Part 44: 9 Weeks & Counting

Not much to report from this past week.  It was a little unnerving, going the whole week without a single doctor's appointment, not to mention not seeing Flash for the first time.  As I've told a few people, there aren't many "perks" about getting pregnant via the IVF route, but you do get to see the baby a LOT earlier, and more frequently, than "normal" women who get pregnant the old-fashioned way!

I've been feeling pretty good.  In fact, most of my symptoms have either lessened in intensity or resolved entirely.  Either that or I'm getting used to them.  Here's the recap:

• Nausea in general was almost non-existent this week.  Every so often, I get a kind of "icky" feeling that sticks around for an hour or so, but I'm not really nauseous.  
• I'm still having some smell issues, mostly with cooking.  Friday night we had my in-laws over for an early Father's Day dinner and Paul was using the grill to smoke a pork shoulder.  It was hickory smoke, and after a while, it started to get to me.  By the time we were ready to eat, every bite smelled/tasted like that smoke, so I wasn't able to eat very much.
• I tried a few nights without Unisom and the insomnia came back.  I really want to get in for an acupuncture session soon, since I know that will help.  We're still recovering from the onslaught of co-pays, prescriptions, and miscellaneous IVF-related expenses, so I haven't been able to go as often as I'd like.  We used up our flex plan dollars a while ago, so each session is out-of-pocket.  In the meantime, I guess it's back to the Unisom.
• New symptom of the week:  Is bitch a symptom?  It better be, otherwise I don't know what got into me this week.  My poor hubby has gotten the worst of it.  All week I felt like I was snapping at him, picking stupid fights, and blowing up over the littlest things.  It was like I couldn't help myself.  Which made me even more frustrated and crabby.  Once or twice I ended up crying, which is unusual for me.  Let's hope this is a short-lived phase!

In other news, I finally broke down this week and bought some new clothes.  I've been avoiding it for a while.  Initially, once the OHSS subsided, I was happy to be back in my regular clothes.  Sure, I had some post-IVF chubbiness hanging around, but for the most part things fit.  And then things started to get tight, somewhere around 7-8 weeks.  I'm down to a couple pairs of pants that fit comfortably enough, and maybe another pair or two that I can squeeze into.  None of my summery cropped pants fit, and only a few pairs of shorts are still in rotation (except not for work).  I've got a couple of skirts that are looser and/or high-waisted enough that they don't squeeze.  I also have two or three dresses that are work- and season-appropriate; unfortunately, only one of them is loose enough to disguise what can only be described as my pre-bump.  It's not a real bump.  At least I highly doubt it is.  But whatever it is is pushing out the IVF-pooch enough that it could be mistaken as a bump by, say, a nosy co-worker.  And I'm just not ready to deal with those questions yet.  Yes, we've been carefully telling select friends and close co-workers who knew about the IVF.  But there won't be a general announcement for a few weeks yet.  Not until we're officially out of the first trimester.

But I digress.  All this is to say that I finally decided to do something about the wardrobe issue this week.  I'd gotten some birthday money and a coupon for the Ann Taylor outlet by my house.  So Tuesday, on my way home from work, I stopped off and had a little shopping spree.  They were having a dress sale, which was convenient.  I tried on several and ended up with three loosely-fitting, work-appropriate, knit dresses, all of which nicely conceal the pre-bump.  I also got another skirt (one size larger than I would normally wear) and a shrug to pair with a couple of the dresses for work.  Not a bad haul.  My hope is to make it through another month (maybe longer) before having to go the maternity clothes route.  I'm just not ready for that yet.  I'm still barely able to say the phrase "I'm pregnant."

This concludes the last of the "My Story" posts.  I am (finally!) caught up to the present and can now move forward with real-time posting (as opposed to retrospective story-telling).  It has taken me some time to record everything, but in some ways it's been therapeutic to reflect on events after the fact.  Today I am 10 weeks.  Tomorrow is our first appointment with the OB.  Stay tuned for updates!