Archive for the ‘fertility’ Category

Our news

September 7, 2007

Not only are we moving to North Carolina on October 13th, we also have this news to share:
Baby Pictures

We took a month off our fertility treatments, as we were out of town a few times in June and July and *that’s* when I get pregnant. Crazy isn’t it? We try for almost 2 years, and the month we take off treatment is the one that works. The ultrasound pictures are from my last appointment at the RE yesterday at 9w2d. He’s released me to the OB, so that means things are going well! I’ve surpassed both miscarriage dates, so we’re praying that the third time is a charm ;) The day we came back from California, I got this as a surprise. I had no idea I was pregnant.
Pregnant... again... is this one going to stick?
A great souvenir if you ask me, even if the little one wasn’t actually conceived on vacation!

Of course, I’ve already started knitting. I’ll update soon with pics. I’m a little thrown by the fact that we’re moving someplace WARM though. What am I going to do with all this wool? North Carolina averages 2 inches of snow a YEAR. A little different from what we’re used to…

Ramblings…

July 4, 2007

Making my way through my bloglines list, I have come to realize how many knitbloggers are pregnant or have recently given birth. It’s making me a little sad today. Not that I’m not happy for them, because it’s wonderful that they’re going through such a wonderful time in their life, and I know they’ve got to be so excited about their upcoming little one. But I’m reminded of the fact that I can’t have that for some reason. Those of you who have gone through infertility know what I’m talking about. It seems that everywhere I turn is a big pregnant belly. One day Jason and I went to Home Depot and counted 5 pregnant women and 3 little tiny infants. At Home Depot! I won’t even talk about our trip to Ikea… that one was really rough, and I broke down in the middle of the store. It’s like a smack in the face of what we can’t seem to have… it’s a little tough sometimes. Another person just anounced that they’re pregnant at my office. That makes one couple pregnant with a set of triplets, two more pregnant women, and another that just gave birth in my tiny office. I can’t even get away from my failure when I’m at work. Not to mention the celebrities… now Christina Aguilera and Nicole Ritchie have just announced pregnancies. Sigh.

Some days are better than others, and today is not one of the better ones. I’m sure I’ll feel better tomorrow or the next day… one day at a time.

Sorry for the depressing post, I just had to get it off my chest. I promise to be back later with details on my weekend and my birthday presents :) Thanks to all who wished me a happy 29th!

Busy busy busy

June 21, 2007

Is it possible to be both busy and boring at the same time? Not much knitting has been going on in the plath house… I’ve worked a little on my chevron scarf, but nothing much to show as far as pictures. That’s the problem with working on a scarf, it tends to just look the same once you get a few feet into it.

I have been doing some reading, though. I just finished Fast Food Nation, and I must say, if you haven’t read this one yet, go get it right now and read it. It’s that good. I can’t believe I’d never read it before. I watched the dvd a few months ago, and while it was very good, of course it doesn’t compare. I just started The Knitting Circle: A Novel, and I’m really, really liking it. It’s by far one of the best knitting-driven novels I’ve read.

Otherwise, I’ve just been keeping busy with life. Trying not to think about fertility related things for a little while (although my beta last week had dropped to 9.1, which is good. We went to the Nascar race last weekend. I know I’ve mentioned this before - we’re not big Nascar fans, but Jason is involved with the race car industry for his work, and with the free hot passes he got, how could we not go? Hot passes are really hard to get, and give you access to the pit and garage areas *during* the race. We probably could have gotten a lot of driver signatures and whatnot, but since we’re not fans, I didn’t really know all of their names… LOL It really is neat to see the pit crews at work though - they’re so fast! Here’s a pic of Jason and me at the race:
Jason and me at the Nascar Race
If you want to see more pictures, I have a bunch in my flickr pics here.
Next week we go to the NHRA Drag Race in Ohio, and I’ll be going to Cedar Point with my family, who’s driving up for it. That should be fun :)

Progress on my tank

June 4, 2007

Honeymoon Tank

It’s coming along nicely; I’m just about to start the increases, but I’m feeling the tempation to cast on something new… Rusted Root is calling me, and a nice chevron or feather and fan scarf, and I’m even feeling the urge to cast on for a felted Christmas stocking. Crazy aren’t I?

If you still have some moolah to spend, Amazon has a couple more good deals:


$3.79
If you missed out on the premiere edition of Craft magazine, it’s super-discouted to $3.00. It originally sold for $15.00

And I keep waiting for Monday’s unveiling of the new shirts over at threadless. I believe the $10 sale was extended through today. The $10 sale was extended through today! Woo hoo :) 9 new designs!

Edited to add a fertility update: My official miscarriage started yesterday (even though I’d already experienced most of the miscarriage very, very early, part of the placenta hung on and continued to grow), so hopefully my beta will be dropping! This is good news, because it means we’re closer to trying again. Please don’t think I sound callous, as I was already able to emotionally move through this when the doctor told me I was miscarrying so early. My body just wasn’t able to move on until now.

Tiny update

May 31, 2007

I have an ultrasound today to check for an ectopic. Please send me good thoughts.
Ultrasound showed a tiny empty sac in my uterus, so it’s not ectopic thank goodness! Now it’s just a waiting game until I miscarry the empty sac.
Found another sheep-related t at Threadless. Isn’t it funny? I could seriously browse that site all day.

Knitting Again

May 30, 2007

I’ve managed to crawl my way out of my funk, even though the doctor is still worried I might have an ectopic pregnancy. My beta pregnancy level keeps increasing, so I’ve either had an incomplete miscarriage, or an ectopic pregnancy. I should find out this week. Sigh. But, I’m out of my funk, and have been knitting again. It’s nice to find that bit of joy in sticks and string that I seemed to have lost a few weeks ago when I didn’t even want to look at yarn, let alone knit.

I’m almost finished with the Child’s Placket Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I just have to kitchener the armholes, weave in the ends and sew on the buttons.
Child's Placket Sweater
I used Knitpicks Mainline. Speaking of Knitpicks, I’m dying to try their new Cotlin yarn, but it’s out of stock until June 15th. Go figure, I finally want to buy yarn again, and can’t!

I also knit up a quick scarf. It’s the My So Called Scarf, and it was a great, fun, quick pattern. I started this last Friday, and finished the knitting on Monday, and even had time to hang out outside on our new patio with my family, who came up for the weekend.
I only ran into one snag. I used two skeins of Handpainted Yarn, and the colors are not the same at all.
My So Called Done
It’s almost as if the one skein was worn out a bit ~ it’s faded and a bit dull and fuzzier than the other. I’m hoping I can fuzz up the other side a bit to make it more even. If not, I don’t really mind all that much, but it is annoying.

I also even managed to cast on for a new project:
IMG_1026
Sorry for the blurry, it was way too early when I took the picture, picture. It’s going to be the Honeymoon tank.

If you’re still in the shopping mood (I am!), Threadless is having their big sale. All t-shirts are $10 until June 1st extended through June 3rd!. They have a really cute knitting-related one, too! And this sock one. I bought the refrigerator running, Haikus are Easy and Georgia. I wish they had this robot one and this sofa one in Jason’s size, because he would love them! And this one seriously makes me giggle.

Need knitting books?

May 23, 2007

Amazon has some amazing deals on a few knitting books right now. Plus, if you spend $25 you get free shipping.

I’ve been meaning to do a review of this book for a while– I purchased it a few months ago, and absolutely love it. There are a few great basic patterns for charity knitting, and the stories that go along with them are very inspiring and make me want to knit soley for charity. I paid about $10 more for the book, and it was worth it at that price. If you don’t have this one, go buy it now, because this price is ridiculous!

$5.99

I love the Stitch n Bitch books. I don’t think I’ve knit anything out of this one (yet), but I do like browsing through ~ the patterns are inspiring!

$4.79

Now for this set, I confess I don’t have Knitting Nature, but I absolutely love Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and have knit quite a few things from it, including the Hourglass sweater, which is one of my favorite knits. In fact, I’m currently knitting up the little kids placket sweater from the book right now. I paid more for just the copy of Last Minute Knitted Gifts, and for this price you get both books! I’m almost tempted to buy the set myself even though I already have one of them.
Knitting Nature/Last Minute Knitted Gifts 2 pack for $17.89:

These books I do not have, so I don’t have a review, but they’re excellent deals nonetheless, and a few are going in my cart!

$8.96


$8.13


$4.50

Thank you so much to everyone who left comments about my recent miscarriage. With each day that passes, it gets a little easier, although the pain will never completely go away (nor do I expect it to). My heart goes out to everyone who has dealt with this and doesn’t speak about it.

If you read through my book reviews, you saw that I mentioned I was knitting again. I cast on for the Child’s Placket Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts in the infant size. I’m using light green Knit Pick’s Mainline yarn, and it’s knitting up quite nicely. I don’t know why I’m so hooked on knitting baby projects, but I think it’s just my way of dealing with everything that’s going on. I suppose you could think it’s a bit twisted, but it’s my way of not giving up hope.
Last but not least, Jen tagged me for the Random Meme, so here goes.

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. When I eat pizza rolls, I eat the filling out of all of them first, and then eat the outsides. Yes, I realize this is gross, but it’s very yummy. In fact I want some pizza rolls right now. (and it’s 9 am ~ yes I’m disturbing)

2. I have recently become addicted to Greek yogurt. I’ve never been a big yogurt fan, but greek yogurt tastes like a cross between sour cream and ricotta cheese ~ very creamy and rich. It’s great with a little ground flaxseed or fresh fruit, and dh loves it with honey.

3. I still enjoy coloring in coloring books. I think a lot of the appeal is that there is nothing like the smell of a brand new box of Crayola crayons.

4. I’m not afraid of snakes. This one kind of stupefies dh a bit, as we’ve found a few snakes in our yard lately, and I end up scaring them away because I try get too close to them so I can see them up close. He thinks this is so funny, because he expects me to run away screaming. On a related note, I’m also not afraid of frogs, toads or mice.

5. On the other hand, I’m deathly afraid of centipedes and millipedes. Just the thought of them completely creeps me out. *shudder*

6. I absolutely love riding in a super-fast car. Dh used to have a Dodge Shelby (it looked like this one), and it was totally a sleeper car. It looks just like a Dodge Shadow, but it’s a turbo, and can really take off. We had so much fun blowing away Mustangs and Camaros and completely taking them by surprise. We sold it so we’d be able to afford our wedding, and boy do I miss it. Only 750 were ever made.

7. I’ve never had a real nickname, and I hate that about my name. There’s not much you can do with the name Lisa for nicknames. My high school friends did call me Gidget for a while, because I loved the show, and I guess I look a little like a younger Sally Field.

I’m not very good at following rules and never tag anyone, so if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged and feel free to play along! P.S. Jen, you didn’t follow the rules either, so no yelling at me, you even number lover you ;)

Not feeling very crafty

May 18, 2007

Just a little update on me.  I’m not looking for sympathy, but just thought I’d post anyway. 

I thought my period had started last week, so I went in to the doctor for an ultrasound and bloodwork to get started on the next cycle.  Well, my hormones levels were *slightly* elevated, so they did a pregnancy test on my blood.  It was faintly positive.  However, I’d been bleeding for 2 days already.  They told me I was experiencing a very early miscarriage.  The bleeding got heavy on Friday night, and it continued up until yesterday.  They did another test on my blood on Monday to make sure my pregnancy hormone levels were going down (also called a beta), but low and behold, they went up (but they’re still very low).  I’m still waiting on the results from yesterday’s beta  They’re concerned it may be an ectopic.  There’s no hope for a sticky pregnancy, as my progesterone was only 2.5 (it should be above 15, so 2.5 is very, very low).