The Telling, Picture Update, and Graduation

SO. Back from vacation (boo!), which was wonderful(sigh)... spent the week sleeping in (recovering from both nightly pee breaks and incessant wakings by our overly-excited puppies), reading books (makes me sooo happy!), swimming and skiing out on the lake, and just general lazing about... it was pretty darn nice. The only things missing were the a) margaritas (next year!), and b) sand/the ocean. Still really really miss the beach. A lake is nice, but not exactly a perfect substitute.

But it was FREE -- and we'll take that any day of the week!

On to The Telling.

We got to the lakehouse about 7:30 on Friday night, at which point we'd be joining all the family present (DH's parents, older sister & fam, and two 2nd cousins from L.A. with us for the week) for dinner. The plan was to tell them at dinner, when we had a captive audience. ---At least, that's what we'd discussed for the whole 1.5 hour drive up to the lakehouse.

However, it didn't exactly go as planned... dinner was passing us rapidly by, throughout which I kept stealing furtive glances at DH, awaiting some sign from him that he was about to make our big announcement.

No response from the DH.

In fact, I believe there may have been several non-verbal shushing made in my direction.

So dinnertime passed with no big announcement... not even an attempt at one. People started getting up, leaving the room to go get things, cleaning-up of cookware and plates began, and basically everyone was quickly scattering with the wind as I was frantically elbowing the hubs, wondering why the heck he was letting such a perfect opportunity pass us by.

He then disappeared for a moment, leaving me entirely baffled... only to reappear minutes later with a bottle of bubbly in one hand, and sparkling wine in another.

At this point, he just walked back in the kitchen, and over the din of chatting and pots clattering (it was mass chaos, I tell you), he just started yelling out "Hey everyone, we wanted to share our good news with you that (Musewander)'s pregnant! We hope you'll share a glass with us to celebrate the occasion."

By the end of his schpiel, everyone had stopped talking... and after a 5-second delay to register exactly what he'd said, the celebration broke out... then it was hugs and congratulations all around, and we all toasted our (anxiety-ridden) happiness over the occasion.

All in all, it was a good moment -- and of course, had transpired as only such tellings in my husband's family could transpire...

Fast-forward to yesterday's final visit with our RE.

We'd known that we only had 1 or 2 visits with our RE left, and that our 'graduation' from the fertility specialist back to our regular ob/gyn would be coming sooner or later... but somehow, I was still really surprised when our RE told us that he was officially graduating us yesterday...

It's like having to give up your security blanket as a kid... you know you're probably going to have to give it up soon, but when the moment comes to pack it away, somehow you thought you'd have longer with it. Somehow you still feel caught off-guard when the day arrives that you must give it up for good. That was me yesterday.

So we had one last ultrasound with them, and got to see our little Bean jumping all over the place, waving his/her little arms and legs for us. Our little one looks more like a baby and less like a tadpole now, with distinct head, spine, arms and legs... We got to hear the heartbeat pounding away again, very strong and regular. And everything is measuring right on track for where it should be. So all in all, we got a great report on Baby J, and our RE decided that from here on out, our regular ob/gyn would be taking over.

A big day for an infertile.

Other than being there, watching our ultrasound, this is still so entirely surreal to me... and moving on to our regular ob/gyn---no longer having to see our RE, to NEED a fertility specialist-- is surreal. I mean, my life has essentially revolved around them for the past 2+ years. To quit cold-turkey just seems like crazy-talk.

I guess I'll eventually get used to it, right?

One GREAT thing that came from 'graduating' the RE -- no more intra-muscular Progesterone injections! When the RE told me I could stop taking them, it was as if both sides of my hips sung out a hallelujah chorus in harmony... Thank you, Lord!

Here is the latest ultrasound pick from this morning's appointment -- our little jumping bean. I think this pic is slightly blurrier than our first, but the head is on the right, and the tiny arms are sticking up and down from Baby J's middle... unfortunately the u/s tech couldn't get a good shot that would include the legs, due to Baby J's constant jumping... an active little one! I like to think he/she was having his/her own little dance party in there. DH and I got such a kick out of watching all the movements, and how tiny the arms & legs are at this point.




So crazy... but so FUN. Every time I look at this cute little picture, my heart flutters... please God, let the next 31 weeks go smoothly for us, and let Baby J be healthy.