P.S. future baby

So, your future dad and I have been having every test under the sun. Ian is almost all done with hopefully every test he'll have to have during this process (fingers crossed and knock on wood). One of the last ones was a test called the SCSA test. Here's a short description of it:

The SCSA®, or Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay, quickly and accurately identifies men who are less likely to achieve a term pregnancy naturally or with IVF. It does this by determining the percentage of sperm with high levels of DNA fragmentation, i.e. the DNA Fragmentation Index (% DFI) as well as the percent of sperm with abnormal proteins and morphology that inhibit fertilization.

Anyway future baby, you probably don't understand any of that (frankly, we don't either). BUT, what we do know, is that Ian had to do some crazy science stuff to get HIS stuff safely to the lab in South Dakota.

On Saturday, FedEx dropped this crazy thing off at our doorstep:

On the inside of it was this second tube that was all frozen and crazy that he put a sample in and then sent back to the lab today. And it was HEAVY. He struggled to even hold it up for the picture. (By the way, he told me to crop his head out because he said he looked like a "goon". I thought he looked cute. :) ) I guess it's so big because it can last all frozen up to 7 days in that crazy contraption. Anyway, he had tons of fun carrying that heavy contraption on the subway and to the FedEx by his office today in 100 degree heat.

So there you go, future baby of ours; the things we do so that someday we can meet you. :)

~M

dear future baby

I'll be honest with you, future baby. Today was not a good day. I went in early this morning before work to the lab to get some blood drawn for a test my doctor ordered to test for thrombophilia. Thrombophilia is a propensity to develop blood clots and can make it harder to get pregnant and maintain a pregnancy. I don't think the doctor actually suspects I have it, but he's just testing everything he can, and I did have a blood clot in my leg once before (though it was just a superficial clot and was most likely due to the fact that I'd just had a cast on that leg for 3 months).

Anyway, so, today I had the blood drawn for the test. I'm not a fan of getting blood drawn, and have almost passed out a couple of times. I think I usually just psych myself out though. However, today they took 16 vials (some were quite small, but still!). I actually said to the nurse "wow, um, that's a lot of vials". Anyway, after I was done, I was feeling woozy so I went and sat in the waiting room. Then things started to get all fuzzy around the edges, and I broke out in a cold sweat. Then, I have no idea what exactly happened. The next thing I remember is being shaken awake by a woman asking me if I had diabetes, because I just had a small seizure like episode and had passed out. I was really scared when I woke up, because I had no idea what had happened, and like 6 people were crowded around me. I felt like they'd all just woken me up from a dream or something and I also was having trouble putting words together. So, I did the really mature thing, and started crying. I was so freaked, because it had felt like I was dreaming, or asleep, and then all of the sudden all of these people were around me, and I didn't know what had happened, and I couldn't talk very well at first. Super scary. It turned out ok though. I just laid down there for about 20 minutes and then went across the street and got something to eat and headed home. Slept for several hours.

Anyway, I'll get to the point, future baby of mine. If you ever question whether or not you were wanted; this is your answer- 1000 times yes! We've been poked, prodded, examined and drugged more than any other time in our lives all for you! So, yes, you are very wanted.

But, if you ever give me grief, I MAY use this day to guilt trip you. Just a little. ;)

love, your future mom

~M