Friday Fun (False) Facts

Alright, so I wanted to share some fun facts, but AMAZINGLY, I found some false facts on the interwebs. I couldn't sleep knowing that this misinformation is out there for anyone to read so I just had to set the record straight on a few things.

1. The elephant is the only animal with 4 knees. -- ok, I have to dispel this one. I found this on a 'fun facts' website and it is completely untrue. Elephants have 2 knees just like all terrestrial mammals. I'm not sure who thinks this and why, but I would be interested to find out.
2. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. -- I don't really think of most fish as being 'pregnant' since they lay eggs which are not fertilized until they leave the body. I'm calling bullshit on this fact.
3. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds. --yet another untrue goldfish myth. Why are people fixated on goldfish? Goldfish have a longer memory than 3 seconds. They can be trained to swim through short mazes for food and they remember where and when food will be presented from day to day. Myth Busted!
4. Dart boards are made of horsehair. -- um not the ones I've used. I consulted Google on this (of course that's where I found all of these 'facts' too so I'm sure it's TOTALLY accurate) from what I read, most dartboards are not made of horsehair or any hair for that matter they are made of sisal, wood or wound paper. -- and for those who, like me, have no idea what sisal is, it's fiber from an agave plant.
5. A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours. -- Sure, if you swat it or if a frog eats it 2 days after it transforms! In reality, many dragonflies live a lot longer than that. First, they have multiple life stages, their aquatic stages (larva, nymph) can last months or even years. Once they become adults with wings, they may live weeks to even a few months.

I'll be on the lookout for more false facts to dispel for next week.

Update on me: I had my 3rd monitoring appointment today. It only took one stick to get blood this time which made me happy :) Follicles are still being crappy, but I had at least one up to 12 mm so that's good. I'm continuing on 100 IU daily through the weekend and I go in Monday for my next recheck. Come on Follicles!!

change in update: My REs nurse just called and my stupid estrogen has actually gone down since Tuesday. I think I'm the only one with ovaries shitty enough to make less estrogen following a dosage increase. I'm upping the follistim to 150 iu and going back Monday. My ovaries suck.

Meatball Massacre

Last night's dinner was a total disaster! I got a new cookbook for slowcookers and I was so excited. It's from Rival and it was written for my particular slowcooker which had me really hopeful that it would have some great recipes that would work in our Crockpot. After searching through the book, I found a recipe for meatball sandwiches that seemed perfect. It was just meatballs (made with ground beef, egg and breadcrumb) covered in a 1lb 10oz jar of pasta sauce. The instructions said to cook for 8-10 hrs on low. I put everything in the pot, set it on low for 9 hours and went to work.

Tim and I met at the gym after work and I asked him how the meatballs were doing and if the house smelled good. He told me that the house smelled really good, he hadn't lifted the lid on the meat but he was really excited for dinner. I walked into the house just ahead of him, took the lid off the Crockpot and said "So, how about pizza?"

This is what the horrible mess looked like after I tried to stir it up a bit. The sauce had completely dried out and the tops of the meatballs were all black and dry. I was suspicious when I started the meal since the sauce barely covered the meatballs, but I thought 'hey, the cookbook wouldn't steer me wrong, would it?' Yeah...

On a positive note, the pizza was delicious!

Sappy Song Saturday

Saturday 1/8/2011 is brought to you by the song "Seasons of Love" from RENT. If you need a reminder, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8iTeDl_Wug As year two of TTC has come to a close for Tim and I, this song has been stuck in my head a lot.

How did you measure the past year?
in Cycle Days
in Blood draws
in Injects
in Ultrasounds

in Follies
in OPKs
in BFNs
and tears?

Update: Today was our first monitoring appointment after 4 days of 50 IU Follistim. I have 3 follicles and they are each ~8 mm. I will be increasing my dose to 75 IU and returning for another u/s and blood draw on Tuesday. Here's hoping the follies keep growing strong and that the next phlebotomist can get my blood on the first try.

Friday Fun Facts

Hello! I thought I would share some fun facts with you to help your Friday move along a bit faster.

1. Flea's can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6ft. person jumping 780 ft. into the air.
2. There are no poisonous snakes in Maine. - I have to add that my dad told my step-mom, who has a horrible fear of snakes, that there are no poisonous snakes in Ohio, this is not true. There are actually 3 venomous snakes in Ohio; the copperhead, the timber rattlesnake and the eastern massauga, just don't tell my step-mom :)
3. In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court, he would swear on his testicles - I wonder what happened if they found out he was lying??
4. The only letter not appearing in the periodic table is 'J'.
5. Coffee drinkers have more sex than non-coffee drinkers. They also enjoy it more. - Who determined this, and how? I drink coffee, but Tim doesn't. How can I be having more sex than he is? Hmmm.
6. 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie. - Let me know if you can think of another! I tried and can't, but it seems too crazy to be true.
7. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously - Who tried this?
8. Ben and Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff, except for one flavor: Mint Oreo.
9. A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
10. The average bra size today is 36C. Ten years ago it was 34B.

I go in for my first monitoring appointment tomorrow morning. Come on follicles!

Crazy Night!

Last night ended up being a crazy night for us. We have been working with the head of the breed rescue for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in our city for a couple of weeks to try and adopt a puppy. Not just any puppy, Flash Gordon, super puppy extraordinaire! He is a blenheim colored Cavie and he's 6 months old. He was a puppy mill puppy that had a heart murmur so the breeder did not want him and could not sell him. The rescue eventually got him and with help from the veterinary cardiologists at Ohio State, diagnosed him with 2 congenital issues, patent ductus arteriosus and pulmonic stensosis. He had both heart issues treated last week and is doing wonderfully. Since he has to get cleared by cardiology to get neutered, we have been waiting to find out when we would get to take him home. Well, last night was our 'site visit' and the person from the rescue, who happens to be a veterinarian at OSU as well, came over with Flash. Our 2 other dogs and our cat got to meet him and they all had very different reactions.

Brewster began drooling uncontrollably and gave me the stink eye for allowing another dog to cross our threshold.

Cricket play bowed, growled and ran around like a complete idiot with Flash to the point that she was completely exhausted.

Patra kitty sat very still while Flash inspected her and then went up into her perch where she could look down on the little bugger with bitter disdain.

As the site visit came to a close, it became clear that Flash would not be going back to the rescue, but staying with us. We were both thrilled and completely unprepared to have the little guy so as soon as the visit was over, we scooped Flash up, hopped in the car, and headed to the pet store to get a bowl, a leash, and a kennel for our newest addition.

Even with all of the puppy excitement, in the back of my mind was the impending first injection that was to come. As soon as we got back from the pet store, I went on youtube to watch the instructional video for follistim injection one more time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02eyCAM0vQ0

As soon as it was over, I mustered up my courage, grabbed my supplies and headed to the bathroom for some injection privacy. Amazingly, it wasn't a big deal at all. Plucking my eyebrows is more painful than the needle and I got through it in one try. Just as I put the needle in, Tim shouted "I love you" up the stairs and through the bathroom door. I pushed the plunger, counted to five, pulled out the needle and shouted "I love you, too!"

Here's hoping that this new protocol does the trick and here's to the newest little member of our family, Flash Gordon!

Here we go...

Ok, I admit it, I'm a crappy blogger. I never feel like I have important stuff to say so I don't update like I should
I have a milestone today so it seemed like a good time to get things going again. Last cycle was a bust/waste. I had one follicle that just wouldn't grow much and we finally triggered around CD26 but didn't waste $ on an IUI since it was such a crappy follie. Fortunately, it must have ovulated because 2 weeks later, AF showed signaling the start of a new cycle and a new protocol.
We are doing injectables! I am on CD3 today and I will be doing the first injection tonight. The plan thus far is to start with 50 IU Follistim once a day and go in for my first ultrasound and bloodwork on Saturday morning to see how things are going. I am freaked out more by the multiple blood draws than the daily injections because, as you may have read in previous entries, my veins suck and I really only have one good place for getting blood. I have to have faith in the professionals that they will be kind to my vein so that it can be poked every couple of days.
I'm wondering if I should invest in some maternity pants now, that panel in the front might be just the thing to deal with all of the bruises and tenderness from the injections in my belly. I guess I'll give it a few days and see how it goes.
Wish me luck! I promise to update more often and keep up with the fun stuff too :)

Trust me, I'm a Professional

Some of my most brilliant moments happen on the toilet. I have had great ideas while sitting on the can and from what I hear, this isn't uncommon. I'm trying to come up with an example for you, but on the spot, nothing immediately comes to mind. Hmmm, maybe I should go have a seat in the 'oval office' and think about it for a moment.

I was in a bathroom stall at work the other day and I noticed that the toilet paper holder was made by Kimberly-Clark and it was part of their "Professional" series. This really made me think... What does it take to be a "professional" in the bathroom? Am I really qualified to use this toilet paper? I mean, I've been going to the bathroom all of my life and potty trained for most of it, so I'm probably qualified, but really how do I know for sure? Is there an application process that the building owner must go through to have professional TP holders installed?

This got me thinking about all of the other products that I buy or have bought in the past which I was probably grossly under qualified to use. Off the top of my head, I have professional series food processor, blender, toaster, hairdryer, hairspray, gel and hairbrush. I promise when I bought these things, I wasn't trying to impersonate a chef or a hairstylist, I bought them without thinking. Now I feel like a fraud who is completely under qualified to operate the machines in her own home to make hummus and toast or even dry her hair.