Holy Baby!

10 weeks and 4 days

Baby: "Thank you Lord for blessing me with awesome Parents. I'm going to be one lucky Baby! Amen."

By the way, Baby is the size of a prune!

My Mom ROCKS!

There is a bakery back home called Halepaska's. They make like my favorite cookie ever. When I was talking to my Mom the other day I hinted that it would be so awesome if she could MAIL me some. Well, she did! They were on my porch when I got home today and I've already had 4. Ahhhh...what a way to end the week!

Wow.

3/10/10 (4w6d)-A couple of days ago, Susan told me she had lost 13 pounds. 13! And I had only lost 5. In almost 1 month—5 measly pounds. I am 10 or 11 days late, ta-tas are sore, quite a bit of low back pain, lightheadedness, metallic taste in my mouth, and I am bloated. 4 nights ago I laid down to go to bed and my heart rate would not slow. My blood pressure was fine, I was picturing myself somewhere nice, and it was still racing. None of this added up. My period has been late before and showed up as soon as the thought even crept in my mind that maybe this month would be it!

So, today I got to Big Spring 30 minutes early and decided to buy a test at Dollar Tree. I never buy tests. I quit buying pee sticks a long time ago. Even when we went through in vitro and everything else, I refused to pee on a stick because as long as I never saw just one line, it meant there was still hope. But, today I did and I don’t know why. I grabbed a cup from the break room and then headed to the bathroom, preparing myself all the while and just being thankful I paid $1 and not $14 for this little stick.

No sooner than I squirted 4 drops, 2 lines show up. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. I grabbed the box and made sure my eyes were not deceiving me. I tore the box open and looked on the inside to make sure those directions matched the directions on the back. I double checked again to make sure 2 lines indeed meant ‘pregnant’. And there they were—2 pink lines as dark as could be. I checked again and again (and again).

I sent Jevon a text real quick that said “omg call me now.” And he did. And he said “that’s good!!” And then in his next breath said, “Does that mean we get to kick Nutrisystem?!” I had all these creative things planned on how I was going to tell him when/if this day arrived and had envisioned in my head of how this would all unfold and well, that went out the door in a split second. He got a text--how cute and creative! I called the Dr. and left a message because oh my goodness I never expected this. After this, I had to sit through a 2 hour meeting (don’t even ask me what it was about because I don’t have a clue). I stopped by Wal-Mart on my way home and bought 4 more tests-different brands. When I walked up to the counter to check out, the lady grabbed her microphone and said, “I need a price check” and then laughed. What a comedian.

I got home and did the other 4 tests. 2 had errors (too much urine or something) and the other 2 were positive. I’ve checked them I don’t know how many times just to make sure. I keep waiting for “SIKE” to show up in small letters and the lines to disappear.

(Yeah I peed on those and took a picture AND posted it. Sue me.)

After 2 years of trying all sorts of stuff, sticking myself with shots (and Jevon sticking me with shots), many many tears, an impending surgery, and $25,000 later—this happens. Never in my wildest dreams. I am still in shock. I am excited, relieved, nervous, scared, hopeful, uncertain, in disbelief, and a million other things all rolled into one. Mostly shock. It still hasn’t sunk in (probably won’t for awhile).

3/11/10 (5w)- I had orders to get my blood work done this morning just to confirm that what I saw yesterday was indeed what I thought it was. And it was. My beta HCG level was 3,180. Last time I went through this, my level never got over 230. The nurse is guessing that I am around 6 weeks. She scheduled me to have blood work again on Monday to make sure my HCG is rising.
I want to shout from the rooftops how thrilled I am, but I know better. I am completely aware that this can be ripped from me at any given moment. It has before and I was heartbroken. I don’t know what I will do if that happens again.

The next 4 days are going to be the longest.days.of.my.life.

3/15/10 (5w4d)- I went in for my blood work at 8:30 this morning. This time my diagnosis said ‘pregnancy’. Last year when I went through all this mess, the diagnosis was always ‘threatened abortion’. I was so relieved to see ‘pregnancy’. I don’t know why, I just was.

Last Thursday the nurse called me with my results within 2 hours. Today, 7 hours had passed and I still had not heard anything. I was preparing myself for the worst and convincing myself that my level had dropped and that the Dr. needed to review my results and that she was busy and they would get to me at the end of the day. I finally grew a pair and decided to just call. Imagine my relief when the nurse said, “I’ve been waiting for them to come in and I keep checking but they haven’t sent it yet. “ Big sigh. I gave her the hospital number and waited an hour and 15 minutes for her to call me back. I always try to read her voice, but I never can. She just said, “It went up to 9,356!” I wasn’t really prepared to hear her say that. I had my list in front of me of questions to ask about what to do next (discontinue progesterone, will I have to have a D&C, could I go ahead and go through with the surgery I am scheduled for, etc.). BUT, I didn’t have to ask her any of that. I had no questions written down to ask her if she had good news for me because I did not prepare myself for that.

So, I am now scheduled for my first ultrasound on 3/22/10. A whole week away. I am trying not to stress or worry about the what-ifs and live in this moment and embrace the fact that I am indeed pregnant as of today and just enjoy it.

3/22/10 (6w4d)- I threw up twice last night. I convinced myself that it was due to Perez’ Tamales that I had at Trade Days. Not a good idea. My appointment was at 10:30 and we didn’t go back until close to 11:20. My nerves were shot. I had prepared myself for the worst and expected to see an empty sack and to just be thankful that this cycle only cost us $90. No sooner than she had the ultrasound going, I saw the little flutter and my eyes started to tear up. The Dr. said, “There’s the heartbeat—do you see it?!?!” I think I was in shock. Again, I hadn’t prepared myself for GOOD news and was just at a loss for words. Dr. P was even able to tell which ovary produced the egg (she said the left one gets the gold star). She typed “HI MOMMY AND DADDY” on the screen and we left the office with 3 pictures of our little sprout, which by the way is the size of half a sunflower seed (7mm). We were informed that we should see a “gummy bear” next time.

It was such an amazing thing to watch the heartbeat. 125 beats per minute and I am measuring at 6 weeks 4 days with a due date of November 11th. Dr. P said that once a heartbeat is detected, there is an 80% chance of a live birth. I am scheduled again for April 9th and 19th for ultrasounds (if everything looks good at those appointments, the percentage goes up to 97%) and will then be released to my OB/GYN.

I am content, I am at peace and I am relieved at this point. I am still in a little bit of shock, but I feel a little bit of weight has been lifted off me and that I can relax and get a little excited.

3/23/10 (6w5d)- I woke up last night to a bloody nose. Ew. I’m still not convinced I have another human being growing inside me. Other than being tired, I haven’t felt bad at all. I know I should knock on wood, but I almost want to feel SOMETHING so that it makes this all a little more real. I told Jevon that yesterday ranked up there with the day David Copperfield made me disappear and when I met Matchbox Twenty and when I graduated from college and of course our wedding day. There are lots of other special days, but yesterday was just surreal.

4/9/10 (9w1d)- We had our second ultrasound today and got to see and hear the heartbeat. 185 bpm and the little critter was moving around quite a bit (I told Jevon that it was doing the Macarena or was just saying, “Feed me Cattle Barron!”—which it got later, by the way). It was the neatest thing to see. It’s amazing to me that so much has changed in the 18 days since our last ultrasound. You can make out the head, body, arms and legs. I was in awe. I think Jevon was, too. I’m unable to put into words how today felt. It was a relief and just an awesome experience. It became more real to me.

I am scheduled for another ultrasound with my RE on 4/19/10 and unfortunately Jevon will be living the NASCAR dream (again) and won’t be able to go with me. That will also be my “graduation day” and I will be released to my OB. I am scheduled for a Nuchal Translucency (NT) Scan on 4/28/10 to assess the risk of Downs and other chromosomal abnormalities. Really though, I decided to have it so I could have another opportunity to see our little sprout (or Peanut, Miracle, or Gilbert depending on who you are talking to).

I still have not had any morning/day sickness. I feel tired a lot, but that’s about it. No complaints from me! You know what though? At this point I could have my head in a toilet and probably still have a smile on my face. If it means me being pregnant, I will gladly take it over the alternative.

Catch Up

My MAC had to visit the Geek Squad. Apparently the hard drive crashed and they were unable to recover anything from my computer. Yep--all my pictures are gone...everything. Thankfully I have this blog so I am able to at least save the pictures that I have uploaded on here.

Anyway, things have been busy around here. Jevon's trike is done so we took a ride to Big Bend over Easter. More on that in a later post. We went to a FiberMax banquet last week (made the 1 Ton Club Again!) and got to see the Cactus Cuties perform again. And like the first time we saw them, they were AMAZING.

Also, I have some news I need to share tomorrow, but everything I have written regarding that is saved up at work on a flash drive. Hopefully tomorrow I will get that posted. Until then, I'll leave you with a picture from the banquet:

His Majesty

Dash got new food/water bowls! I think they are cute and I think he likes them, too! If you've never checked out In The Company of Dogs, you should! They have neat stuff for our four legged friends.

Simply Sassy Has Gone Global!

No, not really. But we do have over 350 fans on Facebook. That's a start, right???

We are still busy making magnet boards, but have added 2 other projects.

Bulletin Boards

and

Accessory Frames

Cute, huh?

Pow Wow

The Fun Kids Club had a meeting to discuss our route, where we are staying, and all that good stuff for when we take our trip the end of this month. We solved all of the town's problems and actually got some stuff done! We will be staying 2 nights at the Gage hotel in Marathon, 1 night at Lajitas Resort & Spa, and 1 night at the Hotel Paisano in Marfa. I think it will be nice and relaxing and I'm really looking forward to it.

Anyway, here is a picture of the girls...Sharla, Susan, Cheree, and Moi.

Star Struck

You know those moments you have that you want to last forever? Well, that was this past weekend for me. I've had a few of those moments before. There was one when Jevon and I snuck off during my Mom's wedding reception to walk down by the lake. We could hear Keith Urban's "Making Memories of Us" playing from the reception area and we started dancing there on the boardwalk. Just us. There are others, but that came to mind first. It's times like those when I wish time could just stand still.

Anyway, by now everyone should know how much I love San Antonio. That's where I went. I absolutely love it there. And I had a good reason to go (many, actually). About a year ago I began reading a blog called Resolved 2 Worship.

(could her kids get any cuter???)

Alyssa is such an inspirational person and takes awesome pictures. After reading her blog, Mom and I gathered that she lived in or around San Antonio. Sooo, I emailed her a few months ago to see if she would be willing to take my sister's (Katie) senior pictures and she agreed! I think I did a little dance inside. I know. I'm weird. That's ok. And for your information, my Facebook status on Saturday said, "I feel like I just met someone famous." It just felt so cool meeting her in person and I am so looking forward to the pictures she took of Katie.

I spent a good hour or so staring out the hotel window after I checked in and got settled. It was beautiful. Friday we walked around the Riverwalk. Saturday I had Panera for the first time. Yum. We went to The Container Store and Charming Charlie. By then it was time for Katie's pictures so we headed to the Japanese Tea Garden (wanna see it in the spring time? click here to see pics from a previous visit)...

...and then on to Sunset Station.

(Mom & David)

Saturday we had dinner at the Magic Time Machine, walked the Riverwalk again, had a drink at Swigs, and called it a night. Sunday Mom and David took me to the neatest flea market.

I bought an old door, a plant urn ($1), 3 books ($.25), a bathroom shelf, and some vintage Valentines. I could have wandered around there for hours.

All in all, a wonderful weekend. One that went by way to fast. Right before I pulled into our driveway I looked up and saw this:

It was far too large to get in one picture, but it was an entire rainbow. I saw where it started, the arch in the middle, and where it ended. So cool.

***

Completely unrelated to this weekend, but if you have some good thoughts to spare or prayers, would you mind sending them sweet Layla Grace's way? Her and her family could sure use them. Read her story here or follow her Mom on Twitter here.

Long Time No Blog

I don't think I am even going to attempt to catch up on the past few months, so I'm just going to give a little rundown on what's been going on--Letterman style. :)

10. Christmas was great. My Mom, David, and sisters all came up. I was not in the spirit this year. I had too many things going on and just felt like I wasn't doing Christmas up like I always do. I didn't even have my tree up until December 22 and that was only because my sisters were here and they decorated it for me (along with the rest of the house). Bless them. Everything was put up by the next week. I just wasn't feelin' it.

(Katie decorated this--isn't it cute?)

(Steph spent the majority of her time adding bling to her deer skull. I think it turned out great!)

(Dash only wishes he could sink his teeth into that ham. He stayed like this for awhile. So funny.)

9. Jevon and I spent New Years in Ruidoso. Just the two of us and the dogs. It was awesome. We spent our days by the fire, shopping, sightseeing, and even went on a "sleigh" ride. I love the time we get to spend together alone. He makes me feel loved and I happen to love that feeling.

8. I put Scout in a bathing suit. This may not be worthy of its own number, but I don't care. Poor little guy. It was a little snug and I'm pretty sure he knew it was for a girl.

7. I found my dad on Facebook. It has been 9 years since I talked to him. It was nice to hear from him and I guess we will see where it goes from here.

6. Susan and I got our own booth at our local Trade Days! This has been such an exciting thing for us and part of what is keeping me so busy. I guess that is a good thing though.

5. Jevon's trike is almost ready. We can now join the crew for their annual March bike trip. Jevon is understandably hesitant to venture off too far, so we plan to ride to and around Big Bend. Should be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Oh, and I bought my first ever Harley shirt. LOL. Wait. Make that 3 shirts, 1 vest, 2 jackets, and 2 hoodies.

6. Susan and I had a little party of sorts a week or so ago. We had Silpada jewelry, Just by Chance jewelry, Scentsy, and Custom Vinyl Designs. It was pretty much an excuse to get a bunch of girls together to eat, shop, and talk. We had tons of fun and got to buy a lot of neat things, too! Sweet SugarBelle made these cookies for us--she is like the Cookie Goddess:

5. My Mom, David, and my Aunt Karen and Uncle Terry came to visit the end of January. We had so much fun. It was relaxing and just an all around great visit. I love seeing my family. I was so sad when Sunday rolled around and everyone had to leave. Spending time with them is priceless.

4. Jevon signed up to listen to a presentation when we go to Lake Brownwood (May) about buying property there on the lake. In exchange for listening, we got a 7 day cruise. I have never been on one and am excited about going. We have no idea when or where, we just know we have this voucher and plan to put it to use sometime.

3. I signed us up for Nutrisystem. Our food should be here next week. I know Jevon is thrilled about this (ha!).

2. Valentine's Day Eve was wonderful. Jevon's Mom and Dad invited us and Raymond and Susan to have dinner at the Country Club in Hobbs. The food and drinks were great and the company was even better. Oh, and my Honey sent me roses, too.

1. We had our appointment with the new RE. I think I love her already. She spent nearly and hour and half with us and even called me today to go over some other things and talked to me for over 20 minutes. She has been a breath of fresh air. I feel that I can trust her judgement and am ready for whatever comes our way (I think). Our next step is another HSG, laparoscopy, and ovarian drilling. I've had an HSG before, Paige filled me in on what a laparoscopy is and I probably shouldn't have Googled ovarian drilling, but that's ok.

So, that is the past few months or so in a nutshell. My camera would not automatically download pictures to my computer so I was having to do it manually which was a pain. Plus, I kept thinking about how far behind I was on everything and was afraid to play catch-up for fear I might miss something, which I'm sure I did. If I think of something, I'll let you know later :)