Thankful Thursday #1

Yesterday, I went to the movies to see Red.Tails.  It was okay.  The acting, in places, was really terrible.  The story was not that developed.  Cuba Gooding Jr, who I normally love, wasn’t really part of the movie in a meaningful way and he had this annoying pipe.  I appreciate that the film was made though.

While I was there, I saw a young woman, maybe 19-20, making her way to the restroom in her wheel chair.  She was perky and happy, wearing pink and smiling as she pushed herself along.  I thought as I watched her and then held the door for her that there are so many things that we can all wake up and be thankful for everyday, like that girl who seemed to be so happy and thankful to be out seeing a movie, maybe with friends.  So, during this stressful time that’s about to happen, I’m going to try to post, at least once a week (hopefully on Thursdays… b/c Thankful Thursday is so alliterative and all), about what I’m thankful for.

  • I’m thankful for the ability to walk.  When I was in my 20s, there was a time when I worried I wouldn’t always be able to walk (thanks to arthritis).  Now, I can run up and down stairs, climb on the Jacob’s ladder machine at the gym, hike in the woods, and walk for hours on the beach.  I’m so glad that I have great medications and doctors available to me and that I can stay as healthy as I am.

I’m also thankful for this ALI community.  I’m not great about making comments or keeping my own blog up-to-date, but I often read and appreciate much of what’s posted out there.  I try to post what I’m going through, partly for my own sanity and therapy and partly because I hope that I do for someone out there what others do for me… which is make all this not seem so awful, so lonely, so hopeless.

In the spirit of that, I hope you’ll all go read Sarah’s story over on  Jjiraffe’s blog.  I’ve been following Sarah’s story for a while now and remember being so excited for her when she found out about her adoption.  I think JJiraffe’s project is really a great idea.

Earthquake! 3dp3dt

Today, there was an earthquake on the east coast!  I didn’t feel it or anything, but it’s still the talk of the day.

Perhaps not so earth-shaking (I couldn’t resist this pun, I just couldn’t), today is also the day that my little blastocyst/s is hatched and should attach tomorrow.  I’m very excited about this.  It’s neat to think about exactly what my body could have going on inside of it right now.  I know much of the time, we bemoan infertility and all these treatments (and I’ll be right back there come tonight at 7 when DH is stabbing me again with a needle full of progesterone), but right now, I’m just so amazed and grateful for this process.  Not every mom will have a picture of her child/ren at literally 3 days old (as in 3 days after creation), but I do.  It’s just really, really amazing.   I hope this/ese little one/s are still growing and know how happy I already am that he/she/they exist in the world.

I found this on numerous chat boards, but just in case you’re interested:

1dpt ..embryo is growing and developing
2dpt… Embryo is now a blastocyst
3dpt….Blastocyst hatches out of shell on this day
4dpt.. Blastocyst attaches to a site on the uterine lining
5dpt.. Implantation begins,as the blastocyst begins to bury in the lining
6dpt.. Implantation process continues and morula buries deeper in the lining
7dpt.. Morula is completely inmplanted in the lining and has placenta cells &
fetal cells
8dpt…Placenta cells begin to secret HCG in the blood
9dpt…More HCG is produced as fetus develops
10dpt…More HCG is produced as fetus develops
11dpt…HCG levels are now high enough to be immediately detected on HPT