Apple Turnovers and NC Knitting

I’ve been to the fertility clinic 5 times in the past 8 days.  I’ve decided to make it a habit to go to a bakery and buy an apple turn over and a small cup of coffee after every blood draw/ultrasound.  After going to a few different ones, I think I’ve found the most delicious apple turnover in Cary, North Carolina: Once in a Blue Moon Bakery.  Seriously, the best I’ve ever eaten.  Sugar Buzz Bakery is a close second. 😉  It’s the little things, right?  And it makes blood draw/ ultrasound day a little less unpleasant.

And how is everything going?

So far so good!  I went in for blood work on Monday and they found my estrogen was just a bit lower than they wanted it (135) so they upped the gonal-f to 100 and left the menopur at 75.  I went back in Tuesday and my estrogen had gone up to 245, which is great.  My ultrasound showed at least 20 follicles all 7mm to 11mm.  Tuesday’s ultrasound was pretty unpleasant as I’m starting to feel my ovaries.  They don’t hurt unless they get pushed on, but it’s not the most comfortable.  And considering my retrieval is at least a week away, I’m assuming it’s only going to get worse.

Today’s ultrasound showed at least 12 follicles (she didn’t count them all) measuring between 8 mm and 13 mm. My estrogen came back at a whopping 753!  That’s a huge jump in just a couple days. 🙂  Starting ganirelix tonight to make sure no ovulating happens before everything gets nice and big.  They like to trigger when most follicles are between 18 mm and 23 mm.  We’re getting there!

Symptom-wise, my headache isn’t as bad as it was over the weekend.  It’s just dull and in the background now.  I am tired and super bloated.  I would love to just sleep for the next week.  I know i was bored pre-IVF, but these days I am so incredibly thankful that I don’t have to do this AND go to work.  You ladies who do both are super women!

I’ve been knitting up a storm for the past few weeks.  Want to see? 🙂

The floor in our new house is very… scratchable… And our dinning room furniture was in desperate need of a makeover… AND the dark furniture and the dark floors needed to be broken up…
Thus.. Chair Socks.  I just love how cute they are.  And they can go right into the washer and dryer. 🙂

I started these before Christmas and finished them up a couple weeks ago.  They were an interesting knit, but I think I’ll do the heels differently next time.

Click for pattern

I made these for my mom’s birthday.  She got them on Monday, just in time to wear them through Illinois’s bitter cold week.

Click for pattern

I made these baby socks out of some left over sock yarn.  I made myself these socks a couple years ago and just love that our baby will have socks that look just like mine. 🙂

Click for pattern

And finally, this baby sweater.  I bought this undyed wool specifically to knit during our IVF.  I knew I’d want to knit something baby related, but didn’t feel like trying to find a gender neutral color that I loved.  After I knit it and a matching hat up, I found I actually really liked the color.  It’s a soft cream color.  I might end up dying it later, but for now it’s going to stay like this.

Click for pattern.

I’m sure more baby knitting and sewing will commence over the next 6 weeks until we know the results of our FET.  It feels hopeful, like I’m putting good vibes out there and preparing for the best possible outcome.  We’ve been joking that if both of our embryos make it, I’ll have to duplicate everything I’ve made so far. 😉

Blood work tomorrow and blood work and ultrasound on Saturday.  More soon! ❤

IUI #6/3

I’m so over these injections.  Knowing that we’re almost done has not made doing them any easier.  One more gonal-f tonight and then a novarel tomorrow and then, cross your fingers, I’m done injecting hormones into my body.  YAY!

I went in for a follicle count and blood work today.  She found 5 follicles, but only one looked like it would be dominant.  I’m a little bummed out.  We decreased the meds in hopes that 6 follicles would go down to maybe 2 or 3 follicles, but it looks like one it is.  My estrogen came back at 374, so we definitely have 1 really solid follicle, maybe even a second by Friday.

Friday is IUI #6/3.  It will only be cycle day 11.  It’s rather early, but if follicles are ready, then they’re ready, right?

This seems to have gone fast, but the early IUI coupled with the fact that I’ve been done with a horrible cold since this past weekend is probably why.  I’ve heard it’s going around and with the huge number of different students I see on a daily basis, it’s not surprising that it got me.

What do I do when I’m sick?  Knit socks of course.  The socks that I started a couple weeks ago got finished up last night…

 

Find the pattern here.

You can also catch a glimpse of the new nursery floor and wall color in that picture.  I’ve been too sick and/or preoccupied to take good pictures of it so far.  I’ll get there eventually.  For now, I’d prefer to nap on my couch. 🙂

Baby Socks and Washing Machines

When we decided to start working towards adoption, we also realized that that meant we probably wouldn’t have a baby shower until after the baby was born.  Our parents have offered to buy the larger items when we get matched with a birth mom, but the rest (clothes, bottles, formula, etc.) are things we’ll need before baby comes home.  And because 16% of first attempt adoptions fail, we also realize the need for any newborn clothes to be gender neutral.

Other than the few onesies we I’ve already purchased, our collection of baby paraphernalia is, and rightfully so, pretty slim.  Our solution is to buy a onesie or a pair of newborn pants or a pack of newborn socks every once in a while when we’re out and see something gender neutral we like so that we don’t have to worry about buying everything all at once when the time comes.  Plus, baby clothes are super cute and make us happy.  Our purchases get thrown into the wash, dried, and folded neatly into Baby G’s dresser.

Cue the leaking, dead washing machine.  Snow White had an accident the other day while she was locked in her crate for an hour while I was at the chiropractor.  I threw her bed in the wash (admittedly, it was probably too big to go in our washing machine, but that’s neither here nor there. 😉 ) only to have the washing machine stop and refuse to turn back on after the first wash cycle.  I guiltily called Jeremy and told him it wouldn’t turn back on.  When he got home that night, he proclaimed it’s death and said we would probably have to get a new one.  Crap.  So much for saving for that adoption.  Today, he decided it wouldn’t hurt to pull the whole thing apart.

As he was doing that, we realized we were missing a brand new baby sock.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled it out of the washing machine’s water pump…

This kid isn’t even conceived yet and it’s already causing us problems. 😉  We’re just happy we don’t need a new washer.  And Jeremy feels like a handyman-extraordinaire for finding and fixing the problem.  Now let’s just hope he can put it all back together. :p

Note to self: baby socks get washed in mesh lingerie bags from now on.

Pink Vinaigrette.

I’m still hanging in there for now.  I had a nice chat with my doctor on Friday.  Apparently the on-call doctor misread my ultrasound and I have a bunch of smaller cysts that equal the size of a golf ball.  This makes me feel much better.  She doesn’t want to add any medications to my body right now since technically I could still be pregnant.  We’ll chat again about how to proceed once my period starts.  She wants me to take at least a month off from the clomid.  It’s really bothering her that I’m getting cysts on the lowest dose.  I’m honestly not too broken up about a taking a break.  Clomid is kicking my butt big time.
Jeremy and I decided that it will be a break from temping and ovulation sticks as well.  We’ll still try, but it’s going to be far more relaxed than it’s been in a long time.

I’ve been taking it easy for the past few days.  I’ve had a lot of pain in my lower abdomen, a lot of nausea, my boobs are killing me, and I’m hungry constantly.   Part of me is looking forward to my period starting because I know I’ll feel a lot better.
BUT, in the meantime, I’ve been catching up on some knitting.  I really burned out after Christmas knitting, so most of my projects have been sitting in my knitting basket in my office for the past 6 months.

I finished these socks on Saturday.  I used the Plymouth Yarn Stiletto that I found at the Chicago Yarn Crawl last fall.  I started these just before Christmas and I’ve dragged them around the country with us recently trying to tempt myself into finishing them.  It just took some time on the couch. 😉
 I’m working on some stranded color work socks right now.  It’s going so much fast than I remember it.  I had to retrain my fingers to knit English and Continental at the same time.  Out of control. 😉  They’ll be really pretty when they’re finished.

Finally, the hot, humid weather we’ve been having seems to have worked wonders for my garden…
My tomatoes and tomatillos are getting really big and strong and my zucchini plants have a TON of flowers on them.

I let the chive plants flower this year…
Once they were past their prime, I chopped the whole plant down so that it will flower again.  I’m freezing the leaves and I decided to try to make a chive vinaigrette with the flowers.
The vinegar is supposed to turn from clear…
To pink…
To pinky-lavender.
The lettuce is almost big enough to pick.  I think we’ll try this pretty pink vinaigrette once we can use our own lettuce. 🙂

Socks and Typewriters

It has been a good week so far. 🙂

I feel so much more positive than I’ve felt in months.  I think the fact that it’s getting cooler out is helping.  I’ve never loved summer.  Too warm and not enough hand knits. 😉 I love fall.

I’ve started really knitting again.  Last year was spent figuring out my favorite stitches and mastering important to know techniques.  I’ve decided that this year I’m going to work more on textures.  I’ve always been intimidated by lace and chart knitting, but I’ve spent the last month or so really working on different kinds of socks.  I’ve discovered my favorite heel, cast on, and cuff size.  I love my new socks!

The first picture is of my finished Snow Day Socks! YAY!  That only took 8 months.. 😉  Next are my Mojo socks.  Awesome for getting back into the knitting groove as they focus on knitting, purling, and ribbing.  I used the Schopelle-Wolle Zauberball yarn that my mom and I found at Stitches Midwest.  The colorway is “crazy”… and it is.  The third picture is of my Kalajoki socks.  The pattern is supposed to mirror a Finnish river.  I had to rip out the entire second sock at one point because my river got a little out of control.  Finally, my Watercress mocks (mystery socks) .  Ravelry’s Sock Knitters Anonymous has a different challenge every month.  September’s was to knit all in one color: Chartruese.  They also offered a mystery pattern with clues throughout the month.  The pattern was good and forced me to embrace lace.  The color really grew on me. 🙂

I have a few more socks in progress right now, but then I’ll be hanging up my size 2 needles and getting down to some sweater business.  I have at least 3 sweaters planned for this winter and I already have the yarn for each, so no excuses. 😛

Meanwhile, I went with my sister, niece, and Jeremy to the Barn Sale at the Kane County Fairgrounds last weekend.  We found a few books and something even more fabulous…

  That’s alright, you can go ahead and be jealous now… 😉

It’s a functioning 1963 Smith-Corona Sterling typewriter.  I’ve always loved typewriters.  They force you to really think about what you plan on writing because there is no backspace key.

I’ve never owned a typewriter before because if they’re cheap they often don’t work and if they do work they’re far our of my “unnecessary accessories” budget.   Jeremy found this one though and just take a guess as to how much it was… You’ll never guess, so I’ll tell you: $1.  That’s right.  ONE DOLLAR. 🙂

Epic score.

Charts

Now THIS is an ovulation chart!

Wooo!

For those of you who have no idea what you’re looking at, I’ll educate you.  Basal body temperature charting is a relatively reliable way to see when you ovulate each month.  Using a basal thermometer, you take your temperature at the same time each morning before getting out of bed to get your core temperature.  At the beginning of your cycle, it should be relatively lower and then spike noticeable when you’ve ovulated.  Your temperature will stay high until just before your period starts and then drop dramatically, or stay high if you’ve conceived that month.   It’s useful for predicting when you’ve ovulated because most women don’t have bodies that stick with the average 14 days.

For the last few months, my charts have looked like this:

Yikes...

Fertilityfriend.com gave it’s best estimate as to what that chart meant last month, but as you can see, it’s pretty wonky.  The first chart is from this cycle so far, and it looks like my cycle might finally be normalizing.  And this makes me VERY happy. =)

Baby talk, out. 😉

In other news, I might finally finish my Snow Day Socks that I started in January this weekend…  oops…  Also, my garden is beasting this weather. 🙂

Knitting and Sleeping

I’m still alive… for now…  Feeling better than before, but still not feeling good.  I don’t think I realized how sick I was when I went to the doctor last week.  I’m more exhausted than ever and still sleeping a ton.  My chest is still sore and tight and I’m still congested.  The snowstorm in the midwest was a huge blessing this past week.  I only went to school on Tuesday and got to stay home and sleep the rest of the week.

Meanwhile, I’ve gotten quite a bit of knitting done… 🙂

First, I sewed the buttons Jeremy picked out onto the cowl I made him for Christmas.  It matches his hat and I thought he could use it with the bitter cold weather that was coming our way.

"Thermis" by Kris Knits

Next, I finished the sweater I made my mother-in-law for Christmas.

"Iced" by Carol Feller

I finally finished the Flying Saucer socks I’ve been working on since August.  I bought the yarn during the Chicago Yarn Crawl last summer.  The German fingering weight yarn is wound with two strands and then dye injected to give you two almost identical toe-up socks.  They’re psychedelic and I love them.  They’re a little itchy though (75% wool will do that), so I’m going to soak them in some conditioner and hope they soften up.

 

Schoppel Wolle Flying Saucer Yarn - 2112 - Kommando Socke

I worked on my baby hats for Save the Children as well.  I’m up to 20 which is far fewer than I hoped to have done by now.  I’ve still got a couple weeks before I have to ship them out.  They’re going to mothers in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.   Next time, they should have this going on from February through July.  My Christmas knitting really kept me from getting as much done.

 

Baby Hats for Save the Children

I’ve also been working on two other projects.  My “Snow Day Socks” and my mom’s birthday present.  Neither are finished yet, so you don’t get any pictures. 😉

Meanwhile, we have 3 weeks until we move and I’ve been packing like crazy.  I’m looking forward to it for sure. 🙂  Well, maybe not the actual moving part.   I have a feeling that unpacking is going to have to wait until spring break.  hehe.

Technology?

I have fabulous news!! My beautiful, new iPhone 4 has arrived and I love it!

When I got my first iPhone a year or so ago, I wasn’t so sure about it.  It had so many capabilities (some awesome, some completely unnecessary) and was a little intimidating.  Soon enough, however, I grew to love and even (*gasp*) be slightly dependent on it for directions, entertainment, and communication.  It was probably a slight blessing when it got stolen by one of Chicago’s infamous miscreant youths on the train earlier this summer (and thereby proved the CPD really is useless…).
How is that a blessing, you might ask?  It showed me that life goes on just fine sans technology… or something… 😉

This has only been compounded since I offered my computer a glass of white zinfandel  last weekend.  It didn’t care for it, unfortunately, and is still drunk and passed out on my dining room table.. Light weight… 😉  Life goes on, right?

So what have I been doing with myself lately without my phone and without my computer?
Welllllll….. I dug out my old CD player and some old CDs (Nsync is making a come back, you’ll see 😉 )
I’ve been unpacking, cleaning, reading, knitting, writing… and I’m loving it!

Its obviously the summer of socks.. =)

You know what else I’m loving?  The WordPress Blog app! 😉