misfit baby

today was another baby doctors appointment. i had to get an ultrasound to check on the placenta problem they found at my last appointment. and just like the doc told me it's migrated upwards and, as of now, is no longer a problem. the doc quickly did a 4d ultrasound for me and was able to get a decent face shot. i can now rest seeing the baby actually has eyelids. i was a little worried for a second there. the nurses at aaron's office have given baby westphal a new nickname, squiggy from laverne and shirley. i actually think he could be a future member of the misfits, but that's just me. it's not actually his hair, just a shadow the machine put on his forehead, but it is funny to think that it is. i don't think he's sucking his thumb. that's what everyone has been asking me. i'm pretty sure it's just his hand up by his face.

the rest of the appointment was pretty standard. i did get a regular flu shot, which was a first for me, at least that i can remember. i'll be getting the swine flu shot when it arrives in the next month or so. my quad screen also came back negative which was great and one less thing to worry about. and, drum roll please, i've gained a whopping 8 pounds in the last month. so from start of the ivf process in march to now i've gained about 20 pounds. i'm gonna guess i'll gain another 20 before it's time to deliver. yeah right. we'll just have to wait and see.

at my next appointment, which is in three weeks, i'll be doing the dreaded glucose test. i have a feeling if there's any test i'm gonna fail it's gonna be this one. pretty much all i've been eating are sweets and carbs. i wouldn't necessarily say i've been craving them but set a box of french fries in front of me and i can pretty much guarantee they'll be gone in no time flat.

here's my 22 week pic and my attempt to look a little slimmer. ;)
i finally finished the 20 pairs of scrub pants i had to alter. so hopefully in the next few weeks i'll be able to concentrate on some other sewing projects. i do have a few already in mind.

like mother, like daughter?

so my aunt's comment had me ransacking my baby photo album, looking for a pic of my mom during her pregnancy. OMG! she wasn't kidding. i can't even imagine being any bigger than i am now and i've still got 18 weeks to go. i'm hoping it's just a growth spurt and i'll even out. i should be so lucky. i go in tuesday for another ultrasound and we'll see how much weight i've gained. i would not be surprised if it's another 7 pounds. i think i've figured out where i'm packing on those pounds, around my torso and in my thighs. i've gone out for a second time to update my undergarment wardrobe. i've gone from a 34 to a 38 and a small to a medium in about a month. my next pic i'm gonna bust out the skinny jeans cause i think those dresses are making me look bigger than i actually am. i wish! i hope!

welcome to the champagne room

at least it's where we'll be at 2 a.m. come december. finally getting around to posting pics of the finished paint job.

{before}
{after}
so we have one thing crossed off our list in preparation for baby westphal's arrival. well, we do have a wardrobe somewhat started. no, we haven't gone on a spending spree. most of the stuff we've accumulated over the years. you know, parents hinting around for a grandbaby with an outfit or two. most, if not all the rest has been bought on sale or on consignment. we've come to the conclusion, there's no reason to pay top dollar for baby clothes. of course i say that now, but i'm sure i'm gonna see something absolute adorable that i have to have. so i'll say, generally, there's no reason to pay top dollar for baby clothes. which brings me to our next project: reorganizing the closet.

i've been meaning to post these for a while but i've been having terrible eye allergies. at least that's what we think they are. i went in to the doc and he could see the lipids were inflamed under my eyelids. at first he thought i had make-up caked up under there but after trying to remove them he found it was something more permanent. one eye was worst than the other and oh so painful. i couldn't open my eyes without them instantly watering. i've been taking a topical antibiotic for the eyes and allergy meds to help soothe them. they are finally getting back to normal. apparently being preggers may have caused the flare-up. with my immune system compromised if i get sick it'll be twice as bad. so it looks like i'll be getting the flu shot this year.

this week i've been feeling baby westphal kick more often than not. it's weird to describe the feeling, sorta like someone's just pushing on you. not painful at all, at least not yet. it is a weird sensation and when it started happening i started to bug out a little. (the scene from alien comes to mind). now i find myself giving a little push or shove to get him moving some more. aaron's felt him a few times. he probably gets more excited then me! ;)

we have decided on a first name. and although it is tempting to tell, we're gonna keep it under wraps. still debating on the middle name but i think we've gotten it narrowed down to a few. so i've got a secret! ;)

20 down...

20 to go. the halfway point has come and gone and so far things have been going good. my appetite has returned with a vengeance. holy cow, i seriously didn't think i could eat so much. so long kids meals, hello super-sized ones!

the last few weeks i've had to make the switch to maternity wear, at least out in public. i don't mind sporting the half shirt at home. and yes, i've been sporting the dresses more often than not. i think i've worn them more the last few weeks than i have in a lifetime. when the pants don't fit...

luckily last weekend was a tax-free weekend here in nc. so aaron and i did some shopping. me more so than him. we did get a few outfits for baby westphal, but our main agenda was to get me something to wear. i'm now the proud new owner of two pair of maternity pants, a handful of shirts and some maternity dresses. luckily i was able to find some normal clothes that can double for maternity wear. like the dress i'm wearing in the pic.

the nursery is done, at least painted. i'll post pics tomorrow of the before and after pics. already loving the color and am thinking about the rest of the decor. the crib and changing table are still on order. expected delivery between august 14 - september 1. so for now it'll remain empty. i'll have to post some of the decor i'm considering and get peoples opinion. i'm finding i'm a bit girly in my thinking and it's really hard not to be so cutesy.

i did start my registries. greyson and i hit up "babies r us" and target last week. i'm having a hard time picking out things to put on it. if anyone has any suggestions, i'd love to hear them. yeah, the stroller i registered for turns on a dime... which makes aaron very happy. lol!

baby gut

i'm not sure if it's "officially" made an appearance. seems like in the morning it's a bump but by the end of the day it's turned into a gut. so here's my 18 week belly shot, actually it's closer to 19 weeks. i've decided it's impossible for me not to make a silly face when taking pics of myself. this pic will give you an idea of what's to come. i'll have to check and see if my camera has a remote. if you could have seen what i went through to get the photo: placing a stand-in lamp for focusing, running back to the camera to focus and set timer, running back and moving the lamp and posing in less than 10 seconds. it was a pretty funny sight to see and i have a feeling it'll get harder the bigger i get. i'll be a pregnant blur by the time 40 weeks rolls around.

yesterday i had my official ob appointment. i stepped on the scale and i had gained a whopping seven pounds in the last month! of course i was a bit confused cause the day before i weighed myself at home and had only gained two pounds. so your guess is as good as mine as to how much i've gained. my appointment was pretty uneventful. we got confirmation that baby westphal is still a boy. he said everything looked good except that my placenta was a little lower than he'd like to see. so i was diagnosed with low-lying placenta previa. the doctor didn't seem too concerned. he said it would probably migrate upward the further along i get. i'll have to be closely monitored and have another ultrasound in four weeks to make sure it does. seems like me and the ultrasound machine are becoming fast friends. the doc did do a quick 4-D ultrasound. unfortunately the baby's arms were blocking his face but you can kinda make out some of his features. hopefully next time we'll get a better pic.

it's an...

alien! see i wasn't exaggerating when i said the baby looked like an alien last ultrasound. and now i have the proof! ;) last thursday i went in and had another ultrasound done at the free clinic. the main purpose of my visit was to have a gender scan. it was still a bit early, 16 weeks 6 days, so there was a possibility we wouldn't see anything or the baby wouldn't cooperate. fortunately the baby was ready to reveal it's secret. so without further adieu here is the money shot everyone has been waiting for.

i know it's always difficult figuring out what is what in these pics so i went ahead and labeled as much as i could to make it a little easier. what you're seeing is a shot from the underside with the baby's legs spread eagle. the little red circle is baby westphal's bits and pieces. so we're pretty sure it's a boy. i asked the ultrasound tech if she could give me a percentage, like 75% boy 25% girl. she told me she's about 95% sure it's a boy and she'd be quite surprised if i was told otherwise.

next tuesday i go in for my official ob appointment where i will be getting another ultrasound to hopefully confirm what we already know. i did go and get a few outfits after i found out. i refrained from going overboard and kept all my receipts just in case. here's one last pic to share. a profile shot.

nothing to see here

seriously. 14 weeks pregnant and nothing to really see. but i thought i'd document anyways. i'll probably post every other week. depending on if there are significant changes. so it begins.

sorry for the bad photoshop infusion. i really need to invest in a tripod. propping my camera on it's side, with notebook and camera lens took some work. and getting in the same angle...impossible. i did a quick cleanup, hence no shadow on the left. i'll try and figure out a better way to do this in the future.

had another ob appointment last thursday. pretty much a check up from the neck down. heard the baby's heartbeat with the doppler this time. 150 bpm. also got the results from my bloodwork all came back normal. so far, all is still good. and i'm actually feeling better all around. a bit more energy and starting to get somewhat of an appetite.

we leave tomorrow for southern illinois. pretty much have a whirlwind schedule ahead of us while we're there. unfortunately we won't be making it to robinson or springfield. i think we need more days in the week to squeeze everyone we want to see in. i'll try and update while we're there, but no promises.

baby got back

yesterday i decided to give the free clinic a shot. since i'm officially starting my second trimester, i thought it'd be nice to see how the little one is progressing. i called in the a.m. and they were able to squeeze me in an hour later. this was my first abdominal ultrasound. at first the tech pointed out the heartbeat. "see the little heart beating?" uhhh, no. "right there." pointing to a little speck on the screen. okay. suddenly there's a clear view of the face. almost alien-like, with the big eyes. it's mouth opening and closing. is it eating i asked? "no, it's breathing." it was cool and creepy to see. i wish i could have gotten a video of it.

the tech continued to take measurements. baby westphal is measuring right where he/she should be. unfortunately by the time the tech got around to taking pics for me, the baby decided to flip completely over. she tried to jiggle the baby to turn over for us, but that proved to be futile. so here is a nice pic of the baby's back side. you can see the spine (the brighter line in the pic), it's little head, and even an ear.

i'll go back on the 17th of july to the free clinic to have another ultrasound, hopefully i'll be able see what we're having. if not, i have my official ultrasound with my ob on the 28th of july.

little buddy

so this is about a week after the fact, but here's a pic of my latest ultrasound. little krispie has now graduated to having buds. it's amazing how fast it's growing, and how fast it'll continue to grow. not only did i hear the baby's heart beating i could see it. it's little heart just fluttering away in it's tiny little chest.

i had my first ob appointment last thursday and was surprised that instead of seeing my normal nurse practitioner i'll be seeing a doctor. apparently my pregnancy is still considered high risk (at least to this group) because it happened through IVF. my RE reassured me that as long as i was carrying one baby it should be considered a normal pregnancy. i guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

at my appointment i was told i have to wait another 8-10 weeks before i get another ultrasound. it's so weird to have already gotten two in the last two weeks to having to wait what seems like a lifetime for another one. the girls at aaron's work told him about a clinic in town that'll do ultrasounds for free. i'm almost tempted to go every friday to check on the baby's progress. ok, maybe every other week. ;)

another thing i learned at my appointment. even though the baby measured a couple of days early at the first ultrasound they stick with my original calculated due date. unless it fluctuates by more than a week they keep the same date. which makes sense since at the second ultrasound the baby measured two days older. so my official due date is december 25. yes, baby westphal is officially a christmas baby! yep, he/she is gonna be one of those poor kids that gets birthday presents wrapped in christmas paper.

as far as symptoms go my major problem is being EXTREMELY tired all the time. this baby is sucking the life force out of me, literally. i'm told that once the second trimester starts that'll dissipate. fingers crossed it does, i hate feeling like a huge slug. another problem i'm having is being hungry but nothing looks or tastes good. i think it's my body subconsciously avoiding morning sickness. it's just really odd that i have to force myself to eat. according to my ob it's normal and is considered a form of morning sickness. so i guess by definition i am having some slight morning sickness but no vomiting or extreme nausea. thank goodness.

the computer went on the fritz last week and has been getting repaired the last two days. i love apple. luckily i purchased the apple care program with this computer. why would you not with a huge purchase like this. i called monday morning and they physically sent someone here to boone yesterday to fix it. it had a defective fan that was making all this noise and the guy replaced it and went ahead and replaced the motherboard while he was at it. i can't believe how quiet it is now. amazing.

so this means updates should be coming more regularly. we've got a busy month ahead of us. aaron's dad and grandmother will be here next week. then the caraways will be heading our way and we'll all be heading for the beach in a few weeks. the summeys will officially be residents of boone in a few weeks. and aaron and i will be heading back to illinois to celebrate the 4th. we fly in on the 1st and will be there til the 7th. yes, busy, busy, busy!

baby on board

just one baby on board. as much as i would have loved to have two, my body is thankful it's only one. so here's a pic of our little rice crispy. (the nickname is a reference to it's size) we were also able to hear it's heartbeat on tuesday. it was 151 bpm. it's insane to think something so small even has a heartbeat.

the baby measured at 7 weeks and 3 days. which was two days before my ivf calculated due date of december 24. baby westphal is due december 22, my dad's birthday. so looks like we're going to have a christmas baby!

everything looked good and i was released to my ob/gyn. no more treks to hickory or charlotte for medical care. i had to laugh, my RE gave me a little pregnancy care package that included a onesie that said, "made in charlotte" and technically it's true.

as far as symptoms go. i've been lucky and haven't had any morning sickness. just very burpy or vurpy and mild heartburn. some minor cramping and just tired all the time. one of the main reasons blog posts are short and far between. hopefully that will change in the upcoming weeks. we'll be documenting this pregnancy and with that will come the obligatory belly shots. right now there isn't much to see.

yes, it's gonna be very interesting to see what happens to my tattoo. maybe that's the real thing we'll be following. lol!

slightly addicted

well i did great and didn't do a HPT (home pregnancy test) before my blood test. a big part of that was the fear of it being negative. but once i knew it would be positive i've pretty much gone to town. here are 3 of 5 tests i've taken the last few weeks. i think the main reason i continue to do them is to reassure myself that things are still going good. i don't think the paranoia will go away til after the ultrasound. what am i saying, it'll probably not go away til i'm holding a healthy baby or two in my arms. 1 week and 1 day to go.

i've done 7 weeks of injections, 4 of those weeks doing intramuscular injections. it's getting harder and harder to tolerate them. or i should say my tush is tired of them. hopefully, after the ultrasound i'll only have 2 more weeks. i am so looking forward to that day.

too early to tell

since many you have been following the progress of our IVF procedure and know that we should have some answers by now. i thought i'd enlighten you. friday we got our BFP (big fat positive) with a beta hcg of 84.5. (for the first beta they want the number to be above 50, so we made the cut.) i went back on monday for another blood draw and the number had increased to 311. (they like to see the number double over a 48-72 hour period, so all was still good.) yesterday was my last beta and my number jumped to 1232. so we are officially preggers! finally. it's still early and we have yet to do an ultrasound to see if it's viable. but i thought i'd inform my friends and family that actually read this the news. i don't think we'll be making the official announcement til after the ultrasound which is scheduled for may 12. and yes, it'll be 2.5 weeks before we'll actually know how many "took." i know that's the next question everyone has. your guess is as good as mine.

PUPO with three

so i had my transfer monday afternoon. the embryologist called as i was pulling out of my driveway. i thought they were going to tell me they're pushing the transfer back to wednesday. (i was told that it could be a 3, 5 or 6 day transfer but plan on 3) instead she told me that my RE wants to put back 4 embryos. 1 (8 cell) 1 (7 cell) and 2 (6 cell). this totally caught me off guard. we had already discussed we'd transfer 2 and that had been my mindset all along. being in stupor, i said okay. what?!?

since we didn't know what day the transfer was gonna be on, awes really couldn't take off work. luckily, jerome was able to take me down again. he even set up a little bed for me in the back of his suv with an air mattress, pillows and blankets. too sweet.

awes called while we were on our way to check if the ET was going to be that day. i told him yes and that they want to transfer 4. he started to freak and kept repeating 2, we only want 2. i told him i'd talk to my RE once i got there to find out the details and then decide. since we had a failed cycle last time my RE thought it'd be better to put back 4. so i decided to split the difference and put back 3. so i'm officially PUPO (pregnant until proven otherwise) with triplets! crazy! i still can't get over it. this time the embryos weren't as far along as they were last time. hopefully being in their "natural" environment, they'll thrive better. fingers crossed. let's hope i at least make it to the blood test next friday without mother nature (AF) rearing her ugly head again.

documented

yes, this was taken yesterday. shortly after my ER. i appear to be to be in a hazy fog. a happy, druggy fog. to my surprise 15 eggs were retrieved. a few more than last time. got the report this morning. 15 retrieved, 12 were mature eggs, and out of those 12, 10 fertilized. so far so good. right now i'm scheduled to do a three day transfer. which will be monday at noon. there is a chance, if the embryos are doing awesome, we'll be do a 5 or 6 day transfer. i have to call monday morning to find out. fingers, toes, and anything that can be crossed is crossed. a big thanks to everyone for all your support. love you guys!!

baby mama drama

without the baby, mama but plenty of the drama. i triggered last night for an 8:30a ER on friday.

i went in for a scheduled u/s and b/w yesterday morning. i go to a satellite clinic in hickory, about an hour away. on my way back home, awes calls me and tells me my charlotte clinic called his office looking for me. weird, they have my cell phone so i have no clue why they would call his office. anyways, i call and leave a voicemail with my nurse asking if they meant to call me at his office and that they can reach on my cell or home number. meanwhile, i had planned to accompany greyson and her in-laws at looking at a couple of houses she and brett are interested in purchasing. we were doing a quick tour of our house when i heard my cell phone ringing upstairs. i missed the call but didn't think it was that big a deal. just them telling me my blood values and how much medicine i'd be taking that evening.

the nurse leaves a message telling me i need to call the office and tell the receptionist it's urgent that i speak to my nurse. she also tells me that i need to come into their office in charlotte that same day. huh? it's already 3pm and by the time i get there it's gonna be around 5:30p, at the earliest so i start to get a little concerned.

i call back immediately and my nurse puts my RE on and he explains my e2 levels and follicle count/sizes aren't corresponding and he needs to see me in person to do another u/s. with the numbers he's seeing we might have to convert to an IUI and there's a possibility we might be bumped from the shared risk program if we do convert. so i started to really FREAK OUT.

luckily awes was able to leave work early and we headed down to charlotte by 3:30. we got there about 5:30p, did an U/S and luckily my follicles were bigger than the satellite clinic reported. still a smaller number then he'd like to see but at least we get to do the ER. phew! they wanted me to trigger at 8:30p and where's my trigger shot? at home in my fridge, 2 hours away. so we had to scramble to get another shot before we left town and at 8:30, i gave myself the trigger in the car. yeah, and both dogs were also with us.

awes: "should i pull over for you to do that?"
me: "nah, the dogs are pretty comfortable and if we pull over they'll be crawling all over me. just keep driving."

i went back to hickory this morning for more b/w and tomorrow we head to charlotte again for the ER at 8:30 a.m. this time we're doing a 3 day transfer so ET is on monday. man, when things start to roll, they really start to roll! crazy!!

little stitches

in conjunction with my new camera lens, i also got two new craft books. i can spend hours perusing the craft section at the bookstore. which we ending up doing sunday. yep, i keep feeding my minds eye. sooner or later i'll actually put it to use.

the first book i got: amy butler's little stitches. it's got a bunch of cute patterns i can't wait to try out. i absolutely love her fabric and thought this would be a great way to put some of my fabric stash to use. although looking at most of the projects it looks like i'll be purchasing more of said fabric. (one of the main reasons i adore her fabric is that she puts together collections. so you have a wide variety of fabrics to choose from that coordinate and have the same color palette.)

the other book i got was free-style handmade bags and skirts. this book has got a lot of cute, simple bags and skirts and also comes with a few patterns. i know i got a book a few months ago that is somewhat similar. but you can never have too many books with great ideas. at least in my opinion. so the craft book library grows.

with all the meds and the constant driving back and forth to the doctor, i haven't had any desire to do anything let alone sew. i'm on day 12 of the stimulating drugs and i'm so ready to get the show started. by the looks of my appointment this morning, the retrieval is probably going to be saturday. i have another appointment tomorrow and will definitely find out the date then. (there is a slight possibility it could be friday.) i thought for sure this cycle would be faster than the last since my meds were doubled. for some reason i've been a little bit slower responding. who knows why. i'll update tomorrow when i know more.

it's bottomless

my stomach has become a bottomless pit. ugh. i think the meds are messing with my system this time around. this phrase actually left my mouth the other day: "i should have ordered a 12" sub." me, the person who's always satisfied with a kids meal, ate a whole 10 nugget meal on our way back from san francisco. me, who's not a big fan of sweets, has eaten two boxes of oreo cakesters in the last week. omg! you'd think with all this eating i'd be pregnant already. tomorrow i start my stimulating meds. i'm guessing my ER to be next weekend or early the following week. i can't believe it's approaching so fast.

reality check

upon returning home from our san francisco trip life has really hurled one curve ball after another at us. one of the biggest was the loss of my future nephew on wednesday.

last tuesday irina, my sister-in-law, went into the hospital with some heavy spotting, she was about 2.5/3 cm dialated. basically she was in premature labor. luckily they were able to stop the progression and ordered her on strict bed rest for 10 weeks. she was supposed to return home from costa rica on wednesday but that trip was quickly revised with her returning in may.

this tuesday, brian headed down to costa rica to give her a little moral support. he called me on wednesday afternoon and told me that irina's water broke and she lost the baby. she was about 19 weeks which is way too early for the baby to survive. brian said that irina had prayed he would be there if this should happen and he was.

they believe that irina has a weak cervix and the weight of the baby may have caused it to open prematurely. hopefully a cervical cerclage will prevent this from happening in the future. although this has been quite a devastating blow for them, both brian and irina are anxious to get started again. they are very strong-willed people and this doesn't surprise me. sending much love and prayers their way.

while i was in san francisco i did have a scare myself. i felt a huge lump in one of my breasts. aaron was pretty sure it was a cyst but wanted me to get it checked out when we returned. so yesterday i went in for an ultrasound and it indeed was a cyst. it looked like two separate cysts, both measuring about 2 cm each. the doctor suggested we drain it right then and there. turns out it was one huge cyst. so technically i had a 4 cm cyst that practically popped up overnight. they are pretty sure it might be from all the hormones i've been taking for my IVF cycles. some people are prone to getting cysts and i just happen to be one of those people. so i have to keep monitoring myself, hopefully this was a one time occurrence.

luckily this has not interfered with our current IVF cycle. i received all my meds on wednesday and started lupron injections that night. i thought i'd be a pro since we've done this all before. but i did get a little adrenaline rush when i gave myself that first shot. it'll take some getting used to again. so we are officially underway.

come on ride the train

it's the choo-choo! IVF #2 is officially underway. the rough schedule i just got: start birth control today, start lupron on the 11th, blood work and ultrasound on the 20th, start stims the 21st, retrieval the 1st of april, transfer 3-5 days later.

doctor say what

yesterday we headed down to charlotte to meet with my RE for our follow-up visit. he pretty much told us what i expected. all my numbers were great throughout the process. well up until retrieval that is. he had expected to see more eggs retrieved, which i did too. he also said the quality of the embryos weren't as good as he had expected either. he said they fertilized great and were initially growing fine but if they slow down or stop growing after day 3 it usually means it's a male factor issue. so for my next cycle we're going to do pretty much the same thing we did last time but bump up the dosage of the stimulating meds. he is also adding another drug called ganirelix which prevents eggs from being released prematurely. not sure if that was the case with my last cycle but it would explain why the numbers were so low. he also suggested aaron start taking an antioxidant supplement called ConceptionXR. as for dates, we've decided to wait one more cycle and start the process in late february which means the ER (egg retrieval) and ET (egg transfer) will be in late march/early april. we have a trip planned for early march where the tickets and hotel are already paid for, so if we would have started with this next cycle it would have definitely fallen into that time frame. so that's the western medicine update.

as far as acupuncture goes. i had my diagnostic meeting last tuesday. the first 1.5 hours we spent talking about anything and everything that could be interfering with our ability to conceive. sleep, digestion, kidney function, stress. he was very detailed and thorough with his questions, which i find most other doctors are not. the first thing he suggested: we fix my sleep habits. so that's what we're concentrating on now. not sure if the needle session concentrated on that or the infertility aspect. i ended up with a needle in each hand, five in the stomach and three in each foot. did i feel any different after the session? no, not at all. do i feel any different today? no. i asked my RE what he thought about acupuncture and infertility yesterday and he pretty much told me the only thing it'll probably help with is stress relief. i'm pretty much thinking the same thing. if it helps with anything else, great. but i'm not expecting much. i have another appointment tomorrow and i set up one for aaron for next tuesday. i already know that the appointment will be aaron's first and last.

aaron: "how did your appointment go?"
sue: "good. (blah, blah, blah) then he asked me to stick out my tongue and told me my liver wasn't functioning properly cause it was pale along the sides."
aaron: "WHAT!?!"

and that was pretty much his reaction to everything i told him. i thought maybe i wasn't explaining it right (i'm the poor layman), cause it kinda made sense to me when the acupuncturist was explaining it. i just have a feeling that east isn't gonna meet west as far as aaron's concerned. we'll have to see. ;)