Ups ‘n Downs

Still slogging through the weight loss thing, waiting for IVF time to come around!  I haven’t started my period yet, so it’s now officially too late to start the IVF process for this year.  The Texas Fertility Center is closed for a few weeks over the holidays, and they don’t start anyone who might end up needing egg retrieval or embryo transfer during that time.  *big sigh*  Oh well, at least it will give me time to lose more weight.

Baby-Making Meal Plan Update:  I’m down 23 lbs at exactly 5 weeks.  I have now lost 10% of my body weight, which is the recommended amount before starting IVF.  The extra time will put to good use getting even more off!  It would be great to lose another 23-30 in the next 5 weeks!

All the little kittens are at the spay/neuter clinic today getting fixed.  They’ll have their adoption event debut this Saturday!  I hope we find wonderful homes for them before the holidays.  Moo, the formerly blind kitten, is recovering from his last surgery and will be ready to go to his first adoption event the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We’ve all gotten so attached to him.  We really thought about keeping him, but I think we’d be short-changing him if we added him to our crazy zoo.  He derserves a family of his own where he can get tons of attention!  He’s going to be the featured pet on the APA blog next week!

Mom and I made it through our whirlwind of dr appointments.  *phew*  That was my craziest “long weekend” to date!  All my stuff came back normal, but unfortunately Mom’s mammogram showed some dense tissue on one side, and her bone scan showed some significant loss on the other side.  She had a benign tumor removed from her lymph nodes near her breast when we were kids, and sometimes the scar tissue shows up.  She’s thinking that’s what it is, but they’re repeating the mammogram today. 

Mom had a bad car accident about 10 years ago and has had back and hip pain ever since, but it’s been getting pretty bad for the last year.  I’m thinking that the bone loss may be osteoporosis and arthritis brought on by the accident.  Hopefully we’ll learn more about that tomorrow, too.

On top of it all, car problems are doggin’ us.  My old Explorer seems to be limping pretty badly these days, and the VW bus isn’t in top shape yet.  We have a long-term plan to get the bus in top shape next year, but we didn’t count on the Ford giving out on me now.  Troy’s truck broke down this spring and would’ve cost us $2000 to fix, but it was 15 years old, so we ended up buying a used Honda Element, which he loves.  We really don’t want to take on another car payment right now, though.  I’m hoping to get out of the office shortly so I can make it by the shop to have the Explorer checked out. 

Time seems to be moving so much faster since we started the break from trying to conceive.  I think when time isn’t broken into two enternity (I mean week) waits, it snaps out of molasses-time and back into fast-forward time.  I know I haven’t been reading the blogs much lately, and that’s mostly due to full, busy days.  But I think it might also be just a little bit due to how panicky I feel inside when I realize everyone else seems to be moving on towards their BFP’s, while I’m stuck in lala land.  That’s selfish.  But I’m working on enjoying this time, enjoying getting the weight off, and being patient that the right time is just over the bend in 2010.

For Kari

For my poor friend Kari at Baby Steps: A My Journey to Motherhood.  Check out her sad Lovenox/OHSS story – complete with cats!

Whaddaya Know, I Forgot to Name This Post

Hello, ya’ll! 

Id’ve written sooner but I’ve had some minor computer troubles:

Mini-Moo's!

We have new fosters!  Two little black and white kittens, 4 week old siblings.  They were dumped at the pound by an owner who didn’t want them where of course they picked up a minor eye infection, so the pound was going to euthanize them.  There were actually two others that were brown but another foster mom took those.  Fortunately the infection was really minor and is almost cleared up already!  Yay!  They’re a little shy but warm up quickly.  Although they’re not sure they like being picked up yet, they love to be loved on.  They play and go, go, go non-stop!

I’m actually embarrassed to admit that I can’t tell if they’re boys or girls.  The pound paperwork says they’re male, but they look female.  The tinier one has really fuzzy fur and is actually the only one with the minor eye infection.  I’ve been calling him? her? Panda Bear.  The other one seems completely healthy and has softer, silkier fur and a big black spot under his/her nose.  If it’s a boy, I was going to call him Tom Selleck (or maybe just Selleck).  I thought Kitler was funny but Troy thought it was in bad taste.  If it’s a girl I could go with Frida Kahlo (a Hispanic artist who was as famous for her unibrow and mustache as her art).  Any name suggestions?  I’ve gotta find names that will help them get adopted.  Taking all suggestions!  I’ve gotten Salt and Pepper from Dad.  Or I might go with Mo and Jo (get it?  Mojo? I’m so funny.  And, they’re not gender-specific). 

Anyways . . . on to more good news!  Baby-Making Meal Plan Update:  17lbs at exactly 3 weeks!  WooHoo! 

Fortunately, there’s actually no bad news.  No escapades, no mistakes,  no embarrassing smudges on the front of my scrubs in public.  It’s been a refreshingly embarrassment-free and smoke-free week.  And my house actually smells like a house again!

However, there has been an abundance of kitty poo.  We now have a second litter of kittens squatting in hour house!  Why two litters?  Because I’m a dumbass!  Since Mom and Dad decided to keep Moo at their house, and Leif and Libby were adopted, it felt like we had a little bit of an empty nest so I let the director know we could take a kitty or two.  And voila!  The two litters appeared on the same day!  I just couldn’t say no.  Since they’re all little kittens, they should get adopted really quickly, so I don’t think they’ll be with us long.

The Austin Pets Alive Bottle Baby Trailer takes newborn kittens from the pound (the pound euthanizes all kittens that can’t eat solid food yet) and volunteers bottle feed them every few hours ’til they start eating solid food.  Then they go to foster homes to be socialized ’til they’re old enough to be fixed and ‘chipped.  The BBT volunteers were desperate to get the healthy weaned babies out so they could take in some newborns.  So now we have a litter of three bottle babies!  Since they’ve been handled since birth they’re friendly and completely fearless!  They were named already:  Hoss is the biggest one – twice and big as the other two! – and is all black;  Cami is a sweet little tortoise-shell calico; and the little gray runt of the litter, Angel, is an incredibly tiny, mouthy imp!  She’s definitely the smartest - she thinks up all kinds of trouble that the other two are only two happy to join in!  It’s endlessly amusing to set them loose and let them have the run of the house!

Hoss, Cami and Ange

 I’m really not a crazy cat lady.  Really.  I promise. 

Mom and Moo are staying with us for a few days starting Wednesday.  I’m off  on Thursday and Mom and I have a slew of doctor appointments.  Mom hasn’t been to a doctor in over a year and I’m worried that with all that’s going on with them she’s not taking care of herself.  So I set her up to see all my docs!  Thursday morning we have our yearly well-woman appointments (oh joy, yet another man up my woohoo.  Oh well, it’s not like it’s virgin territory or anything).  Then we drop off Moo and the two black and white kittens for check-ups at the APA clinic.  Next, Mom and I are both going to the dermatologist; me to ask about skin repair and anti-aging options (after a childhood spent on the beach in Asia, I need it) and Mom to have a body check for scary moles. Then it’s back to the clinic to pick up the kitties, then Mom heads to the dentist while I hide in the car.  Gaaa, I hate the dentist.

At 3pm I have an appointment at a weight loss clinic that my BFF Judy has started going to called the Texas Weight Loss Center.  They do B12 injections for energy and injections for fat liquidation called Lipoden.  I know I’m probably overdo-ing it.  I just want to get the weight off FAST so I can get back to baby making!  They also give scripts for Adipex and phentermine, but I’ve done phentermine before and it didn’t do squat.  I figure B12 can’t hurt, though.  What do ya’ll think about weight loss (and weight loss drugs) while TTC?

Friday (my regular day off), it’s mammograms for us both.  Mom’s sister died of breast cancer so we both should be getting annual boobie squashings but we’re both a few years behind.  Then Mom sees her hematologist in the afternoon (she sometimes needs iron infusions for anemia).  He’s one of our cancer docs that I used to work for before the merger.  I’ve missed working for him a lot and I’m really looking forward to catching up with everyone at my old stomping grounds!  BFF Judy works at that location, too.

So that’s my exciting week to come!  Thursday is the end of week 4 of the Baby-Making Meal Plan and I can’t wait to see how far I’ve gotten!  Come on, 20 lbs loss!

Here’s the News!

I’ve been running a mile a minute since the infamous “poop-shirt/smoke-out” day.  Ah, good times, good times. 

Libby went back to the vet a few days later and finally was fixed.   One evening I took a class at Austin Pets Alive on how to do pet adoptions (the interview and paperwork), and as I was leaving, another foster mom brought in a tiny 3 1/2 week old black and white kitten.  He and his three siblings were brought home from the pound with horrible upper respiratory infections.  His siblings were sick like Libby and Leif were, with trouble breathing and had to be fed every few hours by syringe.  This little guy could breathe and eat just fine, but the infection had settled in his eyes.  They were swollen the size of marbles in his tiny head and he couldn’t open them.  The vet suspected that he would be blind.  The foster mom couldn’t keep up with him with the needs of the other two, so she was hoping that someone else could take him.  Argh, I’m a softie.  So now we have Moo, the blind kitten.  Moo is short for Mooby, a fictional cartoon character in various Kevin Smith movies, but whenever I called him it sounded too much like I was calling “Booby!” so I shortened it to Moo.

Little Moo

Happy Little Guy

 One sweet perk of the company merger last year is now we all have a “Floating Holiday” – a paid day we can take off anytime (as long as it’s pre-approved, of course).  Last Thurday I took my floating holiday, so Wednesday night I headed up to Gatesville where my folks are still unpacking at their new house.  Mom and I hung pictures, mirrors, and curtains, unpacked boxes and shopped.  I got over half of my Christmas shopping done, yay me! 

Since Troy was still working full time, I brought Moo with me to the folks’ house.  Within an hour he was king of the household.  By the time I left, he could open his eyes!  He has a white film across the middle of his eyes, but he can see quite a bit.  The inner lining of his eyes are still swollen and red, but nothing like before.  He’s been through a full round of antibiotics so far, but since he’s still very infectious, Dad decided he needed to stay with them ’til he’s not infectious any more.  Dad re-named him Socks.  I’m hoping Mom will let Dad keep him.  Mom is iffy, but Dad and “Socks” are super tight!

Spoiled kitty

pooped out from playing with Grandad

 

Friday evening I rushed back into town to go to work.  Made a mistake at work .  Have to go in today after work at my regular job to take my punishment.  It sucks, it was carelessness on my part (didn’t affect patient care, it was about instrument care and maintenance).  I feel really bad.  There’s been talk of lay-offs and I really should’ve been more careful.  I wish this evening was over already so I could know what they have planned for me.  *sigh* <edit: got through the meeting with a reprimand and some good advice for making a better decision next time.  Sucked, but I’m glad it’s over and wasn’t more severe.>

Saturday morning I couldn’t sleep, just worrying over the mistake.  Around noon I got up to take Leif and Libby to big Halloween pet adoption event APA was holding at a PetSmart near our house.  I hope they do more events there!  By the time I got there, there was actually a potential adopter who had seen Leif’s profile on the APA website and she was waiting to meet him!  Once she and her fiancee saw Leif and Libby together, they just couldn’t leave with only one!  She adopted both together!  WooHoo!  I couldn’t have dreamed of a sweeter outcome.  We miss them so much, but I’m so proud of all we did to get them to their forever home!

While we were there, I saw our first two fosters, Padme and Ewok.  They’re still struggling to find a home – they’re both so shy and just haven’t been able to shake that.  I hope they can find a really quiet home.  Ewok is still little so I think she would do great with other pets but no kids.  Padme is so quiet, I think she’d do best in a quiet home, maybe with a single person or a retired couple with no other pets.  She doesn’t mind other pets, but she won’t fight for attention, so she’d get more if she was the only one.  They are a lot more sociable since they first came home with us, but I can’t help but feel a little sad that they still haven’t found their forever homes.  <edit to add:  tonight when I went through my emails, I saw that Padme was adopted after we left!  I’ve written the lead at the adoption event to ask about her adopter.  I’m so happy! >

Worked again Saturday night, and crashed out all day Sunday.  Hubby went to my folks for a few hours to set up all of their electronics – home phones, cells, TV and computers.  He fished on the way home and had a great time.  BFF Judy came by around 3, just as I was getting up, and we had a great evening.  She cooked pork chops, omg they were amazing.

Baby-Making Meal Plan update:  I’m now in the middle of week three.  I’m up to 3 metformin pills a day – two at bedtime and one in the morning.  I’m finally feeling some energy come back!  I swear last week I could’ve laid down on the cold, dirty tile at work and been asleep in 5 seconds flat.  Feels good to have some oomph again!  Week 1 loss:  7.4 lbs.  Week 2 loss:  4 lbs.  Loss so far this week:  2 lbs  (the end of week 3 will be Thursday).  Total loss so far:  13.4 lbs.  A good total so far, I know, but not near as much as I’d like to see!

On the TTC front:  AF finally came last week, right at about 6 weeks post-BFN.  It was short and light, just spotting for about 4 days.  I called the IVF nurse at the Texas Fertility Center, and we talked a little about what the plan would be.  In the evening Troy and I talked over whether or not we should sit out a cycle or push on.  Troy felt really strongly that we needed at least one more cycle before starting IVF.  I think he’s right.  The last failure was a hard one.  And I’m just starting to make progress on the BMMP.  Also, it’ll give us the extra funds for C-mas.

It was really hard to call the RN back and tell her we’ve decided to sit out a cycle, but it felt right.  We actually may have to sit out two cycles, as the center is closed for the last two weeks of December.  It just depends on the timing – as long as egg retrieval and embryo transfer don’t fall on those two weeks, we’ll proceed next AF.  Otherwise, it’ll be the first AF of January.

Either way, it’ll be ok.  The pros to waiting are that we’ll have more $$ saved and I’ll have more weight off.  For now, I’m sticking with the pro’s.  

Love to you all!  I’m catching up on blogs tonight!