Three Months

This is a little late, but Bayden was 3 months old on July 18th.  She has now been home longer than she was in the nicu.

She weighed 10 pounds 10 oz today when she saw the nicu doctor.  Her doctor says she is doing great; growing and developing.  I was hoping he would say she could be done with the caffeine medication and monitor, but she has had enough apnea spells still to show a need for the monitor.  It has improved, her first 10 days home, she had 7 apnea alarms.  Now in the last month, she has had 4.  We can tell she is doing so much better and are comfortable having her off the monitor so we can take her out and about more.  She's finally been to a couple restaurants, malls, grocery stores, and the liquor store.  Trying to socialize her a little more.  She is giving lots of smiles now days and I feel like she is trying to giggle.  My best friend is hoping there is a way for her to have my giggle even though we had an egg donor.  Her movements seem more organized and she is following us with her eyes and following me when I leave the room.

Here is a pic of our pretty little gal at 3 months old.

InFertility Flashback for the Fourth

Today as I rock my baby in her red white and blue, I'm thinking back to a few summers ago when we were in the middle of a cycle.  It was one of our more memorable ones so I wanted to share and document it.  Not sure if my mom and aunts (my main followers) will think it's as funny!

It was the summer of 2009, I had been taking meds to get ready for an IUI and was in for a monitoring appointment.  They said I was set to ovulate and have my IUI procedure on the 4th of July.  Luckily, they had a doc and nurse on call that day so nothing would be cancelled.  We would be heading across the state after the procedure because Gav's cousin was getting married that weekend.

We were all packed up for the weekend and headed to the clinic.  Gavin took care of his part and then we went for breakfast while they prepared the swimmers.  Then, we were back to the clinic for the IUI.  Everything went fine and as I sat with my legs up for awhile the nurse practitioner went over instructions for the next 2 weeks.  As usual, we were told to follow up with intercourse as much as possible over the next 72 hours.

Well, there was a problem with this.  We were headed to a small town wedding with not many choices for hotels and there were 2 rooms for the 6 of us from Gav's family going to the wedding, we were sharing a room with my brother-in-law and his girlfriend.  So, I had no choice but to ask her to write on a prescription that we would need our own hotel room at the wedding.  I thought it was so funny, she didn't really, but wrote it out.  Of course she is from this small town and knew several of my husbands family members I found out as we made small talk while she wrote a prescription.

We were then on the 7 hour road trip across the state.  When, we were getting to close to the middle of nowhere and near country roads, Gav starts looking for a turn.  I thought we were getting close to his grandma's house.  Turns out he's looking for a place to park in the country.  Just following the doctor's orders!  There was a small issue with a horse fly, but it was fun to be a little spontaneous after all we've been through.  I took a picture of an old abandoned shed where we stopped thinking it would be great to frame in the baby's room if it worked out.

When we arrived, I gave Gavin's dad our prescription and they had to go move luggage around at the hotel.  Ha!  I spent the wedding dance making up stories about why I wasn't drinking  (not sure why everyone always thought it was so odd if I wasn't having a drink) and dancing with a cousin's little boy.  We were maybe the only 2 sober people, it was a barn dance with free beer.  We were glad to have our own room over the next 72 hours!

Obviously this cycle didn't work out, but we sure gave it our best try!  It would have been a great story, but we have a better story now.  This year we will be heading to another cousin's wedding on our first trip out of town with B.

Happy 4th of  July!

It's a Book

Yesterday a friend from work came to visit with her baby, who looks huge next to Bayden.  We thought he might rollover and eat her.  She said she had a present to bring over.  I assumed it was from someone else and that she was just delivering, she's given us a few gifts already.

She had my entire blog made into a book!  It was such a surprise and so special.  Of course I cried as I flipped through seeing our entire journey.  A book all about Bayden.  Molly has done so much for me during this journey already.  She covered for me for appointments.  She hugged me as I cried when I found out none of our embryos made it to freeze.  She covered my class as I called the doctor and Gavin from the time-out room freaking out about some bleeding early on.  She gave me my shot one evening at parent - teacher conferences.  She sent me cards and put notes on my desk during those hard days of waiting.  She brought gifts and cards from my students to the hospital.  She delivered food when we were home.  She did everything at school for me at the end of the year that my sub couldn't do.  Now I have all of the stories and memories of Bayden in a book.  Thank you so much Molly!

Mommy's First Race & B's First Softball Game

Last weekend the run or dye 5k was in town.  Of course I hadn't signed up thinking I wouldn't be able to exercise yet if Bayden would have come on or around her due date.  When she came early and the nicu stay was over I decided to sign up in hope it would motivate me to start running to help lose those last 10 pounds of baby weight.  I didn't train very hard, but got a few run/walks in when Gav would get home from work in the evenings and some walks with the stroller.  I know a 5k isn't a big deal, but I was feeling pretty good when I crossed the finish line with a group of friends.  I had a baby 10 weeks ago, then, for 43 days she was in the nicu, now she's home, and I just ran my first 5K as a mom!  Now, I'm hoping to stay motivated to run a half marathon in 7 weeks.  Wouldn't you know the money raised from the run goes to the nicu Bayden stayed at.  Too bad funds can't go towards her medical bills.

Last Thursday night, I was really brave and drove with B by myself.  We had been driven around by Gavin or Gavin's dad until then.  The monitor has never gone off in the car so I decided to try it for a short drive to go to Gavin's softball game.  It was nice to be back into an old summer routine and see friends.  And of course watch daddy's game.

She's cheering!