Blessed Beyond Words.

At 8:12 A.M., our alarm clock went off.

We had bread to bake and rolls to let rise.

Why?

Because it's Thanksgiving, of course!

One of my most favorite holidays!

Keith was oh so kind and rolled out of bed to go down stairs

while I laid in the bed contemplating taking a pregnancy test.

Today is the day.

The day that the Dr. B told me to test if I had not started my period.

I finally decided to do it.

Keith was home and would be there to comfort me

when the test showed up negative.

I yelled down stairs to him,

"I can't hold my pee anymore.

I guess I will take a test."

He yelled back up to me,

"How long does it usually take?"

Not feeling very positive about this month AT ALL,

I said, "Oh, about 5 minutes or so."

I went to the bathroom,
and got out one of the cheap 25 pack pregnancy
tests that I had purchased many months ago
when I was testing every month.
I did my business and the stick IMMEDIATELY had two lines.

I was in shock.

I ran to the top of the stairs and yelled,

"Keith! You need to get up here right now!"

Keith came upstairs and said,

"2 lines is good?"

I was crying tears of joy and said,

"Yes, Yes, 2 lines is good!"

Not being satisfied, I was ready to throw on my gym shoes,

with my pajamas still on mind you,

and head to the store to buy tests that say

"Pregnant or Not Pregnant."

I didn't want any confusion.
I needed the pregnancy tests for dummies.

Keith, being the wonderful husband that he is,

volunteered to go to the store for me.

When he got back, we saw this: 

I was in disbelief. Utter disbelief.

I did not have an ounce of hope this month,

and here I stand. A mommy.

A word that I've always wanted to be since

I was young and playing with my Cabbage Patch Dolls.

A word that in recent months I wasn't so sure I was going to be.

Mommy.

That is such a sweet word.

I am ever grateful to God who listened to my prayers

and fulfilled them at a time when I needed it most.

I am thankful to my husband who constantly reassured me

that I was not in this alone.

I am thankful to my family and friends who have stuck by

me during this dark time in my life.

Look for Bumpdates coming soon!

Keep holding on.

They say that 3rd time's a charm,

but what about the 4th time?

Is there anything to be said about the 4th time of doing something?

Good luck?

Do better than last time?

You'll get it this time?

Who knows what to say,

but here we are.

The day of our 4th IUI.

I woke up early this morning in excruciating pain.

Pain like I was going to start my period.

The pain was so strong that I felt like my

ovaries were going to explode right out of 

my body.

The only place to go:

the cold bathroom floor.

My safe place as it as been for so 

many years when I have felt this way

about an oncoming period.

However, this time is different.

Today is ovulation day, not period day.

Is this what I was supposed to be

feeling each month on day 14?

After about 15 minutes or so,

I was finally able to pick myself

up off of the floor and get ready for work.

Work went by quickly as the kiddos

always keep me movin' and shakin'.

We had Keith's appointment and

while there we dropped off a delicious

pumpkin roll to the staff that Keith's, mom,

Lisa had made.

Before it was my turn in the doctor's chair, 

we  ran to B Dubs for a quick meal.

Finally it was time. Cycle Day 14 at 4:00.

Dr. B came in, said his hellos,

mentioned how he loved the 

"calorie free" pumpkin roll,

looked at my chart and was

pleased to see that there

were 3 nice follicles developing on

Saturday.

He must have sensed the negativity in 

my voice when I quickly said,

"Yeah" because he said,

"Well, I think it's good."

I then told him about my painful morning 

and he said that this could be a good sign.

I guess so, but good signs

come with A LOT of pain.

I reminded him again,

as I always tell the doctor's before IUI,

that I am okay with twins.

They always chuckle when I say this,

but I am dead serious.

I do not want to take this fertility journey 

ever again.

EVER.

The insemination was over quickly,

and we were on our way.

The funny thing is,

I went home, threw on my yoga gear,

and headed straight back to the institute for our

monthly "Ladies Night In."

Yoga was so relaxing that I once again

almost fell asleep.

Panera was provided for dinner,

but my favorite part was the sperm and

egg cookies that were for dessert!

Our host has a great sense of humor.

If you don't laugh about infertility,

you will cry,

so I'd rather be laughing.

We all shared our stories,

and the group was shocked to hear 

that I had just had IUI a little over an hour

ago.

I told them a little yoga may relax me.

Nothing else has helped so far!

There were left over sperm and egg cookies,

so our host let me take some home to Keith.

Notice I picked the girl sperm!

Happy Insemination Day!

Let the 2 week wait begin...

But if today I lose hope...

This morning we had our ultrasound with Dr. A.

Dr. A is truly one of the best doctor's in Cincinnati,

possibly even America.

He has received numerous awards over the years,

including Top Doctor,

voted on by a prestigious peer-reviewed group that conducts

an extensive survey of over 5,000 physicians to identify the 

doctors that other doctors trust the most.  

Today, though, he worried me.

He walked into the room, and without

even a glance at us, looked at my

chart and said,

"We need to change your course of treatment."

He did the ultrasound and found 3 follicles.

He recommended that we do the injectable

shots for two more days,

take our Ovidrel trigger shot on three days from today,

and IUI 4 days from today.

We scheduled our appointment for 4:00 on November 13th.

I was a little disheartened by this.

Day 14 at 4:00?? 

This seems wayyyy too late??

Will we miss those beautiful eggs?

I was also sent home with a progesterone pill.

This was the one highlight of the trip.

Hello, how long have I been saying I've needed

progesterone??

Oh, only a year now.

The only down side?

This horse sized pill has to be shoved

up my hoo ha.

Looovvveeelyy!

We'll see how this goes,

but not feeling to optimistic this month.

So I leave with this...

Birthday, continued.

Tonight we celebrated my birthday with our families.

Since I wasn't able to do it last night due to conferences,

everyone joined me tonight for a fun Friday night.

I snapped this picture of Nicole with Sasha and Maddy...

...and she snapped this one of me while everyone 

was singing happy birthday.

I don't look too sad at this moment about turning 30

now do I?! 

Pay no attention to my appearance...
Friday's are rough!

My family is so thoughtful and found some 

awesome gifts for me.

And leave it to my Opa who wanted to

do a Jager shot.

I tried to get out of it, but he kept insisting,

"It's your birthday!"

Okay, just one,

but no one tell Dr. A about this tomorrow

when I go for my Day 10 scan!

Thank you to all of my family for being

so kind.

Happy birthday to me! (again! ha!)

Ending of an era, turning of a page.

Today is the day that I have dreaded for such a long time.

The day that I turn 30.

I don't know why I have dreaded it.

I have always LOVED birthdays,

especially my birthday. haha

But this year is different.

I am having a tough time moving into a new decade.

I adored my twenties.

Best years of my life.

I was fun (maybe too much fun at times!).

For some reason I feel that I have to let

that all go as I move into my thirties.

I am also not where I thought I would be at 30.

I have accomplished soooo many things in my life.

I posted this picture to instagram last night with this caption:

At midnight this girl leaves her 20s. A decade where I married
my best friend, enjoyed an amazing honeymoon, became
a mommy to my fur baby Maddy,
made best friends for life, traveled to new places,
found my career, and ran a marathon among many other things.
I can't imagine what the 30s will bring, but if it's better than
the 20s BRING. IT. ON.

I want to fully believe in the statement I wrote above.

Why I am letting this one infertility set back control

my thoughts about this birthday?

I don't know, but it is.

I woke up with this song in my head,

and it gives me inspiration:

When I got to school, my wonderful

teaching mates had this surprise for me:

Did I mention that we have conferences tonight at school?

Happy freakin' 30th birthday, right?!

Thanks to my teaching friends who had every 2nd grader

sign this banner for me!

My mom and Troy also sent the BEAUTIFUL flowers to school.

The office predicted they were from Keith,

but I knew exactly who they were from.

A mama always knows how to take care of her girl.

Notice the card says,
"Happy 21st birthday."
I am in denial about 30.

A friend at work also gave me this adorable math

mug since I teach every second grader math this year.

How thoughtful!

Kacie stopped by at lunch with balloons, flowers,

and Don Pablo's.

Yum! Yum! Yum!

This girl knows the way to my heart is definitely

through my stomach!

After what turned out to be a surprisingly wonderful day,

and a long night of conferences,

I finally was able to return home to my caring hubby

and loving Maddy.

We enjoyed homemade pizza

(Keith is by far the cook in our family)

and then munched on these Servattii's

cookies my mom dropped off.

We didn't have any candles, so we had to use a match!
Ah!
Can you guess what I am wishing for?!

Thank you to everyone who made my day truly terrific!

I had so many texts, phone calls, cards, and facebook messages

(which I responded to each and every one individually--

something I take pride in doing every year!)

that I truly felt loved in my 30th year of life.

It truly is an end of an era,

but now I'm ready to turn the page.

Let's go thirties!

Savannah's Birthday Weekend!

After getting a few hours of sleep,

Savannah and I woke up early and continued our

gab session on the couch while the boys snoozed.

Once everyone was awake,

the boys headed out on their own adventure

while the girls went Christmas shopping

at a craft show and then had lunch at Chick-fil-a.

Yum!

We visited Savannah's second home--her school--

so that I could see where Savannah spends her days.

It was fun to see her classroom and 

walk the halls where Savannah and Kevin were

once students.

I even got to see old pictures of Savannah

hanging up in the hallways!

Such a cute tradition!

Later, we snagged some pics before dinner.

For some reason, I don't have a pic with Kev in it...

Sorry Kev!

We went to dinner with Holly and Nick,

and Ashley and Kevin.

It was great getting to catch up with 

everyone!

I absolutely love my Louisville family to pieces,

and wish that we could all see each other more often.

Unfortunately we didn't snag any pics at dinner

either...Wow I am slacking in this department today!

We headed home and all went straight to bed--

exhausted from our late night the night before.

What's even better,

it's "fall back" so we get an extra hour of sleep.

Score!

Thanks to Kevin for scheming the birthday plan with me to

surprise Savannah (such a good husband!),

and to all of our Louisville friends who visited with us.

Another Doc Appointment & A Surprise Birthday Party!

After school today I had my Day 2 scan.

I met with Dr. S who seemed positive and

reminded me to give the medicine some time to work.

I will do my same routine as last month:

Femara starting tomorrow, follistim injectable meds

beginning cycle day 7, I will come in for a day 10

scan on November 9th and schedule the IUI from there.

Other than that,

nothing new to report.

Same old stuff. Different month.

What is exciting though, is that Keith and I

are on a secret mission tonight to surprise

our friend, Savannah.

Today's Savannah's 28th birthday,

and after some secret spy messages

with her husband, Kevin,

we have the weekend booked in Louisville.

I rushed home, called Savannah

to wish her a happy birthday

so that she wouldn't be suspicious

of why I'm not calling her,

packed our clothes

(I'm always a last minute packer!),

ran to Meijer to pick up my 

prescription of Femara,

and off we went with Maddy in tow.

On the way, we decided we were

hungry so we thought we'd drive

through McDonald's super

fast so that we could eat and drive.

Only problem is,

we stopped at the

SLOWEST. MCDONALD'S.  EVER.

I was giving Kev text updates

(hoping Savannah wouldn't see)

apologizing for our tardiness.

Around 9:30,

we quietly pulled into the drive way,

headlights off so that Savannah wouldn't see us,

and tip toed up the front steps.

We rang the door bell and of course

Maddy starts barking! SHHHH!

Savannah opened the door and was 

sooooooo 

surprised to see her Cincinnati friends

standing on her porch.

It's one of my most favorite Savannah moments ever!

Holly joined us later in the evening,

and we stayed up until 4 in the morning chatting.

Even the boys were ready to go to bed before us!

That never happens.

Happy birthday to one of my favorite friends!

I hope this is one of your most favorite birthdays ever!

Can't wait to spend the weekend with you!