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!