Contractions, expensive day, and some more home decor & organization pictures

I officially started trying to kick start labor yesterday. I saw my acupuncturist, who targeted some stimulating points, and it was crazy, but I could actually feel baby girl dropping lower during and after the session. I followed that up with a 30-minute steep neighborhood walk with the dogs in the evening. Afterwards, I started experiencing some longer, more frequent contractions, but they still didn’t feel like anything more than just tightening and never became regular. I went to bed relatively early, and they went away. It was great to sleep almost 8 hours, even if it was interrupted.

The repairman came out this morning to look at our dryer, which has been burning and melting our stuff off and on over the last few weeks. Unfortunately it needs the drum completely replaced, and on a 30+ year old dryer, that is impossible to find. So we ended up going online to research, and found a reasonably priced, well-rated LG washer/dryer combo – thank goodness for Memorial Day sales! Technically our washer still works, but it doesn’t wash very well, and the new one is a high-efficiency top-loader, so it’ll use less water and detergent, definitely a big plus with the drought nowadays.

Oh yes! Here is our reorganized linen closet, pantry, and kitchen closet. I also attached hooks to the inside of the pantry door to hang my pump accessories and bottle cooler that will be traveling to work with me. It makes me so happy to be able to see where everything is so easily now. If I get a chance, I’ll be adding labels too.

I decided to use my HomeGoods gift card today to finish up decorating parts of the house. We’ve lived here almost 3 years, but it finally feels more homey, and ready to welcome home our baby girl! ❤

Green light!

My RE’s office called and left a message that my estradiol was good and gave me the green light to start with the stims as planned tomorrow. This was of course not nearly enough information for me, so I emailed him asking for the level, and he replied back “11”. YAY! Nice and suppressed, I should be primed for ovarian stimulation. I was hoping today would be without a headache but as I sit here typing, I can feel the ache starting to creep up the back of my head. Let’s hope some inverting helps that – I’m taking my last aerial class tonight (snuck it in since the stims start tomorrow).

Oh, and this may make me a huge nerd, but who cares because I know I am one – check out how I’m transporting my Menopur and supplies to work:

My supply box of Menopur vials, Q-caps, syringes, and needles

Crazed yesterday, domestic today

Yesterday ended up feeling like such a long day! Woke up bright and early and went stand-up paddling. Came home to quickly shower and inspect the box of meds that had been delivered, then off to my hair appointment. After leaving there, I checked traffic and realized the 2-hour drive to the evening wedding was now estimated at 3 hours!! So I quickly texted our friend and the hubby that we needed to leave an hour earlier than planned, which left us with very little time to gas up my car and look presentable. Especially when somehow I LOST the dress I was supposed to wear – fortunately I found another in my closet that actually fit. There was SO much traffic headed down there, we stopped at a halfway point for a restroom break in the slowest Starbucks in the world. I rechecked traffic there, and realized we were really cutting it close to the beginning of the ceremony. In the end, our 2-hour drive turned into 3-1/2 hours!!

Traffic finally lightened up as we got into town, and I sped as safely as I could (I drove because I tend to get carsick and didn’t want to deal with Dramamine), only to find a really awful parking situation. Barely nabbed a spot, and ran into the collection of buildings, trying to figure out which was the right one, and we walked into the ceremony site just as the bridesmaids were heading down the aisle. We snuck in to sit down in the last row, only to find that the venue was terrible for the wedding guests – couldn’t see OR hear what was going on down below. The restaurant diners just behind us had a better view! Ah well, it was a VERY short ceremony, and shortly after we filed out to the reception…

Where our friend had decided to seat me next to her obviously pregnant cousin-in-law. Really?? She knows we’ve been struggling with infertilty! My hubby’s theory was this was so I could provide some pediatrician recommendations to the soon-to-be first-time parents. Still, besides the friend we drove down with, we didn’t know anybody else at the wedding, and I was not in the best of moods to socialize, so as soon as the cake was served, we high-tailed it out of there. Thankfully the drive back was only 2 hours.

We woke up late today, and thankfully I didn’t get called into work. Made my usual weekly trip to the farmer’s market, then came home to roast some beef bones and make bone broth. This is currently simmering on the stove, and I must say it smells delicious! This is a huge deal for me, as I am definitely no cook, but my acupuncturist had mentioned bone broth being very good for morning sickness, and while reading more about it, it’s also quite good for fertility as well – it’s the perfect kind of warm nourishment I’ll need to make my uterus as welcoming as possible. I plan to use it to cook rice and quinoa, quick stir-fries, as well as a base for some quick minestrone soups. On days when I’m really crunched for time and energy, I think it’ll work well with canned beans and wilted kale.

My other domestic challenge today was getting all the IVF meds and supplies organized and ready to start my first injections tomorrow. Went to my local Daiso and scored 4 items for only $6, then used hubby’s label-maker (yes, his – not mine!) and went to town. I’m kind of proud of how it turned out – beginning to remember how neat and organized I used to be before I went through residency, when sleep became more important. At least one part of my life is well-organized now! My closet and laundry, not so much, heh.