Nicolette's Baby Shower ~ The TopCat edition

Sunday was a special day indeed!  We were showered with love by the "Pride of the Carolinas" - my Carolina Panther Top Cat Alumni sisters.   We had the BEST time and the ladies who planned the shower really outdid themselves!  We were at Vivace in Charlotte, NC and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  The weather was amazing and all of the little details were so sweet, so girlie and so very "me".  We felt so blessed and loved!  I wish that ALL of the ladies that I cheered with over my 6 years would have been able to make it, but that would have been one crazy big shower!  I just wish we had more occasions to force us all to get together more often.

I hope to have more "detail photos" to share later, but here are a few photos of some of our stunning guests.

 The greatest party planners ever!  Amy, Brooke, Tiffany, Tara and Erin - my excellent Shower Hostesses

 My 2006 Sassy Silver Sisters - Sparkle & Shine ladies - we're just missing Miss Foxy Roxy :(

 with Miss Vicki Wong (now Mrs. Victoria Wong Allen) 

 Some of us "Old School" TopCats - Jenny, Mama Platt (who drove all the way from Greensboro even though she's due with a baby boy ANY DAY) and me

 with Miss Brooke - who just had a precious baby girl 4 months ago!

 with Tara, Erin, Brooke and Erin's sweet 3 week old baby Patrick (i.e. Nicolette's future boyfriend)

Tara just had a baby 3 months ago, Erin 3 weeks ago and Brooke 4 months ago...I need these ladies' secrets to looking so fab after baby!!!  Seriously!

Hands down the most beautiful group of shower guests ever (both inside AND out)!  So thankful that little Nicolette has all of these amazing "Aunties" to look up to!

Daddy (aka "The Italian) had a busy weekend as well!  The nursery is coming right along - crown moulding is painted, closet is painted, and the chandelier is up!!!!!  I shampooed the carpet tonight and we'll probably hang the drapes and start moving the furniture in this weekend!!!  HOORAY!  I'll share pics when we get to a picture worthy point...right now it just looks like a gray box with a really pretty chandelier :)  

We had a 35 week check up today and all was well until I let the doctor know that I had noticed a decrease in Nicolette's activity over the past 24 hours.  Boy, they do NOT mess around when you mention that.  She told me that she wanted me to stay and have an NST - I did not know what an NST was so was starting to freak myself out and they block out the wireless back in the dr.'s office areas so I couldn't look it up.  After an hour wait I was in a room with a nurse with two monitors strapped to my belly (which is apparently all an NST is = Non Stress Test).  Wouldn't you know it that as SOON as she turned the monitors on our little Sleeping Beauty was suddenly wide awake and ready to put on a show for us!  Little drama queen - I think she just wanted some extra attention today.  She even had the hiccups for about 15 minutes so it was interesting to hear that.  After an hour of monitoring her heart rate and movements they determined that all is definitely well and our little princess must have just been extra sleepy (or mommy has just been a little too active).  She's been a jumping bean for the rest of the day so that makes me feel good...although she is starting to get into some REALLY interesting and UNCOMFORTABLE positions.  But I'll take it, happily - just to know that she's ok!

Tomorrow is hump day bump day!  :) 

HDBD ~ 26 weeks

Wowzers!  26 weeks and time is FLYING by faster than I can keep track!  Nicolette is growing, growing, growing (and so am I...OBVIOUSLY - see below).  So far we're feeling pretty good...only thing is that I'm a little worried about my blood pressure...I had another incident the other morning where I almost passed out.  This time while walking Chance in the morning before work.  eek!  I managed to stumble across the street and land on all fours in someone's drive way and then took a minute to collect myself and picked myself up to walk back home.  I sat for a little bit and was then totally fine.  I had eaten breakfast before my walk and was feeling just dandy when we headed out until all of the sudden I totally was NOT.  I can't think of anything else to relate to other than my BP.  My BP was 80/50 at my last appt and the Doc and Nurses all say that that is GOOD. 

Has anyone else had blood pressure issues or fainting spells while preggers?  I haven't passed out yet, but have felt on the very brink of it several times.  I called the Doctor's office and their wise advice is just not to stand up so much.  Hmmmm - sounds brilliant right?  And oh so practical.  Whatevs.  Other than that, I feel totally fine so I guess I'll just continue to keep my phone with me and hope I don't need it! 

Here's one thing I'm VERY excited about!  Nicolette's first CHEERLEADING UNIFORMS!!!!!  The Panthers had a clearance sale on these little gems (probably related to the new logo that's being rolled out and the switchover from Reebok to Nike sponsorship for the NFL).  Anyway, they didn't have any little infant uniforms, but I did snag an 18 month and a 24 month outfit for her :)  My girl HAS to promote her Panther Pride! :) 



CHEERS TO YOU ALL!!!!!

OMG I'm dying!

OK, so I'm being a little dramatic...I had my check up today to make sure that I don't have OHSS.  (Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome).  As I mentioned earlier I'm crazy bloated (I know TMI) - but it's gross to me...I literally look 3 months pregnant and I'm obviously not.  Blech!

Anyway, that is a common symptom of OHSS so Dr. Katz wanted me to come in to meet with Dr. Teaff for a check up.  I started off with a vitals check with the nurses and the nurse took my Blood Pressure and as she was reading it, she looked confused.  I convinced myself not to be alarmed.  So she said she wanted to try it again.  Still not good, she says, "I want to get another cuff I don't think this one has been calibrated".  So she goes to get another one and tries again, finally I ask, "Is everything ok?".  She said that my bp is reading very low 80/60 and she wanted to check with one of the other nurses.  So she brings the other nurse in and she reads it (TWICE).  Then she puts the stethoscope down to read it with her fingers twice and she says, "Well, it's 84 over 60, she's obviously still alive so we're not going to worry about it."  (That's reassuring).  Now my blood pressure is normally pretty low, but despite how hard I try I cannot for the life of me remember what the numbers normally are!!!!  The nurses before have always commented about how good it is that my BP is low, I've never had anyone seem concerned so this must be lower than usual (ironic that my mom and I were JUST talking about how we both have low BP yesterday...random).   

Then they let me know that they're a little behind schedule and Dr. Teaff needs to run downstairs to perform a retrieval and then she'll be back up to check on me.  So I'm left alone in the exam room to worry about my low blood pressure.  Suddenly I remember that I have my blackberry with me.  Now blackberries are not known for being great for internet, but it will do.  I begin googling low blood pressure, low blood pressure and ivf, etc. and I stumble across several reports that that is a symptom of internal bleeding following the egg retrieval!  OH MY GOSH, I am internally bleeding and they've left me alone in this exam room to die with no pants on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Now I'm not normally so paranoid, but I have been very nauseous, lightheaded and dizzy for the past few days so all of the symptoms do line up.  I frantically try calling the Italian but he had taken our pooch Chance for a walk and didn't have his phone with him.  So I tried to calm myself down but I couldn't stay off of that stupid phone!!!!  It seemed to take 5 minutes to pull up each new page (well, it is a blackberry, so it very well may have taken 5 minutes for each page).  After about 45 minutes Dr. T knocks on the door and enters the room.  She performs an ultrasound and notices that there is a small amount of fluid in the uterus.  I asked her if that was normal and she said, "well...not really, but it will be ok".  I asked her about the low blood pressure and she told me not to worry about it, it's not internal bleeding.  Ok, super relieved that I'm not internally bleeding but now a little concerned about this "fluid" issue.  I'm proud of myself that 10 hours later, I still have not google diagnosed that issue.  I'm trusting the docs that they know what they're doing. 

Then she lets me know that we STILL have 10 growing embryos.  There are two that are progressing rather well and one that is lagging behind and may stop growing sometime today.  The others are a little behind so she said that they MAY want to push my transfer to Tuesday and do a day 6 transfer.  I have to call between 8 and 9 tomorrow to find out for sure.  So now more waiting and more praying that our 10 embryos keep growing.  We want as many as possible to reach the Blastocyst phase so that hopefully we can transfer two and have some to freeze (that sounds so weird to say).  I don't know much about day 6 transfers have mostly read about day 3 and day 5...again this is their area of expertise.  I'm sure they don't need an event planner trying to tell them how to do their jobs.

So lots to be thankful for!  No internal bleeding, 10 growing embryos, a Carolina Panthers WIN and a wonderful day off with plenty of time to cook, clean and prepare for this week!  I may or may not post tomorrow depending on how I'm feeling...thank you again for the prayers and well wishes!!!  Praying for "sticky embryos"!!!!  :)  Want those little suckers to latch on!