call for help from the artistic designer types

I've got a dining room dilemma. I really, really wanted our dark cave of a dining room to be painted before the dark months of Winter, but I'm all out of ideas. My husband and I have three huge, beautiful wide boards that were being used as a work bench in our garage that we plan to re purpose as a dining table. Other than that, though, I'm stumped. If we are going to paint soon, and I really want to paint soon, I need color ideas and design ideas and I'm drawing a complete blank.

This room is pretty big and in the center-back of our house. It has only two windows that face East, but there are doors that are open to the parlor and front hallway that get good afternoon light. There is a chair rail around the entire room. The ceiling height is nice at around 11 feet, but the former owners painted the ceiling the same color as the walls, which is all a dark, greyish green.
The chandelier could also use to be replaced. It is older in style, but it has a modern finish, and feels heavy and clunky. I know they were going for intimate and cozy, not a bad idea for a dining room, but what we got is dark, depressing and cave like.

I was thinking blue at one point, and blue would still be nice, but I haven't been inspired by the blues I've seen. If anyone out there has any ideas, dining rooms they've seen, things they think would work, web sites to point me too...I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

Beta day :)

First numbers look good. HCG came in at 69, which is a good 'singleton' number for me. Progesterone came in at a respectable 25. Whew! My only gripe is that my clinic no longer does a follow up beta until four days now because some insurance companies griped, so I won't know if this pregnancy is going in the right direction until Tuesday. But for now, I'm solidly pregnant, and feeling it! I'll take that! :)

I'm feeling pretty queasy in the stomach between meals and the smell sensitivity is starting to kick in. As familiar as it all is, I am every bit as happy this time around as I've ever been. I want to go out and celebrate with virgin cocktails! But I'll have to settle for celebrating by cleaning up the play room and cleaning a bathroom or two YIPPEEEE!!! At least I'll be doing it with a huge grin on my face :) Happy Day!!!

Future perfect

Today, according to the IVF pregnancy calendar I used, I am almost 4 weeks pregnant. I find it amazing that two weeks ago while I was having my eggs removed from my body, I was already 2 weeks pregnant. It seems unbelievably optimistic to call the bunch of cells that only started to stick about a week ago 4 weeks old already. While they are fast forwarding, can't we fly straight though to 8 weeks? 11? I want to go past these weeks of uncertainty and vulnerability.

Yes, I looked at a due date calendar. I may have even perused gender neutral baby clothes on Amazo.n. It isn't naivete or optimism, but sanity survival mode. And hope, it is also a boat load of hope. And we all know what a two headed bitch hope can be.

For now, the future is bright. I'm pregnant with a zygote-future baby that is the size of a poppy seed. How can so much happiness hang on something the size of a poppy seed? I guess I'll just wait and see. I'll keep counting my symptoms and keeping track like they are clutch of baby chicks, and peeing on sticks to make sure that in fact, yes, I did see a second line and that it is in fact darker than yesterday. I'm just relieved that along with my giant portion of uncertainty I have been given a whopping side dish of happy.

Two Lines!!!

I went and bought a two pack tests this morning. I figured I would test today, get a negative, and try again Friday morning before my beta. Buuuuuut......No, two lines instead!!! The second is a little fainter than the control line, but it is definitely there, even without squinting :) I'm pregnant, y'all!

I have never, ever had a positive on a stick before. I also almost hurled in the sink this morning, and that has never happened to me before 6 weeks. :) Hmmmm.....

To POAS, or not to POAS, that is the question

I wish that I had the courage to POAS right now. But I don't. I do have a lot of symptoms that seem to be saying 'pregnant', at least most of the time. While I know that I very well may be deluding myself, I don't have a problem with that. I'm all for living in the moment and believing that I'm pregnant. You can all call me a naive idiot later, I don't mind.

Buuuut on the other hand... Like everyone else, I would really just like to know NOW. I would love to not be stressing all day when that dreaded phone call comes in. If I could trust the results right now from taking a test I would do it. But here's the catch, my betas are always on the low side. When I was pregnant with my twins, my beta at 11dp3dt was 101. If I should be so lucky to be pregnant now, that would mean on Wed HCG would be about 50, and today 25. With my daughter, I had a whopping HCG of 40. That would mean maybe 20 on Wed and only 10 today. With my chemical pregnancy, that totally made me feel pregnant btw, my HCG was only 25.

The weird thing is, that every time I've been pregnant, whether it ended well or not, I have felt pregnant. I was so confident when I was pregnant with my daughter that when I answered the phone I said "I'm pregnant, right?". The thing is, no one but me thought I was going to stay that way. With a number that started out on the low side, and then only went up to 65, I was given about a 15% chance or less of that embryo turning into a baby. When the third beta came back, and it had struggled up to a respectable 117, my RE was so convinced it was an ectopic he had me come in for an early US. I was calm as a cucumber. I just knew that it was going to be ok. Which is strange in itself, because normally I'm totally pessimistic.

Right now, I feel like I'm floating on a bubble. One wrong move and it just...might...pop. I'm trying not to obsess about the symptoms, at the same time I'm trying not to be confident in what they might mean. What I wish is that just for once I could be confident enough to POAS and believe the results. But since I can't even get a couple of beta tests to make me confident in the results, that's not going to happen. *sigh*

Maybe if I'm still feeling pregnant on Wednesday?..... :)

Day 7

One week down, one to go! Halfway through the dreaded 2ww and all is well. That is to say, I feel a plethora of symptoms, real, imagined, and progesterone induced. What it all adds up to remains to be seen until next week, but the fact that I'm still feeling anything (besides the typical sore boobs) is helping me to remain hopeful and positive. Here's the list for anyone whose playing along:

• sore boobs, which are also very sensitive to cold and touch*
• constant twitches, pulls, and etc in my abdomen
• constant hunger*
• fatigue
• thirst
• more frequent urination
• feeling warmer than usual, sometimes uncomfortably so
• and as of yesterday, a little bit of nausea, and basically not feeling well, as if I'm coming down with something

I really, really hope that this all means something. I'm feeling happy and PUPO, though, which counts for something. I'll take it over the stressed and depressed feelings I had the last go round with my FET. One more week to go. If memory serves me right, these symptoms will come and go, change and morph...but if I'm pregnant they won't go away completely. Here's to hoping!

*typical progesterone symptoms that don't mean much.

P.S. Thank you to everyone that responded to my letter. You guys are great :)

a letter

Dear embryos,

I know that you guys only consist of a few cells, but I am already in love. I am staring at your picture right now, and let me tell you, you are all gorgeous. None of you are "perfect", but what is perfection, anyway? I have already memorized how each of you look. I can see you when I close my eyes, just like I will memorize your faces if you should make it that far.

Please stay. I say this to all of you, even if the thought of having all three of you snuggling in for the long haul makes me a little scared. I can take it, I promise. My body is strong and healthy, if not as young as it once was. I promise I will eat healthy food, drink plenty of water, and take my vitamins. I know my life is a little hectic, but I do get plenty of rest, and I will take even more if you stick around.

Please stay. You have three brothers and sisters who will love to play with you. Yes, they'll be a bit older than you, but they are for the most part, kind and gentle. I will try and keep your sister from fussing with you too much. We have a big house, with plenty of room for you to make your own, and lots of places perfect for playing hide and seek. We have a big yard with a play scape, woods to explore (when you're older!) and even a safe parking lot perfect for bike riding.

Please stay. Your Dad and I have so much love to give. We don't have all the money in the world, but we have enough to give you a comfortable life. We love life, and we love kids, and we love to play. It would be my pleasure to ignore the dishes and just play on the floor with you. Your Dad and I love to spend time picking out the perfect pumpkin and then carving it, or making Christmas cookies. But we also love just doing the ordinary things. Your Dad is crazy in the grocery store! We're not perfect, nobody is, but we are loving, and we try...we really try, to be the best, most patient parents we can be.

I love you. I will love you. I would love to see what babies, what children, you could become.

Please stay

Your adoring mother