18 Weeks and One Day - About the length of a pickle . . .

I kind of suck at this regular updating thing. I blame being busy :)

What has happened since my last substantial post? Well . . .

-I've grown out of all my pre-pregnancy work pants and skirts. This came clear to me when I needed a hair band to fasten one pair of pants. I had two pairs of pants and a skirt, but I found a dress online, and then got two pairs of pants from Target (for about the same cost as regular pants! Score) I don't have any casual clothes yet, but I'll try to fix that this weekend. The two hardest things is 1) it's still hot here, but I have to buy warmer stuff since most of my pregnancy is in autumn and winter and 2) Why are so many pregnancy skirts, straight skirts? I didn't wear them before I got pregnant!

-I had the diabetes test last week because of the alert at the hospital. It was pretty easy - a couple of hours of sitting around, and the results came back all clear. The drink was like carbonated lime cordial and was quite yummy :)

-I've mastered the art of crocheting booties finally!

-I had a hospital visit today about the thyroid issue. The doctor answered a few of my other questions before I visited the vampires (pathology). Unfortunately I've just realised their Maths sucks, so I have to ring back to change the appointments that were made for me . . .

-My ultrasound is next week!

14 Weeks and 3 Days: About the length of a small flip phone?

It's been a couple of weeks because I've just started a new job and I've been run off my feet. Pretty much everyone there knows about the baby, and there's a lovely feeling from them all, even though I'll be leaving in less than 6 months.

Other news:

- I have a lovely round belly. I'll try to post a picture of it today, because it looks really nice :) Strangely, it's not even - where my most recent scar is, my belly pokes in a little.

- We had a scan last week! Just for fun, as the fertility specialist said (since we didn't have the one to detect Downs Syndrome). Turtle's heart is still beating strong, but we got to see so much more - including baby feet and toes! Turtle was sitting with his or her knees folded up, either crossing his or her legs for a story or stretching for ballet (my story, anyway)

-The fertility doctor also said I have excellent blood pressure. Is it ok to be proud of that?

-And he changed my thyroid medicine up again.

-The nausea is completely gone, and now I'm starving all the time. I've been able to introduce more dairy into my diet which has to be a good thing. But my cravings are stranger. I still desperately want fruit, veggies (especially potato) and red meat, but I also want French Onion dip and sat and ate ice cream out of the tub because I desperately wanted it the other night (a month ago, I couldn't stand it)

-I bought a Belly Bean maternity pillow and I love it. It's like two round pillows joined by a wide strip of fabric. It supports my back and my front, and will only get more useful as I get bigger. I actually started sleeping through the night when I got it, so there's happiness :)

-I had anaphylaxis training yesterday through work and they actually gave us all training pens to use. I felt a real flashback to the injections, and the same flinching even though these pens had no needle in them. Of course, I was less squeamish about it then I might have been before IVF :)

- Oh! Edited to add that the paperwork from the hospital came in! Thanks to a kind neighbour it wasn't completely drenched in the rain, so today I'm going to be filling it all out and this will all start feeling real!

Oh, you silly thyroid!

On Monday, the doctor decided to test my thyroid again since Stupid Doctor had said it was all ok.

Good thing we did, since the levels indicating an underactive thyroid were ridiculously high. The Fertility Doctor rang back yesterday and is sending out a new script. Until then, I'm on two tablets one day, one the next.

This is a change in the last month, though, and doesn't change the fact that we've had 19 cycles of trying prior to that. So we're still going ahead with treatment.

But it's nice to know there was a reason I was feeling bad!

All systems going ahead . . .

Two of the bibs I crocheted for my best friend

This has truly been a week of ups and downs when it comes to everything fertility related (and in my mind at the moment, everything is fertility related).

Monday and Tuesday were relatively quiet, though not without their quirks. Wednesday morning brought my period with it, along with the first lot of work colleagues approaching me to make sure I was ok (no, not really).

Thursday was filled with more inquiries into my well-being (just tired, I tell them. Not sleeping well). Then I met up with my best friends for coffee. One of my friends is pregnant, and I had crocheted gifts for her, which once again made me realise how healthy the crocheting is for me. Seeing her joy at the unexpected gifts, knowing they're going to be loved and used, filled me with joy, something which I really needed at that point in time.

Then, within half an hour of giving her the gifts, there was the phone call from M. and a whole heap of new emotions, from anger and frustration, through to hope.

Since then, I've gone back and done some reading on hypothyroidism and how it affects health in general and fertility specifically. The general symptoms are well documented - tired, aching, weight gain and digestive issues are the most well known, but it can also show in slowing speech (which may explain the trouble I've had reading aloud this year?), hoarse voice (big problem this year, but may be because I've had to yell more), drooping eyelids, intolerable to cold (though it was cold in my state this winter!), coarse and dry skin (even the fertility doctor picked this one), dry hair and tingly hands. The problem is, of course, is that these things are relatively innocuous and can be explained by other things. However, if they are symptoms, I'm going to feel great when we adjust the medication dosage - and feeling great has to help fertility.

The information on hypothyroidism and fertility is less conclusive. I've seen information which suggests it makes ovulation less likely, while other information talks about problems with the luteal phase, making it difficult for a fertilized egg to implant - basically a chemical pregnancy. Either way, I'm going to wait until I see the specialist and ask him what his take on it is. I'm also going to ask what my levels were - good for fertility is 1.0, but acceptable range in Australia (for non-fertility) is up to 3.0, I believe. If it's close to that, I'm going to be adding that to the complaint I make about Stupid Doctor.

What comes next? Well I get a short week at work this week, because Friday I need to have a HSG (hysterosalpingogram) which is an x-ray of my uterus and fallopian tubes. The doctors describe this test as 'uncomfortable' which is a term they also used the last time I was recovering from surgery (bloody painful would have been a better description). Then the Monday after that we're back at the fertility specialist for our 'where to' update and a shiny prescription for some 'make me healthy again' tablets.

The baby blanket I crocheted