Lazy Weekend

David and I made plans to not make any plans this weekend. We didn't get to just lay around though. We did nothing Friday night and decided that we wanted to get up Saturday and head to the lake alone. We've never been on our boat alone, just the two of us. I was really looking forward to just getting out on the water and throwing the anchor out and just getting some sun.

I unloaded and loaded the boat all by myself! Well, David did have to adjust it after I loaded it, but the wind was blowing and I did my best!

That night we met some friends at the Tulsa Talons game. Do you remember when I said I just really wanted to get some sun that day?

Lobster girl! Eeek!

Holy Julie Chin! Check out the chipmonk cheeks! Why does my face look soooo round in pictures when I really don't see it when I look in the mirror? It's like a mean magic trick my face likes to play on me!

And of course I had to take a picture of this guy when I saw his jersey. I want a Peanut jersey! (If you don't already know, my first born's name is Peanut)

Shane

My parents have kept my nephew Shane (my brother Trey's baby) at the lake all week and last night they made a special trip up to see me and David.

We cooked burgers on the grill and spent time chasing Shane around (he doesn't like to sit still!)

He was trying to eat my granite counter tops!

He has named my mom "Nae Nae" and he calls my dad (his grandpa) "Daddy". It's so funny when he goes around the house calling out "Daddy!" and he's calling for my dad.

I don't get to see him very often so every time he seems so much bigger than the last time. He's only 14 months old but I had to keep reminding myself of this because he seems like he's more around 24 months. He's so independent and smart. And he says words (like Nae Nae and Daddy) and you can understand them. He walks around perfectly with no problems and was even going up and down the stairs like a little person, step by step, not crawling up and down.

I heart him!

Jaxon

Tuesday night I met Sarah up at the park to take some pictures of her son Jaxon. He's turning 2 in a few weeks and I wanted to practice with the news lens I'm renting right now.

I wasn't sure how it was going to go because I'm not good at chasing little ones around, trying to stand still and focus, and then trying to get them to look at me. It was like every time I got in his face he would turn around, so I got plenty of the back of his head!

But it was still fun and I got to try out the lens ( I still can't decide if I really like it or not yet). He got to play on the play ground and then we moved on to the splash pad, which is perfect for little kids who love the water. He kept himself entertained the whole time.

His tongue hangs out about 90% of the time. It's so funny!

Uh oh, where'd the tongue go?!?!

There it is!

No tongue :(
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And...
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There it is! I love it! He is so freakin cute, I could just eat him!

Dr. Appointment

Today we went to my post -op appointment with Dr. Blackwell to discuss what she found during my laparoscopy and what our options are now.

Basically, what I got out of it was that I had stage 2 endometriosis, so it really wasn't as severe as I was thinking. She said that it could possibly be "the cause" of our infertility but it could have still been a possiblity to get pregnant with the amount of endometriosis I had. So, it's really not "the answer" like I thought it was. In other words, it could be the answer but there is no way to know.

She said that at my age, we would still be ok trying 3 more IUIs or if we felt like we should move on to IVF, that would be ok too. If she had said that she was confident that the amount of endometriosis I had was probably causing all of our problems and removing it significantly increases our chances, it would have been very easy to say that we should just keep on doing the IUIs. But since she didn't really reassure me of anything, the decision was a little harder.

We decided to try one more IUI on my next cycle that will start in 2 weeks. And if that one doesn't work, then it's on to IVF. We've already started looking into how we would pay for the $15,000 procedure to see if that plan was even possible.

She did say that if I was 37, she would suggest to move on to IVF right away. But since I'm "only" 27, I have plenty of time (her words, not mine). I told her that I understand that I still have time, but we've also been trying for 2 1/2 years and it's just getting more and more frustrating. She completely understood and thought we were making the right decision for now.

So it really didn't go the way I had hoped and I ended up leaving in tears. It's just really, really frustrating to think we were getting somewhere and then to be told that we still really aren't sure what the problem is and we aren't really sure what we should be doing next.

So, stay tuned for the next month's appointments, fertility meds updates, insemination info, and the frustrated of the "two week wait". I know you're super excited...:)

Reunion

This past weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. Even though I had so much fun and was so happy to see everyone that I spent so many years with, I realized even more how much I want the next chapter in my life to begin.

Update on me and more pics

I'm feeling much better. I'm still having some pain around the incision areas and I get tired very easily but I think that's from laying around for 5 days straight. One of my incisions is still swollen, bruised and really sore, so I'm a little concerned about it but I'm sure it's normal.
I go back to work tomorrow and I really don't want to!!! I got used to my life at home with no place to go and I enjoyed it! But I guess I need to get back to reality.
I'm still really excited to get back to the doctor's office to talk about the next step and when we get to start it all over again. I'm hoping we get to try this next cycle.

Here are some more pics from Mexico...

Rain on slick tile walkways at resort + flip flops + a few too many cervasas = really big bruise! So not cute!

It was so windy!

A few pics

I have a little bit of free time in between the pain pills, my naps, and bathroom breaks, so I decided to post a few pictures from Mexico.







To be continued...

Closer

Well, I made it through the Laparoscopy yesterday. We got to the hospital at 6:00 am, and we didn't have to wait very long until they took us back for me to change and to start hooking me up to the IVs and taking blood and playing 20 questions about my health history before they took me into surgery.

I wasn't feeling nervous or anxious about any of it until I had to hand over my glasses to David and he kissed me and my mom told me bye. I almost broke down in tears right then. I don't know if it was because I all of a sudden got scared or if I was scared of what the Doctor was going to find or what. Who knows!

The actual procedure took about an hour and then I was wheeled back to Recovery. I woke up not too long after they took me to recovery but I was out soon after they gave me another dose of pain medicine. I could feel the pain in my stomach as soon as I woke up. My throat was in unbelievable pain too because of the tube they had to stick down it during surgery. But the nurses were amazing and gave me more pain medicine when I asked for it and were on top of getting me something to drink and warm blankets right away.

Around 10:15, they started the process of getting me released. They brought David and my mom back with my clothes and I was able to walk to a room to change in and get ready to go home. They wheeled me out and I was on my way. It felt like the the whole hospital stay was only like 2 hours long, I guess because I was out for most of it. But it just felt like I was in and out in no time.

Soooo...the results of the surgery are...I had severe Endometriosis mostly hanging around my left ovary. I didn't get a chance to really talk to the doctor, but she was able to talk to David and my mom and even show them pictures of it all. She told them that I also had lesions and some kind of band attached to something. I'm not sure what all of that means, but I will learn more at my post-op appointment on the 20th. But she was able to remove all of it which is really good news. I had to have 3 incisions, which I'm really feeling today. One was for the scope with the camera, one was to insert the gas to separate the organs, and I think the third one was to remove the endometriosis on my left ovary because it's on the left side of my stomach. They are all about the width of my fingernail, so really small. And the main one is inside my belly button, so there really won't be a visible scar there. The other is below my bikini line and the other one is on the left side of my stomach over my ovary, so that is the only one that will be visible. I'm so ok with that because I'm just so happy with the results!

I'm so happy that she actually found something in there because this is the first time we have found something that could be causing all of our problems! And the fact that it was surrounding my left ovary makes so much sense because I have HORRIBLE cramps with every period as far back as I can remember and it's always more on the left side than anything.

I am so excited to move on now and I'm way more optimistic than ever. I told David last night that I'm so excited with these results that it almost feels like I just got a positive pregnancy test! I know I'm jumping ahead of myself with that, but that's the kind of excitement I have. After 2 1/2 years of not knowing what could possibly be wrong, we finally found a "why".

I'm also worried that I might be getting my hopes up. But, like I said, I will know more when we go to the post-op appointment. But it sucks that I have to wait 2 weeks!

As far as how I'm feeling...yesterday seemed to go really good. I was awake for most of the day. But I didn't sleep very good at all. I tossed and turned because it hurt to lay on both of my sides and when I would lay on my back too long, I would start getting really bad back pains. The gas that they put inside me is moving all around and it causes sharp pains in my chest and shoulders when I stand up for too long and now in my lower back when I lay down for too long. Today, the pain seems worse around my incisions, but I was able to nap for most of the day. My tummy is swollen and it looks like I'm in the early stages of a pregnancy. But I would have to say the worst part of it all is the gas. I'm hoping that goes away soon!

Thank you to all of my friends and family that have called or texted to check on me and to show their support. Thank you so much Chelsea for the flowers that I got as soon as I got home from the hospital. Thank you mom for coming up and taking care of me and for watching endless hours of trashy tv with me. And thank you David for being supportive through all of this when you have so much going on at work and I know how stressed out you are.

I so happy this is finally over and I'm so excited to move on with more hope than ever.

Laparoscopy

Tomorrow's the day. We have to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. and then the surgery is supposed to start at 7:30. I think it's supposed to take take less than an hour, depending on if they find anything that needs to be cleaned out or not. And then I will be in recovery for about 2 hours, then I get to go home.

David took the day off and my mom came up tonight to be here if I need her. I was told I need to have someone with me for at least 48 hours after the procedure.

I'm not really nervous for the actual procedure, just for the pain afterwards. I'm also a little nervous for the results. I can't decide if it would better for them to find something and clean it out (then we would know that might be the cause of all of our problems), or is it better for there to be nothing there and we are back at the very beginning, not knowing what the problem is. What sucks about finding nothing there is that we won't know what to fix. But at the same time, if we can't find anything, more than likely we will get to move on and just go for the IVF (after we figure out exactly how we are going to pay for it).

Keep your fingers crossed...I don't what for, but isn't that what you are supposed to say? I guess at least keep your fingers crossed that the pain isn't too severe :)

What a week...

Last Thursday, June 24th, we were all packed up and headed to Mexico. On the way downt there I kept checking the weather for the week and I kept seeing that it was supposed to rain every day that we were going to be down there. I didn't think too much about it because everyone knows that it rains off and on in Mexico all the time, but it's never really a big deal...unless...there's a hurricane! Yep, that's right, Hurricane Alex decided to head to Playa the same time we did :(

We arrived in Cancun around 2:00 and by the time we went through Customs and retrieved our bags (mine was ripped open and the zipper broken, btw, but David managed to make a quick fix to it so I could make it to the hotel), and then waited for our shuttle to take us to the resort it was after 3:00 and then it was about an hour drive to Playa. So we checked in, got to our rooms and rinsed off and then headed to find something to eat.

We got up the next morning ready to have some breakfast and head to the pool for a day in the sun. Well, it started out ok, but then the rain came and it didn't look like it was going to let up. We went to our rooms to wait it out. We napped and watched tv all afternoon. Then we got ready for dinner again and headed to the lobby for the night's entertainment.
The next few days all seemed to go the same way because we couldn't really plan anything because of the weather. We did book a snorkeling trip but it got postponed because of the rain and then it eventually was cancelled because of the wind, even though the sun was out. That was disappointing because I think we all were looking forward to that. We did get to enjoy one full day in the sun on the beach and at the pool and we even got a little bit of a sunburn!
I hope to have more pictures of Mexico posted as soon as I can get them all uploaded.

We got home this past Wednesday night and it was back to work on Thursday. I had 2 full days of work trying to get caught back up after being gone for a week. But I can't complain because it made the days go by super fast and before I knew it, it was time for the 3 day weekend!

Again, we didn't really know what to plan for the weekend because the rain was headed our way yet again. So we decided to stay home and if it cleared up, we would just go to Skiatook for the day because it's only about a 30 minute drive from our house to the boat ramp.
Saturday morning, we got up early and David cleaned the boat and I got the food and everything ready for us to go out on the boat. We had plans for 3 other couples to go out with us too. We also kept wathing the weather reports on tv to see if it was even worth it to go out or if it was just going to rain all day. Well, we could tell really quick that it wasn't going to clear up anytime soon, so we cancelled the day at the lake and decided to just have a lazy day around the house and it was so nice to catch up on my sleep.
Saturday night, we decided to have a few friends over for a cookout, watch the UFC fight, and to set off a few fireworks. It turned out really good and we had alot of fun. I wish I would have taken pictures...dang it!
We got up Sunday morning and the sun was shining! So we got everything packed up and headed out to Skiatook. We were very tired from the night before but we weren't going to miss out on the sunshine!
After the nice, relaxing day at the lake David and I went out to eat on our way home. After we got everything unloaded, we went out for some ice cream and came home and popped the remaining fireworks that we had. It was amazing to see all of the fireworks that people all around us were shooting off. It really was by far one of my favorite 4th of July nights.

I hope American had a very Happy Birthday!