I feel like a Pin-Cushion!!!!

Well this is exactly how I am feeling! I have been stuck so many times in the past 3 days (5 x a day), that I am beginning to be a pro at this! We still have 7 days left of this! The one medicine Repronex is the worst one. It burns going in and it leaves a big red knot on your stomach where you inject. I called the clinic today and asked the nurse if I was allergic to it or something else, and she said this is pretty normal for this medication. Has anyone else out there experienced the same thing with Repronex, or Menopur (same thing)????

Nothing else to report really, just cranking down the days until my egg retrieval!!! Thank you all for the sweet messages, they really mean alot as I ride this roller coaster trying to get all my follies to grow! First scan is Wednesday, I will update then, and let you know how we are progressing!

Ending with a Scripture:

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness"

-2 Tim. 3:16

Stimming .......Day 2

Hey peeps!!! Well I am beginning to feel the effects of all these medications I am pumping my body full of around the clock!!! I am so irritable- poor sweetness, he really is taking all this in stride.

This really is a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be. My stomach is so sore and has little bruises all over it from all theses injections. I am trying to stay positive as I know it increases the chances of IVF being successful, but today I feel so yucky I am wondering if this is even going to work! It's like a roller coaster of emotions.

So we still have 8 more days of doing this "stimming." My first US to check and see how things are progressing is on Wednesday. I will let you guys know then. Sorry I don't mean to be negative when this is such a positive thing, I am just really feeling cruddy from all these hormones.

And is anybody out there reading this???? Please leave me a comment and let me know you stopped by. I hardly ever have comments so I just wanted to be sure I am not writing this to myself!!!! It's simple to do, at the bottoom of the post it says "_ sweet commnets", just click on that and type something in the box. If you are not a member of blogger, just click "anonymous" and sign your name in the post so I will know who sent it. See????Not so bad!!!

I have a very long, stressful week at work this week, so I may only update the blog after my follicle scans! Bear with me. I will take pictures on Wednesday at the clinic. Thank you for the prayers, please don't stop, we need them, and we feel them!!! Love you all!!!!

Oh- Mom came home from the hospital today!!! She is doing so much better. They found out she needed 2 blood transfusions she was so anememic. After that, her horrible migraine is gone and she feels great! She even walked up the stairs to get into the house!!! Go Bonnie Go Bonnie!!! Thanks so for the prayers for her continued recovery!

Ending tonight with a scripture-

"Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer.
From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe."

-Psalm 61:1-3

It's Baseline Day!!!!

Well hello Peeps! I know I have not posted in a couple of days, but there was not much to report. We have anxiously been awaiting this day to get here because it is what's called "Baseline Day" in IVF land.

Today they did a follicle scan to get baseline measurements before we start the stimming medications tomorrow. They saw 6 follicles on one ovary and 7 on the other. Well they also looked more closely at this 4 X 9 cm cyst I have had on my left ovary for about 3 years. When I first started going to the fertility clinic, they said it was no big deal, but for some reason today, they decided it needed to be aspirated. Ughhhhh......

So sweetness took me back at 5:45 this evening, as they aspirated the fluid off. Let me just tell you, they said it would feel like a menstrual cramp. WHATEVER!!!! That needle was over 12" long, when she stuck it into the cyst, I about came off the table!!!! They are sending the fluid off to pathology to see if they could tell if it was really an ovarian cyst or fluid that got trapped in one of my tubes. They are not sure as of now.

But now that that is done, we start stimming tomorrow morning, and I go in for my second follicle scan on Wednesday. We are in it now baby!!!

Update on Mom: well yesterday was a very trying day. The surgeon came in the morning and tried to pull the drain out of her knee, and it BROKE OFF in her knee!!! Seriously! He said he has never had that happen in 1000 knee replacements! SO she was NPO all day, and then they took her back into surgery last night to remove the drain. She came through it pretty well. Today she has battled a migraine all day (vomiting, chills, yuck feeling), so she has had a bit of a rough time. They are thinking of sending her home on Sunday now. Thanks for all the prayers, letters, flowers and calls. She and I are so appreciative!!

Sorry I did not take any pictures today, I am slacking, but just wanted to update everyone on our progress! We are keeping our eye on the prize!! It's gonna be worth it!!!

Ending tonight with an awesome Scripture-

"Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying."

-Romans 12:12 NLT

Knees Please!!

Well today was a big day for my Mom. She had a total knee replacement on her left knee. She had her right knee replaced 2 1/2 years ago, and has had such excellent results that she decided to go back for more torture (ha ha), to have the other one done.

We arrived at the hospital this morning in the wee hours, and everyone was already buzzing around. Mom was so tired, she had seen every 1/2 hour last night being so anxious about surgery, but she looked cute in her hospital gown and all.....

She had a really nice nurse named Kathy, who really took excellent care of her,
And this is her cutie pa-tootie orthopedic surgeon Dr. Dowd from the prestigious Jordan Young Institute. He was so knowledgeable and really made her feel so at ease.

This time they did a femoral artery block in her leg before surgery, and she has had such a great experience with the pain today. Last time around it was pretty awful for the first 2 days, her pain was off the charts, but with this nerve block, she woke up with her leg numb, and it has gradually worn off as the day has progressed. Highly recommend this if anyone is having an operation like this done.

So sweetness and I have been hanging around her hospital room, fetching anything she wants (except food! She is still NPO).

Thank you all so much to those of you who have called, sent gifts and prayed for a smooth and successful surgery for her. God is so faithful!!! She will be in the hospital until Saturday morning it looks like, and then home for weeks of rehab.

We only have 2 more days until baseline IVF day on Friday!!!! So excited! Will update you all then!

Many Hugs to you all !!!!!

Ending with a Scripture-

"Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion"

-Psalm 103:2-4

We've been bit by the Apple (mac that is)!

So sweetness has been eyeing the iPhone for quite some time. Me too to be honest, but my Blackberry pretty much had all the features I wanted. Well, making the decision to leave Verizon Wireless after 11 years is definitely a hard one- ALL my family and most friends are with VZW, so we had to take into account the increase in the number of minutes we may use per month, since we will be loosing all those wonderful mobile-to-mobile minutes!

So after much agonizing, comparing price plans, pros and cons; we decided to go for it! I opted for the trendy Macintosh white 3G S, while sweetness opted for the classic black 3G.Of course we wanted to protect our new babies..... so we got these cool Frawg hard shell cases, sweetness went for the "Clemson Orange." ok babe whatever. He is truly obsessed with Clemson.

And out of the case, I think they look just as cool......
So if there are any iPhone owners that read my blog, i thought I would share with you some cool apps we have found in the 2 days we have had our new phones. The pic below shows the icon to the right of FACE BOOK of course, is called "Shazam". This free app allows you to hold your iPhone up to any TV, stereo, video etc, and it listens to the song and will tell you the title and artist, then take you right to iTunes, and let you buy it! We have not stumped it yet! Very cool!
For the sports enthusiasts out there (which we are, come on Football season) this is a shot from sweetness's phone showing the cool College football app, and ESPN's score center where you can list you favorite teams that are your home page for the app.

And the top right icons here from my phone show a very cool free App called "Backgrounds". It has over 7500 really cool pictures from all genres to make as your wallpaper- very cool. Also the "Battery Status" app tells you how many minutes you have left on your battery whether you are in the 3G, EDGE or O network. Kinda neat since the battery icon on the home screen only shows you approximately how much battery you have left.

And one I will use everyday, is this one. "Cell Tracker" directly monitors your acct through AT&T so you do not go over minutes or text messages. You can also pay your bill through this app!

If anyone knows of any cool apps, please let me know in the comments section!!! This phone does EVERYTHING!!!!

On the IVF front, we are getting closer....... today was the last BCP (finally!), and I am right on the money with Lupron. Friday is the big day for us....Baseline Day and first scans!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is a big day. My Mom is having a total knee replacement. I would so appreciate your prayers for a safe, successful surgery for her. She has suffered quite a bit, and I am really looking to her being out of pain. I will be spending the night at the hospital tomorrow night with her, and maybe more depending on how she is doing! I will blog and let you know how she does! Thanks guys! Talk soon!

A day at the Beach

Today Sweetness and I went over to my Dad's house for a nice get together. They live right ON THE OCEAN!!! It really is such a beautiful home, I thought I would take an opportunity to show it to ya'll. Warning: lots of pics in this post!

We were greeted by Jack when we walked in the door......

followed closely by Corrin.......so sweet
and last but not least, Little Bit. (She was a rescued Hurricane Katrina dog).

After all the excitement of welcoming us in, they were then just relaxing and chillin with us in the kitchen.

This is my Dad and his wife Sue.

and then their friends Rich and Jen arrived......

Corrin was still chilaxin on the cool floor.....

And here is the awesome spread they had prepared for everyone to nibble on!

So let's take the tour I promised you of their beautiful beach house..... Shall we?

I took several pics of the beautiful "beachy" touches that Sue has put all through the house. Hope you enjoy...

The beautiful mirror in the bathroom.

Literally, the beach is THAT way, out the door!!!

This is their living room, there is a sun room just outside that big window.

This is inside the sun room looking out to their backyard! (the dunes)

cute little table and chairs in the sun room

furniture out in the sun room, beautiful beachy turquoise colors....

My favorite pic from the day, standing on their deck, looking out into their "backyard"- The Atlantic Ocean!!!

My dad built this bar right into the patio, as he says "this bar is always open!"

I loved this too; painted right on a seashell.

After all the excitement for the day, Corrin was beat, but still looking so sweet!

After we left my Dad's, we went to Target, and I was able to pick up this book below. In my People magazine this week, this book was listed as the top Pick, as it has a sequel that just came out also. It has been such a long time since I have been able to curl up with a really good book! And that is exactly what I plan on doing this evening......lounging with sweetness and this (hopefully good) book!

Has anyone out there read this book already? Tell me how it was!!!

No IVF news today, looking forward to Friday- our "Baseline Day"- full of Ultrasounds, bloodwork, consent forms and TONS of hope! Please keep praying- we need it!!

Ending with a Scripture-

Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old."

-Psalm 25:4-6

A Night at Grandma's

Tonight we went over to Grandma's (my Mom's)..... as you can see from the picture below, the babies were so excited to get there!!!!

And my grandma's dog, Patches, was so happy too!

Well, you might wonder why I took a picture of this tennis ball on the bottom of my grandma's walker??? Well my aunt was trying to cut these slits to put new tennis balls on the legs, when the knife slipped.......and she sliced her hand. So off to the ER, and after a couple of stitches....she was back, but oh the drama! But alas, Nana has new tennis balls on the walker.

Judging from her smile, she was happy.














Sweetness helped my mom cook dinner on the grill and after we ate, we decided to get our last good game of canasta before my Mom has her knee replaced next Tuesday. (There will be more about that later).

Maggie checking out the card game......

Kisses Grandma.........

And after a long hard game, Mom and sweetness kicked me and Nana's butt tonight. They were so humble (see above Picture).

Maggie then let Daddy know she was tired and time to go home...... Thanks for a great night Mom and Nana! I love you guys!

On the IVF front, still status quo, injecting my Lupron as directed. We are getting excited..... please keep praying. Tomorrow sweetness and I are going to my Dad's house for a cookout. They live on the beach and I will take lots of pictures and post them tomorrow night.

I love you guys! Keep the faith!

Ending with a scripture:

For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you.
I have become like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.

-Psalm 71:5-7