Happy Thanksgiving!

We would be amiss if we didn't mention something this year we are especially grateful for.

We are grateful for medical technology.

Because of medical technology, Justin and I will soon be parents.

Because of medical technology, Justin gets to have a normal life even though he had an awful illness he had been battling with for over a year.

Back from Florida

The post about our trip to Florida will come a bit later, but here is a little bit of what has been going on with us now that we are back.

We flew back home Wednesday night and came straight home to check on Colby. After he got over the initial excitement of us being back home, the three of us headed out to the car to go grab something to eat. We got a block from the house when we smelled something burning and then a loud noise started coming from under the car. By the way - this is the same car we just drove home from the airport and the same car that had over $1500 worth of work done on it a mere 7 weeks ago.

Using our insurance we had to car towed back to the shop on Friday and today we found out that one of the engine mounts that was put on at the beginning of October broke and a piece of it got stuck somewhere where it completely thrashed one of the belts. Luckily we didn't have to pay for the towing and we also don't have to pay for the car repair, it is just inconvenient to have only one car for now.

While we were in Florida we both started getting sore throats and by Thursday night we were both definitely sick. However, we still left Friday afternoon to head up to Dallas where my mom, and my sisters Sherry and Sheila threw me a little baby shower and we got some great stuff for the baby. We planned to leave my parents' around 8am yesterday morning to return home, but since we are both battling colds we ended up sleeping later than we planned and taking quite a bit longer to get our act together so we didn't leave to come home until close to 2.

This morning I had another visit with my doctor to hear that the baby is growing great, despite the fact the I have only gained about a pound over the past 7 weeks. I really hope to gain no more than 5 more pounds for the last 9 weeks of the pregnancy. Today baby boy's heart rate was 154 bpm. Because I have been sick for a little while, my doctor gave me an antibiotic and something to help with my cough and congestion. Right now Justin is on his way to see our regular doctor to see what they can give him. His immune system isn't in the best of shape ever since he was on such strong meds for his ulcerative colitis and we need him in tip-top shape before he has to go in for surgery #2 on Dec. 9th.

We are hoping to be doing much better by the time Justin's brother and his fiancee come for Thanksgiving.

The past week . . .

Things have been busy for the past week and will be until we leave on Friday morning.

On Monday
I had my 28-week appt to hear that everything looked good with the baby (heart rate = 145 bpm) and that the doctor already wants to see me every 2 weeks instead of waiting another 4. This was a bit surprising to me at first, but then I thought about it and decided that I am a problem case. In fact my list at the doctor's office is quite long - 1) infertility with unknown origin, 2) IVF pregnancy, 3) vanishing or disappearing twin, 4) gestational diabetes (I think there was one other thing on the list, but I can't remember for sure). When I told my doctor that I would be in Florida 2 weeks later, she said that she would see me in 3 instead so apparently it isn't too urgent.

Justin stayed home from work again on Monday. Ever since he went back to work (which corresponds to when he was done taking the steroids he had been on for quite a while) he has been pretty sore. Achy joints and muscles, some days making it very hard for him to just get out of bed. However on Monday we learned that he is not diabetic (at least one of us isn't) nor does he have rheumatoid arthritis. The doctor gave him something to take for the next 6 days or so to help with the pain so that he can function a bit better.

On Tuesday
Tuesday was not only Election Day, but it was an evening that we had been looking forward to for a while. One of our favorite authors, Vince Flynn, was doing a book signing here in Houston. It was cool to be able to meet him and to now have an autographed copy of his book that just came out. If you are curious about the kind of books he writes you can check here and here.

On Wednesday
I had a follow-up with a dietitian to go over my blood sugar numbers from the last 3 weeks and see what I needed help fixing. And the answer? I need help with nothing. My blood sugar numbers are always in the ranges they are supposed to be. Pretty interesting since I have limited my intake of sugary things (I really haven't eaten much of that leftover Halloween candy, although I have eaten some), but other than that I eat what I want. I do not limit carbs the way they told me to, nor am I always eating at exactly the same time everyday (another thing they told me to do). I think that the truth is that my body didn't like receiving straight sugar for the test and therefore didn't process it correctly. But who ever takes in straight sugar anyway? Even if you are eating ice cream (something else I have even had some of in the last week) or something else sweet, believe it or not, there is more than just sugar in there. Most foods have some kind of protein as well. I plan to continue to monitor my levels, but I am hoping after seeing my OB on the 24th she tells me that I don't have to do it 4 times a day anymore.

This weekend
Justin and I are pretty proud of ourselves that we are almost done Christmas shopping! We typically don't even start shopping until around Thanksgiving. But since we are planning for him to have another surgery in December we (at least I) have felt an urgency to get things done. In addition to being about done with that this weekend we did tons of cleaning around the house: Cleaned out the fridge; swept, mopped and vacuumed just about everywhere; cleaned bathrooms; Justin straightened up both of our desks; and we began sorting through all my craft stuff to clean it up and get it organized (yeah, I think I am nesting). Throw in the fact that I went to not one, but two baby showers on Saturday and it has been a super busy week/weekend. We had hoped to buy the paint for baby boy's room as well, but there was too much to do and we didn't make it to the store before they closed.

Justin finished off his medication for achy joints and muscles and is already starting to feel a bit sore again. We are hoping that the doctor will give him some type of refill or something so we don't end up with a miserable trip.

We also have made arrangements for someone to come over and feed and play with Colby twice a day while we are gone. I know that if you don't have pets you probably don't understand, but we feel so bad that we will be leaving him for 6 days and 5 nights. He really is part of our family and he loves us so much. He can be a handful when he has tons of energy, but what he loves the most is to just sit or lay down with us and be cuddled and feel loved. It will be really hard on him to be alone for so much time.

This next week
I'm not sure about Justin and his work, but I have quite the to-do list for before we leave: I have two different tutoring sessions set up for this week, I just realized that I need to make the invitations for our next Christmas Enrichment (only 3 weeks from Tuesday!), I need to write an exam review and an exam, and I am giving an exam in 2 classes on Tuesday that have to be graded by Thursday morning. On Wednesday Justin has an appointment with his surgeon and we are hoping that we will then know an exact date for his next surgery so we can better prepare.

I think I will sleep the whole first day we are gone.

Our productive weekend

For the first time since we moved to Houston, we did not throw a Halloween party this year. Once we learned that IVF worked, I told Justin that I didn't think I wanted to deal with the hassle of the party because it is always tons of work for me. At the time, I had no idea what we would go through with Justin's health the past few months.

Because we weren't having a party, I also didn't mess with costumes for us. But I already have an idea for next year. :) Halloween night, Justin went to early vote on his way home from work and didn't make it home until almost 8pm. By the time he got home, we had only had about 10 trick-or-treaters. We only had about 20 for the entire night.

Friday night we made a list of things that we need to get done, and Saturday afternoon we went to work (after going out and running errands in the morning). We are actually quite proud of our accomplishments for this weekend. We finished clearing out baby's room, we did some much needed yard work, we did some laundry, we put away all the Halloween decorations and gave Colby a bath.

We hope the next week and half is just as productive as we get ready to go on our trip to Florida.