Friday, May 30, 2014

Friday Favorites


Any of you other blogger ladies start drafting this post as early in the week as Tuesday?  Because I do.  I guess that just means I've had a really good week!  The best thing about this week was that it was only a 4 day work week, so yay for that!! Those are always the best.  Okay, here we go...

Favorite Moment:
On Monday I got an email from Helene at Helene in Between that I had won an interview with her on her blog!  If you're not familiar with Helene's blog I urge you to quit reading my blog and go straight to hers!  This girl is awesome, I look forward to reading her posts every day.  She's always changing it up and always makes me laugh.  She's got a great taste in music and she is a big league blogger so I'm super pumped about this sponsorship opportunity that I won!  Be on the lookout for the interview, coming soon!

Favorite Song:
This song was the shizznit (1995) back in the day when I was around 9 years old.  I used to record music videos off of MTV onto VHS tapes and watch them over and over.  It played on 90s on 9 this week!


Favorite Pin:
don't these look AHMAYYYZZING? and oh, so festive!?

Favorite Online Purchase:
I did A LOT of online purchasing this week.  Thanks to Pamela at Sequins and Sea Breezes, I got these adorable shorts, this fringe tank, and this lace kimono all for pretty much half price!! Then I ended up getting some super cute jewelry on Etsy from Run2theWild, seriously, LOVE the selection.  I wanted to buy everything, all of the stuff is totally my style and it's all very affordable!  Because of this I had to let my husband spend $395 on a new riding lawnmower so that I didn't feel guilty. 
 

Favorite Thing I'm Looking Forward To:
I have a couple, one is that my best friend & SIL, Jodie will be home this weekend, our birthdays are only one day apart, mine is June 8th and her is June 9th, (her husband, my husbands brother is actually June 10th, their sister is June 9th, my husbands is June 22nd, and my other sister in law married to their other brother is June 14th) and we are going to dinner this Saturday just the two of us to celebrate!  June babies rock! Two is, Joe and I both made appointments for our next tattoos... Joe is getting a quote from Rocky to add to his back piece, and I am getting a dream catcher with a lotus flower representing fertility and blue and pink flowers which are the colors of the infertility ribbon.  I'm super pumped.  It will be about a month before we get them done. 



Favorite Funnies:

yes, this is my only wish... 


me today...



Happy Friday!

Sorry for the epically long winded post this Friday, just had a good week!! Let's keep this roll going!

Thursday, May 29, 2014

IVF Consultation


Today was our IVF consultation and consent signing.  We had already had a consultation of sorts a few weeks ago, but at this appointment we signed all the paperwork and got a quick run down of the medication. I thought I was going to be able to avoid the dreaded progesterone oil injections, but found out that was just wishful thinking.  Unfortunately with the medication regimen they are putting me on, these injections have been most successful.  They said that since I have such a good response to the FSH that they will be putting me on a very tedious medication schedule that they've only done on a handful of other patients, but that has been very successful.  

I started BCP again tonight and will be taking that until the 24th.  Then I have a baseline ultrasound scheduled for the 27th.  Depending on the ultrasound results, we will then hopefully be starting Gonal F (FSH).  We will do Gonal F, Lupron & Ganirelix injections for about 5-7 days prior to egg retrieval.  Those injections are all a piece of cake for me at this point, its the PIO injections that I'm really nervous about. Those are intramuscular which basically means, GIANT NEEDLE.  It also means a build up of oil in your butt cheeks, a lot of pain and bruising, and a lot of heating pad sitting to try to dissipate the oil.  I was told that if we do get pregnant I can switch back to the Crinone which is a suppository and it's much more pleasant than that huge needle.

Overall, besides the PIO shots, I'm really excited and can't believe I'm already medicating for the procedure. Today's appointment made things feel real and made me feel like we're getting closer and closer by the day. I really hope that this is it for us.  I know that there is always a chance of failure, but I have to stay positive about this.  So excited for what's to come in just another few weeks!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial Day Weekend Recap

Well, the 3rd Annual Ridley Camp Out Extravaganza was a success!  This was the best year we've had weather wise.  It was a perfect 80 degrees, sunny, a little breeze.  Just perfect.  I did all of my shopping on Wednesday and made made everything Thursday night so that Friday afternoon I could just ice down the coolers and go!  This year I made pasta salad, taco dip, and anti pasta salad.  We had cookies, puppy chow, lots of hot dogs, brats, and burgers, oh, and a lot of beer!  We rode 4-wheelers, shot rifles, listened to nothing but country, and hung out by the campfire. What I was really stoked about was our DoubleNest ENO hammock we finally got to use.  Thanks to me blogging about it around Christmas time, my little sister in law mentioned it to her mom and we all go one as our family gift this past Christmas.  This is the first time we were able to use it and we all loved it!  

I love our property so much and I'm going to miss using it as a getaway once our house is there.  Of course we will live there permanently which is my dream, but it is nice to have a place to go to relax and get away from cell phone reception and just be with our friends and family!

Lastly, I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day and take a minute to thank all of the brave me and women who have fought and died for this country and for our freedom.  


Friday, May 23, 2014

Friday Favorites

Favorite Moment:
I've actually got two this week, the first one is tricky because although it was horribly uncomfortable, I was glad to find out that I won't need another surgery! Second, have you guys ever heard of Kate Spade Surprise? Because before Wenesday I hadn't! Thank you to Facebook and your annoying ads, I came across a Kate Spade surprise sale, 75% OFF! This is real, ligit, Kate Spade too, not knock off. As much as I love Kate Spade, I cannot justify spending $350 on a purse, maybe for like a Christmas present or something I would ask for one, but never buy one for myself. Well guess what? Since they were 75% off, I got it for $129! Much more reasonable in my book  I thought I'd buy myself an early birthday gift since the big 28 is only a couple weeks away. Oh and easiest website ever... www.surprise.katespade.com
Seriously, this is how I reacted when I came across this... mind freakin blown!

dyyyinnggg <3

Favorite Song:
Tim McGraw & Faith Hill - Meanwhile Back at Mama's... this isn't the "official video" but all you really need is the song.  Seriously loving this song, love the sound, love the sentiment.

Favorite Quote:
I saw this earlier this week on Facebook & loved it.  Perfect.
I made this with the Rhonna Designs App

Favorite Pin
I passed this up like 3 times on my home page & my mouth watered every time so I decided I had to pin it.
Favorite thing I'm looking forward to:
This weekend is our annual Ridley Camp Out Extravaganza and it will be our last since our house is being built.  Every year we have a camp out at our property for Memorial Day weekend.  I make a ton of food, we play beer can darts, and we pig out, hang out, and just have fun.  The first year we had this, two years ago, it was around 100 degrees all weekend and my leg was in a brace and I was on crutches.  Last year, yeah, it was 50 degrees and it poured rain the ENTIRE time.  We made it fun but it was messy and no one wanted to come except for a few brave souls.  This year might be our year.  The forecast is sunny & 75!!
I will seriously be acting like this this weekend too, just a forewarning if you're in attendance.

Favorite Funnies:
she's awesome!
oh Grumpy Cat... but, seriously!
cuz I'm fabuloussss.
#truth
the fountain Coke  I allow myself every Saturday
you can't drink all day unless you start in the morning!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Quick Update


I'm feeling really good about where we are at right now and where we are headed.  Today was my fluid ultrasound appointment which went well, but wow, I've never had one of those before and I hope I never have to again.  Very uncomfortable!  Everything went well and I don't need to have another surgery so I'm very thankful for that.  Let me just tell you exactly what a fluid ultrasound is for those of you who don't know. Basically they use the biggest speculum they can find, clean you cervix, stick a catheter in you, then fill your uterus up with saline so that they have a clear view of everything.  I remembered when I had my HSG test it was the exact same procedure except for they use dye instead of saline to make sure that your tubes aren't blocked.  Also, they give you a Valium before that procedure.  I wasn't lucky enough to get one of those today, darn!

Next on the agenda is our consultation next Thursday where we will sign all of our consent forms and we will get everything set up for embryo storage.  We have to pay $550 for a down payment but since I've got around $725 in credit with them, we won't be required to pay that.  Where did the credits come from? Well, my insurance decided that they weren't going to pay two of my bills even though they had been paying for the exact same bills throughout this entire process.  After many long conversations with Dr. G's billing department (thank you Vicki!), and BCBS, I was finally able to convince them (my insurance) that if they're going to pay for the procedures then why wouldn't they pay for the treatment?!  It was a dumb mistake of someone in their claims department.  So long story short, I have over $700 in credits to be put towards this down payment and some money for embryo storage.

One thing that we did discuss that is something I think is very important is genetics testing.  They offer it to anyone who has had a miscarriage.  They will do two genetics tests and four other tests.  They recommend waiting until pregnancy occurs because although the results of the genetics won't change either way, the other four tests can change depending on if you're pregnant or not.  The things that they test for can be treated in the hopes of preventing another miscarriage.  As long as my insurance covers at least a portion of this, I will get this done.

I'm excited that we have gotten one thing checked off of our list and that I don't have to have another surgery.  We are on to the next chapter of this journey and as of today our target egg retrieval is 52 days away and it's just flying by.  Something else that I haven't mentioned much about lately is our house build.  We had some minor drama with the bank and getting our septic permit approved, but we have gotten over those hurdles and we are hoping to start digging in about two weeks!  I will turn in our building permit tomorrow and then we have to close on the loan but once those two things are in place we will be ready to dig that hole!  

Monday, May 19, 2014

My Go-To Products

I don't do many posts like this because this blog is really about my infertility journey, but since we are playing the longest waiting game of my life right now #53moredays, I thought maybe I could change it up for once. I don't really consider myself "hip" to new product trends, I tend to stick to what I really love.  There are a few things that I just can't live without and use on a daily basis.   

One.  It's A 10
This stuff has been a life saver to my hair for years.  I used to wear extensions all the time, both weaved or glued in and my hair was beyond damaged, but I didn't care because I thought I looked better with long hair. Then I grew up a little bit and realized I was just ruining my already thin, fragile, hair so I took them out forever, bought clip-in ones for when I really wanted some extra volume and length & started to take better care of my hair.  Between this stuff and prenatal vitamins, my hair is the healthiest it's ever been.  This stuff has 10 benefits that help strengthen hair and a little bit goes a long way.



Have you heard about teenagers "Beezin"?  That means that they put Burt's Bees on their eye lids that supposed to make them feel high or drunk... I just don't get this generation.  I mean I only graduated high school 10 years ago and we didn't have anything of the sort, just your standard alcohol, pot, and other drugs, not bath salts and Burt's Bees... just crazy!  Anyway, this stuff is da bomb diggity.  It works so well.  I really can't use any other chap stick when I have dry lips.  I would say we keep about five sticks all over the house.  Even husband likes it.



Three.  OPI Avojuice
I have raved about this lotion before and I always will.  I love the array of scents and I love that I can put it on my hands and go directly back to my keyboard without covering it in grease.  No other lotion does that as well as OPI.



I know I've mentioned this product before as well.  This is probably one of the newest products I've started using but I will use it forever.  The downside is the price, but a little goes a long way and if you can catch it on a sale then you're good to go.  It smells awesome, it's light, and it's worth the price.  Moisturizing is one of the most important things you can do for your skin.  The only downside is there is no SPF in it.  



I jumped on this band wagon a few months ago and I'm so glad that I did.  The "stipple" technique is how you use this product that basically means dabbing it to blend it in rather than sliding that sponge all over your face creating lines.  I bought mine in a kit that comes with cleanser that I actually do use about every other week.  I used a stipple brush prior to this sponge, but I definitely love the sponge more.  



Friday, May 16, 2014

Friday Favorites

Favorite Moment: Ok, this will probably seem lame to everyone else in the world, but my favorite moment this week was meeting with our financial advisor and doing some investing!  I know, I know, I’m getting wayyy out of hand here and I need to settle down.  But seriously, between our settlement from our accident and selling our house we had some extra money that we wanted to invest.  Doesn't that sound awesome?

Favorite Workout:  Curves of course!  It’s going great,  I'm getting there 4-5 times per week and seriously  feeling so awesome!

Favorite thing I’m looking forward to:  It’s Will Call weekend!!  If you don’t know, I belong to a wine club through our local winery August Hill.  I love being in the wine club because we can taste for free (and bring a guest) any time, we get 10% off everything in the store including wine, and best of all, every other month we get to go to Will Call events where we get our two bottles of wine of the months & get a pairing and listen to some fabulous music, all for members only.

Favorite TV Show:  This week we finally started watching Fargo on FX.  Since we were in the process of moving to my parents the week that it started we haven’t had a chance to watch it.  It’s awesome.  If you’re like me and you love anything that the Coen brothers do, (which was the original Fargo the movie) then you will love it because they are producers on the show.  They’ve also done Burn after Reading (ps. the GIF of Brad Pitt above is from this move!), The Men who Stare at Goats, and No Country for Old Men.

Favorite Song:  It’s not really new if you listen have XM radio, but Jake Owen’s “Beachin” really is putting me in the mood for summer.

Favorite Pin:  Lord please give me a daughter one day so I can get a baby maxi skirt!?
Favorite Funnies:
 
Seriously,  I think this every day of my life.
living back at home has not changed...
same here!
the daily struggle...
seems legit...

Thursday, May 15, 2014

#TOTALSOCIAL

Helene in Between

Thanks to Helene and Sarah for hosting this awesome link-up!  I love that they are incorporating a hashtag so that everyone (non-bloggers) can participate.  That’s right; you too, can participate in this link up using #firstsTOTALSOCIAL on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!  This month’s prompt: Your First Time.  Let’s keep it clean ladies! ;-)

I thought I’d find a few firsts:

The first photo on my phones camera gallery…

My first Instagram photo (I know, pretty sweet shot right…)

My first blog post.

My first EVER Facebook post on November 7, 2006 back when you had to have a college email
address in order to join…

The first bald dude I ever dated (and the last)

The first friend I had (met the first day of kindergarten and we married brothers!)

The first hashtag I ever used… #pugs of course

Join us!
 
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