Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Facebook Rules, Mood Swings Drool

*I updated the name of this entry. My creative juices just hit me!

Today, I put a simple post on Facebook that said, “Blogging is therapeutic.” I have had the most awesome response from it. Several people have messaged or commented to encourage me on my journey. Some of them have actually gone through IVF while the others are just amazingly sympathetic. It’s crazy how many people have gone through fertility issues and you never knew about it. What I have learned is that my blog is helpful to at least one other woman. I said from the beginning that I was writing this blog 1) to help me remember what all I went through (since my pregnancy brain has kicked in with Lupron) and 2) to hopefully help someone else going through the same thing. Mission accomplished!!!

The other day, I was asking my mom if this many of her friends had trouble getting pregnant. Back when she was having my sisters, IVF was unheard of. With me, it was still so new that I doubt she had ever heard of it personally. I asked her what they used to do when they couldn’t get pregnant, and she said they adopted. However, it makes me wonder why it seems that so many more people are turning to infertility treatments nowadays then adopted back in the day. (Does that make sense, or am I rambling, again?) It just dawned on me. Women didn’t used to wait as long to have children as we do now. That’s probably it. I bet the average age of mothers is higher than it used to be. Nothing wrong with that, though. I’ll be 32 before I get pregnant and close to 33 when I have the baby. That’s just the first one! (Todd, don’t even start on the “we’ll have one and see how you do before we have the second”. J He loves that line as much as I love the “You have kids?!” line that I use when he tells someone about our first three. Such comedians. ) Anyway, so I just went through an entire train of thought while typing. Must be fun for any readers I have. In this paragraph, I basically stated and solved a problem. Yay, me!

So on another note, Todd is learning to handle my mood swings very well. This morning, I told him I was having an emotional day…again. He said, “Did something happen or just Lupron?” J He’s learning so well! For the most part, my mood swings haven’t been anything different than what they were before. I think after we’re through with all of this, he’ll still be saying, “Did something happen or just because you’re a woman?” J

Floating house update: Our wood floors are still there and stained. Nothing else has happened. Basically, there is no update to give. I just wanted everyone to rest assured that our wood floors haven’t gone anywhere. J We should be getting baseboards tomorrow. My husband is diligently working to get our home put back together, which means he still isn’t traveling. Yay for no traveling!! Tonight will be our first night back in the house, so pray that I don’t step on any tack strips in the dark. Yikes!

Day of Chelsea

I know I only have three of you that read my blog regularly, and I appreciate it, Mom, Bradette, and Heather!  However, I had my first random person leave me a comment yesterday:

I stumbled across your blog, searching for Dr. B info. I started this journey in April (with Dr. B) and just completed my 6 months of Lupron injections, after the surgery to remove endo/cysts. Going in to the shots with a positive attitude makes a world of difference on how they affect you, in my opinion. Stay optimistic and keep a good fan nearby, and you should be good to go. ;-) Good luck on your journey – bringing baby Provence in to your family!

Her comment literally made my day better.  It’s always nice to talk to or hear from someone that’s going through something similar as you are.  I’m basically doing the exact same thing she did, just 4 months later.  Thank you, dayofchelsea, for making my Monday a little less Monday-esque! (which in my world means “no fun”)  J  And, thank you for taking the time to show me you were thinking about me.

It’s a Hate-Hate Relationship

One of the things Dr. Bundren’s nurse said would help me with my Lupron side effects was working out every day.  Man, am I trying!  I have a friend, Elizabeth Taylor (no, not the famous one), that lost something like 30 pounds doing boot camp five days a week.  So, I joined.  They actually had a Groupon going, so I’m still under that window.  However, I went ahead and signed up for my yearly membership with the gym because I enjoy it so much.  I have been five days a week for the last 3 weeks and twice this week (it’s only Tuesday).

At the end of every week that you go for at least five days, you get to sign and date the wall.  I love that part!  (I have three dates next to my name.)  AND, at the end of two consecutive weeks that you’ve gone five days each week, you get a coupon for a $25 hour-long massage.  I love that part even more!!  (I have earned one coupon.  Yay!)  If you check-in on Facebook 10 times in one month while at the gym, you get a prize at the end of the month.  Last month, it was a water bottle.  I know that in the past, it has been tshirts.  (I have already done my 10 check-ins, so I’ll get my prize on Thursday, I hope.)  I just love these little motivations.

I started out going at 5:35am (which means I’m getting up at 5am, and for those that know me well know that this is a huge deal for me to do this).  However, I’ve had a few evenings free, so I have started rotating between going in the morning and after work.  I actually feel like I get a better workout if I wait until after work, but I know you burn more calories in a morning workout.  Plus, some nights, I just can’t go.

So it sounds like I really love it though, right?  And I do.  Well, most of it.  Except the burpees.  I hate burpees, and burpees hate me; no hurt feelings.  If you don’t know what a burpee is, google it up.  They are no fun whatsoever!  However, if they will help me reach my goal weight, I’ll keep doing them.

I do love my bootcamp gym!!!
 
Oh, and I'm still taking yoga on Saturdays.  I convinced Todd to go with me once, he loved it!  He actually uses the breathing techniques when work gets stressful.  He even went back with me a second time and insisted we find time in our day to make it to class.  I love that he loves yoga!  I love my yoga man!!

Flowers for Algernon

Todd’s company did the sweetest, most timely thing for me.  The day after our house flooded, I wasn’t actually at work.  I had stayed home to help Todd move furniture and other items out of the way of the disaster restoration team.  Anyway, Multimedia Games happened to send flowers to work for me to thank us for our continued support of the company.  Basically, they were saying, “Sorry your husband travels so much.  Here, have some flowers.”  J  I got them the next day when I got to work.  It was a lovely bouquet.  Thanks, MGAM!!

It's Getting Hot In Here...

The hot flashes have started.  Yay, me!  I’m one lucky girl.  J  I honestly can empathize with women that have gone through menopause, now.  I actually don’t mind them…when I’m outside in 40° weather!  It’s the middle of the night when I’m all cozy and deep asleep that I mind them.  Todd has asked me what they’re like.  It’s hard to explain.  It feels like someone has turned a heater on inside of my body.  It starts in my calves and works its way up to my face.  At work, I have a fan on my desk that I can turn on and off.  Anywhere else, I just look for something with which to fan myself.  They’re definitely uncomfortable but totally worth it if I can have a baby soon.

Friday, October 26, 2012

“Your House is…floating!”

I know it’s been a while since I have blogged. Things have been a little crazy with us for the last 2.5 weeks. Let me set the scene…

On Tuesday, October 9, we were in the midst of a pretty busy week. Todd had left that morning on a flight to Chicago for business. I was anticipating my annual Bunco hosting event that evening. We had spent a decent amount of time over the previous three days preparing the house and menu for this party. I think Todd likes it to be as perfect as I do since we don’t get to host very often. Anyway, I had scheduled Adela, our housekeeper, to come clean the house that afternoon. Thank goodness I had! (Keep in mind that the first time Todd met Adela, she couldn’t spell her last name out loud for him; she had to write it on her hand and show it to him. Her English is a little shaky at times.)

Anyway, I was meeting with a vendor, and we had made it back to my desk to review some things. My cell phone started ringing, but since I was with a vendor, I ignored it. Then, my work phone started ringing (which I later realized was just a coincidental call from my mom). Again, I ignored this call since I was busy. Next, another call came in on my cell phone. At this point, I started wondering who was trying to reach me so frantically. I looked, and it was Adela. She has never called me, but we text regularly. I got a little worried and asked my vendor politely if I could take the call. Thank goodness I did. Now, I won’t tell you our conversation because it wasn’t nearly as good as the voicemail she had just left for Todd. However, the message was the same. Todd was on a plane at the time, so luckily, we will have this voicemail in electronic history forever. It went something like this:


Hello, Mr. Todd. This is Adela. I just got to your house, and it is…inundating. (She can’t spell her name, but she knows the word “inundating”. Ha!) There is water everywhere. Your house is…(wait for it)…floating!! Please, call me back.

So, as you can imagine, when I answered my call from Adela and received this information, I began to panic. Immediately, I called my mother. She ran over there, and I immediately left work. At the time, I had to contemplate if I should just stay at work, and I was wondering if Mom would care if I just moved my Bunco party to her house. Ha! Silly girl. Little did I know how bad it was.

The culprit!

A dishwasher hose had come loose, and the entire first floor was floating, not flooding. J When I got home, Mom was already hard at work trying to push water out of the tiled kitchen area into the garage and out the back door. There was a good inch-and-a-half of water standing in my kitchen, mudroom, pantry, and laundry room. I got to work with her. Shortly thereafter, Mimi and Bill showed up. We spent several hours just moving water with brooms, dustpans, a shop vac, anything we could find to push water out. Then, we moved the furniture off the wet carpet and onto the tile and hardwoods. (I really owe a huge thanks to Mom, Mimi, Bill, and sister, Jenny, for helping in these efforts. Also, a big thanks to Rachel for even offering to help. All of us at the house took note of how sweet you are!! Bradette, I know you wish you could have been there!...you were in spirit.)

This is what my kitchen has looked like since the flood happened, and Farmers' think it's "livable"
 
Here's Mimi taking her dinner break
 
Mom is funny!
My entryway

Our cute blue shoes

Hours later, the disaster restoration company came and started tearing out everything, and I mean everything. They took all of the carpet, hardwood, and baseboards from the living room, office, master bedroom, master closet, entryway, and the girls’ bedroom/closet.

Our bedroom without carpet

Our living room with the fans
Our bathroom with the fans

Alvin tearing up our hardwoods.  I hated watching this!

Kaleb's room...the only place the didn't flood downstairs, so it gets to be storage.

The girls' room


Our new dishwasher...the hose outside and the sun
Dad showed up a little after the disaster restoration people, and Todd made it home about an hour later. Oh, when Todd landed in Chicago, he had a “911 call me” text from me.
J You’re welcome, honey. He didn’t even leave the terminal in Chicago. He turned right around, and caught a plane home.

When he got home, one of the first things he said was, “Well, I guess I finally got my boat.” J Later that night, he told me that if I didn’t want him to travel, I could find something better than flooding the house to get across my point. Even in stressful times, he makes me laugh.

That night, we stayed in a hotel because we didn’t finish with the disaster restoration people until 1 a.m. I wasn’t interested in waking Mom and Dad that late. However, every night since, we have been at Mom and Dad’s (with the exception of the one night we were both out of town). Thanks, Mom and Dad, for your patience and hospitality. Not every parent would be so generous!

Anyway, we finally got our hardwoods laid yesterday. It wasn’t easy, though. They had about 50 machines in our house for five days. It has taken almost 2 weeks after that to get any work done at the house. We will have baseboards finished next week and carpet the week after.



Our living room and kitchen drapes during the hardwood reconstruction

 
Our new hardwoods before stain

Our new hardwoods after stain
I am very frustrated with our insurance company, our builder, and the flooring place. Unfortunately, we could only fire one right now, so we are not using Floorhaus. J I do have to say that I love Renaissance (our hardwood company) and Carpet One (our carpet company). They have been wonderful and fast! Oh, and the guys from disaster restoration, Service Masters, were pretty great, too. They were very patient with my questions, so we fed them Sonic and homemade brownies.

Yummy brownies!!

Anyway, so that’s our last two weeks in a nutshell. On a good note, it has kept Todd home since the house “floated”. Plus, I’m getting to upgrade my carpets and put hardwood in the office. However, as much as I adore my parents and love their home, there is just no place like your own home. Todd has refused to do anything besides live out of a suitcase for fear that it means he’s admitting that it’s going to take a while. I think he probably wishes he had just unpacked 2.5 weeks ago. J

Sorry for the long post. There has just been a lot happen, and I’ve left out the majority of the detail since the incident happened. I must go now. I have to plot my plan for what I will do next time he tries to travel. Mwah ha ha ha ha!!! (That’s my evil laugh.)

Monday, October 8, 2012

An Ode to Todd

(Keep in mind that I am not a poet.)

Eight years ago yesterday, I met the man of my dreams.
This morning, I found him ironing. Man, we make a good team!

He was ironing napkins for my Bunco party tomorrow night. This was at 6:30 in the morning!! He spent the weekend helping me prepare for this party. He's absolutely amazing! I do realize how lucky I am to have him. I love you, Todd!

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Look Who's 16!!

As handsome as his father...if you can get past the shoes and socks. Can't believe he's 16!

I love my mushy brain!

I showed up at Mom's on Thursday to walk and had no workout clothes with me. Apparently, I took them out of the car on Wednesday. I remember going to the car to get something from the bag, but I have no recollection of removing the entire bag. The best part wasn't that my bag was sitting on the bar where I packed my lunch and grabbed my purse Thursday morning...right where I left my lunch all day almost a week before. No, the best part was that I got to walk Mom's neighborhood in my Walmart salesperson outfit, complete with baggy thug pants. Nothing keeps this girl from a walk with her momma!!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

I spoke too soon…

I found out that one of my friends did not have a viable IUI cycle.  It was one of the girls I mentioned yesterday.  I announced it too soon, and I just feel awful for her!  This is why all of their names are not mentioned.  This was her third try.  I wish I could hug her and just make it all better.

What it made me realize is that there is kind of a community for those going through infertility treatment.  As soon as you learn someone else is doing/had to do IVF/IUI, you immediately connect!  They’re immediately empathetic for what you’re putting up with.

When my friend told me she knew her cycle hadn’t been successful, my heart immediately broke.  I don’t understand why she’s having such a hard time having a baby.  She’s such a good person.  I continue to think of all the people out there that accidentally have children and don’t even want them.  It’s so not fair!  Sometimes, I wonder if God gave Todd and me this challenge because we’ve been blessed in so many other ways.  I know He will carry us through this, but sometimes, I wish I could just see how and when it’s going to happen…for all of us future mommies!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

More Wonderful Texts

Another IVF friend and an IUI friend found out they are pregnant.  I can’t reveal their names yet, but that makes three of our friends.  We are elated for them!

By the way, IUI stands for Intrauterine Insemination.  It's another form of infertility treatment.

Hot Flashes and Headaches and Memory Loss…Oh My!

The side effects are starting to kick-in.  Yay me!

First off are the hot flashes.  They aren’t as bad as I had expected just yet, but I know they’re going to get worse.  They really only come at night and when I’m at work.  I can’t stop sleeping because that’s unhealthy, so I think I’m going to quit my job.  That should solve half of that problem.  J  When I’m at work, I notice that they come when I start to feel overwhelmed or have been on my feet for a very long time.  Therefore, since I can’t actually quit my job, I’m going to push all of my work off onto other people and sit on my rear all day.  Better plan.  J  Oh, and my face is always shiny, now.  It's starting to make me wonder if pregnant women are "glowing" because of their pregnancy or because they're always hot.  I do not like sweating!  I just bought stock in Secret!

Headaches are the next side effect.  Last week, I had a headache for pretty much 4 days straight.  (I can’t complain, though, because these are nothing like what my cousin, Bradette, puts up with every day…and hers has no end in sight.  However, at least I have her to sympathize for me!)  The doctor said to take OTC pain meds, 25mg of Benadryl, and 6 ounces of REAL pop.  I love you, Mr. Pepsi!  I put off this concoction for as long as I could because I was worried the Benadryl would put me to sleep, and the pop counteracts the walking I’ve been doing.  However, it got bad enough last week that I couldn’t resist.  It did help alleviate the pain more than anything else had.  I did the same thing on Saturday night and yesterday.  I didn’t have any pop at my house on Saturday night, and of course Todd was out of town on business.  My dad came over and brought me a real Coke.  Isn’t that sweet?!  Then, Mom came over and walked Sunday night.  About 20 minutes later, she rang my doorbell with an 8-pack of those little mini-Pepsis.  Now, I have caffeine at home and work and not too much that I waste any.  I seriously have the best parents in the world.  Hope they’re ready to learn to give me my shots when Todd’s away!  (Or Todd could quit his job.  Hmmm…we’re going to be a non-working family if I keep up this planning!)

Then, there is the insomnia.  I haven’t slept much for the last week.  Or has it been two weeks?  I can’t remember, but that brings me to the next side effect…

The most entertaining side effect is the memory loss.  I have to write everything down these days.  I just called my doctor because I am having a side effect today that was not on the list.  No bueno.  Anyway, the nurse was asking questions, and I seriously had no recollection of the answers.  She basically wanted to know details about things that happened a week ago.  Usually, I am Johnny-On-the-Spot, but even now, I have no idea what the answers are.  No memory of it.  Last Friday, I got halfway to work and started wondering where my lunch was.  I pulled over on the BA Expressway and started searching my car frantically.  Then, I started wondering if I had left it on the bar in the kitchen or on top of my car.  It stressed me out, not because I was going to have to do something different for lunch, but because I really didn’t want to lose my cute lunch bag and FOUR Tupperware containers.  Luckily, I left it on the bar at home, and it was still chilled enough to eat later.  J  See, the bag and containers are top-notch!!!...or do I just keep it as cold as a refrigerator in the house these days?  Something to ponder….

Other than that, the Lupron phase is going pretty well.  I talked to 2 girls last night that had to take this shot.  When I said I was on it, they just apologized.  They said this was the worst phase for them, and they are both on their third IVF cycle and second IVF pregnancy.  Therefore, if I can get through this, it should be smoother sailing until the end.

On another note, I’ve started taking Yoga.  My sweet, sweet friend, Heather, is taking it with me.  So far, we have only been to one class, but we have a date for class two.  I love it.  It’s so relaxing.  Plus, it’s a beginner class, so she just focuses on a couple of poses for the entire class.  It feels awesome!  I think it will definitely help with the stress of the IVF situation.  Thanks for going with me, Nicho!  You will never know how much I appreciate you!!

Also, I have orientation for boot camp on Saturday.  I’m going to be one fit woman!