Short Post..

I feel bad because I haven't written lately, but we have had SO much going on.
I promise I will come back and write more later, and I have some new pictures to post also. I just wanted to give a briefing on all the fun we have had in November..

Weekend of the 14th- met friends at the Nutcracker Market- first time to go- AWESOME!

Weekend of the 21st- New Moon came out and we went to Austin, TX for the UT game. Had the best time, great seats, great company, and my Longhorns won!!

Wednesday the 25th- Thanksgiving at work. We fried like a million (or 80 something, whatever) turkeys and provided the sides to our employees. Was fun, but lots of work. Well worth it though.

Thursday- DUH. Have you seen 4 Christmas's yet? Try 4 Thanksgivings. Oh- and UT beat A&M.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday- LOTS AND LOTS OF SHOPPING!!! Super fun with my little sister, mother in law, sister in law and niece. We were crazy to get out so early but I wouldn't have it any other way. Love it.

More to come!!

Hello... I'm Johnny Cash..

Well, I am not, but Matt was. For Halloween!

I was June Carter Cash of course, and Murray and Presley were our Folsom prisoners. Too cute!!! We dressed up for work on Friday the 30th, and then we went out on Saturday night. This was my first time EVER to go out on Halloween night, besides the usual Frat party thing- which was always fun, don't get me wrong. I had to do some arm twistin' to get Matt out there, but we had such a blast. First we watched the Texas game with family and friends at my Dad's house. My brother's friend, hell, he is my friend too dangit- PAUL!- sang with my brother at half time and they were unbelievable. He has the most amazing voice, gives you chills!! Afterwards, we went to Crockett Street in Beaumont with Matt, Kim, Seth, Amanda, Seth's friends, Matt's friends, and my Dad and Deb. Crockett Street is a few bars, clubs, resturants all together in a little strip center and they had a street dance type thing on Halloween night. The costumes were AWESOME. We saw anything from "Rock of Love" to "Oompa Loompa's". We came home and started immediately googling costumes for next year. We will have to bring it if we go out to Crockett Street again.
As far as baby making news goes, I really don't have any as of yet. I did try something new this month. It's a natural version of clomid, called Soy Isoflavones, which I took 200 mg of it on CD 5-9. Supposed to do the same thing clomid does. It did indeed help me ovulate on day 15, where I wasn't sure if Clomid ever had my ovulate, even with the trigger shot, but we shall see. I am definetely not getting my hopes up this month, but my temps have stayed up (it's CD 19 right now) and I will start taking my progesterone tonight *just in case*. Those little lines on the OPK sticks went from light to dark pretty quick. It was neat to see that, since I have yet to see that happen after all the years peeing on those things.
I do have a IF buddy, who is also a real life buddy who has been trying to get pregnant for quite a while and just announced on Facebook she was pregnant with TRIPLETS!! I am so happy for Meredith and her hubby. She is a wonderful person and will make a great mom to those sweet, sweet, THREE babies!
Hope everyone is having a great week so far! I work 5 days this week, 4 days next week (Taking off for New Moon, yes I know I am a dork) and 3 days the next week for Thanksgiving!! Yayy!!!

Paranormal Activity

I love movies, and even more, I love scary movies. Even more than that, I love scary movies that could be real. So when I heard about this movie from my obsession with social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) I had to research and find out WHY I had not heard about this? Normally, I know the dates of all movies that are coming out that I am so excited about. I plan weekends around movie premiers. I found that this movie did little to NO advertising and was actually an independent film from a year or so ago. They previewed it to a "test audience" which consisted of teenage and college kids and the movie trailer that they used for youtube -and I don't remember ever seeing this on TV- was solely the reactions of the audience.. screaming, jumping, hiding their face, you get the picture. Obviously, I had to see it.

We went Friday night, got there a little early because we knew it would be packed. I am funny about my seating when I see scary movies in theaters. I do not want to sit somewhere where the whole theater can see me jump, because I am super jumpy and hate that. I found us a spot kind off lower, and off to the side and was super frustrated when in 5 minutes we were surrounded by annoying high school kids, all boys, who were loud,cocky, crude, hollering at people they knew/didn't know across the theater. Thank goodness they zipped it up when the movie started. I will not tell anything about the movie, other than it's about a couple, Micah and Katie, who have been experiencing some activity in their home. They buy a video camera so they can try to capture it on film and find out what is going on. Most of the movie takes place at night when they are sleeping. It was so scary, and they right when they say it was the "scariest movie of all time". It is very Blair Witch-ish as in, "Is it real", or "Is it fake?' But either way it scared me, Matt, and all the high school boys. The whole theater was jumping, people were screaming, and some lady had to leave with her toddler who was crying because she was so scared. Why was she there anyway? Late, Friday night, at the scariest movie of all time?

I will tell you that they had wood floors all throughout their house, and even on their stairs. Matt had been wanting to do our stairs, and after seeing this movie, not no, but HECK NO. Go see it!You will see why I could not pee alone when I got home, and why I let my ginormous dog sleep in my room that night, and why I was never so happy to see the sun come through my window bright and early on a Saturday morning.

Saturday with Family!

I had such a great day yesterday. It was so nice to take my mind off things, have a change of scenery, and visit family. I can honestly say I did not think about any infertility issues the entire day, with the exception of me taking my temp. early in the morning. I normally don't do that, but I am going to for a few months just to see if it's consistent.
Soooo, I got up early and tried out a new (new to me) macaroni and cheese recipe that I got out of the Sun Coast (the company I work for) cookbook. I wanted to bring it to my mom's house because she was making a ham, potato salad and green beans. Everything was so yummy! I heart my mom's cooking in a big way. I needed it after my emotional week. Sometimes you just need your mommy.
Isn't that picture adorable? That is my mom of course, and that is her puppy Bevo on the left, and my puppy Murray on the right. They are brothers, and had the biggest time playing together. Oh- and my step dad gave Matt the coolest shirt. His very first UT shirt!! I cannot believe he went straight to the bathroom and put it on. I said... "Who are you????". He is a HUGE OU fan, and so is his family, so you can see the importance and urgency of taking this picture ASAP..
We went to my brother and sister in laws after we left there and watched a little bit of the Texas Game. Once I felt comfortable that "we had it" and we were winning by quite a bit we headed home, but managed to get a few great shots in before we left.
What a great day! We even brought two dogs with us and they were on their best behavior. Love Saturdays!!! I can't wait until the next one because it's HALLOWEEN! Their will be a special post/pictures for this one of course. Have a great day!

Bubble bath, a book, and Wine.. Oh my!

I thought about these three things pretty much half the day. The other half I spent bawling my eyes out because I started my cycle this morning, which means I am not pregnant, and the only insurance paid round of clomid did not work. Booo. I will put this the least depressing way I can, because the last thing I want is for anyone to feel sorry for me, or to bring anyone down, but I am pretty dissapointed. I have been testing everyday since Sunday and on Monday and Tuesday nights I got a very faint positive. It was there- Matt and I both saw it. It was light, but we looked at it a million times and we both saw it. Then last night, I decided to try a different brand, and it was negative. I cried then, and then had somewhat a bit of hope that there might be something there because I was still very nauseous. And then I started at work this morning, bright and early-and right on time might I add- and all I remember was someone set me off with an indirect comment- and I know nothing was meant by it- and the next thing I know I am having a melt down in my boss's office and my eyes are still swollen and puffy. Thank goodness she is wonderful and understanding, because I felt like a idiot, but really, she was so great about it. I am the most upset because of all the dang symptoms that are so misleading. I knew it could have been the medicine the whole time, I just didnt see how it could still be the medicine this week when I had heart burn, gagging while brushing my teeth, sick ever morning until 11am, STARVING. I figured that shot would have been way out of my system by then. Maybe not, who knows.
So now we move on. We are talking about different options because going ahead with the same route is pretty much out of the question, unless we save for a while and then try again, but like I said in my previous blogs, the same treatment I did this month will be $900 a month going forward and that does not include medication. Do I start saving for this, or do I take a step back and go to the new obgyn and let her take a look at my history? I am sure she could do the same things he does, and at a friendlier rate. Or do I try this "natural doctor" at work that other girls have seen? He regulates hormones and tells my coworkers to make sure they are taking birth control because if not they will be pregnant within a few months. Not sure which road to take. I am sad that I am not pregnant, but I know that the clomid/trigger shot got us closer than we have ever been, and that is comforting. I know God has a plan for us, and this month just wasnt it. I am ready for "our month".

Aftermath

Well that was a fun few days!!

Let me start by telling you that the Ovidrel shot made me sick and nauseous for about 3 days straight. Today it is not so bad but the past few days I have felt like I would get sick at any moment. Also, since it is the "HCG pregnancy hormone" that is in the shot, you can take a pregnancy test and test positive the first few days after the shot. Doesn't mean you are pregnant- just that the hormone is in your system from the injection.

I did it of course, just to see what it looked like to have a positive pregnancy test, because I have taken 57 million of them in the last 5 years and have seen nothing but one line. So that was fun!!

We have done everything we could do, and every time we could do it-if you know what I mean- and now we just wait. I don't know if I actually ever ovulated. I know from reading online what to expect from that- and always thought I was ovulating before I was diagnosed with PCOS and found that I wasn't ovulating at all- so maybe I did and I did not pick up on the signs. I know lots of people that use charting and temps to track this, but my temps are all over the place. I can't do this first thing in the morning like they say to because I wake up each day sweating and hot so I don't think that would be accurate. I do normally take my temp when I am kind of in a calm, relaxing state, like when I am watching TV or something, and it has been a lot higher than normal. As in- it has been 99.5 instead of 97.9.

Again, could just be the shot.

I have had a nice weekend so far. We went and saw Couples Retreat yesterday.

It was hilarious!!! I love Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Malin Ackerman, Kristin Bell, and of course Kristin Davis from Sex and the City! It was about infertility of all things! One of the main couples decides to go on this couples retreat because they want to get divorced because they can't have a baby. Maybe all she needed was clomid!! LOL!

Anyways, I got a text from my step dad yesterday and he asked if Matt and I wanted to go to the UT-Kansas game on 11-21 with him!! DO we? Of course we do! I was so excited. Here I thought that I just missed my chance because of my medicines to go with my brothers and then this happens. Super excited! Now we gotta get my sweet hubby some burnt orange to wear! Definitely will have pictures of that since he is just a huge OU fan!

Clomid!!! Part 2

I had my appt. yesterday to see how the clomid worked for me. Yesterday was Cycle day 14 and I have been having crampies and twinges ever since I started the clomid. I knew something was going on, and I couldn't wait for that ultra sound with my favorite "wand" to find out what it was. I did my blood work first, and then went on to Room #1 where I know the drill by now. .My fave nurse came in and she got to probing and went to my right ovary first.. BAM.. one mature follicle at 16 mm (a smidge small), and one still small follicle at 10 mm. Then she went to my left ovary.. BAM.. TWO beautiful mature follicles.. one 20 mm and one 21 mm. They were perfect, and she said that I/my body responded well to the clomid. The only other time I had any follicles was the one month (july?) that there was one that was almost 31mm, which was too big to do anything with , and we had 3 great ones this time. YAY!
She called me back with my blood results, which were great, and told me to take my Trigger shot tonight at 6:30 pm, and then we Baby Dance 3 times in the next 36 hours, and yes, she told me the exact times that this needed to happen. I start the Progesterone on Sunday evening and should be able to test in the next few weeks!
I am happy with all of this, but at the same time, I am really trying not to get my hopes up.
If this works, obviously I would be ecstatic, but if not at least we know we are in the right direction, and closer now than we have ever been!
Back to the shot-my sweet Matt gave me my shot tonight in my tummy. It's been chillin' in the fridge for a week now, next to the butter of course.

Matt asked if he could have a running start, lol. I told him no of course, and when he did it I didn't even feel a thing! I hate shots and needles but this one was no problemo.

In other news, I was supposed to go with my brothers this weekend to the UT/Colorado game. I was so excited, and couldn't wait ( I even bought me a new UT shirt to wear and it had bling on it, ok.. well I probably would have gotten it anyways) but with all this going on I didn't think I would be able to, and I guess I am glad I didn't make plans to go. I am sad of course, never been to see my favorite team play, and would love the chance to hang out with Matt, Kim, and Seth, but everything happens for a reason. Maybe next year- if I don't have 6 babies of course (:

Clomid!!!

The birth control for one month did work. Who knew the very expensive Reproductive Endocrinologist knew what he was talking about?? One month of Loestrin24fe.. a cycle right on time.. 28 days.. a cyst that disappeared, beautiful follicles, and a prescription of 100 mg of CLOMID!! My blood work was also really good. Normally my estrogen is really high for a day 3 blood work, but it was actually normal, as well as the other 3 hormones that are normally a flat ZERO.

I got my prescription filled that next day- as you can imagine that sucker was burning a hole in my pocket And- what is better than a prescription of Clomid? How about a FREE prescription of Clomid for 3 months!! Some promotion they are running that I just happened to be at the right place at the right time for. So my total was $o.oo.. Now- that is recession clomid!

I ordered my HCG shot, Ovudril, as well as the progesterone suppositories all that I begin taking next week. I started the Clomid on Saturday (Cycle day 5), take 2 50 mg pills every night with my dinner, and then I go in on Monday to find out if it worked. They will be looking at my follicles to see if they are ready to hatch eggs. They like to see them between 18 and 22 mm.. Last time I had one HUGE one that was 30 something mm. The nurse was ready to give me a shot that day, but she didn't know I was still testing. Anyways, the shots and suppositories ( I know, it's nasty, I don't even like spelling it out) ran about $100 and they should arrive to my work tomorrow.. on ice.. and then I will have to refrigerate them immediately. My co-workers will love that. I will just place them next to the breast milk that I see from time to time.. ew.

No weird side effects so far on the clomid. I just realized I was really hot, but I don't have my fan on in my bedroom, I have a warm laptop on my lap, and I have two dogs laying on my legs. Probably not the clomid.. I do have some strange scraping feelings on my ovaries. Not like menstrual cramps, but like there is a fingernail scratching them. It's pretty constant but it doesn't bother me. I am the one that will not complain if I were to throw up every single day, twice daily, if I were to get pregnant. I promise, I will be so happy to throw up.

So a little ovary scraping doesn't bother me. Nope. Not in the least.
Thanks for everyone's support and prayers. This is definetely not something you want to go through alone, and I am so thankful I have Matt right there beside me every step of the way. Keep us in your prayers these next few weeks, and I promise to keep you posted. If you have or know of any clomid success stories, please share in my comments!

We will miss you Kristi Marie!

One week ago today I lost a cousin to a horrible tragic accident in which a drunk driver hit the car that her and her sister were in. She was ejected from the car and I am pretty sure she died immediately. This week I have just been numb, and it wasn't real to me until we went to Beaumont on Thursday for the week. I started to panic a little that morning, because I knew then I had to come to terms with it and I would have to face it and deal with it- and really really soon. I am not good in these situations- I never know the right words to say, didn't know quite what to say to her father, sister, and brother, who were all hurting so bad and all lost their wife/mother only 6 years ago. Death is always hard to face, and it takes you by suprise when it is someone so young, and it is not expected. I loved Kristi very much, and am so fortunate to have known her. I didn't know her for her entire life, but was married into the family when I was about 13, so she would have been 7 then. Her family and friends will miss her dearly, but it makes me smile to think that her and her mom are together now and I know they have some catching up to do. Rest in Peace Kristi.. 06/18/85-09/19/09

Ready for Fall!

My favorite time of year! I love the weather -although we havent seen it cooler than 90 here in Texas yet-, college football (Hook 'em Horns!!), and my favorite holiday- Halloween! I love dressing up still- Matt and I do it every year. We go visit the Halloween Spirit stores at least once a week, and its always a delima trying to decide what to dress as. Last year I was a devil, and Matt was Jackie Moon from Semi-Pro. He won the costume contest at work for Funniest costume. Hot legs!

At home the past few years we have parked it outside with the dogs and passed out candy to the neighborhood kids. We love dressing the dogs in costume. Last year, Cash was a cow, Josie was Snow White, and Presley was a mail man. They were even in a pet fashion show at Old Town Spring, and I cant wait to see what I can find them this year. Any ideas?

I thought making Halloween cookies might inspire Matt to get my decorations out of the attic so I could start decorating, but no such luck. Maybe next weekend.

Got some cute cookies out of the deal though. This was my first time to try my Aunt Bridget's sugar cookie recipe. She makes the BEST christmas tree cookies for Christmas, so I thought we would do the same recipe, just with ghost cookie cutters. Here are the results.. and no these were not done by a 3 year old. Only us.

This little ghost might or might not be wearing a bikini.. She is the ghost with the most..
I got crafty with the toothpick and had some spider web action going on..

I did not get a close up of it, but do you see the UT Texas Longhorn cookie? TOO CUTE! I am proud of myself on that one.

Almost as fun as Easter eggs, and lots more tastier!!

I will be getting my house ready this week for Fall/Halloween. Lots of cute pictures to come!

Happy Labor Day!

A little late my friends, but hopefully no one has worn any white pants, shoes, shorts, or capri's since Monday. Surely you did not need my blog to remind you...

I had the best 3 day weekend! Friday kicked it off just perfectly! Came home to a nice clean house (Matt was off!!) and a freshly cut yard!! Love it. My uncle Bryan and cousin Zach came and saw our house. They just moved here from North Carolina and we could not be more tickled that they are here. The bonus was that we got to see them three days in a row.. Thursday for Zach's football game (which he did great!!!), Friday they came by our house, and Saturday the Duhon's got together for some Fried fish, shrimp, and Texas Football. My aunt and cousin teamed up in the kitchen and made some delicious appetizers, and my cousin made the most wonderful cake. The kind that you want to just lick your plate it was so good. I love those girls. I am bad though, did not take ONE picture, but I did request some that hopefully I can post soon.
For Labor Day, Matt and I grilled Fajitas..

And I made my Dad's YUMMY Spanish Rice..

And I made Homemade SnickerDoodles..

And I made a yummy Butterfinger dessert with lots of yummy goodness in it...

Matt decided he was going in head first...(:
Everything is going great with everything else. I have remembered to take my birth control everyday believe it or not, and have taken my prenatal vitamins as well. The birth control actually makes me in a good mood. Explain that one.
The rest of my week is lookin' pretty good. I am taking a HR class tomorrow with my boss during lunch time, and Friday.. well, its FRIDAY!
Hope everyone had a great Labor Day, long weekend, and a great **short week**!

FLOORED!

Got new pillows for my couches now that my floors are done so I am posting pictures! I am super proud of Matt- he did such a great job. Is this really something to post a blog about you ask? Well, this is the same man who puts on gloves to change the light bulb, so yes, it is blog worthy.
He is ready to move on to other things, crown moulding, a deck, wood on the stairs.. "WOAH NELLIE!" ...
Now, if I can only find out how to clean them. I think I will take my time on that one. I can get away with that one for a while.. "I just don't want to mess them up, honey, not really sure what to clean them with".

5 Day Summary..

Lots going on and lots of new information. I hope I remember everything. I almost started making notes so I could keep track , but thought I would be able to remember it all so here goes..
Tuesday 08/25- wrote my last blog- had no cycle, made Dr. Appt with a new OBGYN for my yearly in October, requested all my records from current RE to see if she could help with the clomid.
Wednesday 08/26- STARTED FINALLY! This was day 50 for me. Called the dr. to make appt for my day 3, which was Friday 08/28. Not sure if it was the provera that finally kicked in or if I truly would have started on my own. Anyways, was glad to see it I guess. I also followed up on some emails I had sent to my insurance carrier rep to find out why my visits would be so much, and why wasn't anything covered for me?
Thursday 08/27- got response on my emails, and was referred to this awesome lady named Tina who works for Aetna. She wasnt necessarily in the infertility department, but this lady knew her stuff! She listened to my "rundown" and thought that from what I was saying that my visits should be covered. She urged me to continue to question the office staff at the doctor's office, and I then sent emails back and forth with the office manager. She again told me that my visits would not be covered, and I would have to pay $300 starting that next day. I was prepared for that, but again wrote her back that Aetna just told me that they would be covered, and I never heard back from her.
Friday 08/28- got a phone call from the benefits counselor at the doctors office and she told me that I had to call Aetna's infertility department, register with them, get an authorization number, and bring it to my appointment, because there was going to be ONE MONTH OF CLOMID that Aetna was going to pay for!!!!! Thank goodness I was persistent with my emails!!! They were about to charge me for $900 for the "cycle" and this whole time it was covered???? Makes you wonder what goes on. So I guess if I would not have questioned it they would have ripped me off and been completely ok with it. CRAZY.
I did all the above, got my authorization number, and went to my appt at 11am. They took my blood and I went in "Room #2" and waited for the nurse to start my ultra sound. She came in with my Clomid prescription and a Clomid protocol which was basically a plan for each day of the month, and I was to begin clomid today, Sunday, which was day 5 of my cycle. I had to order an HCG shot that was going to be shipped to me, and I also had that prescription. Then she tells me I cannot start this if my ultrasound shows I have a cyst. Great, you already know where this is going.
She does my ultra sound and I did indeed have a cyst once again on my right ovary. Huge, 33 mm cyst. I was prepared for that at least. She put me on Birth control for one month, to help diminish the cyst, Loestrin24fe, which I started on Friday, prenatal vitamins, and I am supposed to go back next month when I start my cycle again. Which means I will have to go through allllllllll that again with Aetna to get another authorization number and the doctors office again so that they don't charge me $900 instead of running it through my insurance.
We did talk more about the Clomid, and she is starting me at 100mg!!! That really surprised me, because normally you start off at 50 mg and if you don't ovulate with that, they increase it to 100 mg. I guess I just haven't heard of starting off with that much, but it kind of makes me excited! I talked to her about my low carb diet, and told her that it was making me retain alot of water, told her how bloated I had been, and she suggested switching to a low-glycemic diet where you eat "heatltier carbs" which I guess are like whole grains and leafy vegetables. On that note, I am going to do Jenny Craig for a little while because after researching there is no way I can plan my meals on that diet. I would go off track so easily. I have never done Jenny Craig before but Aetna also has discounts for that so that is good news. I start my "meal plans" tomorrow, and got all my groceries today.
Yesterday my dad, Debbie, and Monique came to help us finish our wood floors and helped with the quarter round trim. It looks AMAZING! I will post pictures of it as soon as I finish getting my pillows for my couches. I might even do curtains! I am so proud of Matt, he did a great job, and we couldnt have done it without my folks helping out. My dad has every tool and saw you can think of- he brought two different types of saws with him that were both attached to tables. My garage looked like a "man-cave" and still does with all the saw dust. Before and after pictures coming soon, so stay tuned for that.
We are waiting for Jason's Deli to deliver our dinner, and we are going to cuddle up and watch "the Last House on the Left".

Happy Sunday to ya!

Blah, Blah, Blah

Yuck. No cycle. No Clomid. No fun.
I never started my cycle from the Provera that was prescribed to me on 08/07. I am currently on day 50 of my cycle. Most people only go 28 days, but not this girl. I am miserable, crampy, bloated, hungry as heck and just really feeling yucky! I am almost certain that I have another cyst.
Anyways, I emailed the nurse today to ask her what she thought, and if she had any suggestions or thought maybe we could up the dosage of my provera, and she came back with "Call the office to make an appt for bloodwork". Of course!!! Why didn't I think of that? Geez. I KNEW that was coming!! Again, another $300.
I decided to make an appt with a regular OBGYN. It was time for my well woman exam anyways, and she is actually the doctor that my sister in law Brannon saw when she was pregnant, and she delivered Brannon's baby. Also, she can do the same things that the RE can do, at a much more reasonable cost. The only bad thing, is that that appointment is not until 10/01. They are supposed to call if something comes up sooner. I requested all my records from the RE so hopefully she will be able to be a little bit more aggressive with the cards we are dealt. I am not even opposed to a few months of birth control at this point to get me going on a regular cycle. As long as it is a few months, and we can start trying again immediately when things are normal. Any advice, thoughts, suggestions, feedback? Not really sure where to turn at this point.

Lil' Murray

So we finally sell our female chorkie this week. She has gone to her forever home and her new name is "Ivy". Thought it was cute, because it was the girl's sorority symbol. Better name that what gave her, which was "puppy".
We drove out to Beaumont last night to eat dinner with my brother, sister in law, and my niece, and see their puppies. Their two dogs, Allie and Romo had puppies on Father's Day. 1 female, and 4 males. The female was solid white, and my dad ended up with her. He has always wanted a white female schnauzer so that worked out great. The males were 2 solid black, one chocalate with tan markings and one a light tan. The two black ones look identical to Romo.Let me just tell you that I have always been obsessed with Romo. He is SO cute, and has the cutest personality, and looks just like my Cash, the giant schnauzer. They take pictures together alot. Allie is a doll too, don't get my wrong, and she made beautiful puppies. So you can see where I am going with this.. I love love love the little black one, so we bought it. It was actually more Matt's idea than it was mine. I have such a soft place in my heart for dogs, and have wanted a schnauzer. I grew up with one of the greatest schnauzer's ever: T-Jacque.. and then my brother got T-Romo, so now I have his son, T-Murray. He is soooo sweet!!! Kim and my brother Matt did a great job the first few weeks of these dogs lives. They got their tails docked and their dew claws cut, registered them and got their shots. They even had a professional photo shoot done by their wedding photographer- Jessica Hicks. So ADORABLE!
We are totally excited!!!! Ours is #4 from left to right.
I know what you are thinking!!! 4 dogs!!! I know, but what is one more? Especially when it's going to stay in the family, and still can see his mom, dad, and sister!! Holidays will definetely be uneventful, that's for sure. My 4 dogs, my families 4 dogs, my brother's 3 dogs, and my brother Seth just got a dog! We are dogged out!

I heart Saturdays!

Ohhhh how I love me some Saturdays. Wake up, remember that its Saturday, smile really big, go back to sleep, probably smiling, get up an hour or two later, take out the dogs, let them play in the backyard for a while, go sleep another hour, and then go play online until Matt wakes up. Then the day usually consist of some type of shopping, watching movies, cooking.... ahhhhhh it's the best.
Today we are going grocery shopping, and I am meeting someone at the store who wants to buy something from me from kingwoodyardsales.com. I freakin' love that website. I have made probably $500 from selling things that I don't use, don't wear, don't need in my house. I have had a cooler in my garage for two years, (stainless, really nice) that we only used once- 2 years ago, and somone came and took if off my hands for $30 last night!!! $30 for something that was collecting dust!!!
I plan on going to half price books. I just got the final Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, but I was looking for books on PCOS. I know that you are more successful in the diet/and baby making areas when you cut out carbs. Has to do something with the way your body processes sugar or something. Don't know for certain- that is why I want to read up on it.
I plan on spending alot of time at the grocery store, really doing some serious label reading, and starting my low-carb lifestyle today. I don't plan on eggs, meat and cheese only. Maybe for the first few weeks, but I do plan on throwing in some low carb bread, bagels, tortillas, etc. Maybe I will post some pictures of my low carb creations. Hopefully the low carb lifestyle helps out when I start clomid, within the next week.
I know what you are thinking, I should have started it already right? Well, I can't start it until day 3 of my cycle, and I had no cycle, so I picked up my prescription for Provera last night to kick it in gear. I had some drama with the doctors office over it. They wanted me to come in for blood work to make sure I wasn't pregnant. Bloodwork= $300.00. I know I am not pregnant, like I haven't taken a test every day this week. I finally had to call in and ask them to have the dr. call me, and all of a sudden it was ok to prescribe it without bloodwork. I think the nurses are on commission. Anyways, Provera worked like a charm last time, and I am praying for the same this round so I can start clomid. I have read alot of succes stories about women getting pregnant on the first round, and then there are some women who never take to it. I hope it works for me- I have faith and have put it in God's hands. I know if it is what is meant to be for Matt and I, it will surely happen.
Hope your Saturday is full of heart too (;

Diagnosis Discovered!

Finally had my consultation today with the RE. He looked at all my test so far, bloodwork, ultra sounds, HSG test, etc. as well as Matt's test that he had to do. He diagnosed me with a slight case of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) mainly because I am just not ovulating. That's all. That is the problem. All this time and I have probably never ovulated before. And now for the good news and the BAD news..

Good news first:

I am supposed to start my cycle this week, and when I do, I go in on cycle day 3 for an ultrasound to make sure there are no cyst. If there are NO cyst (pray for this please) then I begin Round 1 of Clomid!!!! Clomid is known for multiples, which we are totally ok with. This will help/make me ovulate, and I will go back mid-cycle to find out if I am ovulating and I might be given a trigger shot at this time to "force" the release of an egg. Then we dance.. baby dance style.

Bad news..

The insurance company no longer covers any visits or medication because there is now a diagnosis. They only pay for testing, which is extremely common and infertility is typically not covered. Each visit going forward (and I will go 2-3 times per month) will cost $300 each!!! WOW. Not to rant and rave about this, because I know that a baby is what we want, and will be so worth it, but oh my goodness!! How do people afford this? The insurance specialist gave me a paper that was pretty detailed on pricing and procedures. The clomid is definitely the least expensive way to go, and then if that doesn't work we get into the daily shots, which is $500 per visit, and the price does not include any medications. Again, I know it will be worth it, and I would be totally fine with it if I knew 100% it would work on the first round, but who gets that lucky?? I am just thankful they know what the problem is, and that it can be fixed.
That is pretty much it- I always feel like I have a million questions and when I get in there to actually talk to him I forget what I was going to ask. Doesn't help that he spent well over 30 minutes with the other people while I was in the waiting room reading Baby Magazines (is that even appropriate, at a Fertility Doctor??) and had me in and out in like 3 minutes. I guess that is good news, maybe he had more concerns with them. He was confident that I was at a great age and had no doubts that this would work for us, so please continue to pray for Matt and I.
We are beyond ready for this next step in our lives!

The Fortune Cookie Don't Lie- Hopefully...

So check out my fortune from my fortune cookie I got on Thursday night. Hopefully it is right on the money!!

I am normally the one that gets the silly ones that say "You will be swollen from all the sodium you just ate" or " You love Chinese food" or even "You gain admiration from your pears". That's right.. PEARS.. not... PEERS, hahah. My pears always thought the world of me.

Obviously, I was excited to get this one!!

I had a great low key night last night. I took a bubble bath for about an hour and read my Eclipse book, which is the 3rd book of the Twilight Series. I am about half way done, and loving it! I can't wait for New Moon to come out in theaters in November. My wonderful hubby brought me in a glass of red wine, and it was perfect. He also ordered Jason's Deli so we ate that when I got out and I had a delicious Turkey Sandwich with some wonderful fruit, and blackberry tea obviously.

I talked to my couisin Mallory for well over an hour after that- we had alot of catching up to do! I love her so much, and don't get to talk to her near as much as I would like to, but I was excited to find out she has been reading this blog so she has been passing on to her family all the chain of events, and I am thankful for that!

Not much planned today. It's Saturday, so there will be some type of shopping involved. I just can't control myself :0

Leave it to me..

To produce a HUGE follicle that is way to big to do anything with!!

Haha, I will start from the beginning in regards to today's appt. I brought Matt with me- I thought it might be neat for him to see what all goes on and see why I get so excited/ pissed off sometimes. Anyways, I have had huge side cramps really low for the past two days. Throbbing, almost painful. I thought maybe that was the big "O" (ovulation). Well, I guessed right. According to my blood results and my ultrasound, I have not yet ovulated this month. That is good, this is day 13 so it would have been a little early. I did have two tiny follicles remaining on the left side, and one HUGE, ENORMOUS, follicle on the right side. It measured at 31mm, which is about 10 mm higher than they like it to be. They say a good egg comes from a follicle between 18 and 21 mm. As I said.. leave it to me!
My blood indicated I am a raging hormonal piece of work. Level was 41 on day 3 (normal) and it should have gone up, but it was a little over 400!!! Wayyy too high. The good news is that she told me that we at least have answers and when I meet with the dr. for my final consultation (before treatment) he will be able to pin point and get me going in the right direction. I was ok with that, huge follicle or not, at least we are moving in the RIGHT direction. That appointment is not until August 3rd, so I will be sure to post about other things until then!!!

Dog-Gone

One down! Our little male chorkie went to his new home yesterday. I was sort of sad, but I know the family is great and the kids are going to love all over him. The dad came to pick him up yesterday morning because he was going to suprise the kiddos. They knew they were getting him, just thought it would be two more weeks or so. I went over the shot records, gave him all the receipts and I made up this little doggie bag with a can of the puppy food I have been feeding him, brochures from the vet, and of course his blankie. Here is the doggie bag..

I thought it was cute and he loved it too. He called me about two hours later and asked me when he had eaten last, he must have been crying lol. I asked him what they had named him and he said they had bought a puppy book and went through a million or so names and came up with "Koby". How cute is that!! And very fitting.

After he left we headed over to Lumber liquidators to pick up the rest of our floors. We only have about 100 square feet left and we will be done with our living room. I, of course, will post pics of that. Matt has done a GREAT job at them. This is our first home project to do ourself (besides some basic painting) and he has rocked it out!

Other plans today, besides trying to finish the floors, include two workouts (running/walking and hitting the gym), tanning, cooking more meals for the week (chicken fajitas for one meal, grilling chicken on the grill for a few nights worth of meals, and a pork tenderloin) and doing some laundry for the week. Oh, I am also going to clean out this computer room. The closet has a ton of stuff in it that we just threw when we moved in and I am ready to get rid/sell alot of it. I found about 10 more things last night that I could sell on kingwoodyardsales.com. I just love that place!

I have my mid-cycle ultrasound tomorrow where we will see if I have/am/or will ovulate! I think Matt is going to try to go with me to this one.

HSG Test

Well, I had my HSG Test today. I don't know if it is good news or bad news or if it is just plain ol' news. I really haven't had time to let it process in my mind.
To start I was given an antiobiotic to prevent infection. I started taking this yesterday, per Dr's orders. Well, I threw it up on the way to work. I was super nauseous and apparently I should have taken it with lots of water. I did that last night and was fine, and again this morning. I will keep taking this through Sunday, twice a day. They also gave me 600 mg of Motrin for "pain".
I think they could have given me vicadin and it still would have hurt like hell. Very uncomfortable, lots and lots of pressure, because of the fluid in my uterus obviously, and it was like super bad menstrual cramps, you know the ones- where it feels like barbwire is twisted around your ovaries. OUCH!
So that went down, or up I guess you should say, and they watched on the screen and took pictures of it with the big xray machine thingy. When he was done, which was only seconds really, he showed me how it looked. One side was totally free and clear, and the fluid leaked through just as it should. One side was all crimped, but eventually did go through he said. He thought there might be scar tissue causing this on that one side. I have no idea where that came from.
He didn't really seem to want to get into it, but said we would talk about it after my mid-cycle ultrasound on Monday. After that, which we will see if I am indeed ovulating, we will get together for a "after" consultation and come up with a plan. I really hope this plan does not involve IVF, which is not in our budget and not paid for by insurance. Go easy on me for goodness sake!! It's bad enough and expensive enough as it is!!
So there it is- a fun day of iodine in the fallopian tubes. I am super crampy still, and won't get into details about other wonderful side effects. GROSS!
Had me some chinese food for dinner at Jade Palace, made me and my crampy tummy feel better ;0

Wiffle Ball?

Not sure how this got started, but Matt is on a Wiffle Ball team with some friends at work. He had his first game today so I sent him off with a 3 gallon Bubba Keg of Gatorade, and his new wiffle ball bat and glove. Too funny..
I guess they needed ideas for the team name so he came up with, "Take a Wiff".. wouldn't you know it?
Ohhhh Matt.

While he was busy getting ready for that I decided to make lunches and dinners for the entire week. I know this sounds exhausting, but it saves so much time and energy throughout the week, and so easy to just grab and go, or warm up something for dinner. I am much more in the mood to hit the gym if I dont have to cook dinner, do dishes, clean up the kitchen, etc. Today I made this cheeseburger casserole for Matt's lunches, he freaking loves it. Literally, he will eat the whole thing by Friday, and is totally fine with eating the same thing everyday. I am lucky.
I also made chicken and dumplins and a HUGE pot of vegetable soup. Of course, I used my Gran's rolling pin for the dumplins- wouldn't tase near the same without it.

I miss my Gran and my Granny everyday, but I always think of the things they taught me, the memories, and recipes, and all the fun times, and I know that they would be proud of who I have become!!

11.. Did you say 11??

So good news from my doctor appt. on Thursday! They wisked me in, took more blood, and then I sat waiting for my ultra sound. Someone new came in and did this one- well, she was new to me, been there a while, her name was Heather- how fitting! Anyways, she is doing her thing, looking all around and she asked me what side my cyst was on. I told her it was on the right side, and she couldnt find it anywhere!! It was totally gone!! I couldn't believe it, was super happy, but I know they come and go as they please. I am not getting my hopes up, but for now- that was great news. Also she told me that I had 3-4 follicles on one ovary, and 5-7 on the ovary, and if she had to guess she was say ELEVEN TOTAL!! So you are telling me that I had ZERO last month and this month I had ELEVEN!! How awesome is that?? Here is a pic of what that looks like, these are not mine, but they all hold tiny microscopic eggs.





Matt was very excited, and of course I had to call the parents because I was just ecstatic! Sooo when I came out of my ultrasound room, there were three nurses waiting on me and we all talked for a bit about it- and how good and positive they felt this visit was. The even better part was my blood came back totally normal, so my hormones are all in check. I am thanking Provera for this. I know that is what has helped! I will have the HSG test done in the next week at Memorial Hermann in the Woodlands, and another ultra sound on the 2oth to see if/and how many of my follicles matured into eggs. I will definetely post how those two appts go.

Glad its the weekend! We are going to Whole Foods today because we freakin' love that place, and then we might stop by Half Price books. Also, my mom and step dad are in town and we might meet up with them for dinner. Can't wait to see them!!

Have a super Saturday!

Been forever!

I know it has been forever but really there hasn't been anything exciting to post.. Sure, lots of fun things on my end like the chorkies getting all grown and cute, a fun 4th of July party, and a new website I am obsessed with.. kingwoodyardsales.com. But no cycle for June, so I went to the doctor last week on Tuesday, the 30th. I was about 16 days late by this point so they took my blood and later called me to tell me they were prescribing Provera, which was a 10 day pill at 10mg.
Now, I must say I was nervous about this. I have heard nightmares about how much of a bear this makes women and it just makes your "hormones rage" but it really wasnt horrible. Yes, I joked about it, and yes, I had a melt down on the first day and cried my eyes out because I was emotional from it, on the way to work.. after I had put on my makeup. But, really, it only made me a tiny bit hungrier, more emotional, and most importantly.. I STARTED YESTERDAY!! WOohoo!! I am going back tomorrow for my blood work, and ultra sound to take a looksy at that cyst again. I am going to ask for something to "make me ovulate" since we went that route. I really have my eyes on Chlomid or Metformin, but I know there are other things they will want to do first.

Until tomorrow!!

Happy 32nd Birthday Matt!

Happy Birthday to my Love Matt!! He was 32 this week on Tuesday and I got him a golf club that I had customized to fit his tall body (: It also has our wedding date on it. I thought that would be better than.. I LOVE YOU SUGAR BRITCHES, LOVE, WIFEY.. Hahaha.

We went out to eat that night at Los Vega and were joined by Linda, Micah, Christy and Garrett- who loved taking pictures with our camera. Of course I was ok with that because he was super cute.

They sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Matt while he was wearing the sombrero and they smeared some whip cream on his face from his sopapillas. Then we came home and watched TAKEN.. what a cool movie!
What a fun day!

Chorkies, Crazy Work week, and a 1.8 gone at Weight Watchers!

What a week! Sure wish I updated more often but I sure am trying.

Josie had her puppies on Monday June 8th. We were kind of worried about her at work and sure enough she had them about 10 minutes after we got home. Do you think she was waiting for us? Poor thing. They are super cute. There are two- a boy and a girl and them look like baby daddy, Presley, haha. They have been great so far, of course their eyes arent opened, but she had been good with them and has been very protected.

Work was crazy, with payroll and open enrollment ending. My department is using a new website for benefits so that was kind of crazy trying to figure it all out.

I went and saw the Hangover again with Brannon, she loved it!! We laughed pretty hard, and I needed it once again.
Friday night I got a little sick while eating at my favorite Mexican place, Los Vega. Dont know what happened but I came home and crashed around 7pm.
Yesterday I weighed in and had lost 1.8 lbs. I was super excited. I wasnted to go to Platos closet, which is a used clothing shop, but instead we went and saw Land of the Lost. It was HORRIBLE! I am such a Will Ferrell fan but it was the worst movie I have ever seen. Total waste of time and money.
I brought a stack of books into Half Price Books to sell back so that I could get some new ones and not have to pay a whole lot. Probably a good $150 worth of books.. Twiglight.. Candy Spellings new autobiography, Wicked, etc. and guess how much I got??? $7.50!! What an insult. Wont do that again!
I got John and Kate's book and that is pretty good so far, and some book about Hollywood Nannies. I love celeb's and love being all up in their business so it should be neat.

Matt's Birthday is Tuesday!! Cant wait to celebrate that night at Los Vega and again with family over the weekend! I will post pics of chorkies, and bday fun soon!

The Hangover

Went and saw this last night.. HILARIOUS! Matt and I are huge Old School Fans and this made us both laugh so hard. Especially since we just went to Vegas in March for our 5 year anniversary.

Anyways, make sure you check it out..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzmkDDmoODA

Down 53!

Yayy for me! I weighed in today at weight watchers and got my 50lbs refrigerator magnet! I am at 53 lbs total loss (:

I lost 2.8 lbs this week. I am confident that working out this week and writing down everything I ate had alot to do with that success. Not to mention grilling season is back!
I got some cute new shirts at Kohl's today to celebrate my 2.8 lbs loss for this week. Great sale, and needed some cute summery type shirts. I picked out this really cute orange tank top but the cashier couldnt get the security tag off of it. Three people tried so I had to get my money back, but I did get two other shirts. Can't wait to wear them!

Going to watch a movie tonight with Matt tonight.
HAPPY SATURDAY TO EVERYONE!

Moving right along..

Pretty dern good week so far. I started walking at lunch today with a friend and co worker. We walked a mile and felt pretty great this afternoon. Matt and I are going to the gym tonight and we ate dinner by 6pm! That makes me happy!

On the baby subject- here are my blood levels for day 9 of my cycle. The doctors office posted it on my web profile thingy..

Estradiol- 23.8
LH- 8.67
Progesterone- 2.34

Kind of strange? That is what I thought to.

Thursdays appt- not much to say );

Well I had my appt on Thursday and unfortunanetly there is not much to blog about. I was on day 9 of my cycle at that time, and somehow- someway I ovulated over the weekend and my left ovary had already collapsed. They did more blood work to confirm that and my hormones were where they should have been a week ago. Everything is backwards for me. Anyways, the doctor thinks that this month was not a good month to diagnose me with anything. I have to call back next month on day 3 of my cycle to start everything allllllllll over again.

Trying this out..

Ok, I plan on updating this often. I "plan" on it. I am the queen of starting really neat things and not following through. I have good intentions, but I get busy with other things and then forget. I think this will be a good place to update things that go on with Matt and I. If you don't know us and you are reading this, that is fine too. We have been married for 5 years, and been together 8. He is my soul mate, and I love him with all my heart. He makes me laugh, takes care of me, and I think he is the cats meow. RRRRMMEEOW! Haha.

We bought our first home together 2.5 years ago. I am super proud of the things we have accomplished together- we have come a longggg way in 8 years. His mom, sister and neice are living with us. As stressful as that sounds, I love them and am glad they are here. His family means alot to me.

Now on to the good stuff!!! This is personal stuff, so if you dont care to read on- its fine with me. I want to share this because I thought I was the only one who had problems until I started looking around on here. I know now that its actually normal and couples have problems trying to conceive all the time. I hope that someone reading this might feel the way I did when I read others- you are not alone. I am not trying to "air out my business" in any way but I really am just hoping that I help someone at some point.

Matt and I have been trying to have a baby ever since we got married. Things just werent working so my OBGYN told me that maybe he needed to get checked out since I was on "target" every month like I was supposed to be. He did, things were fine, actually really high count, and so I brought that information back to my doctor in October for my yearly. He told me in 2007 that if things were fine with Matt then he would prescribe me chlomid or metformin to make me ovulate. Well, when I went to my appt in October he did not prescribe me that, apparently wanted me to go see a Reproductive Endroconoligist .. AKA "Fertility Specialist" first. I balled my eyes out. I was thinking I would get put on this medication and just be magically pregnant by Christmas time. I was very frustrated. Around the same time, I was asked to be in my brother Matt's wedding. I was completely honored and decided to focus on this for a while instead of making a baby. Everyone always told me "quit trying to hard, you will get pregnant when you least expect it". Well, that no worky for me. We did quit trying, and I hit the gym hard and heavy, ate much better with the help of weight watchers and lost 50 lbs in time for his wedding, which was May 16th. I made my appt with Dr. Gill, a RE that a friend referred me to for May 14th. The first visit was a consultation. I gave him all of my records and we talked about Matt and I and why we might be having problems. He didnt like the way Matt's SA looked from September so he ordered another one, which was this past week. He also asked that I call him back on day 3 of my cycle so he could take a look at my ovaries, and to do blood to check my hormones. My cycle started on May 20th so I made my appt for Friday. Matt had his SA on Friday also, we just had to drop the cup off (imagine how we looked flying down the highway to get there within an hour with me with a cup in my shirt, trying to keep it warm). I had to go in Friday at 11 for the blood work and an ultra sound. The tech did not think I was on my cycle at all, and found a large cyst on my right ovary. I sort of expected that. When she called back that afternoon with my results she told me she didnt think I was truly on my period and that Dr. Gill wanted me to call back when I was. I told her that this was normal for me, i have had crazy cycles lately (some were even 19 days) and that it was what it was. She didnt know this was normal, then thought it might be the cyst throwing off the hormones and cycle each month. She called Dr. Gill back and now he wants to see me himself on Thursday for another ultra sound. She said he might want to put me on birth control to regulate everything. I trust him, but GEEZ. Are we taking 89 steps backwards getting on birth control??? Anyways, this is the most recent news, and I will update Thursday.