I'm Back To Dumpster Diving Again...

It happened. I knew that sooner or later it would. I had a pregnancy "scare". Ha! That's my own little joke...the bit about the pregnancy scare. Can an infertile actually have a pregnancy scare? We are ntnp, but I am totally not expecting anything to happen, so I was surprised when my period was late. Despite having PCOS, since Alexandra was born, it has been coming more regularly and with only about 25 days (on average) between cycles. So yes, I was surprised when I was late by 10 days and had some symptoms of pregnancy. Of course, I was deliriously excited that I might be "one of those" women who don't have to try after the first pregnancy. I actually thought there was a chance. At one point I was convinced. And this is usually not like me-AT ALL.

So I took a test once we were home from Australia. Even more of a teaser is that about 5 days prior, I had a small amount of blood when wiping and then NOTHING. Not a hint of blood for 5 days. Ummm, hello??!! Does this not sound like implantation? Well, that's what I thought.

To make matters worse, nothing sucks more than taking a pregnancy test the morning AFTER having a dream about getting a positive test. I thought that, perhaps, this was a sign: some cosmic womanly phenomenon that allowed me to see into the future. Or perhaps the dream was an instinctual apparition?

So yeah, I was kind of jacked up. Excited. Even after two minutes of waiting for that second line to appear, I was still expectant. Then three minutes, four minutes. I finally conceded defeat after 5 minutes. However, that did not stop me from placing the stupid test into the garbage carefully, so that I might be able to see the result window when going to the bathroom. Yes, I am shameless. I even reached in to pick it back up the next day-just to make sure that the now present evaporation line didn't have any color. It didn't. I've come full circle, I guess. Time to call the specialist and get back in there before the crazy starts...

 Alexandra and her cousin, Rylee

Rain Forest Trip

So once all the excitement over the baby had died down to a dull roar, Dan, Alex and I headed up north to the even more tropical part of Australia. We went to Eungella National Park, which is a rain forest. It was gorgeous! There were a zillion different hikes we could have taken, but Alex was kind of unsure of the rain forests and I think she was afraid to walk on her own in them. Dan, poor guy, pretty much had to carry her the whole time. This, of course, deterred us from taking the longer hikes. However, we did have the chance to go off-roading, which was amazing. There were also 4 wheel drive paths (dirt roads) which afforded us spectacular views and some bumpy fun. Maybe a little too much fun, because Alex became car sick after one particularly curvy and bumpy road :( We also stayed at a gorgeous little cabin for the night and had a fire and a nice fillet mignon dinner. It was such an awesome time. Oh! And we also saw a heap of platypus!!! They are a lot smaller than I imagined, but so dang cute. I took some pics of them, but they did not come out very clear so I probably won't post them.

The next day, we headed for Mackay...which is in sugar cane country. Once again, the views were just dynamite. Mackay was nice too. They have an amazing FREE water playground for the kids. It was a bit too windy when we were there to let Alex use it, but we plan to take a few days there next trip so that she can use it!

 Eungella National Park, Broken River

 A platypus mosaic that Alex was particularly taken with

 

 Going on an evening stroll

 

 One of the paths in the rain forest

 As you can see, Alex is a little bit unsure of the rain forest

 Heading to Mackay

 Alex yelling at the birds from a sky deck

 Sugar cane country! The cane is in the background, with the cane train in front of it

 

 Sugar cane...this is what we saw for hundreds of miles

 The awesome free water playground in Mackay-we will be heading there next trip!

 The other side of the water playground is a huge wading pool that gets deep in the center and a waters slide!

And of course, we had to find a playground!

 Had to include these two because I love them :)

Well, that is about all for our Aussie pictorial! We had a wonderful time and cannot wait for the trip next summer (baring any pregnancies...). Thanks for looking!

William Josef (Will)

I wanted to make a special post to introduce our new nephew: William Josef (Will for short). My sister-in-law, Veronica, delivered him on 8/7/11 and he weighed in at 8lbs, 6oz. He is perfection.

As I wrote about before, this birth is very special to us because Veronica and I were going through infertility treatments around the same time. We emailed back and forth about the unfairness of it all, how everyone and their mother seemed pregnant, how we were pissed off and scared and unsure of what to do next. Veronica was a life-line for me in a lot of ways. She helped me to feel not so lonely during all my treatments...and that support was invaluable. Because of her, I felt so much less isolated. I didn't feel as much like a "freak" because I knew it was not just me. I learned through this that support is a much needed entity, no matter what your situation, no matter what you are going through. Find support! Find people who are in (or have been in) the same boat!

My (previous) infertility journey ended in May 2009, when I became pregnant with Alexandra through injections and IUI. Unfortunately, Veronica's journey continued much longer: through 5 rounds of IVF until she became pregnant in November 2010. But alas, Will is here and healthy.Thank God for modern technology/medicine, for bringing another healthy baby into the world who probably wouldn't have had the chance to be born otherwise....

So, without further adieu, here is little Will:

 Veronica, 39 weeks pregnant and outside her brand new house!

 At the hospital to see little Will...Alex is not so sure about her cousin at first...

 William Josef

 Already, Alex is stealing his toys (that pony was in the bassinet)

 Little man <3

Love this pic of Will...and of Alex sticking her little fingers through the holes of the bassinet to touch him <3

The new family of three!

Second Stop...Yeppoon.

Our second stop after Brisbane was Yeppoon. This is where Dan grew up and where his parents and one younger sister live. And this is where we stayed for the remainder of the vacation. Yeppoon is a beautiful coastal town, I miss it already! And now for some pics recounting our time there...this is only a few of the almost 300 taken...

 Dan and Alex with Babi and Deda (Dan's Czech grandparents)

 Alex playing with Kiki...Babi and Deda's dog

 Babi and Deda's back yard

 

 Babi and Deda's house on the beach

 One Aussie neighborhood

 Alex with her deda (grandfather)

 Dan, Alex and Auntie Genevieve (Dan's youngest sister)

 Helping nana make cookies

 Having a picnic at Emu Park with Veronica, Dan's younger sister. This was the day before Veronica went in to be induced

 We found a nice playground right by the ocean

 Nana helping Alex balance

 Auntie Genevieve helping Alex

 Walking to the beach from the house...not bad, eh?

 Yeppoon beaches are gorgeous!

 No one around for miles...this is how a lot of Aussie beaches are. And you can drive on them!

 A view of part of Yeppoon

 Downtown Yeppoon...can you see why I miss it?

 Dan and his father

 Alex helping her deda blow out his birthday candles

 Deda with his two grandkids on his birthday

 Family pic

 Seeing the dingo at Cooberrie Park

 Little cousin, Will, meeting a 'roo for the first time

 Feeding the joey

 hugging the joey

 Dinner party

Playing back at the house