Way Back Wednesday

Babies.

Good lord, everything about them is delicious. 

Their tiny little bods, their teeny little fingers and ahhhhh the way they smell; its killer. 

I recently visited some friends who just welcomed their precious little boy and let me tell you, I've got baby fever in a bad kinda way. Since I have no newborn baby or one 'on the way', I've managed to make do by reminiscing over pictures of my little lady when she was brand new. Won't you join me?

 

Two of my friends are expecting little boys in the next few months and I cannot wait to meet them, because of all the wonderful things in this world, there is nothin' sweeter than a tiny little babe. 

 

(Thank you to my mom, aunt and sister for these pictures. I love seeing new pictures of my girl, especially when they bring me back to such a blissful time in my life.)

 

xo, Vicky

Hypothyroid

It’s been a while since I posted and I really don’t have an excuse other than to say that life is good and I’ve been busy. Summer has finally started showing its face and we’ve been busy enjoying time outside in the sun. We also had a little road trip to Toronto this past weekend to visit family and had such a great time catching up and watching our kiddos play.
 

Anyways, I thought I’d catch you up on our, dare I say adventure, to having baby #2. Way back at the beginning of April, I had my hysterosonogram appointment and it went well. The procedure took all of one minute and in a lucky twist of fate, my doctor just happened to be on call to do it. When he had finished up, he asked when my follow-up appointment to review all the test results had been scheduled and I replied that it wasn’t until May. He then told me I was his last appointment of the day and that he’d review our results and give me a preliminary report right then and there. Score! As he was looking over our blood work results, he suddenly stopped and said, “I think I have good news for you. It looks like your problem may be your thyroid.” I knew my thyroid had been off before but I didn’t think it was ‘the’ reason I couldn’t maintain a pregnancy. The ‘normal’ range for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is between .03 and 3. Mine is 8. The higher the TSH, the lower your thyroid is. Confusing, right? Let me take a moment to explain.

 

Hypothyroidism is a condition when your thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones. The pituitary gland produces a hormone called TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) that signals your thyroid gland to produce T3 and T4 hormones. When your body isn’t getting the necessary T3 and T4 hormones the pituitary gland needs to sends out high amounts of TSH to stimulate the thyroid gland. Clear as mud? During pregnancy, the embryo/fetus relies solely on the mother for thyroid hormones so the mother’s body needs to produce more than the usual amount of hormones to supply both herself and her baby. Women who have hypothyroidism and become pregnant run the risk of miscarriage, preterm labour, pre-eclampsia and birth defects. Yikes. 

 

My doctor suspects that my miscarriages were likely due to low thyroid and he wrote me a prescription for Synthroid 0.75mg. I’ll have my thyroid retested at my follow-up appointment to see if my thyroid is regulated at that dose of if it needs to be readjusted. I will need to take thyroid hormone replacement for the rest of my life. It’s not really a big deal; just one tiny blue pill every morning. I don’t want to get my hopes up but I can’t help but be excited for my follow-up on May 14^th. Mentally I’m ready to try again I just hope my body is physically ready too. 

 

While I try to stay positive about the whole thing, I find myself sometimes thinking ‘what if’. What if I hadn’t miscarried back in September? I would be getting ready to meet my new baby. I would be feeling my baby’s kicks. I would be folding tiny sleepers and packing my hospital bag. I know I shouldn’t live in a world of what ifs; that in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t my time for another baby, but I can’t help that my mind slips there from time to time. My doctor assures me that I’ll have another baby and that he’ll find a solution. I’m hopeful he will but in the meantime I’ll enjoy the baby I have; my sweet, mischievous, independent and lovely baby girl.

 

xo, Vicky

My Strange Addiction

Eating couches. Yep, I am addicted to eating couches. 

 

Had you going right? Did anyone catch that episode of My Strange Addiction where someone was ‘legit’ addicted to eating their couch? The world is a strange, strange place.

While my addiction is far less weird than couch eating, it still has me wrapped around its little ceramic handle.

via

 Coffee. 

Warm, rich, delicious coffee. It is the first thing that pops into my mind when I wake up and I don’t feel ready to start my day without it. My morning drives to work are enjoyable thanks to my cup a joe and Saturday mornings are the best when the sun is shining through my bedroom window and I have a cup of steaming coffee in hand. 

Sounds pretty rad right? 

Well, according to my new baby bible caffeine is the devil and needs to be completely eliminated from my life. Annd a tiny piece of my soul just died. *sob

All dramatics aside, I have kicked my coffee addiction in the past. I managed to abstain from caffeine throughout my entire pregnancy with Quinn and well into her first year so she wasn’t chugging a bunch of caffeine via the boob. Once Quinn weaned herself off breast milk, I indulged in the occasional cup of coffee, but I really got back into when I returned to work. Everybody is slurping on the stuff at work and now I’m a full-out addict.  

 You may remember me blubbering last week about being sick. WELL, on Thursday I was in the throes of cough and cold hell AND was also struggling with this all-consuming headache. It didn’t matter what drugs I took, this headache would not go away. It wasn’t until later in the day that I realized where this mystery death-headache came from. I had been too lazy to have my morning cup of coffee which caused my body to go into full-on withdrawal hangover. It was awful and I was dying for relief so I had a coffee and low and behold I was miraculously healed.

It’s pretty scary to think coffee has this kind of effect on me. No wonder the bible says I need to get rid of it. Looks like I just need to devote a good day or two to a raging headache and hopefully that will be the end of it. So, I am officially giving myself an end date for caffeine. As of Monday, February 25th I will be caffeine free. Simon has no idea what he’s in for next weekend. Poor guy. 

Xo, Vicky

Lost in abbreviation?

This is what I look like when trying to read baby/pregnancy/infertility message boards.

Step One - Find an interesting board

Step Two - Try desperately to determine what BFP, OPK, CD mean

Step Three - Give up in a fit of rage

If you are anything like me, you know how difficult navigating your way through baby/pregnancy/infertility message boards can be. When I first started frequenting the boards, I could barely understand what these women were saying.
Why you might ask?

Let me give you an example:

"Hey, I'm joining the TWW. I got my first "smiley" on my Clear Blue digital OPK this afternoon. I'm right on time - CD 16. I will O tomorrow, CD 17. I have a 13-day LP, so my next period will be due 2/17.

I'm fresh off early MC #2 in 5 cycles. My OB ran a series of tests, did an internal exam, and ultrasound - nothing, nadda, I'm normal. The ultrasound did, however, show over 20 follicles in my ovaries getting ready (that was a week ago). So I'm really hoping that at least 1 of those little guys does me right this cycle! We shall see.

I'm planning on testing first on Valentine's (my due date with my twins) which will be 11 DPO. I've always gotten BFPs at 9 DPO anyway. It'd be a nice way to celebrate that day :)

GL to all!!"

Via

What the what?

Ok here’s the translation: 

 

 

"Hey, I’m joining the Two Week Wait. I got my first “smiley” (meaning positive) on my Clear Blue digital ovulation predictor kit this afternoon. I’m right on time – cycle day 16. I will ovulate tomorrow, cycle day 17. I have a 13-day luteal phase, so my next period will be due 2/17. 

 

I’m fresh off early miscarriage #2 in 5 cycles. My obstetrician ran a series of tests, did an internal exam, and ultrasound – nothing, nadda, I’m normal. The ultrasound did, however, show over 20 follicles in my ovaries getting ready (that was a week ago). So I'm really hoping that at least 1 of those little guys does me right this cycle! We shall see.

I'm planning on testing first on Valentine's (my due date with my twins) which will be 11 days past ovulation. I've always gotten big fat positives at 9 days past ovulation anyway. It'd be a nice way to celebrate that day :)

Good luck to all!!"

 

Make sense now?

To make things easy for anyone who finds themselves lost in translation, here is a quick list of commonly used abbreviations in the land of baby/pregnancy/infertility message boards:

 

Acronyms	What they mean
AF	Aunt Flo — menstruation/period
AP	attachment parenting
BB or BBS	Internet bulletin board
BBC	BabyCenter
BBL	be back later
BBT	basal body temperature
BC	because, or birth control, or before children
BCPS	birth control pills
BD	baby dance (sex)
BF	breastfeed, or boyfriend
BFN	big fat negative (pregnancy test)
BFP	big fat positive (pregnancy test)
BIL	brother-in-law
BM	breast milk, or bowel movement
BRB	be right back
BTDT	been there, done that
BTW	by the way
CD	cycle day
CF	cervical fluid
CIO	cry it out
Circ.	circumcise
CM	cervical mucus
CWIM	see what I mean
CS or C/S	cesarean section
DC	daycare, dear child
DD	dear daughter
DF	dear fiancee
DH	dear husband
DP	dear partner
DPO	days past ovulation
DS	dear son
DSD	dear stepdaughter
DSS	dear stepson
DTD	do the deed
DW	dear wife
EBF	extended breastfeeding, exclusively breastfeeding
EBM	expressed breast milk
EDD	estimated due date, or expected date of delivery
EWCM	egg white cervical mucus
FF	formula feeding
FIL	father-in-law
FT	full time
FTM	first time mom
FTR	for the record
FWIW	for what it's worth
FYI	for your information
HPT	home pregnancy test
HTH	hope this helps
IC	incompetent cervix
IMHO	in my humble opinion
IMO	in my opinion
IRL	in real life
ITA	I totally agree
IUI	intrauterine insemination
IVF	in vitro fertilization
JJ or J/J	just joking
JK or J/K	just kidding
JMHO	just my humble opinion, or just my honest opinion
KWIM	know what I mean
L&D	labor and delivery
LO	little one
LOL	laughing out loud
LP	luteal phase
MC or M/C	miscarriage
MIL	mother-in-law
ML	maternity leave
MM	mother's milk
MYOB	mind your own business
NMS	not my style
NMSAA	not my style at all
NP	no problem
O	ovulation
O'd	ovulated
OMG	oh my gosh, or oh my god
OP	original poster
OPK	ovulation predictor kit
OT	off topic
PG	pregnant, or pregnancy
POAS	pee on a stick (i.e. pregnancy test)
PP	previous poster
PPD	postpartum depression
RE	reproductive endocrinologist
ROFL	rolling on floor laughing
SAHD	stay-at-home dad
SAHM	stay-at-home mom
SAHP	stay-at-home parent
SD	sperm donor
SIL	sister-in-law
SO	significant other
TCOYF	Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni Weschler
TIA	thanks in advance
TMI	too much information
TTC	trying to conceive
US or U/S	ultrasound
VBAC	vaginal birth after cesarean section
WAH	work at home
WOH	work out of the home

Hope this helps anyone lost in the jungle of baby message board abbreviations!

xo, Vicky