Holidaze

So many exciting things happening and I have been in a complete DAZE for most of it.  My bed time is still around 7pm (needless to say I'm missing a nice chunk of the day) and yet I'm still VERY sleepy.  I'm finding it hard to finish sentences (which makes blog-writing quite a challenge) and often lose my train of thought mid-sentence.  When I say DAZE I mean I am typically outgoing, talkative and extremely and overly excited about things...and lately a smile (that comes from auto-pilot and not necessarily from fully understanding my surroundings) is about much as you’ll get out of me.  I feel like such a bore to be around and primarily worry that JCH is really getting the worst of it.

Last Wednesday was our 2nd ultrasound and so exciting!  It was the first ultrasound with my OB-GYN (since leaving Winslow and Patty in Florida) and so we had a lot to cover.  After we had gotten through my 100 (x100000) questions we moved on to the fun part.  Dr. Conatser, the ultrasound tech and JCH all stared at the screen that I couldn't see for over ONE MINUTE and nobody said a word (or showed expression on their faces).  FINALLY Dr. C tells me that they found "it" and that there is a heartbeat.  It took nearly a minute for them to find "it" and for that minute I was slightly freaking out.  Then JCH pulls out his phone and asks if we can record the heart beat.  Dr. C is very apprehensive about using the "high frequency" ultrasound equipment for too long so we literally got about 3 seconds...BEST 3 seconds of my life!!!  Without even playing it back on JCH's phone I feel like I can hear it's heartbeat in my head, and feel it in my body.  Yesterday I took a lukewarm bath (I'm not supposed to have a hot bath just yet) and the little pool of water in my belly button looked as though it was moving along to a heart beat..."mine or the babys'?", I wondered.  Really cool to even think it might be the baby (although I understand I’m a 1st trimester mommy-to-be, hopeful for exciting and fun signs of the pregnancy and not just puking and tired).

Lima Bean last week-a Grape this week!

Remember the spokesperson role that JCH had taken on?  Now imagine brainless me and a 15 person film and lighting crew (I say that, but it surprisingly wasn't all that bad).  JCH completely downplayed (or just wasn't paying attention to) the whole "guy from CALIFORNIA coming out to film us" scenario.  JCH said 1-2 people would come over…there were 15 people-3 guys filming, 2 sound tech, 3 light techs, 3 photographers, and a hair and make-up person…plus a couple extra people for interviewing and moving furniture.  They literally turned my house upside down.  It was really cool how they morphed our personal space into looking like a studio.  I didn’t get that many pictures because I was slightly overwhelmed but I do have a couple to share.

Another REALLY exciting thing is that we are flying home to see our families over the holidays!  We are flying from Charleston to Minot, North Dakota to spend Christmas with my family, and than from there will fly to DFW, Texas to spend New Years with my in-laws.  I was hopeful for a white Christmas in North Dakota but unfortunately there is no snow on the ground or in the 10 day forecast.  The good news is that decreases the chances we will have trouble with our flights.  The bad news is that I bought my snow boots for no reason, I don’t get to make a snow man and snow angels with my nieces, and we wont get to go sledding (though that was a questionable activity for me anyway).  How is there no snow in one of the coldest places in the country? Rude.

Lastly, one of my best friends in the whole world (who introduced JCH and I in college) has gifted the great city of NYC with her impeccable taste and beyond ridiculous resources and attention to detail (this girl gets it done-and better than anyone I know).  She has started her own boutique event planning and styling company- Ever Swoon (facebook page here).  She has an amazing personal blog called “Walks with Bella” and she was the friend who suggested and inspired me to write a blog to share my IVF experience.  Starting Ever Swoon is such a huge…HUGE step in her life and I feel like my tiredness and sickness have caused me to be absent from supporting her and following her through this exciting launch.  Normally the two of us would spend hours video chatting online and sending each other links to websites (pre-Pinterest days) of inspiration and excitement.  How could I be missing so much? The only explanation is that I REALLY am THAT tired and THAT sick!  But I won’t fret—I’ll be back! 

I’m hoping I’ve only got a couple weeks left of this DAZE and I will be feeling like my normal self again.  For the sake of my husband, my friendships and hell I’ll just say it…my sex life! 

I have been extremely sentimental the past few days and we're still settling on an “en utero” name.  I’m playing around with the idea of “miracle baby” (but not so literal)…I’ve tried translating that to Latin, German, Norwegian to see if I could get a cute catchy word with no luck so far-- cudo pronounced “chewdo” means “miracle” in Croatian but I feel like that’s kinda a stretch-what do you think? We’ve got to stop calling our baby “it”!

Well...anyway...Happy Holidaze! :) (pun intended)



Equipment and crew outside of my house



make-up and hair while they set up in the background