Well, it’s been a week since the last post – sorry for the disappearing act. Sheryl and I went to Seattle together last week. I had my regular client work; Sheryl’s been studying for an exam that she’ll be taking tomorrow morning. The certification that she’ll receive is that of a Project Management Professional. This is an exciting milestone for us both; this certification will go a long ways to making Sheryl a better project manager and allow her exposure to a community of other professionals.
The nausea is starting – I was really hoping it was all in my head, but no such luck. I start to feel a bit queasy in the late afternoons. It usually passes once I can get food in my stomach – but it is so hard to start eating when you feel nauseated.
In addition to other ‘
normal’ symptoms, one thing I’ve noticed that is a bit odd is that my nails are growing like crazy! I’ve never been one to have longer fingernails – but now they are about as long as I’ve every seen them. Can’t blame it on the vitamins, either – because I’ve been taking those for months now. Too bizarre.
Last Tuesday was our 6 week mark – here’s what’s going on inside according to
www.babycenter.com:
“This week, your baby's brain, muscles, and bones are beginning to take shape. His hands and feet resemble little paddles, and his tiny heart will begin beating. Though you probably won't feel anything for about 10 more weeks, he's about to make his very first movements.
You can't hear it yet, but the heart (which has divided into the right and left chambers) is now beating between 100 and 130 beats per minute.”
How cool is that?
Well, gang – here I am back in the living. I’ve been fighting this virus since last Friday – an entire week stuck at home. The cabin fever has me going crazy! I swear – my immune system must be on vacation. Not only did I have this virus – but I even got an eye infection.
I definitely had a better day today – energy levels were a bit higher and I was able to get a good deal of work done. (Either it was better energy levels, or the panic of getting so far behind kicked in!)
I’ve been checking out the bulletin boards on the Babycenter.com and found lots of other new moms who are just working through the first few weeks. It’s been a great reassurance to hear that others are going through the same things.
I had my first sign of morning sickness a couple of days ago – but I think it was all in my head. I ate a few crackers and was fine. Guess I’ll have to start keeping crackers by the bed now.
Tuesday was officially the start of Week 5. They measure pregnancy from the date of the menstrual cycle – not the actual day of conception. Here’s what they say is going on with Little Bean:
“At this point he looks more like a tiny tadpole than a human. But this week, the heart begins to beat, the cells for the major organs, including the kidneys and heart, begin to develop, and the neural tube, which connects the brain and spinal cord, closes.”
Happy Sunday, all. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's Day. I've had a virus that has kept me pretty miserable since Friday morning. They say being pregnant lowers your immune system; went to the Dr. yesterday and he said not to worry - it's just a virus and nothing to be too concerned about. I was afraid me being sick would have prevented Sheryl and I from pursuing our Valentine's Day plans - but I put on a brave face and we went and saw Pink Martini play with the Oregon Symphony. It was amazing.
My favorite part was the group that joined them at the end called The Lions of Batucada. They were a Brazillian-style street percussion band that marched down the aisle during the final encore peice called 'Brazil'. It was so great. After we left the theater we could hear them playing in the street and went and watched an impromptu performance.
Pink Martini played a lot from their new album - which is cut but not yet released. They say it should be available sometime in the next several months - can't wait.
Sheryl and I were both contemplating what we're going to do with our symphony subsription next year; perhaps we'll have to pick events late in the season and beg grandma and grandpa to babysit... However, we both agree that it will be important to bring little bean to these types of events after a certain age. I know they have a whole series geared for kids, so that will be great.
I hope you all had a great V-day.
Well, folks, it’s Thursday morning and EPT confirms what we’ve been thinking since Sunday. We have a positive!
We’re PREGGERS!!! Always thought this one would be the one.
We’re both doing our best to contain our excitement – but it’s just too darned hard! Of course, there’s still the chance that we’ll have to try again; early miscarries are not necessarily common – but they do occur in about 20-30% of women.
I did some quick searching the other day about false positives on p-tests and found some interesting information about the changes in me and little bean’s development week by week. I’ll provide regular updates to this blog if you’re interested in tracking the progress with us.
If all goes well, our
due date is October 19th – guess I’ll get out of having to go to the pumpkin patch this year!
The signs are all good!!! On Friday last week, I had a bit of spotting – this would have been Day 11. This sign is called implantation bleeding, where the egg burrows into the uterine lining, shedding a bit.
Today is the end of Day 14 and things are still looking positive. Sheryl and I are going to run a pregnancy test on Thursday morning so we should have more information at that time. You know what they say… Third time is a charm!
Dad says he wants a boy – since I was an only child and he’s ready to teach little bean boy things - like fishing. (Of course, I say there’s no reason he can’t teach his granddaughter to fish as well!!) Mom says she wants a girl, since she already has a grandson from my stepbrother Nick. I suppose at least one of them will have to be disappointed… unless of course we manage paternal twins!
Speaking of twins – if we were blessed with two little beans, this would be third generation twins. Sheryl and her mother are both twins. Wouldn’t that be crazy?
Below is a picture of our handsome cat, Jack. He’ll make regular appearances here going forward. He’s a secret attention hog.
I'm adding a comment form to the blog. Haloscan software (see the link on the right--could their icon be any bigger?). Let's see if it works. I don't see why it wouldn't, but I'm still having some file transfer issues between the public_ftp and public_html files on the virtual server. All that means is that I have to manually post the files to the beananderson folder. Well, let's test it and see if it works. -Sheryl
This is Jack.
It’s Sunday night – another dreaded night preparing for my weekly trip to Seattle. This will be a short week, though; I get to come home on Wednesday night. Wednesday night – 15 days after insemination; a time where we’ll know whether it’s time to prepare for another round or time to start planning. We just can’t wait – I really think this may be the one. But, if it’s not, we’ll have to remain optimistic.
We told our cat all about it – that we’d be bringing in a baby someday soon. He just looked at us with a blank stare. I’m sure he’s just trying to mask his emotion. You know how cats are.
Sunday. Late. Sheryl here yawning and typing. Happy late birthday greetings to our niece, Robin, nephew Jason, and other nephew, John.
My buddy Wes and I went snow shoeing inthe Gifford Pinchot National Forest (Atkisson Sno-Park Trail). We were the only snow shoers on the trail, at least from 11 a to 3 p. Relatively flat but we made it more interesting by rumbling around in the trees. When I first learned how to snow shoe, my instructor said to flap my arms and yell out "Snow Angel" when I fell. I fell once this trip, but it wasn't a "Snow Angel" kind of fall. My left leg got hung up in a big pine branch. Wes had to bury me out. Lesson learned: never snow shoe alone. Next time, we'll go higher in elevation and find some steeper trails.
Sheryl and I just watched the most amazing documentary on the Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls that is hosted here in Portland every summer. The camp is for girls between 8-18 and lasts for six days. There were teens with pink hair, young shy girls, girls of all shapes and colors; it was awesome to see them so empowered. Our favorite part was this group called ‘The Black Peppercorns’; they were about 8 or 9 and rockin’ out. (Check out the camp via the link to the right -->)
All this makes us hope we too can have a young independent girl of our own someday. Or a young independent boy… Either works for us for this first go ‘round. Sheryl and I both want to have two children. Probably have them a few years apart.
So – we wasted money today because we just couldn’t resist taking a pregnancy test. It’s probably too early, but we thought we’d have a go at it regardless. As of day 9, we’re still not showing a positive yet. (But we’re keeping our fingers crossed!) Most tests say wait until day 14 or so, but patience is not one of my virtues!
Welcome dear readers to the first ever, never been done before, completely new blog by and for the Anderson family. This space is going to be utilized to share with you and future generations the process Sheryl and I are going through to grow our small family. Today is February 2nd, 2004 and we're off.
Currently our family consists of Jack (the cat), Sheryl, Stacey (Sheryl's 21 year old daughter) and your friendly author - Susan. Sheryl and I began discussing the potential of having a baby about a year and a half ago. We first discussed who would carry the baby. It was a tough choice; we debated back and forth - for all of about 1 second. You see, it was an easy decision for us - I yearn with all of my heart to grow and nurture a little baby in me. Sheryl is reaching the age where her ovaries are not as fertile - plus she already had our Stacey. We both want a baby terribly - and (don't tell anyone) we very well could have one in the making.
Like any good student of life, we started out this whole process by doing research - this was about a year ago. I found out how most lesbians get pregnant and visited many different websites that discussed the options, pros/cons, insemination methods, etc. We agreed after some discussion that we would not go with a known donor. There were too many concerns with legal issues, torn emotions, etc. We instead decided to get sperm from a cryobank and go the anonymous donor route.
Our first attempt was in October. We had been charting the ovulation cycle - but only peripherally. I am a fortunate soul in the sense that I can feel my ovulations (or at least the hours just after, as my Dr. tells me). We still validate the timing by using ovulation predictor strips - and just like clockwork, I feel the pain the next day.
Our first official steps involved checking in with the doctors. We met a new OB/GYN and got a green light from her to proceed. Next stop; fertility doctor-man himself. Dr. Hesla is with Portland Reproductive Medicine and he’s great. We had a consultation in September and prepared for our first insemination in October.
Next came the hard part; choosing the sperm. We looked at several banks recommended by the doctor. Some were too small; others didn’t have enough variety; some even wanted you to pay a deposit before viewing any of their profiles. We found our perfect donor through California Cryobank. Our donor was perfect!
~~Rant: You’ll never guess how this crazy industry nickels and dimes you to death. $30 here for looking at an extended profile; $10 for a facial profile; $15 for a baby picture, etc. That’s not even including the sperm. Next, some banks want you to pay just to set up an account with them. Then the really expensive part comes: sperm!! I can just hear the Mastercard commercial now: Sperm: $$275 a vial. Shipping: $124. Doctor co-pay: $15. Ability to control your own destiny and start a family with the ones you love: priceless.~~
Anyhow – our first insemination should have been around October 24th or so. However, my ovulation was late and reading those ovulation strips is a bit tricky so I missed the first warning. Luckily, I felt the ovulation and we headed into the doctor’s office. We were supposed to fly to Palm Springs that same morning, so we had to reschedule our flight – which was just fine by us.
Needless to say, that first insemination didn’t take. Nor did the second try in November. We took December off since we were traveling and here we are waiting to hear how our January insemination went.
We inseminated on January 27th – so we will know for sure around February 10th. I hate to get too optimistic, but I really think this could be the one. It felt as if I ovulated twice (two days in a row where I had the sharp pulling sensation I associate with ovulation). Also, I haven’t had any alcohol for over a month. We’re hoping that abstaining completely will increase fertility.
That’s enough for this first post – more to come in the future. Thanks for listening.
Coming soon: Bean Anderson.
What's Bean Anderson? Bean Anderson = any small seed that resembles an Anderson pod. Think of Bean Anderson like a bean sprout. Or break it apart and it's Be An Anderson. Or Neon Sand Bean. Or Abandon Sneer. Okay, so I got the last two from Brendan's online anagram generator.
Did you know bean curd is also called tofu?
This is the deal: mostly, this blog belongs to Susan. I'm just getting it started. I'm still trying to get it to work correctly on our site. Susan will take over when I do. Then, I'm a reader, just like you. Except when I'm not. Then, I'm one of the writers.
Did you know that schizophrenia is also known as dementia praecox?
I'm Sheryl.
