Happy Halloween!

Well, late Sunday evening we managed to get the house decorated for the little ghouls and goblins that will come out tonight. It was hard to get into the spirit this year, but we managed to put up some spooky decorations. I'm glad we did as it looks nice, and I know the kids have come to expect it. Plus it's so much fun to hear the comments about the bones, cobwebs, and spooky lights, as they walk up.

Our friends/neighbors held their annual pumpkin carving afternoon yesterday, so we stopped by with a sizeable pumpkin and left with a smiling jack-o-lantern. It looked pretty good, until the squirrels found it and tried to gnaw into the center for seeds! Stupid squirrels! Luckily Tim caught them, and left the lid 1/2 off the pumpkin today to show them there wasn't anything in it, and surprisingly that worked!

The Dr's appointment went ok. I now have 12 follicles, (so much for seven-eleven) apparently 3 were large enough that they decided to go ahead with the IM shot of hCG to ensure ovulation. Tim took advantage of having a nurse there to "supervise" his technique in case we need to do this again. He did really well. In fact I think he would have done wonderfully on his own, as that way I wouldn't have to listen to the commentary of the supervising nurse. . . "Ok, yes, that looks right, make sure the alcohol dries so it doesn't sting." "Great, now make sure you hold the skin tight..." "You ok honey?" she asks me, (If I didn't know the 1 1/2" needle was in, I did then.) and then back to Tim, "Ok, great, now pull the needle back to make sure there's no blood. . . " At that point I covered my ears. All in all it went well. It hurts to sit, but that's what an IM needle is all about.

So off to drink a beaker of wine, put on some scary music, and snack on some chocolate! Happy Halloween!

Can you say Hendecagon?

This morning we went to the city to see how my body was reacting to the Follistim. The aggressive treatment was supposed to result in about 3 to 6 follicles. And Tim and I joked wouldn't it be funny if we had nine for a "seven-of-nine" baby.

Well, the on-call doctor seemed a little alarmed at my results. She found seven follicles in the right ovary. And I'm thinking well, ok, maybe only one ovary produced this time or something, and just worked extra hard. Until she looked at the left ovary and found four follicles developing over there! So much for a "seven-of-nine" baby, we'd have to call him/her seven-eleven at this point!

Needless to say my odds (including the possibility of multiples) have increased. (But the odds aren't 100% and I also realize even if conception happens, carrying to term is a completely different entity.) So tomorrow we go in to discuss our options with my regular doctor. And I was informed to bring the big shot just in case, as to top things off I am almost a week ahead of schedule! YIKES!

Anyway, in case you're wondering about my title, a hendecagon is an eleven-sided polygon. (The Susan B. Anthony dollar is a hendecagon.) Supposedly it cannot be constructed with a straight edge and a compass. I'm feeling as if I'm going into unstructured territory as well, since my body definitely isn't "conforming to the norm" on this one.

Not for the squeamish…

Well, we made the big decision to press forward in our pursuit of a family, and I started fertility shots this week. Oh the horror! Tim says that “most women love giving themselves the shots, because it’s one step closer to a bundle of joy.” (“I read it in ‘Stuff’ er ‘Self’ yeah, that’s right.” He said.) Yeah, right honey. Tim being out of town the first two shot nights didn’t help matters. After watching the video that came with the “Follistim® pen”, I carefully laid everything out, and tried to administer the shot in my soft underbelly per the instructions. I accidentally rubbed the sharp needle against my skin, and started to bleed, and almost passed out. Talk about a wimp. The next pass I chickened out, but the third one I made it. Until I went to depress the clicking pen, which sounded horrible, and because it turned as you pressed (instead of just moving straight down) it seemed much harder than a normal syringe! So I loosened my grip, and the pen did a 360! I believe I turned green at this point. I took a deep breath, tightened up my grip and pressed the clicking stopper down before I could mess it up any worse. I then had to lie down as I almost threw up. So much for being easy. The "Follistim BD Micro-Fine subcutaneous needle" is a lot better than an IM shot, but micro-fine is definitely a marketing term to try to put you at ease. (Acupuncture needles are small, not pen needles!) The micro-fine needle still packs a punch!

That being said, I am so dreading the 1 ½” IM needle! At least that’s about a week away. Tim gets to give that one. We had to attend a class that goes over the details, and the instructor explained it and how there are two needles, the larger diameter one for mixing, and then the “smaller one” for the shot. He showed how to put the first needle on the syringe, and said not to over tighten it, or it won’t come off. He then proceeded to say if that was the case; “just don’t tell your wife, since you’ll be using that needle for the injection and it’s ‘a bit’ more painful!” GREAT! So then they are showing how to give the shot and Tim asks the all-important question… “So I just push it into the hilt then?” (At least he was paying attention—I felt really sorry for the wives that didn’t have their husband there.) Anyway, the instructor gave Tim a perplexed look, and says, “I push it in until I don’t see needle any more” AND then shortly after that statement he continues with… “Also make sure she is lying down so she doesn’t faint and ram the entire syringe into her body.” I’m sitting there feeling nauseous at the thought. Even with all of this “help” there is only about a 15% chance of success. Even less for multiples, although the doctor is being aggressive in my dosage and we’re shooting for 6 follicles. So perhaps that will improve my chances. Tim thought it would be cool if there were nine follicles, so then there might be a chance of having a girl that was “seven-of-nine” or according to him, even a “number six” would work.

I think it’s the thought that every day that I take the little shot, it is one more day closer to the big one that makes me feel queasy. Kind of like one of my favorite childhood books “The Monster at the End of This Book”, where Grover does all he can to have you not turn the page!!!! I feel the same way about the calendar.

All work and no play...

A recent stay with my 94 years young Grandmother in Iowa; and viewing the nice sized homes, large lawns and green acreages; has me re-thinking what we're doing renting a house in California! I think we are both getting burnt out from too much work and not enough play. Almost anywhere else in the country, people have houses with a yard large enough for a horse (OK two), and time to spend at home with their friends and family. Here it seems everything is expensive! (Like the fact the 1,009 sq ft 1940’s house we rent would sell for over 1/2 a million dollars here! Even with the faulty wiring, old sewer lines, and cracking walls!) My working at a place that designs lovely grand estates with 12,000 plus square feet probably hasn’t helped my desire for a larger place! The other day Tim asked what size of house I thought was normal, and I said, “oh, about 6,000 sq feet, right?” And he said something about being doomed. Whatever that means. All I know is that ours is definitely TOO small, and if we had a two story with a basement, that sounded about right. Plus we need a 6-car garage/pole barn (or both) for Tim, so you have to figure that in, right?

Quite a few of our friends with the same visions and have moved out of the area, now that the market has dried up. The only thing that seems to be making money is the housing market! Some of our friends have even moved overseas to work for their US companies in Europe! They make it sound QUITE romantic and adventurous!

Being days away from my 36th birthday, also has me thinking... as according to most doctors, biological clocks, and fertility books, I am getting OLD! (Although, I just got carded the other day, so at least I don’t look that old to everyone!) For some reason Mother Nature does not seem to be doing her job in my case, I may look young, but my body thinks it’s ancient. Over the past few years we have gone through about every test you can think of, so the next step will involve fertility shots, if we decide to go that route. (SCARY!) I keep putting this step off thinking something will change, and I think it is because I worry too much about things and if I just stopped worrying... But then I start worrying about not worrying, and Tim says that doesn’t do any good at all! At least living in California puts us near one of the best fertility clinics in the nation, so that’s definitely a plus, since it looks like that will end up being our next step. One of our friends said that we should start a pay pal account to fund this expensive endeavor. Since we’re not getting rid of our toys! :-)

We did make a few improvements to the 40's storage and 70's design issues of our kitchen this year, and invested in a new refrigerator with icemaker around Labor Day, which instigated the painting of our Kitchen a Martha Stewart color of "yellow rose"-it looks GREAT! It is so much brighter than our previous tan wood paneled kitchen. After watching tons of programs on HGTV, I figured it would be a day project MAX, but it took MUCH longer than I thought it would! We barley had it done by Tim’s birthday on the 11th! Needless to say, the bathroom did NOT get painted “a drop of green” that day as I had planned. Maybe we should just buy one of Martha’s new homes in Cary, North Carolina, and save us the trouble of trying to paint our rental, HA! If they let you have horses, I might consider it. But Tim says the only way that would happen is if the area had lightening and a pasture with a large tree. I wonder what he meant by that!!!

Well, until next time…