when they were born. Miraculously, it has been nine months and they both survived and are doing fine.

We decided to stay in for New Year's Eve, and ultimately ended up hosting an impromptu gathering. It was quite nice.

I planned to avoid the whole resolution thing. So much of my life has been put on hold these past few years as we pursue our quest to start a family. It seems crazy to make yet another list of promises for the coming year, only to have my plans thwarted by grief and disappointment and my inability to make any life changes just yet. However, I am learning that life goes on. I don't want our IF battle to steal any more precious time than what is absolutely necessary. I have high hopes for 2007, but mostly, I just want to have a baby. Whether or not that happens, I hope I can be a little less self-absorbed, a little more giving and open, a little more thoughtful and a little less serious. I want to continue singing and other hobbies that bring me joy. I hope to develop more as a writer, and possibly find some cool freelance opportunities. I hope to devote more time to friends, family and develop more positive and uplifting relationships. I don't know what 2007 holds in store for me, but I can't wait to find out.

The WeatherPixie
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