Infertile Blessings

Toddler Room

Friday, May 6, 2016

I'm excited to get Brennan's big girl room done before baby snowflake arrives this fall.

We have 1 room in my house that we have painted 3 times since moving in. We moved in 2 years ago!! I refuse to continue repainting rooms so I'm now very careful to make sure that I test the paint colors in the actual room on several different walls before painting.

They make a product called Swatch Right to help with this problem. You apply your paint to their mats and then place your mat on the wall to evaluate the color. Smart, right?

Here's the problem. They charge $14.99 for 3 workmats of 2 swatches.

I found s cheaper, easier, faster alternative. Press 'N' Seal!! For 3 dollars you can save yourself a lot of time and money. Plus you can use it to cover paint when it's not in use, brushes and rollers between coats, and to protect items from splatter. You can also move the swatches from wall to wall to test the color in different light, even different rooms.

Happy Painting!!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

2nd trimester has been interesting to say the least. I always reassure my patients that most women turn a corner at 14 weeks. I've gone backwards. After brushing my teeth (and tongue) every morning for roughly 32 years it's hard to remember to take caution! Aside from a few rough mornings in the last week I can definitely start to feel my body changing. I've never been so aware of my uterus in my life. Between the cramping, ligament pain and just general pressure it's a constant reminder that something is growing in there. The female body is incredible.

We scheduled our ultrasound for June. Can't wait to see how much this little one has changed. Brennan says "Mommy, I want a baby brother!" Guess we will see what God has in store for us come fall!!

I've finally begun to accept the fact that my belly is no longer mine. I will never be one of those mamas with a little basketball belly but I love thinking about my little one getting bigger. We have now graduated to the size of a lemon. Pretty fitting since fresh squeezed lemonade has been my only true pregnancy craving. After taking this photo I found a recipe online for a single glass of fresh squeezed lemonade. Thought I'd share it with you all too.

Single Glass Fresh Lemonade

Ingredients

2 scoops granulated sugar
¼ cup hot water
3 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice (I used 1/2 of a large lemon)
¾ cup cold water
Ice

Instructions

Stir together the sugar and hot water until the sugar is dissolved
Stir in the lemon juice and cold water
Fill with ice and enjoy!

Trying to Reach the Rainbow

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Finding out that you are pregnant at 4 weeks along can make the first trimester feel like a year! Fortunately the all-day sickness really only lasted about 2 weeks, the hypogrlycemia only a week or so and now I'm feeling pretty good. Evening heartburn/nausea is no joke but it's not every day.

My husband and I started taking our daughter for walks in our neighborhood almost every evening. We are fortunate enough to have the Intercoastal Waterway just a mile and a half down the road so it makes for a nice little outing. Brennan loves to ride in her stroller, point out and touch every fire hydrant and throw rocks into the river. We look for fishies, alligators (or as she calls them alligatorts) and birdies. Here are a few photos from last night's walk.

As for baby snowflake "shim" (named by my mother-in-law) is doing great! Nice strong heartbeat and very active on ultrasound. Adam still wants to keep the gender a surprise and I want to find out like yesterday! All babies start out as "boys" then the genital tubercle (which looks like a penis) becomes either the shaft of the penis for a boy or the clitoris if it's a girl. Well at 12 weeks baby had a very prominent tubercle, so who knows maybe it will stick around and we will have a boy!!

There is a theory called the Ramzi method. It can predict the gender of a baby based on the yolk-sac/placenta location at 6-7 weeks. According to Ramzi it can predict the gender of 97.2% of males 97.5% of females. According to this theory we are having a boy!!

Baby is about the size of 2 pennies side by side. I haven't gained any weight yet (thankfully) and I'm not yet showing. The 2nd trimester begins the end of this week. I can't wait to see what the next trimester holds!

Looking forward to 4 more weeks of begging my husband to let me find out the gender and I can't wait to feel those kicks!!

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

One of my favorite moments as a midwife is finding an early baby's heartbeat for the first time. My patients tell me all the time that seeing it on the ultrasound screen is one thing but hearing it for the first time is even better. I have cried with women countless times as they hear that fast thumping heart for the first time. I have cried with patients and friends as we discovered that their baby no longer had a heartbeat. I have also rejoiced with women as we find the heartbeat on ultrasound after minutes and minutes of unsuccessfully searching with the doppler.

At just 9 weeks and 3 days we heard the heartbeat for the first time. I couldn't believe my ears as I heard that fast little heart just beating away. Every time I've found the heartbeat for another mama I've wondered what it would be like to hear my baby's heart beating for the first time. I've wondered what it feels like just to be pregnant. Now I know just what it's like. It's incredible. It's amazing. It's a miracle. Only God could have created this.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. God hears our prayers and blesses those who trust in Him. I am unbelievably blessed and appreciate the ability to share this time with all of you.

Current gender/surprise status: Adam wants to keep it a surprise and I want to find out! When we hit 16 weeks he will make a final decision. It will be funny to see how many times we both flip flop between now and then.

Brennan was my assistant tonight for a quick photo update. She couldn't resist getting in front of the camera herself.

Side note: deep fried pickle spears.... wow!!

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

We made it to another milestone! We are officially 9 weeks which means 6 fewer pills per day and no more suppositories! Baby snowflake is really starting to take shape. You can see a head, body and little arm and leg buds. Baby is about the size of a grape and has a strong heartbeat!

Brennan is already in love. She says that baby snowflake is a sister and that her name is Molly. My 5 year old sister-in-law calls her sparkle princess unicorn or something along those lines. In this 9 week ultrasound you can see how much the baby has changed in such a short amount of time. Watch closely at the end and you can see baby move!

Before Adam and I even started trying I remember telling him that I had to have a daughter. I am one of six girls and I absolutely adore my mother. I couldn't imagine never getting to experience that mother-daughter relationship. I told him that if God only gave use boys then we would adopt a girl. Well God decided we would adopt our girl first.

Adam is IN LOVE with Brennan. He is wrapped around her littler finger. She turns into the sweetest little snuggle bug when daddy is around. They are best buds and he wouldn't change her for the world. They golf, they fish, they play with the doggies, they wrestle, they gang up on mommy. But he would love a little boy. I imagine because he wants to experience the relationship that he shares with his father but from the other side.

We go back and forth on whether or not we should find out the gender. I have my little girl and would love for my husband to get his little boy. I would also love for Brennan to have a little sister.

So now you get to weigh in. Comment on this blog post with whether or not you think we should find out the gender and why!!

Prayer requests: Help us make it out of the first trimester!

Please help me pray for a new friend who is waiting to find out if her IVF cycle will be giving her a little blessing of her own

#‎snowflakebabies‬ ‪#‎snowflakebaby‬ ‪#‎embryoadoption‬ ‪#‎embryodonation‬

Little Flicker

Friday, March 4, 2016

6 weeks 2 days and we have a heartbeat!!

Some people seem confused as to why we call our baby "baby snowflake". Nightlight Christian Adoptions has a program called Snowflake Embryo Adoption and Donation. They says that just like a snowflake every embryo is a frozen, unique gift from heaven!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

I initially planned to do these photos just for us but they are too cute not to share. I think I will make a little scrapbook of our journey and use it to explain embryo adoption to our baby to be.