hydrogeek’s Neighborhood

race day

Artlyn
2 days ago
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I ran my first 5K this morning. I did it in under 35 minutes, which was very exciting for me. The weather turned out better than expected. The rain stopped before the race started and there was only minimal slippery spots on the track. As for the temperature, it was around 36, which was cold, but not unbearable. The first 2 miles were not to bad, but by the 3rd mile the cold was making my lungs hurt. I kept going by sheer determination and force of will and that made it even more gratifying to cross the finish line. My friend Emily finished about a minute ahead of me and had just enough time to turn around and snap a shot of me crossing the finish (I'll post that as soon as she sends it to me). Overall it was a great experience and I'm looking forward to my next race, whenever that ends up being. There is a race nearby in May that I think I might be able to do even if I'm pregnant. May will long enough after the fertility injections that I wouldn't have a problem with bouncing, and far enough from a potential due date that it would still be safe to do since I've already been running regularly before the pregnancy. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I should just enjoy having finished this one first.

its started

Artlyn
5 days ago
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Ok, so its a few weeks earlier than planned, but I started my cycle today (I was expecting to start Provera on Christmas Eve to trigger it the beginning of January). This is surprising because thats 2 months in a row its come on its own and that hasn't happened since I was in high school. I have to believe its because of the diet and exercise I've been doing... or its because I'm going out of town this weekend and visiting my friend Emily. For some reason its when I make plans with her that my body decides it would be a good time to bleed.

Anyway, I called the nurse and it was decided this is as good a time as any and we should go ahead with this cycle, rather than hoping I get another period in January. What this means is that everything has been moved up about 3 or 4 weeks. We will be doing the transfer the end of January or the beginning of February (instead of the end of February). I will do my mock embryo transfer the week of Christmas and I'll begin shots on New Years Eve or New Years Day (still haven't determined if today or tomorrow is my day 1. If things get heavier tonight, then today is day one and we start New Years Eve, otherwise it will be New Years Day). I'm a little frustrated, because moving things up throws off my plans, but overall I'm excited. I should still be able to drop another 6 pounds before New Years to give me my 40 pounds before IVF. OMG I can't believe this is starting already.

To help with my nerves, I found an audio CD with meditation specifically for patients going through IVF. I'm going to order it tonight. I'll put a review up once I get it.

bathroom photos

Artlyn
Dec 8, 2009
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I finally took some after shots of the other corners of my bathroom. Its pretty dramatic. I've got to take a better one of the light that actually shows the fixture, but this represents the space really well. I absolutely love it! So much more storage, a bigger mirror, better lighting... and best of all... no hideous purple!

results

Artlyn
Dec 7, 2009
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Before and after

After 10 weeks in my Move it to Lose it class at the YMCA the results are in. My achievements are as follows:

Total Weight lost during class: 26 pounds

Total Inches lost: .5" around neck, 3.125" around chest, 3.75" around waist, 4.75" around abs, and an astonishing 5.5" around my hips.

Pants Size: I started in a size 24 and now comfortably fit into an 18.

Cardiovascular Step Test: Went from a "very poor" score and being in the bottom 1% for women my age up to a "good" score and a jump to the 85th percentile for women my age.

Running: I had never done and running by choice before this class, and now I've done a mile in under 10 minutes and will be running my first 5K next weekend.

Overall I'm pretty dang happy with my results.

ivf consultation

Artlyn
Dec 3, 2009
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We had our IVF consultation yesterday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It feels like just last week we were making the decision to put things on hold, and here we are, moving forward with what has the potential to be a life changing decision. The consult was overwhelming but fantastic. I love the IVF nurse we met with and I discovered its one thing to read books about things you will be doing in the far off future. Its completely different to be sitting in a room with the nurse showing you a calendar saying "ok, you will take this shot on these days, and this med on these days, and come in for ultrasounds on these days, and if everything goes right, you come in for a blood test on this day and do an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy on this day." By the end I was very excited and very nervous. They called in the meds to the pharmacy and I ended up with over 10 prescriptions, and over half of those are injections. Some of them are intramuscular, meaning that Rudy has to learn to give them to me because they are given in the butt. The nurse described what each of the meds do and what cycle days I will need to take them. She said the biggest fear every IVF patient has is that she will mess up her medications and I can see why. When I did IUI it was just one med, one injection each night and a final shot to trigger ovulation. With this its multiple injections, some at night, some in the morning, plus a bunch of other stuff and its all balanced on a very particular timing scheem.

The other thing that made me a little nervous is that they don't put you completely out for the egg retrieval. Its a conscious sedation. She assured me that its like when you get a colonoscopy or get your wisdom teeth pulled, your awake, but you just don't care. And Rudy can be in the room with me, so thats kind of cool. And I get to take a valum the night before and the morning of, so I'm sure that will help the nerves.

So now we have a few weeks to wait. If I get a period the end of December or the beginning of January, then I'm all good. If I don't get one by the first week in January, then I have to call the office and they will start me on Provera to trigger a cycle. I go in for a blood test on day 1, 2 or 3 of my cycle. Then have a mock embryo transfer to determine the depth of my uterus sometime between days 5 and 15. I'll be doing a long protocol which means I start Lupron around day 21 to shut down my ovaries. About a week after that I should get another period and then the real fun begins.

Right now we are deciding between Folistim and GonalF to trigger egg growth. According to the pharmacy they are both basically the same thing, just made by different companies. When we did IUI, we used Follistim and I know I respond really well to it. I've read some women's blogs that say they responded better to one over the other, so that worries me. GonalF is substantially cheeper (out of pocket one 900IU pen of GonalF is $717 verses $1210 for the same amount of Follistim). I am also having someone in the HR department at my company check to see if any of this will be covered by insurance. Its unlikely, but it never hurts to ask. She had told me before that since our insurance is a PPOM and company funded, they might be able to turn on specific medications and get some of it covered.

The thing that I found out yesterday that was really exciting was that when I do get pregnant I'll have 2 early ultrasounds before they transfer me to my OBGYN. No waiting until week 20 for us :-)

Some of the other decisions we had to think about yesterday were if we would fertilize all of the eggs and freeze the extras or if we would just fertilize a few. Apparently some people have moral issues about making to many embryos and think destroying an embryo is murder. We are not those people (pro-choice and all), and since the expensive part is having the egg retrieval done, we will definitely have all eggs fertilized using ICSI (sperm injection), even if we end up with a really hight number. That way, if we want more kids down the road, we can do frozen embryo transfers, and once we are done making our family, we will donate the extra embryos to research. Another thing was discussed is who will get custody of the embryos if Rudy and I split up. That gave us a chuckle, and we decided that since I'm the one who is pushing for the kids, I would get custody. Also, we had to decide who will be the guardian of our embryos if something were to happen to us. I think that will be my Mom, since she knows our wish to donate them to research and she would respect that decision.

The next few weeks are going to go by incredibly fast!

survived the holiday weekend... sort of

Artlyn
Nov 30, 2009
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I did really well the day of Thanksgiving. I had planned out what I was going to eat and I did really well sticking to it. I even went to the Y for an early morning workout. I did a cardio dance class and then ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill. The class was hard... really hard, but I felt good after, so I didn't think much of it, until Friday morning when I could barely get down the stairs my legs hurt so much. I skipped my workout that day and Rudy and I went to see a movie at the cheep theater instead. Even worse is that I neglected to track my food intake. I didn't go overboard, but I'm sure I'll get chewed out by my MITLI trainer on Thursday for not tacking. Saturday was just as bad. I stayed in my PJ's all day and read a book. Didn't track calories again and skipped my workout again. Yesterday was a little better. I had to be at a photo shoot by 8:30 a.m., so no staying in my PJs. I was there until 2, then went to help some friends move. I plugged in my calories from yesterday when I got home and was happy to discover I was about 200 under. I didn't get home until late, so no formal workout, but I figure I can count the moving things as part of my weight training.

Even after all that, I stepped on the scale this morning and had lost 2 pounds this week. I intend to get back on track today. I'm tracking my food again and if I can get this stupid headache to go away, I'm going to do extra cardio at my workout tonight to make up for some of what I missed this weekend.

I only have 9 weeks left until our IVF month, so I really need to step it up. Every day counts. I'm down almost 30 now and I want another 20 before February. I've gone from 262 down to 232 and from a pants size 24 to an 18. Originally I was hoping to be down 40 by February, but my new goal is to be under 210 by February (a little over 50 pounds down) and I know I can do it if I get back on track now and stay focused through the Christmas holiday.

a Liam story

still
Nov 29, 2009
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On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we usually end up gathered in bed together as a family. This past weekend, we were curled up together and I was telling him how much we loved him. "Daddy loves you. Mommy loves you."

He snuggled his blue blanket and said "Blue blanket. Love you".

He's decided the blankie is part of the family now. :-)

Today he asked me to play my flute, so I got it out. As I was playing, he grabbed the cleaning rod from inside my case and started to "play" as well.

Best boy ever.

5 more gone

Artlyn
Nov 20, 2009
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Weigh-in last night revealed that I had lost another 5 pounds this week. This makes 23 since starting the MITLI class 8 weeks ago and 27 total. I feel good. I feel really good. The hard part comes next weekend and through the month of December. I really want to keep up this good progress, so I'm going to do my best to avoid temptation and when I do give in, to only do it in moderation.

The neighbors brought over a large apple crisp yesterday morning as a happy holidays treat. I gave in and had some last night, but I made sure I had the calories for it and only had a very small piece. That seemed to be enough and I think I can stay away from it now. I wanted to bring it into work to get it out of my fridge, but Rudy really liked it and wouldn't let me.

I'm working on a plan for Thanksgiving. I think I will make one or two healthy things to pass and probably bring my food scale along with me. This year is at my Mom's so it will be a little bit easier to control the temptation.

bathroom finally complete!

Artlyn
Nov 19, 2009
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Its done (aside from some minor paint touch ups)! I hung the last shelf last night. It feels amazing to finally have this room back in order and I absolutely LOVE it! I now have one room in my house exactly how I want it. Can't wait to get started on the next. Not sure if it will be the downstairs bathroom or the kitchen that I work on next. I'm sort of thinking the kitchen, since all that needs to be done there is painting the walls a new color. I might even do that over Thanksgiving weekend, since I already have the paint. The have bath is slightly more complicated. I need to pick out a new vanity/sink, then rip out the old one which is attached to the wall. Probably will need to update some plumbing as well... but I've got the wall colors picked out, so thats a start. I'll post pics of the completed bathroom as soon as I find my camera back. Its somewhere in the house, probably up in Rudy's room.