Time to contact the obstetrician

During our last visit to the IVF clinic the doctor who performs the ultrasounds told us it was time to contact our obstetrician. We have an appointment for Tuesday, 1/27, so it seems like the weekly ultrasounds have come to an end. The past two appointments have just been to check blood levels and slowly but surely Maggie is taking fewer and fewer medications.

She's still feeling her way through the nausea, certain foods are very appealing some days, it seems the simpler and blander the food the easier it is to deal with. Crackers, soup, yogurt, ice pops, etc... seem to work well and she eats what she can, when she can. Overall she's doing great.

A Blossom by any name would smell as sweet

Click here for our photos from our trip

One of Maggie's oldest and best friends Mindy Blossom is pregnant and due to have a little Blossom in about a month. Some of her left coast friends were throwing a baby shower and Maggie wouldn't have missed it for the world. So we caught a jetplane to the west to spend the weekend with Mindy, Tom, and their 9 month old bulldog Stella.

We stayed at the Carlton Hotel, it was very nice and different from major chain hotels, small, friendly, and fun. We ate at a local restaurant a few blocks from the hotel the first night and got some sleep. The next morning Tom, Mindy, and Stella picked us up at the hotel and we all piled into their car and went to a beach near the Golden Gate Bridge where there's a regular bulldog meetup. A whole bunch of bulldog owners and their dogs get together to romp around and have a good time in a very beautiful spot. We all had a good time watching Stella tear around the beach with her own doggy kind. After she got a bit tired out we all went for a walk along the beach towards the bridge, it was clear blue skies, sunny, and warm.

Lots of talking, walking, and laughing it was a great way to start our visit. Later that night we had dinner at a place called Zuppa that was nice, i think we all agreed the best feature was the fresh thinly sliced salami, prosciutto, etc... We wound up talking about lots of things but the topic kept coming back to babies since Mindy is due soon and Maggie is about 2 months along now. So Mindy and Tom were nice enough to give us an insight into what's ahead, since its still fresh in their memories it was very timely. We called it a night and looked forward to seeing them at Mindy's baby shower the next day.

On Sunday Maggie and I got up a bit earlier so we'd have a decent chance of eating at Dottie's True Blue Cafe. We'd waited in line on Saturday morning but we were late, the line was long, and Maggie's belly was rumbling. We still wound up waiting about 25 minutes to get in on Sunday but it was worth it, great food, great service, and a wonderful feeling about the place. I'd go there again anytime, just be warned it borders a hinky part of town.

After a great breakfast we drove over to the Blossom's pad in a nice section of the city, palm trees, old architecture, I even hear tell there's a Whole Foods coming nearby [across the street!] soon. Tom let us in and led us upstairs to their lovely apartment all tricked out with a brand new baby room, food, drink, presents and all the other accoutrements that screamed: women only - men go someplace else while we have fun! So Tom, Mark [another guest's male], and I made ourselves scarce for an afternoon of debauchery and libation while the women folk invoked ancient and mysterious fertility rituals or somesuch. Later that afternoon the xy chromosoned were allowed back to view the wreckage of a fun time for all. Maggie had a great time and made some new friends.

Later that day Mindy & Tom still had enough energy to go see Clint Eastwood growl his way through a great performance in the movie Gran Torino with us. A great way to end the last day of a too brief weekend. After lots of hugs we called it a night and flew home the next morning.

I'll miss San Francisco, a beautiful place showed off to its best advantage by our wonderful hosts.

From bug to lentil...

Click on the ultrasound to view a larger version

We had the fourth ultrasound today, took a while to get to the practice because of some bad weather, it's cold and snowy, a bunch of accidents along the highway. We got in a bit late but didn't have to wait long.

The baby is about 1.3 cm (hard to tell in another pic they had it at 1.7cm) which is about the size of a lentil bean. Here are the latest ultrasounds with a heartbeat. It was cool because you could see a head and i think even the bump of a nose forming!

We're headed off to see Mindy & Tom Blossom in San Francisco this weekend, going to attend her baby shower and just have a good time visiting. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Out and about

Well Maggie is pretty much past her cold, eating Carr's water crackers first thing when she wakes up has really helped with her morning nausea. I'm feeling pretty good following a small procedure to remove a patch of skin near my right temple that tested positive for basal cell cancer (it has a 99% cure rate), a reminder to all of us out there with fair skin, WEAR YOUR SUN SCREEN!

Maggie wanted to get out and about, she's spent too much time at home lately being sick and with morning sickness so we went out and did some shopping. Got a heated water dispenser for the chickens since it will be getting down to 5 degrees at night in the next few days, trying a new dog food for Clementine (she's gotten a bit finicky lately), and just enjoying being out together. We also got out for a walk around the neighborhood. A nice quiet day.

At Petco we spotted a pretty amazing truck, i'll let the pictures speak for themselves but this guy was a true artist. Maggie thought the dog in the truck seemed a bit embarrassed about being spotted in such a gaudy vehicle, but it was a sweet ride!

A heartbeat!

So far every day of the pregnancy seems to bring new challenges, for example, the last few days Maggie has been sick with a bad cold, so we researched what over the counter medications are safe to use while pregnant. It's been a flurry of doctor's visits, injections, medications, naps, and lots of checking on the internet for reassurance.

Well today was a real milestone, during this the third ultrasound (day 36) the doctor turned on the fetal monitor and we heard a strong, steady heartbeat! Completely amazing stuff. If you click on the sonogram above you can see the full size picture with the heartbeat shown.


The second sonogram shows how the fetus is growing. The bug is now about 0.5 cm in size and the egg sac is at least about 2-3 cm. Everything looks good, the doctor is taking Maggie off of the progesterone injections which should give her a nice break from the needles.

Changua to make it all better

Maggie's come down with a cold. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose and a not so good tummy to boot. So i fixed her my version of "changua", kind of like Colombian matzah ball soup. Here's the recipe for anyone wanting to give it a try:

Ingredients
1 package of Lipton Chicken Noodle soup
1 egg
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 1/2 cups of water
some diced onion
teaspoon of cilantro

In a medium saucepan heat up the diced onion, cilantro, water and milk till it boils.
While you're waiting crack an egg into a small bowl, make sure the yolk is intact.
Once the liquid has boiled stir in the contents of the dry soup mix, and gently slide the egg into the pan so it can poach.
Reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Serve in a bowl with a nice piece of crusty bread, you'll [like her] be feeling better in no time!

New years eve

We celebrated new year's eve at my brother's house in White Plains, NY. They put on quite a spread with shrimp, mini steak sandwiches (my favorite), a great lasagna, and lots of other good stuff. Sue's family (my sister in law) was there as well as some friends from the neighborhood. It was lots of fun, we managed to stay up till midnight (quite a feat), and usher in the new year with family.

Maggie and I wish all of you a wonderful new year, here's hoping its a great one for us all.