Still Pregnant!

Just a quick note to satisfy all of your curiosity--I'm still pregnant, at 40 weeks, 3 days.
Had another Dr's appointment today, complete with Fetal Non Stress Test, and we're both doing great.
The other interesting news is that we have scheduled an induction for Saturday December 15 (I'd be 41 weeks, 5 days). Dr. H tells us to plan on it taking about 3 days (!) to induce the baby because my cervix is still closed and its my first baby. She tactfully told us that we may want to pack things to keep us entertained while we wait in the hospital (card games, long novels, movies, magazines...) Apparently, the baby really likes it in my tummy and may require much coaxing to leave!! Either that, or my uterus is too lazy to give anything up.

In the meantime, I'm doing lots of walking and eating spicy foods to see if we can get the baby to come on his own....

I'll try to post more frequently now since I know everyone is eagerly waiting....
Talk to you soon!

Happy Birthday Agnishy!

As many of you know, yesterday (12/2) was Agnish's birthday. I was worried that his birthday would get forgotten in all of the baby fuss, but luckily I think he had a pretty good day! I got him a new chair for the house, my parents got him a new iPhone, and his parents got him a nice cashmere sweater. We had a pretty lazy day lounging around the house (very much needed!) then we went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Harvest Vine (conveniently located a few blocks from our hospital, just in case).
Thanks to everyone who called and sent emails for Agnish's birthday!!
Agnishy, I hope you had a wonderful b-day!

here he is right before dinner in his new Womb Chair, playing with his iPhone, wearing his new bday sweater:

Ps. As for me, still doing fine. Today (Monday 12/3) is the baby's due date. No signs of anything exciting yet, but I'll certainly let you know...

Check out the subsequent post and vote on baby's Christmas outfit!

Christmas Torture

Quick update:
Still pregnant, still doing very well! I had my dr's appt on Thursday, where they checked my levels of amniotic fluid, blood pressure, bloodwork, and cervix, and all looked good. The baby also had a Non-Stress Test and did very well, so the short story is that we are okay and doctor thinks it is best to just keep waiting for me to go into labor---next appt is on Thursday.

Other bits of good news from the last few days:
* I FINALLY finished all of my grading, so now I really feel like the baby can come. Yay!!
* Agnish FINALLY finished (for now at least) his big project at work on Friday, so he's a bit more relaxed and ready for baby too. Yay!!
* Our OB, Dr. Hasselquist, was just named one of 2007's best OB's in Seattle according to Seattle Magazine's yearly Top Doctors Issue. Of course, we love her, and feel great that we are in such good hands. Considering that this baby was created at the best fertility clinic in Seattle, and then treated by Dr. H, he is used to only the best!

Some Holiday Spirit and Fun
We're getting very excited about the holidays, and in our warped home, this means getting ready to perform some Christmas torture. After all, isn't the holidays all about the ability to annoy and bother your family members? We want to make sure that our baby begins this tradition early.....
In that spirit, Agnish would like me to post a small poll to see what you think we should have the baby wear for his First Christmas celebration.
Here is outfit one, which I am calling "Cutie Animals" theme:



Close up of the onesie-




Close up of the reindeer (?) hat: also not pictured is a matching red and green fleece blanket.



And here is Option Two, which I deem "True Christmas Torture":


How funny is this outfit? I feel that we may be able to tease and mock our child with it for years... What do you think??

Back from our Lamaze Getaway

Hi All-
A quick note to say hi and that we are back from our Lamaze Getaway. It was very nice to meet other expectant parents, and also a very efficient way to get a lot of useful information. Agnish and I were surprised to realize how little we actually knew about the birthing process! I won't say that I feel ready for labor and delivery now, but I do think I have a better understanding of what to expect (mostly that nothing ever goes as planned, and no one has a 'normal' experience).
It was also very nice to go through all of the training in a beautiful setting, and get away from it all (no work or email for 2 days!).
I'm still feeling good, and hoping that the baby will wait another 2 weeks to show up. My parents are coming in on Wednesday for Thanksgiving, and staying through the weekend. So, I'll post some pictures of our Thanksgiving feast (if all goes well).
Until then, some more pics...
Agnish thought all the posters were funny---here's me holding one so that you can see my big ole belly:



A shadowy Agnish on the porch of our bed and breakfast, Illahee Manor:



Another funny poster that describes the stages of labor and how I'll be feeling at each one. Very much looking forward to the "transition" stage where apparently I'll be feeling pretty great.

Still here, still surviving!

Hi All-
Just another quick post to say that things are continuing to go well. I haven't posted because I can't really think of anything interesting to share. Basically, both Agnish and I have been working A LOT in this last week, trying as hard as possible to get a lot of things done before the baby comes. Personally, I need to grade 117 2-page papers, 52 6-page papers, and complete a revision on an article that is due 12/18. At home, we still need to deal with all of the changes to our insurance/benefits, get childcare/breastfeeding books, write tons of thank you notes, and (hopefully) do some Christmas shopping! Agnish has a few big accounts that have deliverables for the end of November so we just work all the time these days.
So, what are we going to do? Well, we're going away this weekend! But, it seems like a pretty necessary trip since we are going on our "lamaze getaway" which is apparently the newest trend for yuppie couples like us....basically, they supposedly teach us everything we will need to know about the birthing process, baby care and breastfeeding. And, it is supposed to force us into some rest and relaxation, and "couple time" which I guess we will not have for another 18+ years. You can read an article about the popularity of lamaze getaways here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/266455_hcenter13.html
And see the particular class we're attending here:
http://herbertholeman.com/lamazegetaway/

Some friends of ours highly recommended this class, so hopefully all the time away will be worth it!
Hopefully after this weekend I'll post some pics from our trip, along with my growing belly. And, I'll be sure to keep you posted if anything even more exciting happens! take care!

Baby Shower!

Last night we attended the baby shower that my colleagues Mina and Vandra organized on behalf of our department. We had such a good time, and were overwhelmed by everyone's love, support, and generosity.
So, here are some pics from the shower:

We arrived to Mina's very cool house to see that it had been all decked out with baby decorations:


Our wonderful hosts, Vandra (middle) and Mina (right):



And, we couldn't believe our eyes when we saw this huge Pack and Play overflowing with presents for the baby!


Boy was it fun to open all of the presents. Better than Christmas!


Here's a general party shot, looks like everyone had a good time.

Agnish soon realized how much trouble he was in when it was time to disassemble the Pack-N-Play. Let's see...how many PhD's will it take to take down a Pack-N-Play?

Luckily, Morela (our newest hire, and mother of a 13 month old) comes to Agnish's rescue! Later I heard him trying to convince her to move in with us...

Some party guests: Zoe (colleague and mother of 10-month old twins), Mina, me, Agnish and Morela

We couldn't believe how much yummy food Mina got for us!

And, of course, the all-important "Diaper Cake" --no baby shower is complete without one! I think ours is especially cute.

Some cutie pie guests that showed us what we have to look forward to---

Tiago DaCunha (16 month old son of Marcus in the Marketing Department) and Mia Bigley (2.5 year old daughter of Greg in my department). They met and instantly fell in love. Mia was definitely the aggressor...

But, I think Tiago got pretty into her by the end of the party too!


We had such a wonderful time, and now our house is overflowing with baby stuff!

Thanks again to Mina and Vandra for hosting such a great party.

5 weeks to go!

Hi all-
Well, I can't believe I only have 5 weeks or so to go! Things have been pretty good, but I am getting increasingly huge. Last week of teaching, but the list of things to do gets longer and longer...
We had a great weekend, went to a Halloween party at a colleague's house, where I was dressed as Lucy Ricardo and Agnish was Ricky Ricardo. We would have posted some pics, but my red hair wig was getting very itchy, and all of the kids at the party absconded with Agnish's bongo drums so our illusion came down pretty quickly.
But, in the spirit of upcoming Halloween, here are some pics of Spike, our jack-o-lantern (and my ever growing belly, spooky)!!

Happy Halloween to everybody!

Week 33 Update

Hi everyone,
As I promised many of you guys, I'm going to try to start blogging more often now, since the big day is coming up quickly... 6 more weeks until the due date!
We had a pretty busy week, both Agnish and I are still getting slammed at work. I have 2 more weeks of teaching--yay! Pregnancy related highlights of this week:
--Birth Tour on Wednesday night--We took a tour of our birthing center, which went really well. Agnish and I were both pleasantly surprised at how nice it was, and how organized the whole place seems to be. We found out all of the little practicalities I hadn't been thinking of (like where will we park? What will Agnish eat?)--and the rooms are really nice. Group Health (my hospital) is very nice because the rooms are very large, each with hardwood floors and nice views of the city. Assuming all goes well, all 3 of us will stay in the same room, there is a bed for me with all of the necessary medical equipment, a pull out bed for Agnish, and the baby will room in with us. The rooms are all stocked with really fancy bathtubs for birthing (if we want to use it), TV/DVD, CD players, refrigerators, room service, and all sorts of nice ameneties. Agnish was also happy to see that the entire place has wireless Internet access, so he'll be able to email all of you guys ASAP! (but we can't use cell phones). Seeing the rooms definitely makes everything more immediate and real.
--Car Seat Installed--we spent 3+ hours on Saturday morning getting the baby's car seat installed and checked by licensed car safety experts. What a complicated process, I had no idea! We waited in line for about 1.5 hours, and then it took us about 1.5 hours to actually get everything checked out okay. We had bought a new seat, the Maxi Cosi, and we had a hand-me-down Chicco from Kevin (my big brother). Turns out the Maxi Cosi is not compatible in the middle seat of my Toyota Highlander, so the experts thought we would be better off and safest using the Chicco in my car. So, now we've decided to return the Maxi Cosi---turns out big brother is always right! Thanks KK! Seriously, though, I couldn't believe how thorough these people were, and how complicated it was. Thank goodness that Agnish was there and has the process down now, as I was completely lost after 5 minutes with all of the little things you're supposed to remember. So, now we're driving around with the car seat in the car, which makes us feel even more like parents to be!

So, that's it for now---hope everyone else is still doing well! Will post more soon...

32 Weeks: Belly Pics

Hi everyone-

I'm finally caving into everyones repeated requests to see my gruesome and growing belly! In the meantime, at least I can force you to also see our finished kitchen! I still can't believe how large I am getting, but with such a big baby, I guess I shouldn't be surprised!
Enjoy...










Not sure why I look so mad in this last one, I think Agnish got me at a funny angle--I'm really quite happy these days...promise!

Don't worry: No news is good news.

I thought I should do another quick post because I've gotten a few concerned emails again from friends who want to make sure everything is going okay. Sorry that I haven't been very good about posting, life is just so crazy. I'm teaching a full quarter (72 class hours) in about 7 weeks so my days have been very full of teaching, preparing to teach, and the rest of life. Teaching will end for me on November 2, and hopefully then I'll have a chance to breathe and digest.

Long story short, things are going well! I'm already at 32 weeks, so it is a scary thought that we'll be parents in less than 2 months. Almost all of the work that affects the interior of the house has been done; new windows, new furnace, kitchen is finally complete. We still need to get the new sliding glass doors installed at the end of October, and are trying to figure out whether we can get the carport converted into a garage before the baby comes (there is a huge construction boom in Seattle right now, so any good contractors are busy thru the holidays).

I'm definitely getting very big! Everyone has been requesting belly shots, and I haven't had a chance to take them and post them, but I will do that very soon. Seems like the third trimester is going very well for me, for which I am grateful. I'm not too tired, and am feeling very good physically speaking.

The other exciting news is that my colleague Scott has a wife (Wendy) who works for Phillips, medical equipment manufacturers. They gifted us with a 4D ultrasound last week and it was really fun to see the baby in 3D and in real time. Also pretty cool to visit the Phillips factory and see the machines getting manufactured on the line. Some highlights from the ultrasound:
- The baby was very stubborn, and while he jumped around all the way to the appt, as soon as we got there, he promptly fell asleep. He sleeps exactly like Agnish, with his hands tucked under his cheek and chin, so it was really hard to get a good shot of his face.
-We did wake him up briefly,and he responded by yawning and sucking on his fingers---so still no good shot of his face!
-We decided that he has my nose (piglike) and Agnish's mouth (big lips). No hair yet (which is suprising because I have a lot of heartburn, and the two are supposed to be related).
-He is already at 4 lbs, which is almost a pound more than the projected average weight! If he continues to grow at the average rate (1/2 lb a week),and he arrives on time, I'll be giving birth to an 8-9 lb baby! yikes...
-Even more scary---his head has measured in the 92 percentile--it is HUGE! Double yikes...

Other than that, things are clicking along. We've ordered the crib, changing table and glider, so they should be arriving soon. We also registered at the Right Start, so at least now we have a convenient list of things to get if the baby comes early. I'm also planning on beginning to pack the bag for the hospital in case the baby comes early....

Hope everyone else is off to a nice fall. I"ll try to post more often from now on!!

Another Quick Update

Hi all: I can't believe I am already at 26 weeks!! Here are some highlights from the last few weeks:
-Had my dr's appointment today and everything still looks great, my weight gain and all other numbers are all looking perfect.
- Will have my glucose test on Tuesday to check for gestational diabetes.
- We sold our townhouse (closed on Aug 15) and moved into our new house on Aug 11. Things are still a mess, we still have a ton of unpacking to do, and the kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities are still not installed (should be another month---yuck).
- I went on my last plane ride until I become a mama. Had a lovely time in NYC where I got to celebrate Ana's bachelorette, and had a great shower with the Williams girls. And saw my friend Patrick and lovely wife Marilyn, and Agnish got to hang with his buddies sudeep and sujal. It was a great weekend.
-We're off this weekend for our "babymoon" to the Inn at Langley in Whidbey Island. I can't wait for a nice vacation!

Hope everyone else is enjoying a nice end of the summer. I can't believe how quickly time is passing, I start teaching in 2 weeks!!

Greetings from Philadelphia (and long awaited belly pics)

Hi everyone, Just a quick hello and update on the craziness that is our lives....in no particular order:
- Last doctor's visit went very well, I am right on schedule with weight gain, baby growth, etc. Yay!
- Our townhouse passed inspection and appraisal, so it looks like we are really moving on August 11 (this Saturday). We are both so sad to be leaving our neighbors, as they are all similarly aged couples with lots of new babies. We feel like we are being exiled to the suburbs!
- The new house is coming along superbly; we are really in the home stretch. We'll be living for a few weeks in the new house without the kitchen countertops (and therefore the sinks,and therefore the dishwasher), but other than that, we should be fine. I'll post pictures soon.
-Agnish is in SF and I am in Philadelphia, both for our respective jobs.
- I've had LOTS & LOTS of auntie time this week:
*just saw my new nephew in PA, and he is adorable (only 1 month old, so very good practice for in a few months)
*Also spent a week with my other nieces & nephews--Chloe who just turned 1 will gave us lots of practice for what our lives will be like in a year and a half, Jules who is 9 showed us what to expect in a decade, and Michael who is 14 gave us a glimpse into what the pre-teen years with a boy will be like!!

And, as EVERYONE has asked for (very politely and very persistently) what you really all seem to care about is the physical spectacle that I have become....so without further ado, here are some pictures of me (and more importantly) my belly, with the distractions of our family visit to Seattle/Vancouver as well.

The mommy and daddy to be at 23 weeks

My brother Kevin (holding Chloe, 1), Jules (9), me, my belly, Agnish, and Michael (14)

Grandpa Fong's Birthday Party in Seattle: My mom, my dad, me, Agnish, Kevin, Chloe, Jules and Michael


How cute are my nieces and nephew!!!!

Halfway There!

Hi all! Very excited to say that I am at 20+ weeks, so halfway through the pregnancy. And, I think I shared this news with everyone but just in case...

ITS A BOY!!

Needless to say, the thing that we are most excited about is that the Ultrasound seemed to indicate that things are going well and the baby looks normal. It was also fun to see the baby looking more like a baby, and we imagined that we saw a bit into his personality. The US tech was commenting on how he is very "modest" as he kept covering himself up (or curling into a ball) rather than showing himself to us.

We have some new pictures from the Ultrasound but I have to wait to post them because Agnish is in Germany and he is the one who knows how to use the scanner/printer. Meanwhile my mom is here helping to move along the work in the new house. Hopefully we'll be moving by August 15---I"ll keep you updated!!

More to come soon...

Just for fun...

If we were rich...
We thought it would be fun for us to share with you our daydreams of what we would buy for the baby to be if we had no regard for money. So, here's our wishlist of what our spoiled little baby-to -be would have once we win the lottery....
1. The Stroller: Mutsy 4 Rider Light ($700). Others may covet the infamous Bugaboo stroller (which is what Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwyneth Paltrow, and every hipster mom on TV has), but we love the look and style of the Mutsy. Plus the Mutsy is lighter and better rated than the Bugaboo.


2. The bassinet: Ooba Nest Bassinet ($600). We think this baby crib matches the decor of our new home perfectly. Very mid-century modern. It also comes with a matching crib (Ooba Nest Crib -$1600). To be honest, we think that the IKEA cribs look just as nice, but $1600 is a small price to pay for the matching set with the bassinet.









3. Crib Bedding: I love this bedding if we have a girl.

4. The changing table: Netto Loft Changing Table ($1450). Agnish informs me that this designer also has a "low end" line which retails for only $500.







5. The high chair: Boon Flair Elite ($400). It would be possible to get this high chair for only $200 if we were willing to give up the pneumatic lift function, and settle for just plain white, but why settle when you can get the best?

7. Glider/Rocker: Nurseryworks Goodnight Glider ($1200). Looks so comfy!

8. Baby's clothes: If we were rich and having a boy, we would go for lots of sporty hoodies like this one, the Oeuf Hoodie which is a mere $76.

10. Toys: We think the baby would enjoy taking his/her dolls out for a stroll in this stroller, which is only $230. Also, baby would have hours of fun playing with this modern doll house. Right now, its on sale for only $575!

Some honorable mentions...
We've already mentioned how we like the Mutsy stroller more than the Bugaboo. Others that we looked at, and ultimately passed over include the Stokke Xplory which retails around $900. American Express ran a promotion where you could get it for half off ($500) and it crashed the website because so many people tried to buy it.

We also think that the Nest High Chair (only $570) looks pretty cool! And makes the Boon look like a great deal. We also got a kick out of this $1100 high chair.

You may have noticed that we thoughtfully provided links to all of these products in case you were wondering what to get your new grandchild, niece/nephew, favorite baby (good luck getting the second mortgage...ha ha...)

Good News!

Good news today, we had our appointment with Dr. Hasselquist the OB-GYN and we discussed the results of the Quad Screen--all tests came back negative which means the baby has less than a 1 in 5000 chance of spina bifida, Down's Syndrome, or other genetic disorders.
We'll schedule an ultrasound for sometime in the next 1-3 weeks to check the baby's anatomy and also hopefully find out the gender.
I've gained 6 pounds in the first 17.5 weeks; the target is supposed to be 5 pounds in the first 20 weeks, so there's certainly no need to worry about me not eating enough! Now that I'm not so nauseous I'm trying to eat healthier and exercise more to make sure that the weight doesn't get too out of control.

We're putting the townhouse on the market this weekend, with the first open house on Sunday. I'll post the listing when it comes up. Also, the bamboo floors have been installed at the new house and they look great. The kitchen cabinets are coming on Saturday morning, and everything in the kitchen (cabinets, appliances, countertop) should be completely finished by July 15. Yay!

I've taught 2 out of 7 of my killer Evening MBA classes (Mon & Wed from 5-10 pm), so only 5 left to go. Next week I start the GMBAs, an executive program, and I'll teach them 8 times (1-4:30 pm) in the next 3 weeks. I have 3 killer days of teaching from 1-10 pm, so wish me luck that me and the baby survive!
That's it for now!!

Week 16 Update

Hi everyone,

Apologies for our silence; a few friends have yelled that the lack of regular posting had them worried, so here's a quick update on what's happening:
-My mommy spent a week with us and whipped both the townhouse and the Inverness house into shape! We packed up all the junk from the townhouse and staged it so that we're ready to put it on the market this weekend. She also found and hired a crew of Chinese men to finish the remodel of the downstairs of the new house. They're re-sheetrocking the family room to be, replacing all of the downstairs windows, and painting, so that the whole downstairs will be ready by the time we move in. Thanks for all the help, mommy! I miss you already.
-I'm gradually feeling better, only threw up about 3x in the last week, which is a huge improvement. Have slowly started incorporating some more protein and veggies into the diet, though it is slow going.
-Went in this morning for the Quad Screen blood test, which screens for any genetic disorders (like Down's Syndrome) in the baby. We get the results next week, so keep your fingers crossed!!
-My mom also bought me a ton of maternity clothes, and we shopped for my new teaching clothes as well.
-Start teaching on Monday, and will be pretty busy thru July 23 when I'm done with most classes. Wish me luck!

I'll try to post something more entertaining later....just wanted everyone to know we are doing okay! Lots of love....

Some Early Baby Photos

Here are some photos to look at:

EMBRYO STAGE:
This picture shows baby at the 8-cell stage, something that the average kid will probably never get to see.





ULTRASOUND - 7 WEEKS

The baby still doesn't look like much in a still photo...but, in person you can clearly see the heart beating. It looks like a tiny flashing LED light...






ULTRASOUND - 10 WEEKS

This was around the time that we could begin making out some type of a "human" form. The baby is about 1O weeks old here and wants to say hi to his/her grandmothers...







ULTRASOUND - 11 WEEKS

Starting to look more and more like a real human being...





Enjoy...we'll put up more pictures later...

Week 13 Update (May 28-June 3)

Pregnancy update:
-I told my department chair, teaching coordinator, and select colleagues at work our big news. I'm happy with my teaching schedule for next year (teaching from Sept-early November, then not again until June 2008).
-Had my first vomit-free day in a long time-on Saturday. yay!
-Mommy bought me some maternity clothes in Fla. Thanks Mommy!

Inverness house update:
-Kitchen gas, electrical and plumbing all went in this week.
-This week we hope to start sheetrock and paint, and hopefully to schedule the flooring for in 2 weeks.

Townhouse update:
-They are almost finished with the painting.

Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you!

Week 12 Update (May 12-27)

Here are some highlights from Week 12 in pregnancy:
First OB GYN visit
We had our first appointment with our new OB-GYN, Dr. Hasselquist. We are delivering at Group Health's Birth Center. Dr. Hasselquist came very highly recommended by my primary care doc, who I really trust and like, and AC and I were very happy to find out how much we liked Dr. H. She was very patient and calming. She passed along the following bits of good news:
-I gained 1 lb during the first trimester. This was very good news because everyone was worried that I wouldn't gain enough due to the excessive vomiting. Typically they are looking for a weight gain of 1-3 lbs. On the other hand, I can't believe it is only 1 lb because my body looks really different; both tummy and breasts are MUCH larger than before (though the tummy has gone down a lot since the IVF OHSS).
-We should begin mentally thinking about the due date as mid-December (rather than the EDD of 12/3) because anything between 36-42 weeks is normal and if we go longer than 12/3 I shouldn't feel impatient. Right now that seems so far away!
-So far everything looks really good. Hurray!
**Next steps:
- I have the Quadruple Blood screen test on 6/20. This blood test screens for potential genetic defects in the baby.
-I'll discuss the results with Dr. H on 6/28. At that point, we'll schedule an ultrasound for the next 1-3 weeks to look at the baby's physiology and hopefully determine the sex of the baby.
Some Body Changes
This week, it seems like my belly began poking out a bit. We'll post belly pics soon!
Fetal Playlist
Uncle KK helped us by suggesting some classical music songs to play for the fetus while it is in the womb. So, we spent the weekend creating a playlist on the iPod. Highlights include:
The Brandenburg concertos by Bach (which according to KK is "mathematically perfect" and will hopefully stimulate the baby's mathematical powers)
Meditations by Thais as an homage to my mom (her favorite song)
Beethoven's Piano Sonatas (Moonlight and Pathetique)
Any other suggestions are more than welcome!

IVF action pics

This post was AC's idea! :)
We thought it would be fun/scary for you to see the shots that I had to go through during the IVF process. For some reason, the lupron shot did not come out, so we'll skip ahead to the Follistim shot (stimulates egg production). Follistim and Lupron are SQ (Sub Cutaneous) shots, which means I just had to inject into my fatty belly. Here's the follistim pen (this piece of equipment and medication costs about $1000, thankfully covered by insurance). The pen regulates the dosage and you push the big yellow button at the end to inject. Though the needle is short, the medication hurts like crazy (would sting for 2-3 hours after injection, and leave terrible bruises). AC and I agree that this was the worst shot out of the 4.



Second worst shots were the Progesterone in Oil, which we had to do every morning for 10 weeks! This is an IM (intramuscular shot)---the verrry long needle had to be plunged into the muscle. AC had to administer these into my booty (after 10 minutes of warming the medicine and my butt). He also had to do this freaky thing where he would plunge the needle in, draw back a bit to look for blood (meaning he hit a vessel) and then push in the medication. If he saw blood when drawing back, he'd have to inject again (thankfully we didn't run into this the entire time, yay!). The worst part of these shots were that the oil would clump up in the butt (you have to try to warm it in your body with a heating pad, but it was hard). So, after the first 10 or so shots, there were big lumpy spots in the injection sites (one on each cheek), which we would try to massage down. Also, as the weeks progressed, the shots would get bloodier and bloodier. Yuck!

Here was the HCG trigger shot, which only happened once. This one was the worst in anticipation (first shot that AC had to administer, and plus, look at how scary the needle is!). Thankfully, our pal Mina took us out to dinner that night and fortified him with several glasses of wine prior to shot time (the injection timing for this one was very precise). Although we were both very nervous, this one did not hurt half as much as we were dreading. As AC says, the only bad thing about this shot was that it gave us false hope about how easy the PIOs would be.

To bring the horror of the injections a little closer to home (and for a little comic relief), AC and I set up a little photoshoot of giving our poor, innocent animals injections.

Here is poor little Betelnut getting the Lupron shot (these were the easiest, though they left nasty bruises).

Papu--as you see this, you can picture me doing it to myself at the bar on your 30th bday!

Here's poor Filbert getting the Follistim shot. He looks very concerned!

Poor Pug had to undergo the PIO shot. Note how AC is very skilled in pinching the butt cheek hard to ease the pain (as directed by the nurses).

And finally, poor Clydette (in an homage to the torture she endured at the hands of my college roomies) got the dreaded Trigger shot. Like me, she cowers in pain.

Finally, just to freak my mom out, here's a picture of me about to get the Follistim :) This is also a little preview of my 13 week belly.

Enjoy, Mommy!