Attack of the Wasps

It was a beautiful fall Saturday.  After Kitty's team successfully won their soccer game against an undefeated team, we ventured out to get a fresh donut and visit a punkin patch.

It was idyllic as we sat there eating our fresh donuts and voraciously licking our lips.  Idyllic until the wasps arrived.  They wanted fresh donuts as well.  

Kitty was freaking out and screeching every time one came close to her.  I wasn't convinced they were actually wasps and suggested they might just be hover flies - a species I learned about a few years ago from my brilliant scientist brother-in-law.  Since Kitty instinctively rejects most things I say as being right, she insisted they were wasps and they were out to kill her.

Such drama.  

I told her to calm down and that she wasn't going to be stung by the hover flies.  And then I commenced a telephone call with my father.  Moments later, Kitty screamed at a decibel that alarmed all of the nice, old people enjoying their sandwiches and donuts next to us.

Well, whaddayaknow?!  One of my flies had stung her. 

Kitty felt pain.  I felt betrayed.  Michael felt like buying chocolate milk to wash down his donut.  But, being the kind papa that he is, he also bought her some cream to soothe the sting.

Ok, I admit it...I was wrong.  But just this one time.

But! We didn't let the wasps spoil our plans and continued on to the punkin patch.  Kitty rode a mechanical bull, went down a slide at warp speed, conquered tightrope walking, and successfully completed a corn maze with her old parents.  Like I said, it was a beautiful fall Saturday.  My only regret was that I was wearing a sweater.  I expected it to be chilly but Mr. Sun was out in full force instead.  

Thanks for the memories...and the perspiration.

And what about the wasp attack?  Poor Kitty's hand was still swollen a few days later.

I'd like to say that I'll know better next time and recognize a wasp when I see one.  But I won't say that because it ain't true.

Everything is a hover fly to me.

Molar Mania

There we were, cuddled up and watching an evening TV show before bed, when Kitty decided to yank a molar out of her face.

Was is actually loose?  It's hard to say.  Kitty has managed to wrench teeth from her gums despite said teeth having the slightest wiggle.  She is quite motivated by the succeeding toys and candy after a tooth dismissal.

Which she scored, of course.

We didn't do the rigmarole of Tooth Fairy notes this time since we've outgrown that charade.  But Kitty did say she'd like a stuffed skunk as a prize.  Sure, because I can just go out and find a stuffed skunk.

Which I can't, of course.

I turned instead to my trusty Hobby Lobby for a plasma ball.

Happy molar ejection!

Beautiful Booney

Am I glowing?  

Since finding myself with child, I have had two strangers tell me that I'm beautiful while out in public.  Normally this would expand my ego a bit, but I'm not sure these compliments are valid.

The first came from an old duffer at Lowe's.  He was joyriding in the motorized cart and whizzed by me while I was ruminating over which curtains to buy for my living room.  Four times that man puttered by to strike up innocuous conversation with me. On his third pass, he said I was a beautiful woman.  I blushed a bit and thanked him.

The second compliment came from a much younger man, probably in his thirties, at the library.  He was twirling a Jed Clampett hat in his hands and looked as though he had just tottered down from the back hills of Tennessee.  However, he was clean and had all of his teeth.  He was asking the woman at the circulation desk where to find Western novels as I was descending the stairs.  He watched me descend and told me I was beautiful as I passed by him.  I imagine he was seeing me as if I were floating down in a ball gown and we were going to the prom together.  I nervously laughed and thanked him.

Here's my conundrum.  These compliments weren't from men I would be interested in.  Old Man River probably hasn't been with a woman in a couple of decades, and Hillbilly Henry probably only sees women a few times a year.  Does this negate the compliments?  Am I actually beautiful?

Aw, who cares? I'll take it.

I'm happy that at least my pool of interested males has expanded beyond just Hispanic construction workers.  Now I can add geezers and hillbillies to that list.

Man, I really am beautiful!  

Pregnancy News

It feels bizarre to be writing about pregnancy.  Just this morning I was applying wrinkle cream to my crow's feet and plucking a few gray hairs that were sprouting up in my bangs.  Yeah...this seems like the appropriate age to be having a baby...

I've been filled with terror this past week.  It's switched from the terror of losing the pregnancy to the terror of having a successful pregnancy.  We'll have a baby!  What have we done?!  I think I'm a skoosh too old to be chasing a toddler around at the playground and getting together for playdates with a twenty-something.  I'm old enough to be the twenty-something's mother.  Oy vey.  

Seriously. What have we done?

So here's how it goes at the 6-ish week of pregnancy:

• My keister is incredibly tender from the daily progesterone injections.  I've been taking them for weeks and I've had enough already.
• My innards ache a lot.  The Dr. said my ovaries are the size of watermelons.  Well, those weren't his EXACT words but he did say they are huge.  Like Sputnik - spherical but quite pointy at parts.
• I've been forbidden to exercise for over a month now.  This causes me great angst.  Especially since I weighed in 10 pounds heavier at my appointment last week. Sigh.
• I hate my husband...then I love my husband...then I hate my husband...then I love my husband...then I cry.

At my ultrasound appointment last week everything was positive news.  Kitty came along and I loved having her there with me.  She's accelerating in excitement with each passing day and it makes my heart happy.  We didn't see much on the ultrasound but we did see a gestational sac and the beginnings of amniotic fluid.  I have another ultrasound at the end of the month and hopefully we'll actually see something growing in there.  

And hopefully it'll be a human baby.   

IQ

We received Kitty's state standardized test results.  Shall I go ahead and say it?

I think Kitty is smarter than I am.  

And she's also probably smarter than you.

Sorry. 

IVF the Finale

Well...after a blood draw, I had a confirmed pregnancy on Monday.  I was shocked!  I also felt slightly relieved but still very apprehensive about what the week would bring.  I have been in this situation before with unpleasant outcomes.

So I cautiously waited.

On Wednesday, my hCG levels had doubled.  Whew.  I was swept with another wave of relief, followed immediately by caution about getting excited.

Today I had my final blood draw.  I woke up feeling ominous.  I couldn't lose the feeling that something was amiss.  I've crawled through this tunnel so many times that I can no longer tell what's reality and what's past trauma creeping in.  I spent the morning uneasy as I waited for my phone to ring.

And then it did.  

The voice on the other end seemed hesitant and didn't blurt out my numbers right away.  The dread began to sweep through my chest.  And then I heard it: my hCG levels were slightly more than double of Wednesday's result.  Everything looks good.  

I feel like I've been holding my breath for weeks.  Today I feel like I can breathe a little.

But just a little.  I still can't let myself become too excited. I can't open my heart all the way just yet.  The fear of devastation is too overwhelming.  But - in this tangle of emotions, I do feel gratitude.  The odds of IVF working the first time, at my age, with only 2 embryos, are slim.  Thankfully, God doesn't operate on statistics.  He operates on matchless and miraculous power, and He's used that power for me.  I am humbled and grateful.

About 7 years ago, Michael gave me a blessing when I was struggling to understand God's will for me. In that blessing, he said that I would indeed have another baby when the time was right.  I have held on to those words with faith and hope.  Perhaps that time is now.  

Let's hope so.  Otherwise, Michael 3D printed this sign for nothin'.