How to read this blog...

This post is for family members who aren't familiar with blogs. Here's how it works:

The latest postings are always on the top. So, you should start reading at the bottom (the first post) and read upwards til you get to the top. The later postings will make more sense if you read the bottom ones first.

Sometimes you'll notice that a word is linked--you'll know because it is in bold and green. If you click on the link, it will open up a new webpage which will show more information.



The first 7 posts were all posted yesterday for background; in the future I won't be writing as much. Each week I'll try to give you an update on the pregnancy, townhouse and Inverness house. If you're only interested in one topic, you can click on the labels on the right to go straight to those posts.

Finally, if you would like to leave a comment (ask a question, give advice, share a story, answer a question, anything!) you can click on the area that says "comments" at the bottom of each post, and write in your comment.

Please let me know if you have any problems!! Enjoy!

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!

Pregnancy weeks 0-13

Its so exciting to be able to post this, I'm very happy to be at the week 13 mark!
The first 13 weeks have been pretty tough. Weeks 7-12 were VERY tough because I have dealt with a LOT of nausea and vomiting :(
At the peak (around weeks 9-11) I was vomiting daily, an average of 4-6 times a day. It was very difficult to eat, and I gave up eating all of my favorites. Even the beloved cheese was no longer appealing. I couldn't drink liquid of any kind (despite being very thirsty), and I wasn't eating any meat, dairy or vegetables. It was mostly oranges (to quench thirst) and crackers.
I'm hoping that things will get better. On average I'm now vomiting about 5-7 times a week, which is significantly less than before. My appetite has increased:
-now I can drink water (if it is VERY cold and doesn't have any smell--real or imagined).
-have discovered that the fetus likes dim sum and pancakes (have not thrown up after either of these meals).
- I have a new found love of cherries and grapes.
-Decaf, single, iced Americano also works wonders when I am nauseous.

Dairy, meats, and veggies are still a challenge.
So is driving in the car (any starting and stopping, or bumpy road immediately makes me gag).
Smells still make me sick as well (I still have to hold my nose or hold my breath to open the refrigerator or freezer).

Other, non food related changes I've observed:
-my fingernails are growing like crazy and super strong.
-I'm tired ALL THE TIME.
-my boobs, which used to be huge, are now ENORMOUS (my first maternity purchase was maternity bras).
- AC says that I am "moody." :( :)

How did we get here? Old house

Finally, the last topic that needs a bit of background is our old house, commonly referred to in Seattle Indochine as "the townhouse."

We bought the townhouse that we currently live in, pre-construction, in January 2004. As most of you know, we've been dealing with problems with the common garage; the roof of the garage is our deck/patio. Namely, the tile deck that serves as our balcony and the roof of the garage was tiled with the improper type of tile, and some internal problems with the construction were revealed as well. As a result, the 6 unit homeowners engaged an attorney to help us obtain the funds for the necessary repairs.
After more than a year of going back and forth, we finally settled with the builders and they agreed to provide us with a large sum of money to finance the repairs to the common garage area and cover our legal expenses. A company that specializes in fixing other peoples' mistakes is performing the repairs. Turns out that the type of repairs necessary are very sensitive to weather--for most of the repairs, the temperature would need to be consistently over 40 degrees F, and it couldn't rain for 2-3 days at a time. As a group of 6 units we decided to wait on construction to mitigate the weather issues. So, we didn't begin construction on the repairs until early spring 2007.

Since that time, things have been moving at a snail's pace. All of the existing tile was demolitioned, and replaced with proper outdoor tiling. However, several weeks went by as the crew tried to chase and repair a number of other leaks found around existing gutter systems, door thresholds, and other technical things that are difficult to follow.

Once we realized that the townhouse would be under construction for quite some time, we decided not to put the townhouse on the market. We were afraid that the construction and associated damages would hurt the sale of the home (and this fear was reinforced by our neighbor whose home sat on the market for 4 months, finally selling at 40K below the original listing price). It seemed easier to live in the townhouse (which is completely fine inside, the only inconveniences occur at the exterior) rather than moving to the new house and living in it during construction.

What remains to be done? The crew tells us that there are another 2 or so weeks left of construction. They need to finish all of the painting, and complete some "punchlist items" (e.g., cleaning up mistakes or messes they made during construction). So hopefully by mid-June we will be able to put the house on the market, and it will sell relatively quickly. With a 30 day close, that would give us about 2-3 weeks to sell the house before we'd move into the Inverness house right on schedule in August.

Keep your fingers crossed!!

How did we get here? New house

Here's background topic #2: Our new house --typically referred to in Seattle Indochine as the "Inverness House."
. So we made an offer in August on our "dream house", thinking that we would put in a few months of work, and then move in around September or October.
Long story short, it is now almost 10 months later and we haven't moved in yet. This is mostly because we have been tied up timing wise due to things happening at our townhouse (see next post). But to date, here's what we've done already:
1. Renovated the downstairs den: In this room, we took out all of the paneling and re-sheet rocked the room. We also rewired the room to bring the electrical system up to date. Still left to do: change the carpet and paint. Here's a BEFORE picture (AFTER pictures will be in a later post).



2. Remodeled the master bathroom, powder room and family room area: This was our most major project. We took space from some closets in the adjacent family room to give more room to the master bedroom (before picture with the blue vanity). The extra space allowed us to put in a bathtub, a walk in double shower, double sinks, laundry chute, and a window. We also ordered new vanities, retiled the floors and tub/shower area, put in a new toilet, new electrical, and all new plumbing fixtures. Still left to do: install the vanity, faucets, backsplash and mirror (all pending the delivery of the new vanity which is 4 months late!), install shower door, install laundry chute door.


In the powder room (adjacent to the master bath), we put in a new toilet, new floors, a new tiled vanity, vessel sink and faucet, and a capiz chandelier. Still left to do: hang the mirror over the vanity.

3. Renovated the downstairs bathroom: The downstairs bathroom is what we think of as the "kids bathroom." We replaced the vanity, put in double sinks, new toilet, all new tiling (floor and walls), new plumbing fixtures and heat, and painted. We kept the old bathtub and didn't move the locations of any plumbing around. Here's a BEFORE shot:

Other things we have accomplished (but don't have photo documentation for) are:
- ripping out all of the carpeting on the upper floor
- redoing all of the electricity in all 4 bedrooms, and resheetrocking walls where necessary
- gutting the kitchen (ripped out to the studs)
- removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room
- removing the paneling from the main living room upstairs

And, here's the thumbnail sketch of what is still left to do:
1. Kitchen preparation (should occur by June 7): new electricity, plumbing, and gas line installed.
2. Kitchen sheetrock: putting up new walls (will occur as soon as step 1 is complete)
3. Whole house needs to be painted (still getting estimates on this)
4. New bamboo floors installed (will happen as soon as step 3 is complete,but the flooring is already purchased).
5. New carpeting in downstairs bedrooms.
6. Kitchen cabinets installed (July 1)
7. Kitchen countertops installed (3-4 weeks after step 5)

After that, we plan to move in! Who knows how long it will take....
I'll try to post whenever things get done!

How did we get here? Pregnancy

I'll try to start our blog by doing some posts to give some background for the weekly posts that I'm going to start....first topic to tackle is how we got pregnant.

We tried for 13 months to get pregnant, but early on realized that it would not happen naturally because I do not get my period regularly. It turns out that I was diagnosed with PCOS, a condition that affects approximately 10% of women. In my case, it means that I don't ovulate regularly (not even once in 6 months); rather than having my ovary release an egg each month, it fails to release and becomes a little cyst in my ovary.

So, for about 5-6 months we tried the least invasive type of "assisted reproduction" which was taking a pill called Clomid to induce ovulation. We also had tried one Clomid/IUI cycle (Intra-Uterine Insemination) but that also did not work.

By January 2007, we were feeling impatient, and also knew that because AC was changing jobs, our medical insurance would no longer cover fertility treatments. So, we decided to pull out the big guns and try IVF (In Vitro Insemination). We worked with SRM or Seattle Reproductive Medicine, the clinic that has the best success rates in Seattle.

IVF basically consists of 4 major phases. Here are the highlights and lowlights of each phase:

1. Suppression (February 2007): I gave myself daily injections of Lupron in my tummy to coordinate timing of all of the follicles (eggs to be) in my ovary, to prevent ovulation, and to coordinate all of the hormones.
2. Stimulation (first half of March): In addition to the daily Lupron shots, I also gave myself daily shots of Follistim(also in the belly), which stimulates egg production. During this time, I needed to go into the clinic almost every day for a daily blood draw and ultrasound to monitor my hormone levels and egg development. This phase was the worst for us, mainly because I experienced OHSS (Ovarian HyperStimulation Syndrome). Typically during stimulation, about 5-15 follicles grow in the ovaries (each follicle should contain one egg). In my case, I produced 95+ follicles (after a while they just stopped counting). This was accompanied by a very high surge of estrogen (they wanted it to be about 400, and mine was over 8000). This was super stressful because the doctors were saying that they may either have to cancel the cycle and/or I'd be hospitalized. I was put on bedrest immediately, which was good because the whole thing was very painful. I also gained 8 lbs in 3 days from bloating and distended ovaries. I could feel my ovaries from stomach to back, and they were touching in the middle of my body, and I looked at least 4 months pregnant. It was miserable!

The stimulation phase ended with AC giving me a "trigger" shot of HCG which promotes egg maturation. 36 hours later I went in to SRM for an egg retrieval procedure (March 12). While I was under anaesthesia, the doctors inserted a large needle into each ovary and removed all of the follicles. Very painful and scary. On the funny side, though-- under anaesthesia, I kept asking the doctors about Greys Anatomy --how embarassing!

3. Embryo Transfer: After egg retrieval, we found out that we had 17 good eggs (so many bad follicles!). Each of these eggs was fertilized with AC's sperm (also collected on the day of the retrieval). Out of those 17, 8 fertilized normally and reached embryo stage. Some IVF patients wait for 5 days for the embryos to reach "blastocyst" stage; the thinking is that a more fully developed embryo has a better chance of surviving. But in our case, the doctors suggested a day 3 transfer because the risk that the embryos would not develop healthily was too great (the low yield and difficulty they encountered at egg retrieval made them concerned about egg quality). So, on March 15 we did the embryo transfer. We went into the clinic, they showed us our 2 best embryos (both developed to 8 cells and rated highest quality), and we watched on the ultrasound as they were placed into my uterus. We froze the remaining 6 embryos, and they last up to 9 years (should we need them for siblings...). After the transfer I also was on self-imposed bed rest, trying to give the embryos the best chance to implant and also still recovering from the OHSS.

4. Waiting: After the embryo transfer we had to wait about 2 weeks before doing a pregnancy test. The day after the egg retrieval, we began shots of Progesterone in Oil, an intramuscular shot in the butt administered by AC every morning. This is to keep the lining of the uterus thick and healthy for the embryos. These shots continued until 10 weeks into the pregnancy (May 7). This was also a hard time because I developed a strange reaction (bad rash on my face and body)to the PIO shots which the doctors could not figure out. I tried 3 different forms of progesterone (in sesame oil, vaginal suppositories, and finally settled on in olive oil). The rash did not end up going away until about week 11 of the pregnancy.

But all of the shots, stress, and pain was worth it because on March 27 I went in for a blood test, and that afternoon they called back to say that the HCG levels indicated that I was pregnant! I had to return 2 days later to make sure that the HCG levels were doubling at the desired rates. Finally, at week 7 (Apr 16) we went in for an ultrasound, and were delighted to see a tiny little embryo with a beating heart! At that appointment, we learned that we were having one baby (not twins), and that the due date would be December 3 (one day after AC's birthday!).

Welcome to Seattle Indochine!

Hello! Welcome to our new blog, where we will keep you updated on the big things in our lives, like waiting for a new Indochine baby, making our Indochine home, and living our Indochine life.
Ni hao and Namaste,
C + A