Catching Up

Sorry for the hiatus; as I'm sure you can imagine, things have been hectic and we've been having some issues with Toodle gaining weight thanks to low supply of milk - adding insult to injury insofar as yet another way my body sucks (and apparently the issue is common in fertility patients).

We've received more lovely gifts from blog friends that I wanted to share:

NoSwimmers sent these goodies plus a bonus fir the kitties!!!


And sweet Martha sent Toodle some great books:
Thanks to both of them! We also received a giftcard and a Harry and David tower from other online friends but they don't have blogs to link. :(

Since Toodle's arrival I'm actually doing better emotionally and anxiety wise than I would have expected, other than the feeding hiccup. We do still miss the Doodles so much though and thinking of them can sometimes make the happiness bittersweet. I'm sure there's a post in there about that, but right now I don't have the time to write it...soon though.

Sorry

I've received MANY emails re: the private blog and haven't had time to respond to them all. I promise I will try to answer a few a day but don't worry if you haven't heard from me (or still don't for a while), just working my way through all of them when I have the spare time.

In the meantime, kitties?

Look, mommy, I'm cuter than the baby!


I don't even know what this position is but it can't be comfortable.

Of course she waited till the detergent was in...

Toodle Gifts!!!

Toodle is certainly loved, and we're so grateful for how excited everyone was/is for his arrival and the gifts they've sent.

Forever Loves sent a Target gift card which we used towards Toodle's bookcase in his room. Here's a pic of said bookcase with his stuffed animals in it (and one unstuffed animal atop it...Puddin' rocks).

Fertilized sent the cutest little rattle, called the "Toodles" rattle (you can see on the tag):

Funsize sent these adorable monkey changing accesories (wiper holder and changing pad). They match my diaper bag too (it's cream and black with red accents).


In addition to these gifts from online friends, we went through and washed all the clothes we received and just out of the clothes from my friends that they brought to the hospital, the gifts from DH's office and some stuff a college friend sent, we have all the clothes we need for the little guy until 3 months old! Can't even imagine how much we'd have if we did a normal shower (pre arrival). Such a spoiled little monkey already.

P.S. - For those who can't find my email, its just the title of the blog (all one word) at gmail dot com.

Another quick note...

Things are going well - little man is sleeping now, and the cats have reacted amusingly to him. Puddin' LOVES him - hangs out constantly, meows sympathetically when he cries, and considers him just another "activity" in which to participate. Stoli is utterly unimpressed, mostly refuses to acknowledge anything is different. Mister, however is uber-agitated. We haven't seen much of him since we came home...he doesn't like noises, change, et cetera. Hopefully he'll come around.

Re: the private blog - to the person who doesn't understand the reason we would go private now and not before, it is that it's no longer about just us, it's about our son, and while I know most people are good, I'm not comfortable having identifying info about him and his life, together with pictures, on a site where literally anyone in the world can access it. If you've been reading at all you'll note that my anxiety levels tend to be, ahem, above average. I'm certainly not the first person to desire privacy rather than posting pictures and identifying info about my child on the internet for the whole world to see.

Also, to those who have commented that they don't have wordpress accounts and therefore won't be able to continue to follow, just as an FYI, it takes about 30 seconds to create a wordpress account, all you need to do is go to the site and sign up and then send me your username. Up to you, but just wanted to make that clear.

Thank You (and private blog info)

Thanks to everyone who has commented and welcomed our little man. DH still refers to him as "Toodle" sometimes, very cute. He's cuter by the second...

I've noticed a lot of comments and emails re: the private blog, so I'm reposting the criteria for access (which I took down before after the response became overwhelming). I've created a private blog where I'll post pics and Toodle's name and more info because I wasn't comfortable having all of that public. To gain access, I prefer that you be somewhat "traceable" or that I "know" you, meaning either (a) I know you from one of my online groups or boards and you tell me your screenname so I can check you out, (b) you have a blog of your own with some identifying info about yourself and/or your children (reciprocity, haha), or (c) some other personal info/website, etc. You also need a wordpress account through which to access the blog. Anyone who wants access, please email (not a blog comment, because they're harder for me to keep track of responses and info) me (address in profile) with the info and when I have time I will begin granting additional access, but it may take me some time since I have a 6 lb distraction now! If you've already emailed me but left out some of the above info, feel free to just reply to your initial email with the rest of the info.

Thank you all SO much and sorry for being a pain. And yes, I'll still update this blog occasionally with cat stuff, maybe generic Toodle updates, and thoughts on infertility.

Toodle is Here!!!!

The induction went smoothly and he was born today at 2:17 pm, weighing 6 lbs 7 oz and measuring 21.5 inches. Thanks SO much for all the comments and apologies for turning them off. Here's a pic of me holding him for the first time:


Also, thanks to all for remembering our sweet Doodles during this exciting time.

More details (including a name) on the private blog!

Tomorrow

Well, we had the second amnio today (all went fine and I didn't need the rhogam shot again) and just got the news that Toodle's lungs are ready...at first it didn't look promising, when we were at the OB's office for the NST she told us that the first test had come back "indeterminate", the same as last week (for some reason I thought she said intermediate last week but I guess not) and we'd need to wait for the follow up again. Toodle didn't move much during the NST until she did my internal exam so she also sent us for an ultrasound and biophysical profile (BPP) because he had also had some decreased movement yesterday, for which I'd gone in for an NST that I passed only when they buzzed him.

But we just heard and we are good to go. I don't think it has sunk in yet, I'm kind of in shock. Obviously scared, and just hoping that all goes smoothly. We will, of course, update when there is any news (hopefully good news).

And now, for what it appears will be my last OB appointment update stats:

B/P: 120/70; I guess last week was a fluke after all.
Weight: +29 pre-pregnancy (when I went in yesterday it was actually +30 but we'll just ignore that). I told DH if I went to 40 weeks I'd be in danger of weighing more than him, and he's not a small guy.
Toodle: estimated at 6 lbs 11 oz, 36%ile.
Cervix: 2 cm dilated, 50% effaced, soft. Based on this, OB decided to skip the foley catheter (what they use to open the cervix instead of cervidil).

I may turn off comments on this post if the count gets superhigh because I'm still sensitive about surpassing the comment count for the Doodle video, but for now I'll take all the good vibes. Thanks to everyone!