Sorry for the delay in my posts. It was a bit of a whirlwind of a week, having a new direct report starting for me (who’ll also be commuting from Florida to Minnesota) and some other (all good) career-related “stuff” going on (looks like I’ll be taking on more responsibilities / business functions). Needless to say, it’s all good, but doesn’t allow a lot of time for writing.

So, I have some catching up to do…

Established at OB’s Office

L’s now officially re-established at her OB/GYN’s office. After a little thrashing, we opted to stick with the rather large practice that she’s been participating at. It’s a little weird, because the practice consists of entirely female docs. Personally, I don’t get the “for bitches, by bitches” (as L calls it) selling point. Not that I’m opposed to female docs (indeed, my primary care physician is a women), but I just think it’s odd that of two candidates to add to the practice they’d have to pass on a better qualified / trained male for a lesser qualified female candidate simply because she had a vagina.

Marketing. Go figure.

Last Wednesday, we had our first appointment (I attended) and met with one of the eleven docs in the practice (you sort of rotate around to meet them all). As it happened, we’re fellow alums, having earned our respective doctorates from the same university. Oddly, I can’t say that was a comfort either.

What I did like about her: she was fairly mellow, which serves as a good foil to L’s strongly “type A” personality. Her take on various issues (paraphrasing):

Travel? Go for it. We’ve sent pregos to South America and China. Just no international travel after week 34. Exercise? Absolutely… go back on the treadmill, girlfriend. Food restrictions? The occasional bit of brie, gorgonzola, hot dog, or slice of deli ham isn’t going to cause any problems. Caffeine? You can visit a Starbucks once again. Splenda? Sure. Heck, go wild: make it a Coke Zero (Splenda and caffeine). Sex? Ride ‘em, cow girl!

All of this was a bit much for L to process, as she’s been in uber-careful mode ever since starting the IVF cycle (and per RMG instructions). But, the doctor kept stressing that she’s in really good health (normal BMI, good vitals / blood work) and still relatively young (at 32)… so, really, she’s just another normal, low-risk pregnancy at this point. They’ll let L know if/when there’s something to worry about.

One other “observation” — from what I could tell, there’s another side effect in having an all-female office: they seemed to have potpourri and flower arrangements everywhere. But, then again, it was my might first trip to an OB/GYN office, aside from the RMG. Maybe that’s the norm?

Tags: Pregnancy

Today, we had our first full family (L’s parents / my mother and grandfather — yes, a small family) gathering post announcements about the pregnancy and “rest of the story” (i.e., knocked up after infertility treatment — more on that later) . Like always, I was the primary “chef” and opted to serve fairly typical barbecue fare. I can certainly do better in the kitchen, but I was being lazy… almost to the point of feeling guilty for my lack of effort. This really was a walk in the park (despite nearly everything being homemade).

Anyway, I still have more to relate from the prior week, but I’ve been busy with holiday prep work and other stuff.

I’ll try to write more tomorrow, prior to my travels on Monday. July is going to be a busy month. I’m currently slated to be on the road 3 out of 4 weeks.

Tags: Pregnancy

Well, I’m back from my brief trip to Washington, D.C. This month is going to be a whirlwind of (business) travel, followed by our planned annual (vacation) journey to London in early August. I actually have a lot to bring you up to speed on: telling the fam about the pregnancy status (and IVF history); first “normal” OB/GYN appointment; update on the PIO shots, etc.

However, I don’t have the time or energy for all of that tonight. I just need to relax… and unwind.

Exhale.

That’s what I need! To take a breather, which we all need from time to time.

This seems especially apropos, as my first column at Exhale Magazine came out today! Yup. That’s right. I’m now one of the regular writers for this smart online magazine for people who have either lost babies or struggle to make them in the first place.

So, I’ll have more to say tomorrow. But, in the meantime, why not go Exhale with me tonight?

Tags: In Vitro Fertilization, men and infertility, Pregnancy

Following yesterday’s ultrasound, we met briefly with Dr. Goodman, L’s reproductive endocrinologist at the Reproductive Medicine Group. She seemed genuinely thrilled about our success… complete with an ear-to-ear grin and hugs for us both! Up to this point, she’d been mostly “down to business” (which I appreciated), but I have to say that L and I have been very favorably impressed by the RMG throughout. They’ve been both technically competent (obviously) but also demonstrably caring.

In short, we’d highly recommend the Reproductive Medicine Group.

Now returning to regularly scheduled programming…

Yesterday was also graduation day for us. This was (thankfully / mercifully / hopefully) our last trip to the RE office. We’re now just a “normal couple” expecting their first kid. So, L will be headed back to her regular OB/GYN practice (after confirmation w/ Dr. G that it was “recommended” by her).

L’s first appointment at the OB’s office is next Wednesday. I think I’m planning to attend this appointment too. My schedule should allow for it, as I have a short business trip (leaving tomorrow, returning on Tuesday) to a conference.

Here’s a gift for the lovely parting contestants.

As a graduation gift from the RMG, we were given a copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” I’d been tempted to order this on Amazon, but then I opted not to because I’d read a lot of reviews that said (paraphrasing) “this book will scare the shit out of you.”

Not exactly something I thought we’d need.

That said, having now read a lot of it, I think it’s only scary to the uber-fertiles, who are generally (as we all know) completely and utterly ignorant about matters of conception and pregnancy compared to their IF counterparts. I was surprised by both how much I already knew (good Paul!) and how much we’d already been through (good news!).

Conception: Ha! (ROFL) Check. (After writing a large one.)

Dietary changes / restrictions: check.

Activity restrictions: check.

Symptoms: check, check, check.

First month: check.

Second month: check. (Well, nearly over…)

Knowing that shit can go wrong: check. (All too familiar).

So, “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” isn’t too scary at all (and an easy read).

No more PIO shots! Ohhh… maybe not!

Finally, we learned yesterday that L could stop the IM PIO shots, if she wished, and move on to Crinone (a Vaginal gel), but when we called the pharmacy we got a crazy price for the product ($405 for a 12 day supply, which we’d probably need to order twice).

Libby’s attitude: “Fuck that! I’ll stick with the shots.”

So, it seems that we’ll continue the PIO shots until: 1) we find a lower price for Crinone, 2) we get Crinone covered by my medical insurance (possible as this is for pregnancy, not infertility), 3) our doctor switches the prescription to a lower cost alternative, or 4) we simply make it through the end of week nine (when all progesterone support ends).

Tags: In Vitro Fertilization, Pregnancy

Here’s the picture!

The “B” stands for, “baby.” Singular.

How cute is he / she?

Everything remains on track. We saw (and heard) the heartbeat: 153 beats per minute. The growth rate seems good. All in all a very healthy pregnancy.

No twins.

After much speculation, given L’s strong beta scores, it turns out twins were not in the cards for us. As both “only children,” we always thought of ourselves as the likely parents of one child… maybe two at the most. So, this probably means that we’ll only have one kid.

Am I disappointed? Not really. Well, maybe a little. In truth, I’m probably 10 times more relieved than disappointed.

I’m confident that we can handle a singleton. Twins seemed far more daunting.

My rationale (in football metaphor form as this is “Adventures in Fatherland” after all): when I’m not traveling on business, we’ll be able to keep the kiddo under mostly double coverage. And, when I’m away, L can play man-to-man. In contrast, twins would have meant that we’d be playing man-to-man in the best of times, and L would likely have to play zone defense when I’m off the field.

Clearly, this is flawless logic.

We’re just grateful.

In the end, we’re just thrilled to have a nicely rising bun in L’s oven.

Our dreams are becoming a reality. I can’t ask for more than that…

I’ll post more tomorrow about our: RE’s reaction/congratulations, first pregnancy book, “graduation” from the ART clinic, and next steps.

Tags: In Vitro Fertilization, Pregnancy, Ultrasound