21 weeks, the nursery and Carlito

Thank you all so so much for the outpour of love on my last post. Some of you were following me last year when we got the kittens so I truly appreciate every comment. You are amazing.

Oliver today is 21 weeks! Doing very well and I thought I'd post a couple of pics of the tiny nursery where he'll stay till he goes into the big boys room sometime in the future.

The Stokke sleepi bed and the corner of the changing table

A close up of the wall decorations and the wooden mobile

A shot of the other side with Oliver on the changing table and the cloth nappy covers!

It's been a week since Oliver started sleeping in his room and we couldn't be happier. Everyone is getting much more sleep. We bring him into our bed in the morning sometimes for a cuddle and he loves it!

Our room is now back to ourselves and the cats. Patches slept with us his last night (we didn't know it was his last night but it's nice to know he had lots of cuddles) and since then the Dude is spending the nights on our bed. We didn't allow the cats to sleep with us when Oliver was there too, I still wouldn't feel comfortable with them jumping in his crib while he's inside.

Finally, I mentioned we had adopted a new kitten from the vet clinic and he's with us since yesterday. We called him Carlito after much debate but now it fits him perfectly. He's about 5 weeks old but he's so active and playful, yet very well behaved and cuddly we are all very happy. Except the Dude who is still keeping his distance. It went this way. The Dude saw Carlito and went near him to smell him. Carlito hissed and made himself as big as possible (which means about the size of a Dude's paw!), the Dude took it badly and has hissed at him since. But then he runs away, never lifted a paw, so Carlito now knows he's a gentle giant and just want to play with him. The Dude acts like he's afraid of him and went on a hunger strike for 24 hours (back to eating this evening even though in a different room to minimise the stress). He's now quite happily in the same room (the kitchen) as Carlito but never gets too close. Carlito on the other hand is trying his best to get as close to the Dude as possible! Hopefully they'll be friends soon, I know the Dude has space in his heart for another friend. Once the loss of Patches is accepted.

Carlito 27th of May 2011, about 5 weeks old

Goodbye Patches

There was nothing else we could do to try and help him. Today when the Ultimate Vet Hero came over to see him, she agreed he had not made much progress and that we were out of ideas. I think Mike and I knew this was going to be the outcome but we needed Ultimate Vet Hero to feel the same. She was devastated and I know she treated him like one of her own pets. I don't know who was more upset if me or her. But it was the right thing to do. So she took him away and then texted me when it was all over to say it was very quick and peaceful. Knowing it was the right thing to do doesn't make it less sad though.

We will get another kitten, a healthy one hopefully this time. The Dude needs a friend. The Vet clinic currently has 10 kittens looking for a home, so this evening we went to see them. We should have one with us by the end of the week. The Dude knew Patches was very unwell, after looking after him constantly for several days, he had distanced himself in the last three days. This is one of the latest picture of the two of them together taken last week.

Goodbye little friend, you brought the Ultimate Vet Hero in our lives and that was a great gift from such a sweet pet. You'll live forever in our hearts.

Patches 22nd of February 2010 - 23rd of May 2011

First night on his own

It went down without a hitch! Oliver slept soundly through the night and briefly woke up around 6.30 am because he got stuck sideways in the cot! Once repositioned and soothed up he slept for another hour and half! The major difference from our room is that we added a black-out blind to his window so it's darker for longer and definitely helps him not waking up!

In other news I stepped on the dreaded scale this morning. I have to say I tried on and squeezed back into my skinny jeans the other night, much to my surprise, and started thinking the scale was a lying bitch as according to it I still had 7-8kg to go the last time. So this morning up I went on the evil thing and still it says I'm 62kg. That is 10kg less than I was at the end of the pregnancy and still 5kg to go. There's no way I'd fit back into those if I was 5kg heavier than the pre-drugs IF madness. I think I wasn't even 10 weeks along and I couldn't wear them any more. So that's it, either the thing is lying or the weight has redistributed itself in other places. Which has to be my upper body. But 5kg?? Mystery. They may be still most on my belly (the jeans are a low-waist model) but I'm working on it. You know, I'm going back to Italy in 4 weeks time and me, Oliver, mum and sister are going to the sea-side. Arrrhhhggghh I'll have to buy a bikini or something (it must be 10 years I've not gone to the sea side for holidays) and I'm dreading it! I imagine myself wearing a wrap or a T-shirt all the time...sad I know. Four weeks to tone up. Not sure I can do it. Also, I've always had horrible capillaries and visible veins in my legs which got worse with the pregnancy. So as part of the body-renovation I've started getting them "erased". Problem is, I do that in Italy and you can't sunbathe afterwards, so I can't get any more done till sea time. I won't be a pleasant sight on the beach I'm afraid. Let's hope Oliver will be the centre of attention then!

And thanks so much for the messages about Patches. No major progress I'm afraid, maybe the eye is better but he's breathing is still very congested. Ultimate Vet Hero will come to see him tomorrow.

Loving ICLW week! I've actually got to read blogs I've never read before which is just fantastic! Stick around folks, Attic updates and pics of the nursery are coming soon!

ICLW Mixed Flavours

Welcome old and new cyber-friends. We are in the phase of life where we are finally parenting after a very long journey of infertility, ectopic pregnancies, hopes ans shattered hopes, ICSIs, FETs and eventually pregnancy. The details are on the left sidebar. I hope to come and visit your blog soon and make new friends, this is such an amazing community.

So I went back to the ICLW blog list to see which three topics I had put down and of course now several other things are happening so I'm afraid I won't stick to those themes so much, but that's life isn't it? you plan to do something and then a D-tour must be taken...

First things first. Today my little chicken is 20 weeks old! And tonight he'll be evicted from our room and moved into the nursery. Since last week we transformed his crib into the mini bed

And he had no problem adjusting, in fact I think he feels better now that he has more room to stretch. We had to buy black-out blinds for the nursery window and today's project is to put them up, rearrange the things in the nursery (it's our tiny box-room, he'll move again into the second bedroom once we have the attic fully finished and ready for guests) and hope for the best!

On Thursday night I met a cyber-friend who came to Ireland on holidays (no, not Queen Elizabeth, I don't think she blogs LOL!). Christa and her husband would make such great parents, their FET is just around the corner, let's hope they'll bring home some Irish luck!

And I have to say to you all, in the last few weeks there have been so many BFPs among my cyber friends it's as if all the stars have aligned in a fantastic (and rare) conjunction with the planets and miracles are happening. Some are on my local board (3!!) and several others are in blogland. I am confident one by one all the girls in my top right hand-side list will be moved further down! So if you are cycling now or soon, the stars are on your side!!

Finally my little pet Patches is going through a rough time. He's just over one year old and let me tell ya he has a medical history of a geriatric cat. On his side he has the Ultimate Vet Hero who is determined not to give up on him till there's hope. At times I feel it's too much love and perhaps we should let him go. Patches was about to be put to sleep a year ago and she saved him. But his immune system is non-existent, he has the size of a six month-old kitten, he's currently on nine different medications, is this really a life? There are so many cats looking for a good home, are we doing the right thing in keeping Patches? We also have a second cat, The Dude who is a massive gentle pet and Patches best friend. In the last few weeks he's been so so protective of him, sleeping with him to keep him warm, grooming him when he came back from the clinic, and now I think he is giving up hope too. This morning Patches is a bit brighter but I'm afraid to say anything as when I wrote the last post, just the day after he slept all day long barely getting up for food. We'll see. Stay tuned for further developments.

Looking forward to meeting you all!

Patches update

Would you believe it, Patches seems to be getting better once again. The Ultimate Vet Hero has been pulling all the stops to avoid the "blue juice" as she calls it.

She's done researches, contacted specialist vets, listen to webinars and I'm sure she said a few prayers too. So with a cocktail of 9 (yes nine!) different meds a few times a day (some of those have to be given twice, three times or five!) the eye is improving and so it's his breathing. His voice is also back. No more bloody sneezes and he seems to be in better form. As his immune system is so weak (we wonder if it works at all in fact) any virus causes havoc...ulcers appearing and getting colonised by weird bacteria which take forever to clear. Anyway, lab results are back so now we have the right antibiotic which should clear the infection. She also gave him something to reduce the mucous production to minimise bronchial distress and hopefully limit bacterial growth. The eye ulcer is not infected and so it's viral. The systemic antiviral which he was on is useless for him but a topic one seems to be doing the trick. Steroids are a big no no when viral infections are ongoing but he needs something to help him cope with the stress of the situation, so again she found a suitable substitute which we are trying out now. Finally, the latest addition to the cocktail is interferon. In same cases it has be shown to eradicate one of the viruses affecting Patches. Let's hope. We are also considering food allergies but like the Ultimate Vet Hero said, it's important that he eat something and special food is not that palatable.

Thank you all for your good wishes and kind thoughts, Patches appreciates it!

I'll update again on how he's doing, but for now we are very happy!

Memories and Patches

It's that time of the year where all the days have something to do with Oliver. I just read the news that a cyber friend got her BFP and she posted the pic of her FRER dated 16/5. It got my attention also because her line seems to be unevenly intense. Like it was for me. Exactly a year ago, when I got the first glimpse of the little embryo that could.

Kind of around the same time last year Patches wasn't doing too well. I suppose last year was maybe a couple of weeks earlier than now but still. We are in a rough time again with the poor little pet. It started with a teary eye. Then it worsened with sneezing blood. Antiviral, antibiotic, and anti-inflammatory meds are on his daily menu since I can remember. Together with thyroxine. He's been well for a good few months but after he got his vaccine in March (carefully considered with the Ultimate Vet Hero and decided it was best to do it) he went downhill. The Ultimate Vet Hero has made plenty of house calls, to minimise as much as possible the stress of him going to the clinic. He has an ulcer on his eye which has now spread to the lower eyelid. Probably it's the herpes virus. He's too small to have a rhinoscopy but we suspect the virus has started eroding his turbinates which may have now been colonised by some resistant bacteria. I brought him into the clinic on friday morning as he was really poor and something had to be done. The Ultimate Vet Hero took great care of him, sedated him and took X-rays which excluded tumours in the nose, and flushed his nose with saline to be able to send a sample to the lab for cultures. She used a tear-duct catheter up his nose to be as less invasive as possible. Still, his throat was so swollen he couldn't breathe on his own. But he came through. Then over the weekend I really thought is was worse and got Mike to call The Ultimate Vet Hero. We just can't keep him suffering. She came to see us on Sunday and brought some more meds, different antibiotics and local antiviral for the eye. We gave him a week to get better or as sad as it is, we feel we have to put him to sleep. The Ultimate Vet Hero is having a truly rough time at work and I really hope not to add to her plate. When/if that day will come, I know we'll both be devastated, but she gave Patches a very good year that he certainly would not have had otherwise. I'll keep you posted.

Patches today on our bed resting

Back from holidays

Hellooooo! I've been off the blogland for over a week, sorry for the lack of commenting, I'll make up for it!

So we have been in Italy and the weather was great. So was the food and the daily ice-creams...Oliver loves it thereso much time outside, so many things to see and so many people to entertain him every minute of the day. Thing is, it takes a couple of days to settle in and then it's almost time to go back home... Flying is no problem, I seem to do worse than him on descend, my left ear is killing me! We had the plan to move him into his room as we returned home but a series of things happened.

First. There was was death in Mike's family and we were supposed to travel to the South-West yesterday having been back in Dublin on Wednesday.

Second. Oliver got his four months vaccinations on Thursday and it was hell. My always sweet and smiley baby turned into this inconsolable, unhappy, unrecognisable being. For two days solid. I think I cried almost as much as I had no idea what was wrong and what to do. He had no temperature, but was off his food, throwing up a good bit and crying for what felt like forever before falling asleep exhausted. Only to start it all over again when he woke up. I gave him Calpol (baby paracetamol) the night of the injections and again last night. It help immensely and I feel terrible for not giving it to him during the day, for not having called the doctor or nurseline yesterday. Today is my lovely baby again.

So Mike went on his own and I stayed at home. I managed to transform his cot into the bed (it's the Stokke system). It took me hours. Not because it was difficult but because Oliver was so so upset all day. It still is in our room, I wanted to make sure he slept well before moving it to his nursery. I am delighted to report it was a success!

I also think he's teething. He's been drooling for a while and of course he puts everything in his mouth, but then I looked at his lover gum and I saw this:

Can you see it too? It's like "fingerprints" of the lower front teeth, I never noticed them before. Maybe it's going to be a few more weeks before they appear but I feel it may have contributed to his general unhappiness...

Anyway, no more injections for two more months!

Thawing and Dude come back Anniversary

We are in Italy for a long week end at my parents' but in the last few days I couldn't help thinking that Oliver last year was frozen! And today was the big thaw and transfer day. Oh God what a day that was. I not only got my lonely 6-day slow blast safely defrosted and put back into me but we also got a call the very same day that our lost kitten (the Dude!) had been seen in the neighborhood and so my idea of a relaxing weekend to give the embryo a chance went completely down the drain. You can reed about that day here. If you followed me then, you may also remember that I didn't really hold any hope about this FET. It was my sixth transfer, never got pregnant from FET, and this embryo was probably the worst one we had out of all the cycles. God I feel terrible in saying it was "the worst" one, but in fairness it was...

...and today he's 18 weeks old! Doing great, he's a perfect flyer and eats like nobody's business, I'm so truly happy and blessed.

Award time!

It was ages I wasn't posting an award. I admit I got a bit lazy in the last few months and while I was of course pleased with the award I was receiving (my awesome cyber friends...I love you all!) I kind of never got around to pass them on.

Anyway, I decided enough of the nonsense and I'm back on the award game, watch out!

This one is "The Versatile Blogger" award and I got it from lostintranslation @ We say IVF they say FIV. I "found" her during this last ICLW week and I always feel so close to those who have moved Country, so go and see how she's doing in France! She had her first IVF baby in 2009 and is trying for #2.

With blog awards come rules, so here they are:

A) Grab the award: check!

B) Link back to the person who gave it to you: lostintranslation @ We say IVF they say FIV

C) Share 10 things about yourself: I'll try and say 10 new things!

1) My first boyfriend is now a priest...not much of a saint at that time, let me tell ya, but they say people change...I actually cannot think of him without a shiver...brrhhh...and thank God I've never seen him robed up since he vowed himself to celibacy or I would probably gag...

2) Within my family (old and new) we never call each other by proper name, in fact we have nicknames that change with time and it's great fun. Humans or animals your real name is soon forgotten!

3) My first pet was a dog. I was 16 and her name was Trudy.

4) One of the things that annoys me about IF is the number of years I worried about birth control and money spent on condoms! (a significant part of which with named ex-boyfriend at #1!)

5) I used to believe quite a bit in alternative therapies, now not so much.

6) I feel these blog awards are a little like those chain emails (thankfully without a threat at the end!)

7) I still follow and comment on the first blog I ever read

8) My past relationships seemed to get boring after around 3 years. This one is obviously of a different kind!

9) I got married the first time when I was 24. As per point above I turned that page at 27.

10) I'm a gadget addict though the iPad never really grabbed my attention.

D) Award 15 recently discovered blogs: this is way too many! I'll cut it down to 5...

1. Ms2Mrs...and back to Ms

2. I've got bad plumbing

3. Hopebpatient

4. Tishi

5. Mrs. Lemon