PRAY FOR MARY NOW PLEASE!

Please pray for our sweet Mary.

She is undergoing surgery as we speak. Dr. Keefe, who works with Dr. Hilgers, is performing her surgery. We are hoping and praying that she goes in and has minimal endo so that the dr can focus on getting that out and then working on the wedge resection. God bless this sweet little one:) She was so worried about the dr opening her up and seeing too much endo to not have time to do the wedge resection on her ovaries (due to PCOS). So pray away.

Internet FIXED and prayer buddy reveal (FINALLY!)

My husbands friend came today and fixed my internet!!! YAY!!! No more annoyingness in dealing with blogging or checking emails. Woo to the hoo! I am probably now going to be glued to it for days before returning to work Monday. Haha.

PRAYER BUDDY: I absolutely loved praying for you. Since I was off work due to resting for my surgery, I was able to go to mass daily during the 2 weeks before Christmas. I prayed for you often and took joy in reading your blog. I have just loved seeing the happiness expressed through your little one's (E) smiles and eyes. Are you ready....Grace in My Heart was my buddy:):):) Hugs sweet one. I caught myself praying for you today in mass..haha. I don't think my prayers have to stop just because it's over. So, I will keep them coming your way. You hold a special place in my heart:) See, you even just pop up at random times and I just talk to God about you. Perfect! Oh and I am so ordering that cookbook for myself:) haha. As a New Year's present:) It will be for DH too b.c he will enjoy it too!!! Oh and we are friends on FB if you haven't put two and two together:) haha

As for catching up on my life, I'll save that for tomorrow. Hugs ladies:)

I've been hiding:)

Hey friends:) You know what's funny....when I start to slip out of my blogger world, I feel a void in my spiritual life. Is that crazy?? I feel as if I get distracted by the mundane things and don't focus as much on praying and thanking and listening, etc. Not to say that I don't do it at all (I pray often), I just feel as if it keeps me a float b.c I have a constant support group around me to encourage that. It's like when I went to college and grad school at St. Mary's and Notre Dame....I was surrounded by faith everywhere I went. Every turn there was a crucifix, a chapel, a statue, something to remind me of my faith. Then I go out into the real world and it is a slap in the face to realize...Whoa...I have to work at this a bit more!

What's new...well today is week three mark. I am moving around good. I can finally sleep on my side!! I can bend over and turn and get in and out of car more easily. Everything is going swell since incision healed again. I do have to work on my energy and laziness. Ha. My attitude is happy. I actually am excited to start ttc. I am still a bit nervous about what is in store and the waiting, etc, but I can't let that get to my head so I am stopping that thought now! My tummy still looks pregnant but the swelling has gone down a little, but not as much as I hoped. I know it will though...right:)

Dr. update: Last post I went ot meet a new Dr. here in town. We wanted to find an OB/GYN that was willing to work with Dr. Hilgers and understand that he is first. So we sat there and I talked for about 30 minutes explaining start to finish everything about my body, my experience, my journey....As I finished talking, I knew he was going to say that he couldn't work with us, that it was too much for him and that he was going to have to refer us to someone else. Howeverrrrrr, he didn't!!! He backed us 100%! He said he was impressed with our knowledge, that he was honored that we chose him, and that he would do everything he could to work with Dr. H in getting us a baby. WHAT!!! So elated, we left and went home. At about 8:00 that night, my phone rings. Unknown number. Answer and it is my DR calling to tell me he just got off the phone with Dr. H and that they held great conversation about my issues and that we are "all in the same movie theater"!!!!! WHAT!!! Y'all, I started crying on the phone with him. I couldn't hold it back. I told him I was so overwhelmed with joy that he would go out of his way to do this, not to mention to do this right after our appointment and follow through with calling me that same night. IMPRESSIVE! I ended up writing him a nice thank you note too expressing that appreciation. I hope he knows how much it meant to me:) So this boosted my faith even more. I felt God again, in every part of it.

And last: My Christmas tree that I finally finished:)


I hope you all are doing well. I am catching up on all your blogs this evening and tomorrow. Prayer partner: I am praying for you still:) No worries!

Christmas Decroation Date/Spunkyness back:)

Dh and our doggy got home yesterday from duck hunting over the weekend. They were both pooped after a weekend of waking up at 4 am to get ready for the ducks to come....sounds miserable to me, but glad it brings him joy. My doggy was so pooped that he wouldn't even lift his head to say hi to me. He literally plopped down on his bed and didn't move till this morning! haha. Dh trained him as a hunting dog so he fetched ducks all weekend...tired little boy!

So tonight is our Christmas Decoration Date:) I have been looking forward to this for the past 2 weeks...this was one of the fun ideas that I kept in my head when I was in Omaha for my surgery week. Dh surprised me with our tree up when I got home from Omaha and so I have been patiently waiting to help him decorate it. So, I have the night all planned. 1) Lighting the fire:) 2) Dh is going to hang the lights around tree while I play Christmas songs on Pandora. 3) Then I'll be able to help him hang up the ornaments:) 4) Have dinner: Baked Salmon OR Wild Mushroom Fettuccine (It was on the Today show this morning and was yelling at me! It looks so good!) Will substitute wheat free pasta but it should still taste delicious!

Yay! Can't wait:) 6 hours and counting.... This afternoon we are off to our Dr. appt here in town. We set up a consultation with a new doctor here in town because we felt it was important to find someone ahead of time who is willing to understand our position and work with Dr. H. Thought we should do that before the day actually comes when we need an OB (hopefully sooner than later). But either way, I need  a doctor here and I don't feel comfortable going back to my old doctor. I am on the fence about her and how to approach her with Dr. H's findings. So I have decided, it's not worth the stress or her humiliation. So, we are trying a new one. I am really excited about this dr. He has a fabulous reputation state wide and was also a military flight surgeon in the day so he works really well under pressure if necessary. And, to top it all off, he is Catholic! So who knows, I might be introducing him to a new route:)

I am in a wedding, along with dh, this weekend so we have festivities from Thursday to Saturday night. YIKES! I'm bracing myself for all of this and will be doing a lot of sitting at these events but at least I am able to be there. We set this couple up and boom, 7 months later they are engaged! So happy:) and so cute:)  I also have my first Christmas party of the season on Wed night but I am only going for an hour b.c I know I need to save up for the weekend. So a lot going on this week...don't worry, I will be careful. BUT I do have to go out and buy a pair of spanks b.c my belly pokes out and the last thing I want people to say is...."Are you pregnant?" I WOULD DIE!

And last, I know some of you are following this in anticipation of your own upcoming surgeries so I wanted to give you an update. Tomorrow is the two week mark. Incision infection: I think this was partly my own fault. I know, I know...but I didn't clean my incision ever. I mean I washed it with soap in the shower daily but I never washed it with peroxide or put neosporin on it. Call me an idiot but no one at the hospital talked to me about cleaning after, so it didn't really occur to me. I think they gave you an "After Surgery" book but I didn't even look at that. So, learn from me and take care of your wound. I have never had one like this before so I didn't really know how to...does that sound childish? Anyway besides incision infection, stomach is still swollen, sore to touch, and numb. I think it takes a few weeks for this all to go down b.c it was such a major surgery. I still am slow to getting up and sitting, more for being careful. Mornings are good. Afternoons are getting tiring. Evenings, I am done! haha. I am so ready to get my energy back but by evening time, my back is killing me like before and I am worn out. So, take it easy and don't rush back. I'm feeling like myself again, as far as spunkyness goes, so it is hard to remain easy and calm. Shoot...I'm ready to run! haha. Even my dad said, "It's so good to have you back. You were pitiful!" Thanks dad:) haha. No, he hated seeing me like that. He is spunky like me so he wanted his spunky daughter back:)

Hugs and Congrats to Chasing Joy!!!

And prayer buddy: I wish I could meet you!! I think we, along with our dhs, would get along swell:) Maybe one day:) Till then dear, I am praying daily for God's guidance in your life and thanking him for all your many blessings:) 

Happy feast day St. Nick:))

PJ update and texting Dr. Hilgers

You have to read my post from last night for this to make sense. No plaid, but this will have to do for now. I think they are pretty cute and what makes it more fun, even though they aren't plaid, they have our names on them....haha...even more cheesier than my desire to have them!

So Negative Nancy is back in the house...haha. Not really, I'm in pretty good spirits but just having more issues with my incision. Did I tell you my incision was infected and Dr. H put me on antibiotics? Well, if not, there you go. The redness hadn't gone away really.  So yesterday I had a freak out session b.c I saw that my incision was open! ugh! Just a little bit, 1/2 inch but still. Annoying. I made sure to be cautious but then woke up this morning and it was filled with pus. (Side note, how do you say pus in the tense with a "y" without saying that word that I hate? Pusy? Sorry, I don't know but typed it out wrong and let out a little yelp when I realized it. haha) Anyway, I called Dr. H hotline and he called me back asking questions about my incision. That's when I said "Do you want me to take a picture with my phone?" He said, "Great idea. Never thought of that. I have never had a patient do that!" So for a good 5 minutes, Dr. H and I were texting back and forth! haha. Isn't that funny? I'm impressed with him. My dad would have no clue how to text correctly, much less open a picture!

So he told me to go an Urgent Care center and get it cultured and get on these other antibiotics.Well, they wouldn't accept me the UC b.c I had surgery recently. So they said I had to go to ER. Well, H E to the L L no! Excuse me (it's the pills) but I not want to go marching into the ER and have to wait 7 hours for this. So I thought...hmm? We have some Drs in the fam so I dialed up my SIL who is a plastic surgeon. She went out of her way said for us to meet her at her office. So, she cultured it and we took it to lab. Should get results back Mon or Tues. Now I am on 2 different other antibiotics and ditched the other one I was taking. 

After all that, I was pretty worn out and my tummy is so darn sore from this infection and from the surgery itself. Here I am going on almost 2 weeks and I didn't think I would still be sore like this. Of course, I am better but don't have that much stamina and my tummy is still very sore to touch...and it has this numbing feeling too. Weird. All is good though. No worries. My spirits are high. I am happy spending the weekend at my parents b.c dh is hunting:) Sweet boy. He hasn't yet hunted and next weekend we have a wedding, then the next is his mom's bday, then the next is Christmas...not to mention he has spent the past month being my nurse! So, I sent him on his way with our sweet doggy and dh's brother to go hunting ducks at the camp in Mississippi. Can't wait for duck gumbo! Anyway, my sister and her fam are staying at the parents house too b.c their house is being worked on. So, we are all watching Eat, Pray and Love tonight:) Fun movie night with the fam. LOVE these kind of nights! 

What do you think of the PJs I found? You want some now, don't ya? :) And those with kiddos, you can get them too!

Matching Pajama Sets??

Random, I know. BUT, it's been on my mind all day and sadly enough, I have just wasted about 2 hours of my life looking alllll over the internet for them. Here is the deal. When I picture my future family at Christmas time, I would love to have us huddled around the living room by the fire, playing board games, drinking hot chocolate, and saying good night prayers all in our matching flannel plaid pajamas. CALL me crazy or weird all you want, but there is something very awesome about this picture in my mind. Sooo I decided to start off this Christmas with that plan. IT is driving me crazy (as if I am not already with this idea.) I cannot find matching plaid pajamas for me and dh. All I want to do wrap them up and have us both open the Christmas even and put on our matching pjs that we can put on:) I have found ones for women and ones for men, but none that match!! The idea of him wearing one kind of plaid and me another kind, just doesn't go...it clashes! haha. So then I found these pjs finally but of course it couldn't finally be the ones! UGH. They are so cute but they don't carry the man's set. And what's up with just having the men's pj pants. Why can't they have a top!? I honestly almost went with pj set hahaha, but then I thought...no, all I want is plaid!!

So, then I thought, hmmm. Maybe my brilliant bloggers can help me out. Soo ladies, any suggestions? Do you know any website or store where I can find matching plaid pjs for me and dh??? I am even so desperate that I thought, hmmm, what if I just ordered dh a XL in the womens??? hahahaha These are my favorite. :) But of course, no matching!

Ok, I am going to finally go to bed and clear my head and hope that someone helps me make this fun idea for me come through:) HUGS and praying for you sweet prayer buddy!

Follow Up & Blogger advice on Endo Diet??

My secret prayer buddy:  I am so excited to be your buddy.  I have been thinking of you and praying for you! I can't write on your blog so I am putting it out on my blog:)

Monday: Follow-up So off we went to our appt with Dr. H.on Monday. Right off the bat he mentioned that I was slower moving than he thought I would be. Yep! That's b.c I couldn't take the pain pills b.c they made me ill, so I was feeling every move. ouch! Anyway, I slowly got up on the table and got all situated. He came in and looked at the incision first. That's when my emotions came running... It was infected! UGH! I don't know what I didn't notice...perhaps b.c my tummy was still swollen from surgery that it hurt to pull it up to look at my incision. Anyway, yes, it was infected and it was all red around the entire incision. So we talked about that for the first part of the appt. Everything after was a blur really to me. Why? I was expecting to go in there and not take a step back with having one more thing wrong. I know, I know, quit being a baby! But, my hormones are all wacked and I was being a baby. So, nothing much for me was really accomplished during the appt. He put me on some strong antibiotics and I am touching base with them on Monday. He told me that in 6 weeks (from surgery date) he will start me on HCG shots and one other thing...but I can't remember b.c of my silly brain. Then he also wants me going on Endo diet. He said when we have our phone meeting at the 6 week mark, he will start me on the HCG shots, the other one I can't remember, and the diet. So that was it! He asked if I had any questions and I was so blank, sore, and being a baby about the incision being infected that I didn't ask my questions...crapola!!! So we left with knowing that I was checking back on Monday and then at the 6 week mark we were going to start meds and diet and then he told us we could start ttc. 

Is it me or were some of you when you were in this situation, like yeah right...ttc, really? He seems so sure that all is well now after all this. Why can't I fully believe him? I feel so negative about starting over now but I want to be positive...I'm typically a positive person so this surprises me. When he said he gave me about a 80% chance of pregnancy, I wanted to laugh in his face. I didn't believe him. BUT, I know that he is usually right. He is brilliant and has worked wonders with people. He gave my cousin a 60% chance and she just had her 2nd kid. Positiveness start filling me up again b.c this is not me and I want to be more hopeful! 

Tuesday/Fly home: DID you see the news about the weather Tuesday??? Yeah, our flight was yesterday. We were at the Omaha airport at 8:30 and our flight was delayed till 12:30. Keep in mind, I'm wheelchair bound basically b.c my mom didn't want me getting up and moving around. Plus, I was still sore (even on meds, now with incision sore too). I feel like I regressed b.c I was feeling worse (soreness) that I did 2 days prior. By the way, Dr. H put me on Codine (Tylenol 3) for pain and it seemed to work with no nausea...thank goodness.  We finally boarded and flight was to be 2 hours.... then had to fly over Atlanta for an extra 45 min b.c of bad weather and Atlanta airport shut down flights coming in for a bit. UGH! Funny....I had to pee...but pilot sad everyone had to be buckled for the flight b.c of weather. NO WAY I was holding it for 2 hr 45 min. So we had to ring button for steward. He let me get up to go but then once in bathroom I couldn't go b.c of bumpiness. Soooo I had to go get mom and then she had to come back in SMALL airplane bathroom and I had to hold on to her while I went...no way I was sitting on that sicko seat! Plus, I needed help sitting and balancing still b.c of soreness. Hahah. I'm sure the people were thinking I was crazy! Anyway, after a 3 hour delay in Atlanta, we finally boarded the plane and made it home safely....and exhausted and crabby:)

Gee...negative nancy here:) Sorry!

Today:  By the end of our day long saga with traveling, my stomach was so swollen that it was painful to touch. I fell asleep with icepack on last night and thank goodness the swelling went down over night. Today I have spent the whole day resting in bed reading through all the magazines that were sent over the past week while I was gone. I love love love looking through Christmas magazines:) So after watching the Today show, I did that for a while. I have had some family visitors and then now I am blogging. I did write down a list of questions for PPVI and Dr. H and called the nurse. I am waiting to call her back and then she can answer my questions that I didn't ask the other day.

Sooo you endo ladies. Are any of you on an Endo diet? If so, give me some info please on where to start. Also, how is it working in your life?

Request from prayer buddy: I don't know if I am going to be requesting much...I may, I might. I'm sure from reading my blogs you can tell what to pray for. If ever you question, please just pray for success with healthy pregnancy after this surgery. But also, please pray that I surrender all my trust to the Lord. I really want to do this and have a positive attitude about all of this, like I have in the past. I am soooo blessed to be on this path with Dr. H and have my surgery already said and done...I just want to recognize this more. Thank you:) Hugs around your neck!

Recovery

I was all excited about getting home from the hospital and then before I knew it, I was wishing I was back there! Crazy I know but Friday mid-night, I started getting nauseous and that lasted through Saturday around lunch. DH persuaded me to call Dr. H and he called us back and took me off the Percoset b.c that was causing me to be sick. Thank the heavens I never actually threw up, but man, it was disturbing. So I was satisfied with that feeling going away but then the pain came on. From last night threw this morning, I was pretty miserable with the pain. Before, you can move around (slowly) and not have it kill you b.c the pain is subsided with the pain killers. But once those pain killers are out of your system, OUCH! Every inch I moved hurt and it got real old, real fast. So I called back and Dr. said we could try another pain killer or reduce the amount of the percoset. I decided since I hadn't thrown up, I would try reducing the amount of the percoset. It worked:) Now I am better but still achy and crabby at times but MUCH better than earlier today. 

For those wondering what it is like 4 days after surgery: Still slow to sit up, no BM yet but gas is moving more, need help getting up, still slow walking, sore, back muscles KILL (Heating pad helps), scar is looking good, still a little swollen around scar (Friday, I had retained so much water from IV that my feet and hands, along with areas around scar were sooo swollen), my color is pretty much all back, that is all I can think of right now...

Dh and dad left Omaha and headed home today:( Mom and I have been lying around watching Hallmark movies all day...ALL DAY! There isn't much you can do after surgery! ha. I couldn't blog b.c I was trying to keep this icepack on my tummy and it was uncomfortable to reach over to type. I have been getting up to go to bathroom, with mom following me bc she is so nervous I am going to get dizzy, and on the way back from the bathroom have been stopping by the freezer for TCBY White Chocolate Moose :) Thank you Mary! Gotta love that! Mary also contacted a priest that was friends of her husband's grandpa and he came to bring me communion today...sweet:) I was supposed to see Brenda (Hebrews) last night but because I was feeling like poo, I had to cancel and I didn't get to see her:( 

Ohhhh, duh. Forgot some other important things. Auburn beat Alabama...BOO. But the good thing about it being on Friday was that dh couldn't be upset b.c I got to come home from hospital and he had to act nice and not mad about game:) haha. Any other day he would have been TOed (ticked off) but be did well. Notre Dame beat USC....WOOOHOO! Go irish:) Way to step it up after a poor start to the season boys!

Just wrapped up dinner and watching Princess Diaries 2 with my mom...haha...wow to the cheesy movie day! Have 40 more minutes till I can take another Percoset and man am I ready. I'm getting really grouchy now. Tomorrow at 11:30 is my follow up with Dr. H. I will be posting for sure to inform you ladies all about what he has to say. I was happy to read about all of your Thanksgivings:) I really enjoyed my turkey broth for all of you. And last but not least, I got in all those prayers for you fine gals:) I love praying for you, especially because it makes our Lord so happy!

Hugs to all and to all a good night:) Percoset...here I come:)

P.S. SOOO excited for AYWH:) He is beautiful!!! I'm a little behind with this whole surgery thing.
P.P.S. SOOO excited about my prayer buddy:) I can't wait to spoil you with prayers and little happies!:)

Well, I finally....

Tooted!!! They told me I couldn't start eating normal foods until I passed gas....well, bring the food on people b.c this woman has done the deed you wanted her to do! I find it highly entertaining that I now broadcast info about my toots with others. Before this whole experience, I had never tooted in front of dh. Actually, that is a lie. This past summer we were out on the end of the pier drinking coffee one morning when all of a sudden I TOOTED! agh. Having never done that in front of him before, I was stunned. He immediately said "You just farted!!" Of course I argued, NO I DIDN'T!! Then he stood up and did this little dance thing saying "B just farted, B just farted!" He was laughing too. He thought I would start laughing but instead I did the opposite...I started crying...hahaha. Yes I did. I started crying b.c I was so embarrassed. Then dh felt bad and had to come hug me. Anyway, so now you know even more about my toots! haha.

Since we are on the subject, let's get to know each other more! haha. (Yes, I am on pain pills so this isn't all me talking here...I have had some random comments and thoughts going through this brain of mine) What do you (or your fam) call a toot? We always said tooted...fart was a word that was not allowed to be used in my house of 6 kids and if so, we got our teeth brushed with soap. ugh. My little cousins always called it a woofy. "Mom, I just woofied!" haha.

Ok, enough about toots and more about surgery/recovery. Everything went really smoothly, praise the heavens. Dr. H told us that on a scale from 1 to 10, my surgery was a 10+. He said it went perfectly. Is it weird that I wasn't nervous at all going into surgery? I had complete trust in God and in Dr. H that I didn't have any anxiety about it whatsoever. That was an answered prayer so thank you Jesus. I actually did better waking up out of this surgery than the laprascopic a few weeks ago. Don't ask me why but I was awake in the recovery room, talking to the nurses, asking questions, etc. The worst part was when I got all settled in my room. The dumb catheter was killing me. I would say that was the worst part for me. I don't know of it was in wrong or if my body just didn't like it or if it was pressing on my bladder, but it was so uncomfortable that I was crying away. Finally after about 2 hours of hoping my pain would subside with painkillers, the nurse talked to Dr. H. They told me if I could walk to the toilet then they could take it out. WELL HELL YEAH, so this woman got her sore booty out of bed and made myself walk to the toilet. The whole process took, I swear, 20 minutes just to get there but I did it! And since that thing has been out of me, I have been much better. My incision is about 10 inches...it looks like a big smile with my belly button as the nose...and my boobs as the eyes...haha! LOL. Seriously!

On Wednesday, the day I got my catheter out, I also got my IV out too. My IV was backing up and causing problems so my arm was swelling. (I think I knocked it in the middle of the night)  It got to be very uncomfortable. As much as I wanted the morphine, I couldn't stand the IV so they took that out too. And I sure as heck didn't want to have another IV put it...I'm a wuss. So, I have been on Percocet & Motrin to help with the pain.

Make sure if you are going to have to have this surgery that you get these two things: 1) heating pad for your back (your back hurts from compensating) and 2) a belly band (not sure the exact name but it wraps around your stomach and back and keeps everything stationary. It works wonders) Getting out of bed and standing up is very difficult, but that is expected. .Also, sitting down on toilet is painful too. It is still difficult to teetee but it is coming easier as the days go by. It does take forever though. Yesterday I got up 4 or 5 times to go to bathroom and walked the halls slowly. Trying to get everything moving. I would say that yesterday was my worst day. They say that the 3rd day is usually the worst and I would say that was the case for me. They were going to let me go home yesterday if I ate two meals and kept them down. Well, I did that, but my DH and I felt that my body was not  ready to get up and get moving to go back to the house. Plus, the hospital bed moves up and down is very helpful in sitting up to get out of bed. So not having that at home yesterday would have been difficult. Not to mention the fact that I have to walk 12 stairs to get up to bedroom in the rental house and I knew yesterday that would have been difficult. I am already feeling much better with just one more night in the hospital, so I know we made the right decision. I am always one to to be on the go and sometimes do more than I should, and so I am glad that I made the decision to stay. I'm feeling much better this morning having stayed.

Overall, my experience here at Creighton has been wonderful. I could go on and on about these sweet nurses. They are just fabulous. Right now we are waiting for the dr. to come in an clear me and then we get to go home. Sweet DH is ready to sleep in the comfy bed at the rental house tonight. I told him to stay there at least one night and give himself a break, but he didn't feel comfortable leaving me in the room overnight by myself...sweet one. So, we should be out right in time to make it home for the Alabama v. Auburn game...it's a big deal for us! Roll Tide Roll:)

And last but not least, thank you Mary (Screllos) and Brenda (Hebrews) for keeping all the bloggers informed about me. I can't express enough how much your support has meant to me throughout this time. I have all these nurses up here wanting a fart shit. So not only did you bring humor to me and my family, but to all the nurses too! You two rock!

P.S. 
1.Did I mention that my butt feels as if it has been flattened?? Seriously! I have been on my back for over 3 days now and I feel that butt fat has now moved outwards to the sides of my legs. Weird feeling. 
2. I am swollen everywhere...especially my legs and feet. You can't even see my ankle bones. I'm assuming this is going to go away the more I get up and around. Those who have had this surgery, did you experience this??


Oh and these pain pills make me say/think awkward things at times so forgive me if this blog makes no sense!

Off to eat hospital grits:) Hugs and thank you all soooo much for your prayers...I felt them all around me. I meet with Dr. H on Monday so if I don't post before then, I will be sure to post info from our meeting.

Blessings:)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling...

...Fart shirt?
hahahaha. (If you don't know about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, this might not be as funny to you...my husband had no idea what I was talking about ;))

This is Mary/Screllos posting for "A" tonight again...She asked me to post a picture for her. ;) Inspired by this post and also by the fact that she needs to "toot"/"fart" before she is allowed to eat and go home from the hospital, I decided to make a t-shirt for her. Here it is:

Maybe it'll help get things "moving." haha. (FYI I don't even ever say the word "fart"...wasn't allowed in my house growing up haha...but it's so funny now, in these circumstances! :-D)

She's looking really good...first of all, she's a super cute person anyway, but second, she looks AMAZING for having just had surgery. I don't look that good when I wake up on a regular morning. No joke.... And she's feeling pretty good, too...But she was so hungry! I felt bad for her because she wanted to eat (something other than chicken broth and popsicles) so bad but she has to toot first!

She is also HILARIOUS! She said she'd have to send the t-shirt for my surgery and if Brenda ever has to (hopefully not!!!) have surgery again, and other bloggers, she'd send it to them...and then that's when she said "Like the sisterhood of the traveling fart shirt." Oh man. I could die laughing again right now! hahaha. So funny!!!
She also said to the nurse, when talking about how she really wanted to eat "So, basically, I have to starve until I toot."

Are you laughing yet? If not, I'm worried about you! haha.

We all showed each other our surgery scars...it's like our IF surgery scars bond us together forever...oh that and the fart shirt... ;)
I am very happy and relieved after seeing her tonight - thanks to everyone for your continued prayers!

Hopefully I didn't forget anything I should have shared! :) Gnite and Happy Thanksgiving!

WOO HOO YA'LL! Surgery success! ;)

Hi everyone! It's Mary (aka "Screllos") posting for Awaiting aka 'A' (I'll call her A and her husband B like she always calls him here :)) with a surgery update!

Just heard from B and he said Dr H came out to the waiting room and said "the surgery was a 10 on a scale from 1 to 10." PERFECT! He removed all the endometriosis and the wedge resection went smoothly too! WAHOO! I can't tell you how relieved and excited I was when I got this phone call! And B is so adorable, he said "okay, now you can go share with the blog world!" heehee ;) He knows us all too well already, doesn't he? 

While I am "hacked in" to her blog ;) I have to say right here for all of you: A and her family are some of the sweetest most amazing people in the world. I had the privilege of meeting her hubby and parents yesterday and I just want to keep them here SO BADLY!!! Just want to hug em all and hold em close forever! 

So as you're reading this blog, in case you didn't know this already, you can be sure that you're reading the blog of someone really, really wonderful. 

So anyway :)... So far so good! - Let's keep praying that things continue to be "10 out of 10!" as she recovers... and help get this wonderful family all set for a joyful 2011! 

Omaha/Pre-op

Hello! We are here in our wonderful cozy house on this chilly day in Omaha. I think the high is 36...way different than in Mobile where it was 73 when we left. One extreme to another! So the house is all that we expected and more. It is so darn cute. Their taste is modern, which is not my taste, but I like it! Our bed is actually more comfortable than our bed at home...how is that possible! Dh and I both plan on figuring out the details of the mattress...haha. They even have 2 bikes in the garage...damn! I won't be using that this week obviously but I could have definitely used them the last time we were out here for those 2 weeks. I LOVE to bike! My other favorite thing is our shower is HUGE...like a closet, I swear, and the shower head is the width of a basketball so the water covers your entire body....as oppose to a small shower head that you have to keep turning to keep body parts warm! haha. Oh the small things in life! The windows have these cool shades where you can see out but they can see in...You can kinda see in on the bottom floors but you can't see in upstairs. I made dh go outside and look up while I danced in the window to see if he could see me....nope! haha. Crazy me, I know. But I wanted to make sure people couldn't look in and see us changing, dancing, etc. haha. That would be quiet disturbing!

I have my preop today at 10:30. I'm a little jittery..more nervous about this surgery than I was the last. BUT I am going to try and keep my cool and just chill. It's all in God's hands....not mine or Dr. H's! 

I'm not really sure how I am going to be over these next few days but when I am awake and alert, I have a plan. I am going to be praying for each of you. Here is what I want you to do....post on this blog post what you want me to pray for and when I am finally back to reality, I will check the post from my phone and say a prayer for each of you. I might not be able to do it all at one time, but I WILL pray for each of you individually. If you don't feel comfortable posting something, then just put special intention and I will take it from there. 

Surgery is in the morning. Mary (The Screllos) offered to be in touch with dh and she will post on my blog updates after my surgery tomorrow. All I ask is that in the morning when you wake up, say a little pray for me and Dr. H! Please:) Thank you:)

HUGS around all of your necks. Smile:)

Heylo!

So I have missed posting to all you fine ladies:) With being out in Omaha those two weeks, I was able to keep in touch daily. Now though that I have been back to the real world, I have been catching up on what my sub did when I was gone, and also preparing for the sub that will be taking over for the next 4 weeks. LIFE is CRAZY! ha. I am so A type when it comes to planning and directing my classroom that the idea of someone else doing it kinda works my mind. BUT, I have decided to chill.

A few days before I left last time for Omaha, I got so bent out of shape and stressed about prepping for my sub that I got sick...literally. My body started to shut down from the stress and my back and neck muscles tighten up so bad that I could barely move. I had to pay for a massage to work my knots out b.c they were bringing me to tears. (I have bad history with pinched nerves and knots) To some this might sound relaxing but it wasn't even close to relaxing...she was working my knots out...it was that good kind of pain with every rub. Anyway, I decided that I couldn't go through this again with this upcoming sub. I'm chilling out:) They will survive without me!

Monday was CD 1. Isn't it funny how some months you want your period to come and then other months your hoping it doesn't?! haha. This month, I obviously wanted it to come. We didn't want to be pregnant now, knowing I couldn't carry the baby. It's funny because when we were trying, I feel like my life was uber stressed out. Then, with these past 5 months of not trying and waiting on our appt with Dr. H, I was 10x less stressed out. So, my goal for my upcoming months of trying after surgery is to LET GO AND LET GOD! I have already started praying for this and you can join in with me please:) I don't want my life to become crazy. I don't want to call dh telling him that he has to rush home b.c I noticed 10CL! I want to just be and enjoy spending that loving time with my dh and try my best not to be so anal retentive about it all. I did tell dh that he wasn't aloud to go hunting during ovulation...haha...I swear I'm not trying to control things:) No, but seriously, I look forward to trying again and I'm going to leave the stressing part as far away as possible!

So we (Mom, dad, dh and I) leave on Sunday for Omaha! I just want to get on the plane NOW! We have rented this home for the week (look below). We found it on vrbo.com. It's a newly built development near Old Market, in an area called Little Italy. It is so cute! It was listed for much more but we asked if they were willing to work with us on lowering the price and they were:)  The people were so nice and we explained our situation of how dh and I will be in the hospital most of the time and they gave us a discount. So we are paying $100 a night for 4 people in a house with 3 beds and 3 baths....mom and dad are splitting it with us too because they are staying there with us...this helps us out so much. Isn't that so darn nice of those people!!!  Now we get to have a late Thanksgiving in a comfy home, as oppose to a hotel. And dh and dad are soooo excited to be able to watch the Alabama vs. Auburn game on the 54 in plasma tv at home instead of a bar! Ok...now on to the important part...the surgery.

On Monday is my preop and then Tuesday morning is my surgery. I am a bit nervous but I do trust completely in Dr. H and I have been praying for him for the past two weeks so I know he will do great with me. If all goes well, I will be out of hospital Friday. Yes, I will be in the hospital on Thanksgiving. So while you are all enjoying your turkey, please eat a huge juicy bite for me:) haha. Mom, dad, and dh are going to prepare our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday so we will just a a delayed Thanksgiving! Dad and dh will fly home on Sunday bc they have to head back to work. Mom and I will stay to meet with Dr. H on Monday, then fly home Tuesday.

I have no idea what to expect as far as how I am going to be physically. I have heard (read) all sorts of stories but we all have such different pain tolerances so I have no idea what I will be like...that is what makes me nervous too.What I am looking forward to is the follow up with Dr. H. I'm anxious to hear how everything went and see what the next plan is...meaning meds, diet, etc. Basically, I'm excited about next week because I am anxious to get past it and start on the road of recovery and trying. I know I am going to have to be patient, but at least I can put the surgery's behind me and start over with a new year in Jan. Perfect timing. Man was 2010 a tough year and I am so ready to put it behind me:) 2011, be a better friend please:)

So is this all enough blabbing for you:) Sorry. I'm prob not going to be able to post until next Sunday or Monday. But I promise to post before surgery. I can't post from my phone...it annoys me to type so much on that little screen. ha. This week is crazy wrapping things up with school. Friday night is a bday party for my dad-in-law, Sat morning is breakfast with my bro and sis-in-law, Sat afternoon is my friends wedding at 2 (woohoo!), then Sunday we leave at 11. BUSY BEE weekend:) I hope that you all are well. I will be catching up on you ladies through my phone at random times over the next few days. Hugs around all your necks and thank you thank you for all your love and support. You are such a blessing:) I can't say that enough.

P.S. Mary (The Screllos) and Brenda (Hebrews), I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU LADIES AGAIN SOON:)

A laugh for Friday!

This is all Hebrews fault. She brought up dutch ovens and that led me to remember something that I recenly saw. Totally forgot to share this with you so I thought today would be a great day to do so. Mom and I were in Old Market the other day and saw a man walking down the street wearing this shirt below. I BURST into laughter (directly looking at him) to the point where I was in tears. And the guy wearing it was as cool, calm and collective that he could be. Perhaps some people would think it would be vulgar, offensive, etc, I , however, was thankful for that type of laughter being apart of my day:)

 Happy Weekend:)

Follicle WHO?

Home sweet Bama home:) Yay! We went for my ultrasound yesterday and my follicle had burst! Thank the heavens. I immediately called dh and he called delta to see if he could change my flight for me to come home earlier. Well, little did we know that if you have medical reasoning Delta will make changes on your flight for ZERO moola!! And they did the same for my momma. It was such a simple process too. Dad and dh both called delta and told them that I had been released by dr. to fly home early and I would need assistance (mom) due to surgery and asked for my moms flight to be changed. Delta asked for Dr. office info and we handed it over and that was it! I called PPVI just to inform them that Delta might be calling to confirm and they were supportive.

It was so nice to get off that plane and be greeted by my sweet smiling dh. Oh what a wonderful feeling:) I still just think he is the cutest thing on earth...love. Of course we were exhausted b.c our flight didn't get in till midnight but who cares...I was home:) So I'm going to enjoy sleeping in one more day before going back to my sweet middle schoolers on Monday. 

And yes, sweet they are. I forgot to tell y'all this but before I left to go out to Omaha my middle school staff, along with my students, surprised me with a prayer service before I left. It was amazing. We were told to bring our students out side of the church and have them seated by statue of Mary under the oak tree by 11:30, before noon dismissal. Well, I walked my students down at 11:25 and everyone was already seated...I was thinking "crap! I'm late!" We walked up quietly and all of a sudden I see dh standing my the statue of Mary, along with our priest. WHAT! All sorts of thoughts were going through my head...was he about to propose...oh wait, we are already married! What is he doing here! I had nooooo clue. And that is when Father called me up and told me they were doing a prayer/healing service (anointing of the sick) for me. Oh did those tears come a flowing. Y'all, I couldn't believe this. So of course I cried throughout the whole service, and so did dh and the teachers. Dh said, thank goodness I had my sunglasses on:) haha. The last time he cried in front of a big group of people was our wedding. I love his sensitivity...thank you God for that:) Anyway, at the end a few of my students came up and brought me this basket. Inside were 100 (from each student in the 7th and 8th grades) little itty bitty plastic bags with a note/prayer/quote from each student. And along with the note came a pearl from each student. They wanted me to open each one up and save the pearls so that when I got back they could make me a necklace of pearls to remember this event by.

And this is why I work in a Catholic school:)

What the follicle?, Blogger meet up!! , & New purchases:)

So I was told not to get my hopes up but of course I did and now they are shot! ugh! We are still out in Omaha doing my ultrasound series observing ovulation. My follicle is being a little sucker! Each day it had grown by .2 and we thought today was the day it would burst...well of course not! It's actually just chilling out...enjoying life...literally! Today it is the same as yesterday 2.1. So, here's to another night in Omaha.

I got to meet Mary (The Screllos) and Brenda (Hebrews)!!!(I have no idea how to make their names link to their blogs...that I have to learn)  Can I just say that awesome was an understatement. We clicked as if we had known each other for 17 years. It was glorious! I still can't believe that I have a blog and that I met bloggers...haha, I'm making fun of myself (not you) inside because I used to make fun of people who blogged and now I'm a freeeeeek about it. What a hypocrite I am:)

So Omaha has an Urban Outfitters which makes this city all the more cooler! When I was on the phone with DH, I was pretending to be all sneaky about what I was doing yesterday....he knew in my tone that I had found something! hahaha. He said, "What are you getting into???" So I confessed and he actually said that I deserved a little treat for these hectic past two weeks. So I didn't feel so bad for doing a little stress free shopping:)

My purchases:::
1) I don't own a lot of sweaters. Since I went to college up at St. Mary's in South Bend, I had to have plenty...it was ridiculously cold there!  But once I moved back home to the tropical weather, I gave them all away to Catholic Charities b.c they were just sitting in a drawer. So I decided I needed at least one new sweater...heehee. Here it is! http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?itemdescription=true&itemCount=80&startValue=1&selectedProductColor=&sortby=&id=19073824&parentid=W_APP_SWEATERS&sortProperties=+subCategoryPosition,+product.marketingPriority&navCount=9&navAction=jump&color=&pushId=W_APP_SWEATERS&popId=WOMENS&prepushId=&selectedProductSize=

2) My scarf! LOVE:) It wasn't online so I thought I'd post a pic with my new cool HTC Desire phone! ha Anyway,  I wore it on my first date with the blogger ladies last night:)

Oh and mom loved my scarf so much that she wants one, so we are going back to UO today to get her one! haha. Cute momma! Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful day. Smile all you lovely bloggers. You are well loved!! Remember to please keep sweet Ann, Building a Nest, in your prayers.

Omaha: Recovery symptoms

Good morning:) First of all, sorry I had to put my blog on private. I'm so mad at myself. I cut and pasted yesterday's post and send it to a list of friends, including some teacher friends and my boss. Well my DA didn't realize that if I attached the title to my post, they could just click on it and go to my blog. HOW ANNOYING! I was very preterbed. There is something about having a blog and not having to hold back on anything you say. I don't want my boss knowing my bowl movements! haha. So, I had to make it private...now it's back public after a few days because I realized how much I missed my feedback from my blogger ladies! haha

Friday: Day Three Each day is getting better. Stomach is still very sore but a lot of the gas has gone away. The gas, to me, is one of the most difficult things. I couldn't even lay down in bed last night without crying because the stupid gas just wouldn't come out!! I just wanted dh to poke me with a pin and pop me but obviously that's not possible. Warning tmi: With the anesthesia, this puts all your body parts to sleep so it takes time to wake those suckers up! I haven't been able to go #2, which has also been annoying and probably contributes to the irritable gas issues. This morning I finally got to feeling a bit better with that. (Sorry, I just want to be honest with those who are curious about this surgery). Another tmi: it is so difficult to go #1. It comes out in little bits but not a constant flow. I swear it takes me 5 minutes just to go #1, but it is getting better. My throat is sore from the tube. I was told my throat was going to be dry and that is very true. Cough drops help that. My tongue is also sore and I'm guessing that is from where the tube was resting...it feels kinda swollen but that is getting better too. I know this all probably sounds worse than it is, but these are def true symptoms. And last but not least, you def look pregnant after all this. My stomach is swollen from the gas and I look like I'm probably 5 months pregnant. ha. Yesterday Dh and I tried to get out and walk around Old Market in hopes to get that gas flowing and I think it was too soon for me to get up and walk b.c when we got home, I was in tears from being so sore and my stomach looked 9 months pregnant. Today we are not going to do much walking! Each morning, except for Wed, we have been going to do my ovulation series where they are doing the ultrasound to observe my follicle and it's progression towards ovulation. So we are about to go do that now.

Sunday: This weekend I am finally feeling better walking around. My body feels as if it is finally getting back to normal...except the bathroom issue....I swear that if tomorrow comes and I am still having issues with not being able to go #2, I'm going to scream. I've done everything from drink water, to take vitamins, to eat iber cereal, to walk around, etc. EVERYTHING! UGH!

Each morning we have been going to PPVI to observe ovulation through the ultrasound series. My follicle has increased by .2 each day. Yesterday it was at 1.8, today it was at 1.99. I'm hoping that tomorrow it will burst and Tuesday it will be gone so that I can go home early!!! I'm really homesick now. Yesterday was a really hard day. DH had to fly home and y'all, I swear it was as if I wasn't going to see him for months. I was crying and crying. Momma came in on the flight Dh was leaving on so it was nice to have family still around. Yesterday mom and I went to mass and I couldn't even make it through the mass. I was so emotional. I couldn't stop crying. I have all sorts of emotions running through my mind. Up to this point I feel as if my faith was pretty strong....now it's being tested and I'm not doing so well with fighting that. I was in the dumps yesterday. I have these thoughts about the future and the whatifs are just killing me. Thank goodness today is better. Mom seems to think that three days after surgery your adrenaline system drops after being so high during my stress of the surgery so my emotions just went wack!

We are about to head out for mass at St. Cecilla's Cathedral here in Omaha. It looks like a beautiful church so I'm anxious to go. Let's hope my emotions stay stable! ha. I'm excited about my day tomorrow because I get to finally meet Hebrews and she is bringing along Screllos!!! Yay! I need to catch up on Screllos today so I know who she is, haha, but either way, I can't wait to finally meet some bloggers:):):)

Updated: Day 2: Surgery, Day 3: Starting Recovery

I'm alive:) Good morning girlies. It's a beautiful chilly day in Omaha. Dh just took dad to the airport and when he got back, I was finally able to get in the shower. I felt so yuck...feels great to be clean. Dh just cooked me a little breakfast and now I'm enjoying coffee and writing to all of you.

Surgery day: We got to Creighton Med Center at 7:00 a.m. Honestly, I was feeling good. I wasn't really nervous at all. Compared to what I experienced in March with the emergency tube removal, this was nothing. The only thing I was really nervous about was the damn IV. Ugh...hate those. Nurse came in to get me and prep me for surgery. After prep, they told me I would be able to see dad and dh before surgery. Prep time was good. They get you all dressed up in the gown, tights (to prevent clotting and continue blood flow through legs, and a shower cap. The coolest part was the gown. On the gown there were two vacuum like holes, like where you plug in a vacuum. They plug a vacuum like tube into the hole and it blows warm air into your gown!!! This was amazing to me! Especially because I was freezing my rear off, like always. Of course you look like you are 50 lbs heavier with ginormous boobs because of all the air in the gown, but who cares....I was finally cozy. The nurse (Karen, she was wonderful!) told me that patients tend feel better when their body is warm compared to being chilly. So that was a nice treat. Then came the IV. I asked Mrs. Karen if she could possibly numb me before giving me the IV and SHE DID! Y'all I was so happy. As silly as this sounds, my stress level dropped completely. She numbed the area and the IV when right in without hurting...thank the Lord! After prep time, dad and dh came into join me for a good 30 min before surgery. Side note: Everyone is so helpful and sweet at Creighton. We had a very positive experience and everyone talked so highly of Dr. Hilgers. Right before they wheeled me back to surgery, Dr. H came in to talk to us. He is so nice. He made me laugh a few times and I remember saying to him right before he left to take care of me....he said absolutely!

2) After surgery: I remember waking up to sweet dh kissing my forehead. At first I was so out of it I thought, who is this weird person so close to my head! ha. I didn't have my contacts in so everything was a really blurry. Then I remember dad feeding me apple sauce while dh would feed me sprite. I was sooo out of it! One thing I was so pleased with was the anesthesia. I had told the nurses and the anesthetist that I got really sick last time from the anesthesia, so they gave me a patch and extra meds so that I wouldn't get sick after. That was great because not once did I feel sick. I took up the whole time in recovery. Pretty much slept the whole time unless dh or dad were trying to give me something to eat/drink to give me energy. Overall, I never felt any pain...not even gas pain because of the good meds. Then I remember them wheeling me to the car. It was over. It really wasn't that bad at all. BUT, as the nurse was wheeling me out I remember her asking if she would be seeing me again and I remember my dad immediately stepping in and changing the subject. That is when I knew something was a bit wrong. UGH!

3) When we got home and got situated in bed, I asked dh and dad to come talk with me. Dr. H had given them pictures from the surgery and I wanted to see them and hear what the outcome was. And then the tears came. I asked dad and dh if I had to come back for another surgery and they fell silent. SHIT!!!!! Excuse the language but that is what I immediately thought. I started bawling. Dh and dad were comforting me and explaining to me what Dr. H told them. Back track really quick....yesterday while we were meeting with Dr. for the first time and he was reviewing my charts and blood work, he pointed out my FSH and LH levels and how they were opposite than what they should be....therefore he had a thought that I could have PCOS. But, he said that my charts weren't showing it so we wouldn't know until after surgery. Well, that is what it is. I have stupid PCOS! UGHHHHHHHHHH! I also have endo in alot of different areas. Not much, that I know of right now, but it is scattered around in different little spots. You know what makes me soooo angry. Why the hell didn't my doctor at home know this. When she removed my tube I remember her telling all of us that everything inside looked fabulous....yeah right. Shows how much she knows!

4) So, Dh and I are about to go meet with Dr. H to watch the video on the surgery and hear the followup. I hope he can schedule be sooner than later for my next surgery. I'll update this afternoon.....

UPDATE:::

5) Just got back from follow up with Dr. H. We watched the video of my surgery and he was very thorough in his explanations of what is wrong. There is more endo than I thought....shoot, I didn't think I would have much if any but then after seeing the video, I have plenty. Amazing this was not recognized by my dr at home. Also, my ovaries are very enlarged. I do have PCOS and he is going to have to go in and to a wedge resection of both ovaries. He said once this is done, he will sow them back up and they will rid themselves of the cyst like follicles that surround the ovaries. So he will do both the endo and PCOS surgery all at once. Oh and my uterus is inflamed a bit and he thinks this is a low grade infection caused by the endo possibly. He will treat that with antibiotics for both me and dh after my next surgery.

Good news: He has rescheduled my surgery for Nov 23rd, the Tues of Thanksgiving week. Holy cow. I was thinking it wasn't going to be until Jan or so with his busy schedule but they can fit me in that week. So we will be back out here soon. That really comforted me knowing it is going to be sooner than later. I will be in hospital for 3 nights and then we will prob try to fly home that Sat to beat the Thanksgiving traffic. He did say I was to  be out of work for 4-6 weeks so this works perfectly with the teaching schedule because it goes right into the Christmas holidays so I really won't be missing as much as I would have had it been scheduled another time. Maybe it will be snowing out here....that would be a good reward for me. I love the snow and having not been around it in a while, I would love to see it then. 

Overall, I am very pleased with Dr. H and what he has discovered. I'm amazed that none of this was determined previously with my dr. at home...especially b.c it is so obvious to the human eye. After the surgery I will have to be put on meds for progesterone, antibiotics, and possibly that endo diet. I feel good about all of this now after hearing from Dr. H. I do feel the Lord in all of this. I can't imagine where we would be if it weren't for knowing about Dr. H. Also, I feel like we really aren't wasting or missing time because we wouldn't have been able to start trying right away to begin with. So, we will have to wait a little longer but not bad. Plus, hearing Dr. H's enthusiasm and his guesstimate on my chances on getting pregnant being high, I feel much better.

Going to go rest now. Oh and I still have to remain up here in Omaha through next week so that they can observe ovulation. I'm right on track with my cycle on where we thought I'd be so that is good.  Dh and I are planning on going to see a movie this afternoon. Thank you all for your support. I took pictures and will be posting them soon. Also, I have some pleasant thoughts about my experience up here outside these facts that I've been talking about. I'll share those in a later post too. 

Have any of you gone through this wedge resection surgery??? Curious to know about others experiences with this....

Day 1: Pre-Op, Meet Dr. Hilgers

Morning ladies! It's a windy day here in Omaha. Dad, dh and I are sitting here in Scooter's coffeehouse catching up on the day's news so I thought I'd start todays blog and update about the afternoon apts later.

We got in last night and immediately went to dinner...I was starving! Dad, having previously been here, picked out Vivace. Yummy!!! Thank goodness they were open. I was thinking we were going to have to eat fast food at 9 at night but I was wrong, thank goodness. Right away I got a great feeling about Omaha. It's a great city and I love Old Market...its fabulous. I can't wait to go looking through the shops when my momma gets out here. Anyway, dinner and conversation were great. Now its time to go see our little house we rented.

I was so excited to finally be here. I'm in pretty good spirits. I was anxious to see our house! We pulled up and I just lovvvved it! Any of u ladies who are coming out here must try and rent it. We are paying $100 a night (totaling to &1,400, which includes a $300 deposit that we get back) compared to the Residence Inn that was going to charge us $4,500 for our stay. RIDICULOUS! I freeked out with that and went to VRBO.com and found this cute place! Any questions, just email me. Anyway, it's very cozy and has all the amenities you need. The neighborhood is also very pleasant, which adds to the charm of the house.

Days Agenda:
1) Pre Op: We went to Creighton Medical Hospital to do my lab work....took blood, did urine sample, talked with nurse about surgery. Pretty nice hospital with lovely people. Had to pick up my enema...UGH...because I have to do that tonight after dinner. Talk about nasty! I'm making my dad and husband go watch TV in the basement...haha...and leave me alone!

2) After pre-op we drove around Omaha to get more familiar with the city....lovely place. It really has a great lay out and a great feel. There are some pretty neighborhoods and with all the fall leaves changing, it was a perfect little drive.  After drive we went to PPVI to do my ultrasound and bone density scan. They do this before your meeting with Dr. H. Ours was at 11, and our meeting with Dr. H was at 2:30 so we ate lunch in between. Anyway, ultrasound...they just check out the ovaries and see what the follicle is doing. Mine is right on track with where we though so ovulation should occur before we head out next week. Perfect timing! Then they did the bone density scan which is just a check to make sure that all is well with your calcium intake and the health of your bones....sometimes hormonal imbalances can lead to poor density so they just check. I swear these people are so thorough! Love it:)

3) Fun side note. After lunch we drove right down the hill from PPVI and went to Jones Bros Cupcakes...can I say YUM! Look them up on facebook and discover their flavor cupcake of the day that you are there and go inside and tell them the flavor and they give you a free cupcake!!! Today was Peanut Butter M&M and I just walked in and said, Peanut Butter M&M and they gave us all a free cupcake:) Just a fun little something that was deliciously yummy:)

4) After lunch headed back to PPVI to meet Dr. H. I swear I have been waiting for months to meet this man and the time has finally come! Thank goodness. We walked upstairs to the lobby and the ladies at the desk are just so sweet. We immediately struck up conversation and I felt so welcome. We met with nurse and Dr. H's other Dr. who is doing her fellowship. She was awesome. She checked over my chart and we chatted and then game Dr. H. Y'all he is so nice! He has a great personality. Right away we felt so comfortable with him. He is really tall...I wasn't expecting that. Or, maybe I am just really short! ha. So what he said about me:
     a. Progesterone: Classified me as Type III. Basically my progesterone drops before it should. That is fixable!
     b. Brown blood: I have this every day of my period...not good but he will deal with it. He says it is either a low grade infection or caused b.c of hormonal issues. Guess we will figure all that out after surgery tomorrow.
     c. Limited mucus/bad cramps: Prob endo.
     d. Thyroid: going to be put on T3 after my surgery.
This was all his prediction about what was going on, but as we know, we will figure out much more after the surgery.

All in all, I feel really good about tomorrow. I can't wait to hear what he has to say. I won't be posting tomorrow, prob...who knows, but I will be sure to update you. Hope this was informative enough for those who are curious about PPVI!

We are on our way out to eat a light dinner. Then I have to do the damn enema...crap:) Literally! haha. tmi!

Tired, so will download pictures later. Hugs and pray:) LOVES

ON MY WAY TO OMAHA!!!!!

So dh and I are sitting in the airport waiting to board our flight. We will arrive in Omaha tonight. I can't believe the time is already here. As y'all know, my stupid internet at home hasn't been working so I am excited our house in Omaha that we rented has wireless.I feel so behind on some of your lives. I was able to check up on thurs but not since then. We have a 3 hour layover in Atlanta so I plan on catching up on my phone...not my fav way to use internet but it will have to work! I love the big screen of computer and can't stand the small screen on my phone, but it will have to do.

Ok enough blabbing...soooo I will write tomorrow telling about my pre op meeting and visit at the institute. Then surgery is wed morning. So if y'all can, remember to pray this week for me! Come thursday I should be fine and will write to let y'all know how things went. It's here...I can't believe I'm writing about all this...agh!!!

How am I feeling? I'm a bit anxious and apprehensive, but for the most part excited as all heck. I can't wait to get this all under way.I find myself to be less stressed now that I am done organizing my sub and getting things at school all prepped and ready. I went to mass at the monestary this morning and all the sweet little nuns were all wishing me well...I got a bit emotional but that is expected. Recently I have got more emotional when I talk about going and hoping for success, but I understand that is normal. I just still can't believe we are having to go through all this...it still boogles my mind that something I thought was going to be so easy, turned out to be the most difficult venture we have ever faced. But hey, the Lord is good and he has his reasons and I have to keep reminding myself to trust, trust, trust!! So that is what I'll being doing these next two weeks.

Hugs and loves to all of you. Thank you so much for your support. You have been my srength!! I love you all even though I don't know you in person! Haha. crap, flight about to board. Gotta go!

One of those days...

So yesterday was one of those days. I had HORRIBLE cramps and was pretty moody for all my students. And with them being teenagers, they understood that there aren't many bad days for me so when one comes around, they know to act on their very best....haha...don't mess with me when I am cramping! I ended up canceling my meetings after school and even canceled my workout. I went straight home, took a hot bath (love!) and handled my cramping the best way I knew how. Gosh I can't wait to get this crap sorted!

So I ended up taking a nap on the couch. Dh woke me up sweetly...love him:) and began cooking us dinner. Usually I try to make dinner since he works late but sweetly he just took it into his own hands. It's rare that I have bad days so when I do, he knows just how to treat me...thank goodness!

And then the tears came...oh goodness....it was like a waterfall. I received a picture text of my new little cousin and although I was so happy for them, I all of a sudden realized "Wow, it's gonna be a while before I have one of those..." And immediately, I started bawling! Awe, it was so sad looking back. It was uncontrollable. So dh just rubbed my back and I just let it all out. Poor thing, I know he wants one just as bad. Seeing the tears in his eyes makes me ache 10x more.

I trust in the Lord's hands. I know that I wasn't given this passion to adore children not to have any myself. It's just the patience of it all. The waiting on the Lord's plan. GOSH that is so hard to do! I have read many of your blogs and have read your sad times too. That has helped me a lot. I realize that I will have my hard days and I will have my good days. Lately I have had more good than bad, thank goodness. I'm a pretty positive person, so my bad days are few. But it's the not knowing what lies ahead that scares me. I have my visit in Omaha next week....I am so excited...yet anxious too. BUT, what I am really nervous about isn't the surgery or the diagnosis, it's the after part. I am not looking forward to those months where I wait wait wait and then the damn period comes....UGH! Over the past 6 months we have been abstaining....that actually has been easier than I thought. It really hasn't been bad at all. I knew I couldn't get pregnant so I was actually looking forward to getting my periods because that helped pass the time with getting to Omaha. It's the waiting on the damn period and it coming that stinks. It's the late period, the excitement, then the let down of the period coming a few days late. Allllll that drama that comes along with trying and then it not working is what I am not looking foward to. But like my mom says, "Don't put the horse in front of the cart....you never know what God has in store so there is no need in worrying. Worrying only changes the worrier."

I know you all have experienced or are experiencing this as we speak....or maybe even for months or years. It doesn't make me feel better that you all have to go through this too. But, it does comfort me to know that I have my bloggers out there praying with me and for me. So thank you bloggers for adding more trust to my life...more understanding...more light...more knowledge....more appreciation....all that stuff you have brought to my life....thanks:)

P.S. Today is a better day:) At least I always know there are better days ahead right!

P.P.S. Oh and for any of you bloggers who are curious about PPVI or Dr. H and haven't experienced it before or if you have anything you want me to address in my blog while I am out there, ask/tell away. I plan on writing about my experience out there but if there is anything specific you want to know, let me know and I can hopefully include that in my blog for the upcoming weeks at PPVI.  The reason I say this is because I had hundreds of questions and a lot of them were answered by those bloggers who have had the experience and I am so thankful for that. So if I can be of any help, let me know:)

Not much longer:):):)

Ok so never did I think I would be so darn excited about meeting with an infertility specialist! haha. Oh what my life has come to...you never know, do you?! Eight days till we leave on our flight to Omaha. 

I have felt so out of the loop on blogging. Our stupid internet connection is down bc something happened a lightning storm a few weeks ago and since then it hasn't worked. I keep asking DH to get his pal over to fix it, but that isn't one of the top things on his list so he keeps forgetting. No biggie....if I could just remember to remind him it would get fixed sooner but I keep forgetting...haha. I have had time to check others blogs because I can use my phone but as far as typing a blog post from my phone, that takes to darn long. So, here I am at the coffee shop catching up on blogs and posting on this beautiful Sunday. Oh and the house that we rented in Omaha has wireless so I will definitely be more up to date come next week!! Y'all be ready to pray please:)

Life is going pretty swell. DH and I have been busy with work and football on the weekends. We also have been out of town with weddings, baptisms, family reunions recently. But that has been good b.c it has made Oct fly by quickly and I needed that. I have my sub all ready for taking over my classes. I'm reallllly nervous about him to be honest....especially with him having do deal with teenagers when he is at least 65. My principal recommended him. He taught French for many years to middle schoolers and high schoolers but for some reason I'm thinking he is one of those who the kids can run all over...make sense? He is almost too nice. He really a sweet man though. He comes all dressed up in his tie and the kids love that. He has subbed a couple of times recently but only for a little bit during the day for other teachers.Yet he seems almost too laid back. Put it this way, he seems tooottallllyyy oppposite than me. I'm full of energy, always on the go, upbeat and enthusiastic in my teaching, yet strict enough to have total control of the my teenager students. He seems like that man on that movie who is the teacher with the monotonous voice and very subdued...do you know who I am talking about??? Like that teacher who says "Bueller...." hahaha...Come to think of it, they even kinda look alike!  Can't think of movie... Anyway, I made plans for him and gave them to him 2 weeks ago so that he could be fully prepared when he takes over next week. He is also going to come and shadow me on Thursday to observe how things work. I'm hoping this all goes well. But to be honest, I have done all that I can do to prepare him and now I just have to let go and let God.... I mean, I really don't need to be stressing over this but I'm sorta a control freek about certain things...perhaps I just need to chill. Soooo that is what I am going to practice on this week....chilling out! My body doesn't need all this unnecessary stress/anxiety. The time has come, now I can just put it in his hands....the kids will live and so will he...hopefully! 

Has anyone bought Dr. H's new book??? I ordered it on Amazon and am in the middle of reading it and am learning away. My plan is to finish it will I'm out in Omaha. Anyway, it is worth the read. Gosh am I thankful for this man...and I haven't even met him yet! I'm continuing to be an open book to people about this whole experience. I met with one of my friends today. She uses the SymptoThermal Method of NFP and isn't having much success. She is having some issues and all she wants to do is be informed yet her doctor can't give her any darn information. Long story but basically her doctor after 2 months is already referring her to an infertility specialist and she can't even tell her why!!!!  I sat down with her today and explained Napro and she is now going to go see my Napro practitioner and start learning this method. I'm so happy that she is going to explore this. One down....many more to go:)

Ok...it's too beautiful to stay inside any longer. I'm headed home to get changed and take dog for a walk. Hopefully DH can come with me. Hope you are all having a lovely Sunday. One week from today I'll be packing my suit case:):):) 

Spreading the NaPro message!!

I cannot stop thinking about NaPro! I keep thinking...How can I spread this message? Well, I was all about writing a letter to the Today show after hearing them talk about the birth control patch, etc. Then I got to thinking, I can't conquer the world, but I can do small things steps at a time. So, here I start! Today I emailed the NFP instructors in the Archdiocese. They know my dh and I because we met with them during the classes before we got married. So, I emailed her asking if I could possibly set up a meeting with them in the near future. My plan is to discuss with her all the wondrous things I have learned about Dr. H and Napro in hopes that she can help me spread the word through these young Catholic couples in our area. 

I got to thinking this past week, all Catholics have to go through these classes before marriage...it is a requirement of the Archdiocese. So, think of all the couples we could reach out to and simply expose them to this topic! Of course we had no idea we would struggle with IF but when we started to struggle we had NOWHERE to turn! We simply looked up to our doctor because we trusted her....shouldn't we all?? But then after doing all this research I realized how little my doctor knew about treating my IF. She was trained like all other infertility specialists are trained....if you can't find or fix problem, go the artificial route! Her diagnosis for me was that my body had developed antibodies against my husbands sperm. Basically she said my mucus was killing dh's sperm. She determined this through post coital tests. Little did I know at that time that she wasn't preforming the tests at the right time of my cycle. She was preforming these tests according to the average woman's cycle. So she was checking me out on day 12 or 13 of my cycle b.c that was when she inferred that I was ovulating. WELL GUESS WHAT!!! I don't ovulate around those days. My typical time is around day 17/18 or so. SOOOO of course every time she went to test, dh's sperm were dead...they didn't have mucus to live in because I wasn't even close to ovulating yet!!! 

Sorry for yelling over the computer! ha. My whole point to this is that we trusted her judgment and then followed through with her wishes. Why? I was clueless and stunned. I had no idea I would have a problem and I had no idea how to fix it. So I looked up to my doctor for help. Had I been exposed to the topic of infertility and NaPro through Dr. H, I would have never gone down the road of the IUI. That is another whole story but the point is, I learned my lesson the hard way. I was lost and had no where to turn. I had no idea about PPVI. If my cousin didn't approach me with the idea of Dr. H, I know I would still be lost. AND THEN, after having my ectopic pregnancy, we had to go and discuss what the heck to do next. This was when I started to do more research. I knew that there had to be hope out there for us. In the meantime, guess what my Dr. told us to do???? She said, after your body heals from this emergency tube removal, you can start trying again in July through Dec. If you aren't pregnant by Dec, then come back and see me. WELL, in the meantime we discovered Dr. H. After getting all my blood series back from Dr. H, we discovered that I had very low progesterone. SOOOO basically if we would have continued to try like my Dr. told me to do, we would have had a miscarriage because my body couldn't carry the baby with so low progesterone. Look how little we discovered with my Dr. and how much we discovered with Dr. H!!!

So with all this being said, I plan to discuss all of this with the NFP directors here in hopes to get others involved. Even if I have to make myself present at one of these required meetings to introduce the topic, I will. I just hope they listen and let me expose this topic in this matter. Of course I will have to plan out what to say/teach, but I can do that if they let me. It seems the best way to spread this right now. So I invite all you to do the same. Does your Church require you to take this NFP class before marriage? If so, you should follow suit with me and help spread the message. 

NaPro on Today show...I wish:)

So last night I was watching Dr. Hilgers on The World Over, on EWTN. I had recorded the show on my DVR a couple weeks ago. Anyway, Dr. H was discussing PPVI and all his studies, basically giving an informative interview broadcasting Napro.  I got to thinking...THIS MAKES SOOO MUCH SENSE! Why don't women know more about this choice as oppose to artificial ways. UGH! How can we get this message out more???  Do we know if any of the Today show peeps are Catholic?? We should compose a letter and send it off to the Today show! They cover controversial topics all the time. They talked about birth control last week, so whose to say they can't cover this topic!! Shoot, and Sew can be our advocate:) haha. I'm so fired up about the recent blog drama which revolved around her blog stating her opinions...I love her! So sorry Sew to bring you up randomly, you were just on my mind!

Morning time:)

Random post time:)

Morning time is one of my favorite parts of the day. DH and I both have to leave the house for work at 7 am so we are up pretty early each morning. When we got married we decided that we wanted to have certain things that we wanted to carry out throughout our marriage...things that we would do daily...always. One of our favorite things we do is spend time together in the morning. It is quiet, the birds are chirping outside, the coffee is brewing and our sweet dog, Tide, waits patiently to be let out to go run and fetch the paper. That is his thing...he can't wait every morning to go get the paper.

Side note: The funny thing is that the other morning, I was a bit lazy and didn't feel like going to get Tide out of the kennel. So I went to get the paper myself. Welllll soon enough I hear ole Tide whining outside. I go to let him out and he runs to the gate to wait for me to let him out...but! I had already gotten the paper. So I called him to the door to let him in our house and he continues whining. DH realized that he was going to continue whining until we let him get the paper. So we had to wrtap the paper back in it's plastic bag, DH threw it out in the yard, and we sent Tide on his way to get the paper. He came back all cheery and immediately went and got on his bed in the house....all he needed was to get the paper and he would be fine:) Cute things. and it's a very relaxing time of the day. (Of course we don't have kids yet, so I can say this now).
  Our routine: I wake up take shower, then DH gets up and gets ready too. We are both out in the kitchen by about 6:10 each morning. I make the eggs, he brews the coffee and lets Tide out for the paper, then we sit down, eat, and then read the paper. It is so peaceful! I love it! We both have our special chairs that we sit in too! haha. We sound so old. Then about 6:45 or when we are done reading, it's prayer time. Each morning we designate time to pray to our sweet Lord together. Sometimes we will read out of our special books, Prayers for Married Couples, and sometimes we will pray our own prayers. Either way, we make time to pray. What a wonderful gift this is to be able to pray together. We started this right away in our marriage and I honestly think it has fostered our relationship so much. At first, we prayed so differently. Now, we are so used to praying together, we pray more alike than we ever have.
  Anyway, I was thanking God for this special time today and thought, hey, why not share my life more with the bloggers and help them get to know me better. Hope you all are having good days:) HUGS!

What does this mean?

 

Yesterday I posted my 3 charts that I got back so if you didn't see those and can help me out, please read yesterday's post. I forgot to add this to the mix. It all looks like jiberish to me:) Thanks for your imput! Oh and click on picture and a bigger one will appear. 

Charts back...help!

Ok ladies...here is where I need your help. What do you infer from these? (If you can read them..hope so)

 I have realized one thing...My progesterone is very low which would have resulted in miscarriage probably had I tried before going to see Dr. H. Thank the Lord for intervention!! I can't imagine having to go through all that again. What I don't understand are the first two charts...

I know that Dr. H will go over all these with me when I go up there. I also am meeting with my cousin (one of his practitioners) on Sunday to go over them but you are all so knowledgeable, I wanted your opinions.

Oh and he assumes I have TSD b.c my results came back 5.3 instead of the normal 10. ( I didn't attach that paper with all the long names of the testing but I will later b.c I left it at home.) He is having me do the temp/pulse readings CD5-9 and P+5-P+9.

So, what do you think....would love your input. HUGS:)

Making progress....

Aghh! My internet has been down for a week and I have been going crazy!! I honestly feel as if a part of my life was missing b.c I couldn't check up on my blog ladies!! All is well and internet is fixed.

CD1 was today and my cramps are about to make me vomit!As of now, I am waiting on my results from my series. I sent them about 3 weeks ago to Dr. H so I should be hearing back from PPVI soon about those results. We got our place to stay in Omaha. For those who have to go out there in the future, I did a lot of research and it is must less costly to rent a place instead of a hotel w/ kitchenette (Residence Inn). That was going to cost us $4,475 for the 11 nights that we have out in Omaha. I freaked out at that cost and decided to do some of my own research. It was the best idea! We are renting a home in Omaha in a cute area of town for $1,100!!!!! Since we were staying for more than 10 nights, she only charges $100 a night. Oh and we also have to put down a deposit, but we get that back!! The house is so cute too. It is perfect size and the pictures are so darn cute. It also has a fire place so I'm hoping that it will be chilly enough for a fire....love them! So I feel much better knowing that we saved money and we are going to be in a comfortable home, one that has had many great reviews from those who have stayed there before.


Now I am going to relax this weekend and try and catch up on your lives in the past week...I feel so behind! Hope you all have a glorious weekend.

Hugs, Loves and Blessings:)

It's my birthday!!

So today I am so very thankful for the gift of life! My day started out just right. I go running three days a week with my friend at 5:15 in the morning. And even though it is hard to get out of bed that early, once I get it done, it's actually quite a peaceful run...if that is possible! ha. After my run I came home and Dh cooked a yummy breakfast for me....eggs w/ ham and cheese grits!! LOVE CHEESE GRITS! After I finished eating I looked over at DH and he had this big smile on his face...it was finnnallly time to give me my bday present. He had been waiting and waiting (he is not very patient when it comes to surprises) and now the time was finally here. He looked like a little kid in a candy store, he was so excited to give me my gift.

I GOT DIAMOND EARRINGS!! 

Y'all, I was totally not expecting this type of gift!! I told dh that all I wanted was a sweet love note. And to be honest, I would have been totally satisfied with that too. I love love notes:) But after this past year, being one of the most difficult in certain realms of my life, he thought to make this bday extra special. But my cute husband wanted to give me something special that I could pass down to my own children. I immediately started crying. See, my engagement ring was his grandmother's ring, so he never had to go out and buy my engagement ring so he was sooo excited to give me this. It was almost like a second proposal. I'm still beaming:) Then of course he told me not to expect this type of present every bday! haha.

Tonight we are driving up to Birmingham to have dinner with my brother and sister in law and dh's brother and his girlfriend. I'm super excited. We are eating at Little Savannah, which is supposedly a fabulous little intimate restaurant with kick booty food! Tomorrow we then head to Tuscaloosa for the Penn State v. Alabama game!!! I am a total female football junky and am soooo excited about this game. I love Joe Pa but that doesn't mean I want them to win:)

And finally, I wanted to share a special thought with you. I went to mass this morning with my students. Of course, I praised the Lord for the gift of life but I also praised him for the gift of y'all in my life. I swear to you that I have become a better person through blogging. IS THAT NOT A CRAZY COMMENT! hahha. I'm laughing writing it! But honestly, I am daily surrounded my such wonderful women who have such trust in our Loving Lord and I have truly grown deeper in my faith because of you. So, thank you so much ladies for the positive impact you have had and are having on my life. I am so thankful for this day and I am so thankful for you!!!

HUGS and LOVES and have a wonderful weekend:) Oh and I will be sure to have a glass or two of vino for you preggers ladies who can't have one for me!!!