Czech Trip 2009

Up Date

2011-09-18T21:31:00.003-04:00

It's been too long since my last post. Lilly is almost 18 mths! She feeds herself, walk and runs all over the place. She's moved to the forward facing car seat! No more bottles, weaned her off around 13 mths. She is such a good girl and is so smart :) We are truly blessed.

Let's see.. what happened these past couple of months:

Beach Trip in May. Lilly went to her first beach trip and loved it! She adjusted great and loved the water. She was our tan beach girl. Nana and Papa went with us too and she was spoiled :)

We spent most of our time on the beach or at the pool.

Disney Trip in September. We just got back and we didn't want to come home. This was too fun. We had an excuse to act like a kid :)

We did Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Sea World. Lilly loved Sea World, she wanted to touch all the fish and animals. She also was able to see Minnie Mouse, which is her favorite :) We will be going back every year for sure. It was fun and busy, but really loved it.

We looked forward to this time for many years and here it is!!

We got Lilly's Halloween costume. Tinker Bell and it is CUTE! She's not sure about it. She walked over to her Daddy and said "Daddy, Take off" I think it tickles, so we will have to put something under it.

We decided to try Potty Training. She said a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to Tee Tee in the potty. So we came home and pulled out her princess potty. It plays music when you tee tee. So we sat her down, nothing. Did that a couple of time. She smiled :)

So I sat her on the potty when I was running her bath and I heard this faint sound of music and looked down. Lilly Tee Tee'd in the potty! Wooo hooo!! Momma was so excited and I said "Lilly you tee teed in the potty" She stood up and said "Give me 5" :) I love her!!

So I did my dance.

It's going to be a challenge I'm sure, but we are all ready.

More to come....

Lillyan is 1 Year's Old Today

2011-03-24T21:42:00.002-04:00

Our baby girl is 1 today! Looking back at the journey to get here and am amazed with God's miracle.

I wanted to wake her up before I went to work this morning just to say "Happy Birthday", but it was early and I knew she wouldn't go back to sleep :)

I had to wait.. I went and got some pink cupcakes for her. After dinner we put her in the highchair and placed a cupcake in front of her.. lit a candle and sang. She just smiled.

It was her first cake.. she loved it. Hands all in it and it was all over her face and hair. She ate and ate. Had to give her a bath afterwards... Haaa!!

Memories..

Will have to post pics soon :)

More to come....

Almost 1 Years Old

2011-03-18T22:17:00.003-04:00

I still can't believe that my baby girl is almost 1 yrs old. It just seems like yesterday that we've been praying and wondering if God will ever bless us with our little miracle.

Let's see.. what has happened since my last blog?

Our computer crashed.. which means we lost a lot of pictures.. It's so heart breaking and we are trying to get the pictures off the old computer.. hard drive is gone.. fried... toasted.

Lilly has 4 teeth now and 2 more poking through :) She looks so cute!!

She pulls up and walks around holding on something or pushing something around. She has not yet to trust herself.

Her first word Uh-Oh...Love it!!! :)

Now the big doozy... Lilly has her 1st Major Virus.. :( No fun I might add.

We took her to the park Saturday to play, she loves to swing. The weather was beautiful and we thought "let's have a family day" She played and played and almost fell asleep on the swings. She wore herself out and took a great nap

Sunday, played like normal and ate a little less , but that's been typical with her teething.

Monday, I heard her cough around 5 am and I didn't think anything of it. I just thought she was coughing. Dry throat or something. So I fell back asleep and woke up normal time to get ready for work. Went in Lilly's room to discover her hair plastered to her head. I thought she had snot on her hair and I turned the light on. Looked in her crib and she was covered from head to toe. And.. the color was ORANGE!! ewww.. I thought.. Oh goodness.. she was getting me back because I forced her to eat a few bits of carrots for dinner. Swooped her up and put her in the tub to get her clean. Poor Russ, he was half asleep and had to strip the bed and treat all the bedding so it wouldn't stain. She felt awful, warm and so limp. I just thought it was the typical stomach bug. Well it wasn't.. she slept all day long. No wet diaper.. at all. Kept throwing up and here came the diarrhea. We ran to the After hours clinic and they said its just the typical flu. Fast forward two days.. Wednesday. Still lethargic and no movement.. not much pee. No eating, nothing. Her fever did go away.. thank goodness. Went to the Dr that morning and they gave her something to calm her stomach. Well that didn't help and they sent us to the ER.

That was awful.. bad experience. She was so dehydrated and they tried giving her an IV, but couldn't find the veins. 5 pricks I might add. Poor baby cried and cried and it took all that I had to hold back my tears. They gave up and gave her something for her stomach and she drank and drank and held it down. Went to the Dr the next morning and they were able to get a stool sample. Came back with Blood in it.. and soon discovered it wasn't some normal virus.. it was ROTA VIRUS. Oh my word. Excuse Me.. what is that?

Yeah, I was upset and mad at all these parents who "let" their kids "wipe" their own bottom after they go #2. And Not wash their hands.. Yup.. that's where it comes from. Lilly does not go to a Daycare, which is common there. You can pick it up anywhere though. So the Park.. Yup.. The Park! Good grief, poor girl. I don't understand why it had to attack her?? She's been sleeping 24/7 and we have to wake her up to drink and force food in her mouth. And to top it all off.. she has an ear infection. I think Lilly's had enough.. and I know Mommy and Daddy have. She is very clingy and I don't blame her. I would be too. Her 1 yr Birthday is on the 24th.. :( her Birthday party is scheduled for the 26th.. which we might have to post pone.

I just pray and hope Lilly will get past this quick. It can last up to 14 days.

So.. pictures?? We are working on saving what we can.. will post soon.

We have a new computer.. MacBook Pro.. AMAZING..

More to come.. can't wait to celebrate my babies 1 year Birthday.. :)

8 months:1st tooth and now crawling

2010-12-10T22:14:00.003-05:00

Lilly cut her 1st tooth at 8 months and now she is crawling!
She is every where. She loves to go and we are not prepared for that. The house isn't even child proof yet. Where in the world did the time go? She will be 9 months 12/24!! WOW!
She crawls for a bit then does the army crawl. It's so funny to see her get serious and go. Daddy will be child proofing the house this weekend for sure!

We visit Santa Sunday. I hope she isn't afraid of him and we can get one good picture with her on Santa's lap. We've looked forward to this for years and now is the time. Is this for us ?? Haa.. yes, right now it is. When she gets older, then it will be for her :)

Will post pics soon..
More to come...

6 month pics

2010-12-10T22:07:00.005-05:00

I know I've been so behind updating my blog. We've been so busy with our active one. Here are a few 6 mth pics
Our lil Minnie Mouse

Go Dawgs

Look how sweet

Is this good Mom?

Hi Everyone

Almost 6 Months old!

2010-09-21T21:49:00.005-04:00

It's been awhile since my last blog! Lilly's been trying all kinds of food and so far so good...She loves it! Rice cereal first, she was such a ham and decided to blow bubbles while she was eating and it goes everywhere. I laugh, not good so she keeps doing it. Haa!! She got the hang of it and does great! Sweet Potatoes, Apple Sauce, Green Beans and Banana's. She's not too sure on the banana's, but we will keep trying later. She is growing so fast, wants to drink out of a cup.

Lilly also rolls over. She did the stomach to back at 17 wks and the back to stomach at 22 wks. Now she is our little 'Roly Poly' She rolls everywhere. You put her down in one spot, turn your back and she is all the way across the room. haa! She gets around and heads towards Annie and Lucy. Wants to pull their tail and gets so excited that she can get them. They are patient with her and Love her! Makes Mommy happy :)

She will be 6 mths Friday and well I'm not going to be a good Mommy that day. We have a Dr appt to get shots :( I wasn't thinking when I made the appt. We spread the shots out, so I know it won't be that bad, but still. I need to do better :)

Here are some pictures of Lilly trying out food for the first time.. enjoy

Here we go

I like it!

I'm so sleepy, such hard work.

More to come...

No longer a Newborn

2010-08-14T22:39:00.002-04:00

Today I realized that my baby girl is getting so big. When you pick her up, she no longer bends her legs up to her chest :( So sad. I loved when she did that! Now she is all legs and wants to stand up, roll over and tries to sit up by herself. She weighs 14 pounds and is in stage 2 diapers! Time is really flying by fast! We are enjoying her so much and she makes us laugh. She is so silly and is just truly a happy baby! We are so blessed and Thank God for her every day!
She's been sleeping through the night since 4 wks! Mommy and Daddy love that, as we love to sleep too. haa! Last night was 12 hrs!! Yup.. 12!
The Dr gave us the go ahead to start giving her cereal, vegs and fruit! This should be fun and oh so messy! Haa.. will post pics when we decide to take that exciting plunge ;)

More to Come...

3 Month Photo Shoot

2010-07-20T22:07:00.005-04:00

Lilly had her 3 month pictures done and can you say... So stinkin cute!! It's so hard to choose!

The photographer "Tate" did an amazing job! She saved us! The photographer we used for her 1 month pics stood us up and never called! So a friend of mine directed me to Lasseter pics and they were able to meet with us the next day! We were so excited. Here are a few pictures of Lilly. Enjoy!

1 Year Ago Today

2010-07-05T21:54:00.005-04:00

Can we say "WOW" Our God is a mighty God! It's been 1 Year today... we were headed to the Czech Republic Praying for a miracle. Now we have this amazing 3 month old baby girl in our lives. It's been a true roller coaster ride getting to this point. Looking back I thought we would never get here. But we are.. enjoying every minute of our Lilly. She makes us laugh all the time. She is such a true blessing and our little miracle!

We've also helped so many couples who have gone through what we have and it feels great to spread that little bit of hope. It's a passion and I really do think God took us down this road to experience these hard times. We have realized that He has always been in control!

So.. what now? We will take in one day at a time and watch Lilly grow every day. Discovering new things, learning each other, having fun and taking in the moment.

God is so good!

More to come...

Lilly is 3 months old!

2010-06-30T22:05:00.004-04:00

I can't believe that Lilly is already 3 months old! Time sure does fly by. She is so independant and wants to stand up and she holds her head up on her own. She is getting so big!She is such an easy going baby, it made it easy when I started back work. She goes to her Nana's Monday and Friday and then to Ms Martha's Wednesday - Thursday. She gets spoiled during the day. She smiles so big and crinkles her little nose. I've tried several times to take a picture of her when she smiles but I never can get it quick enough! She is getting her 3 month pics soon and I know we can catch her smiling then :)

Russ had a great Father's Day! I went on snapfish and created a Father's Day card with Lilly's pictures and Annie and Lucy. Also made him a desk calendar with all their pics on there. He really liked his gift.

Lilly's been sucking on her fist, she loves doing that. Her little thumb is so small its hard to find so she sucks on her thumb and finger. Goes to town making all kinds of noises, its really funny.

We had our 2nd date night since Lilly's been here. I treasure these times that I use to take for granted. We decided to do date night at least once a month. It's very important and I don't want to lose sight of our marriage and how special Russ is to me. We don't mind taking Lilly with us, she is good and just goes along with whatever we want. Hopefully it will stay that way :)

More to come...

1st Day back at work!

2010-06-15T20:43:00.000-04:00

Well I went back to work and it was the hardest thing I could have done. It felt that way :) I know it will get better in time. I just didn't want to leave her. We had our own schedule and did our own thing. She is in good hands though. Very blessed to have her Nana watch her 2 days and then a friend from our church to watch her the other 3 days. God is good!

She is getting so big and cooing all the time and smiling all over herself. It's so cute. I've tried to get pictures of her doing it, but she stops and looks at the camera or turn her head :) haa.. silly girl. She still sleeps through the night which is amazing! Put her to bed around 9:30 and I wake her to nurse before I go to work. She goes right back down until her daddy gets her ready for her sitter. She wakes up smiling, which makes it hard to leave.

She is almost 12 wks! I can't believe how time flies! She will be walking before we know it!
Will post pics soon

A dear of friend of ours just found out today that they are having a girl!! YAY. She also went to Czech to do treatments. They are blessed just like we were! We are so happy for them and can not wait to share their journey

More to come...

Lilly's First Trip

2010-06-01T15:38:00.001-04:00

4 Generations (Great Grandma, Mamaw (my mom), Me and Lilly)

Great Grandma and Lilly. (Lilly is talking to her)

Ready for bed (Daddy fixed her hair) Haa

Tummy Time (Wasn't too sure about that)

We went to Tennessee for Memorial Day to visit my Mamaw, Lilly's Great Grandma.

She was such a good traveler. We had to stop one time to let her stretch out and eat. She was a trooper. Everyone loved her and just couldn't get over how big she is. She is almost 10 lbs!!

Above are a few pics of her first trip :) I was so happy that my Mamaw could meet her. That's been my prayer for 7 yrs that my Mamaw could meet my baby. And well... she did. God is so Good!!!

More to come...

2 Month's Old

2010-05-24T21:32:00.000-04:00

Mother's Day & Baby Dedication

It's been awhile since I've last blogged. We are just enjoying this precious little miracle of ours.

I had my first real Mother's Day and that same day we had Baby Dedication. We gave Lilly to God and promised to Him that we will raise her in a Christian home.

See her cute little dress. I looked everywhere and finally found something.

Lilly weighs 9.12 pounds. She is almost out of Newborn diapers :( She is getting so big and full of life. She makes us laugh all the time. She is so strong willed and I think she will be crawling soon. She wants to do things herself. She sleeps great during the night. 8 hrs last night. We were so excited :) I hope she keeps that up.

I had to take her to the dr today. She's been having crust behind her ears and it seemed like it hurt her when I tried cleaning them with water. She has eczema :( The dr gave me some cortisone cream. Have to apply that to the dry spots twice a day for 7 days. It should get better soon.

We are going to TN this wknd to visit my Mamaw. Lilly's Great Grandmother. I am so excited for my Mamaw to meet Lilly. It's been a prayer of mine for 6 yrs that my Mamaw will live long enough to meet my son or daughter and now we finally have that opportunity. :) We will be taking lots of pictures.

More to come...

1 Month Check Up

2010-05-04T21:23:00.001-04:00

Lilly did great and is growing so fast. She now weighs 7.14 and the dr laughed and said she is finally on the percentile chart :) YAY!

She is sleeping very well through the night. 7 hrs last night. I woke up to make sure she is still breathing. We will move her to her room this weekend. It will be so hard, but it's time.

Lilly is being dedicated this Sunday and on Mother's Day. What a special moment this will be. My parents are coming in and all our family will be there with us to share this excited time. We finally found a dress. It was hard to locate a newborn dress. But we found the perfect one.
I'll post pics after dedication :)

More to come.. need to feed my baby. She is growing so fast

1 month Old Today

2010-04-24T12:12:00.000-04:00

I am 1 Month Old Today!!

1 Month Picture

Wow.. I can't believe Lilly is already 1 mth old. Time really flies when you are having fun. She is really a blessing from God! Russ and I have been so blessed. She is a happy baby. She actually slept 5 hrs last night. Yes, after breast feeding : ) Makes Momma happy. She woke up, ate and went back to sleep. Maybe she was tired after her 1 mth photo shoot, but we will say she was happy after eating at the buffet :)

She loves her swing and bouncy seat. It's relaxing to her and she will swing all day if we let her. But we can't seem to keep our hands off of her. She is such a great cuddle bug and gives great sugars. She is truly amazing.
Lucy and Lilly being lazy

My 3 girls (Lucy Lu, Lilly and Annie Sue)

We took Lilly to Church last Sunday (4/18) On Daddy's birthday. She was such a good little girl. Sat still through Church and then decided to pass some gas during communion. Haa!! Oh well, it happens. We were proud.

My 1st Sunday Dress and going to Church

She goes for her 1 mth check up on the 29th. Daddy and I decided to spread her shots out. Instead of 18 mths, more like 3 yrs. 2 shots a month. It just seems like too many shots going in that little body of hers. The Dr is ok with our decision. We just have to make sure we stay on that schedule.

I need to go snuggle my baby

More to come...

Lilly's 1 week check up

2010-04-02T16:31:00.001-04:00

Lilly had her 1 wk check up. She did great! Gained 5 oz, the weight she lost when leaving the hospital. Dr Sankaran said she was doing great and looked really healthy. Her jaundice is starting to go away, which is great. She will go back for her 1 month check up in April.

She is starting to get a little personality. Very strong and independent. Not sure if that's a good thing or not.. haa :) We are really enjoying her and love her so much. God has blessed us truly.

Easter is this Sunday. I would love to go to Church, but am afraid of all the germs. She is 9 days old and not ready to get out in the world yet.

Here are some pictures of our lil' Lilly...

More to come...

Lillyan Hope Tidwell is here!!

2010-03-28T22:07:00.000-04:00

I really think Lilly wanted to make her grand entrance into this world early. I lost my mucous plug Saturday, March 20th. I started getting contractions about 15 minutes apart. Dr Schilling told me to time them and if it gets 4-5 min apart then I would need to go in. Thank goodness that didn't happen. We were still on schedule to be induced March 24th.

Russ and I arrived at the hospital at 5:45am March 24th. We could not wait to get this going.

Dr Schilling was there delivering a baby that morning. He said, I will go home and take a shower and then come back and see where we are with you. The nurses got me all ready, gown, ivs, etc..

Started the pitocin at 8:30 am. We were well on our way. Contractions started coming closer and closer. Around 11:30 I stood up to go to the bathroom and there was a constant drizzle. I told the nurses and they had to do a test to see if it came out positive. Sure enough my amniotic fluid was leaking. Dr Schilling was getting excited and so were we. About 30 minutes later I felt this little pop and my water broke. Schilling said, well it looks like we will have a baby by 9:00 pm tonight. YAY!! He was thinking I would need a c-section because my uterus is tilted. But he told Russ, there goes plan B.. we will do this tonight. They bumped up the pitocin and the contractions were 1-2 minutes apart. It was nothing I've ever felt. My blood pressure went up so they gave me something to relax me during the contractions. Half a dose is all I wanted. It helped a little, but the pain was so bad. Schilling checked me and I was dilated to a 4. We went ahead and opted for the epidural. It worked really fast and I could no longer feel anything.

Once my body was relaxed I started progressing realy fast. Lilly was not liking it and her heart rate dropped to 90. The nurses could not read her signs nor my contractions. They had to do a vaginal reading to get a more accurate reading. They dropped the pitocin way down to get Lilly to relax and then turned it off. She finally got her heart rate up. Russ and I were so scared and just looked at each other the whole time. Schilling came in around 7:30 to check on me and wanted to know what was going on. He was able to watch what was going on at home and monitor me that way. I told him that they turned the pitocin off and then an hr later turned it back on to a 1. Schilling got fired up and said I didn't tell them to do that.He checked me and said that I was complete. Next thing I heard was him storming out and getting on to the nurses for not checking me. He said we have no idea how long she's been ready to push. He came back in and said we are Having a Baby!! let's get this moving :) Nurses prepped me to start pushing, had to have an oxygen mask to make sure I was getting enough oxygen and giving the oxygen to Lilly. I did 5 big pushes (3 sets each time). They placed a mirror where I could see her come out. The nurse said "your baby has dark hair" I lost it and started crying, it was becoming real!

Schilling came in and finished up and told me one big push.. and then here came Lilly. She was so sweet and so calm. He placed her on my chest where I could look at her.

It was all a dream. Our family came in and just ooh'd and aah'd over her. She was just so content and so alert.

What an amazing Gift From GOD!!! He truly out did Himself :) This is one miracle we are in love with!

Lilly latched on to my breast really well. She loves to nurse and that makes mommy happy :)

More to come...

March 24th

2010-03-07T18:26:00.000-05:00

Well it looks like I will be induced March 24th. We have to be at the hospital at 5:30 am! Yikes! We will have to make sure things are packed etc.. the night before. That's really early. I can't eat anything after midnight :( I know I will be too nervous to think about eating or drinking.
Please pray that the process will be smooth and Lilly won't be too stubborn. We are getting anxious and ready for this little girl's arrival
My blood pressure is doing good, able to keep it down. Thank you Lord!

I have 2 more showers before the 24th. Busy.. Busy. My mom and dad are coming in for the shower. I am really excited. I need her help this weekend to get me organized. It gets overwhelming not knowing where to put things. Then they will be back down after she is born and staying for a couple weeks.

Our life is about to change really soon.. for the best! :)

More to come...

5 Weeks Left

2010-02-20T21:03:00.000-05:00

Had a great OB and Specialist appointment. I've been able to keep my blood pressure at a great level. My OB mentioned that we might induce at 38 weeks and the Specialist agreed. Lilly is weighing in at 3.13 pounds. The specialist told me that we more than likely will have a small baby due to my blood disorder.. her meaning of small: 6.5-7.0 pounds. haaa.. That's what I'm use to seeing. My family has small babies. So that will be okay. That's normal :)

My friend Elisha came over last night and helped me decorate Lilly's wall. We hung up letters spelling out her name - "Lillyan" over her bed and over the changing table we did wording that says "Such a Big Miracle for such a small Girl" Russ picked that out.. it's starting to all come together.
Walls are green
Lady Bugs/Green/Pink

Today I had my Church Friends shower. Received some great gifts and had fun with friends.

I still can't believe it's almost time to meet this little girl. What a miracle for sure :)

More to come...

Snow! Snow! Snow!

2010-02-12T21:56:00.000-05:00

We have 5 inches of beautiful snow! I left work an hour early to come home to Annie Sue and a bad bladder infection. This is her 3rd since December. Poor girl, I know she was in pain. Russ and I took her to the vet, in the bad snow to get her meds and an injection. It wasn't a pleasant drive, we saw several cars in the ditch on the way there. I sure hope she gets to feeling better. The vet said that she may have stones in her bladder. So that means an ultrasound and surgery to get them removed. Not cheap! We went for the meds this go around and hope that it's just a fluke that she had 3 infections in a couple of months.

I had a great dr app Thursday! I've gained a total of 17 pounds and my blood pressure was 108/78! The best EVER! Thank you very much. Cutting back on CFA and salt really helped! So they said to keep up the good work. They want me to gain 30 pounds, but I would rather not. Lilly is so healthy and she passed again! I saw her yawning and she loves to suck on her fist. It was so sweet. Next week we get to do the measurements and see how much she weighs. I'm guessing she weighs 4 pounds now. We have 8 wks left, that is 56 days... that is if I go full term.

I have a prenatal massage tomorrow, I really do hope the roads are clear. I need this massage, they do a wonderful job. I feel so much better when they are done.

Lilly's room is almost done! Will post pics soon
More to come...

Thanking God for His Blessings

2010-02-01T17:51:00.000-05:00

Lilly is weighing in at a healthy 3 pounds :) she is such a happy baby. My bld pressure at the specialist was 144/86! Dr did not seem too concerned as I have no swelling nor protein in my urine. She okayed me to work another week. I am 31 wks now! I still can't believe it.
Her room is painted, furniture put together, carpets cleaned and some clothes washed.
I have my 2nd shower on 2/20. Can't wait!

Today I saw my OB! Bld pressure was 128/74! How awesome is that!! God is Good!! I hope it's here to stay. We've changed our eating habbits. No more Chick-fil-A for awhile! That really hurts my feelings. I could eat CFA every day. CFA sandwich has over 1300 mg of sodium and the grill has over 1200 mg of sodium. Who would have thought that?? Not me! I don't have myself to just think about anymore! I'm now a momma and have my little girl to think about :)
Dr was pleased with the bld pressure and my weight. I've lost a couple pounds from my last appt. Gained only 18 pounds! Pretty good I might add :)

This pregnancy has really been a true blessing! Thank you God for such an amazing pregnancy and such an awesome husband who is there for anything I need. I really Love this Man :)

More to come...

Blood Pressure Hike

2010-01-23T15:11:00.000-05:00

My OB app didn't go as well as we had hoped. I've been seeing spots and my fingers have been numb. My blood pressure was elevated to 136/96!! YIKES. So Schilling ordered blood work which will test my platelets and would let them know what is going on.

I was told to come back 1/20 (the day after my bday) to get the results, etc...

Wednesday blood pressure was 136/86 (a little better) blood work results came back normal, no protein in urine.. thank goodness. Schilling decided to put me on house arrest until Friday. He wanted me to relax and see if my blood pressure would get back down to normal. He told me that due to my auto immune disease that he was very shocked that I've been doing so well..up until now. I have an 80% chance to get Toxemia. If the blood pressure does not go down, then he mentioned maybe taking Lilly at 32 wks. HOLY COW!! That is 3 wks from now.

I told my work and thanks to my wonderful co-workers.. they put together an amazing shower for me. Russ drove me to work Friday for the shower and then off to my dr app with the specialist. Everyone at work came together and we were well taken care of. Our stroller/car seat combo was there all put together, diapers, tub, clothes, gift cards, essentials to get us through the 1st month or so, etc... It was amazing. Here are a few pictures :)
Pretty Diaper Cake

Me eating the yummy food
Our Stoller and Car Seat Combo

All the great presents

After the shower, off to my app. We had to wait around a bit, they were very busy. Went back and left a urine sample.. and might I add... I can't stand when women go before you and leave their sample right in the middle of the tray. There is no room for you to leave your cup. So I decided to move the cup over and the door slammed on my arm.. and there it all went. Thank goodness it was mine and I didn't spill it all :) haaa.. I had to hurry up and clean up the mess. Yuck! Blood pressure machine here I come... 155/96!! WHAT? How in the world. The ultra sound tech told me to go lay down, let's look at your baby girl and that will help relax you. Lilly has to do a bio-physical every week now. They want to make sure she is growing and maturing like she needs to. Tested her muscle mass, her practice breathing (saw it go up and down) and a few other things. She passed with flying colors.. A ++ Go Lilly!! She will be an A student ;)

After the ultra sound and getting amazing pictures (saw her chubby cheeks) the nurse brought the blood pressure machine to me and did it on my right arm. 144/84. A little better, but still elevated. Yeagley wasn't too worried about the blood pressure because I didn't have protein in my urine. She suggested that I work from home or work part time. My work doesn't give us the option to do that.. or might I add.. MY BOSS! So that was out of the question.

She said she wanted me to work 1 wk at a time and come back Friday to see where I'm at. If it's still bad, then I'm done. Home/bed rest here I come. We are praying that Lilly can remain in her warm home for awhile and I won't have to deliver early. God is in control and has been in control the whole time.

Russ bought me a prenatal massage from Schilling Medical Spa. Might I add.. AMAZING!! It was perfect and I was so relaxed. I could do this every week :) haaa

Please keep us in your prayers, we know God is in control

More to come...

Now entering the 3rd trimester :)

2010-01-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

I'm now in my 3rd trimester. I never imagined I could say that :) My prenatal app are weekly and my obgyn app are bi-weekly. Count down begins!

I passed my 27 wk glucose test! Thank you Lord! My levels were 125 and you need to be under 150. I was happy to hear those words. The past couple of days I felt like I've been kicked in my stomach. I'm so sore and it's hard to move around. I woke myself up groaning when I was turning over in bed. The pain has moved to my inner thighs. I looked up what it could be.
Googled Pelvic Pain during pregnancy. This is what I found.. and might I add.. there is really nothing to fix it :(
"Symphysis pubic dysfuntion" or SPD. Relaxation of the ligaments that normally keep the two side of the pelvic bone tightly bound together at the joint in the pubic area. It causes a world of hurt getting out of the car, turning in bed or sitting too long. It will become sore to the touch and travels down to the inner thighs. You can use a pelvic support belt (my friend is letting me borrow) and if the pain gets too bad then your Dr can prescribe pain relievers.
Sometimes its hard to walk :)
Not complaining here because I've had one amazing pregnancy. God's been in control the whole time. But I really could do without the servere pain. It's hard to move around, which is not good. I am Thankful and will keep that in mind :)

I go to the obgyn on the 18th for a normal check up and will discuss the pain I've been having. Maybe he can suggest something that will ease the discomfort.

More to come...

Baby Girl is getting so big!

2010-01-07T18:51:00.000-05:00

We had a great dr appt today. My blood pressure was great! Lilly's heart beat was 145 and she weighs 2.8 pounds! I can't believe how big she is. Dr Yeagley said she was above average, which mean excellent. And the Best News!! My placenta Previa moved!! She can see the whole cervix! I was thanking God all the way home. We got some amazing pictures. She is such the little poser :) Her nose is so sweet and her hands are near her face :)

Here are a few pictures

Hands near face
27 wk profile

Re-verifying that It's A Girl!

I go back on January 22 and will start going weekly. We have 12 more weeks! Dr Yeagley said that I need to eat a great meal or a big snack before each appt. They will be watching her movements and making sure she responds normal. They have to rate her an 8 or above. If she doesn't move like she should, then they will send me to the hospital to get a more detailed ultrasounds. They have to do this because of my auto immune disease. Dr Yeagley said the disease causes slow birth growth and high blood pressure. She was very pleased with the outcome. Said I was doing great and she is above average. Happy words!!

Tomorrow I have to do another Glucose Test! I did one in the 1st trimester (passed) and now another one in the 2nd/3rd trimester! I am not looking forward to it. It makes me sick and gives me the biggest headache. Please pray that I pass this 1 hour test!

God surely has blessed Russ and me! He is an awesome God!

More to come...

New Update!

2010-01-06T19:06:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile and I apologize. We had computer issues since 12/19, had to get our computer sent out for repair. Do you know how hard it was to not have access to your computer? But we finally have it back and it's working better than ever :)

My last perinatologist apointment went well. My blood pressure was up a little, but Dr Yeagley was not worried about it. She told me it was because of my long haul to get here. Lilly weighs 1.5 pounds and is so active. She kicks and dances all the time. It's good to feel her move. I watch my belly at night and I can see my belly jump. Russ was able to feel her, finally. He thought it would be harder because of my reaction sometimes. But I laughed and told him to press down and concentrate. She kicked for her daddy and Russ just smiled. It makes it real to know that there is life growing inside of me :)
I went to my OBGYN on the 21st. Heard her heart tone, they measured my belly and took my blood pressure, which went back down to normal. Thank you Lord! When I go back it will be every 2 wks now.

Christmas was great, although I was really sick. Had a very bad cold that led to a sinus infection and laryngitis. We spent the last year by ourselves and started dreaming about what Christmas will be like from years to come. Lilly will be 9 months next year. It will be very special! We get to send out Christmas Cards of her and will add Annie and Lucy in there too. Can't leave them out. Haa! It was a relaxing time, but always goes by too fast.

I can't believe its already 2010!! I go to the perinatologist tomorrow. They will look and see if my placenta moved any, hoping it has. From there they will decide if I have to come weekly. I have 12 more weeks, so it won't be too bad.

We have our baby furniture. Let me tell you!! NO ONE warned us that we have to put together every single piece. I mean every piece. Build the drawers, the sides, etc... you name it. It's been a challenge for sure. But we are almost done and Russ has done an awesome job. We have the convertible crib, changer/dresser and the chest. It's very pretty, coffee color.
We are doing her room in lady bugs. Found really cute bedding that is pink/green/and lady bugs. I asked my dad to build her a toy box. Mom said that he's been brain storming and is almost done. He loves to do things like that. He will paint it red with black dots, will look like a little lady bug. It will be special :)
We still need to pick out the paint color, we both like green. My friend said she will draw and paint on the walls for me. It's a project I would like to get done this month! We can do it.

I will write more tomorrow after my appointment.
More to come...

God is Amazing

2009-12-07T20:18:00.000-05:00

Had a really great Thanksgiving with family/friends. My nephew, Janson (he is 23), stayed the weekend with us. We did our yearly midnight shopping at the Outlet Mall and then hit Kohls. I was so worn out. But I had Russ and Janson carrying all the bags. It took me all weekend and then some to get caught up on my sleep.

My friend Dee Dee, her husband Adam and daughter Eden just came back from Czech. The cycle did not work for them. She was on a high dosage of fertility injections and responded very slow. They were able to retrieve 2 eggs. 1 egg didn't mature and the other egg grew too slow. I felt so bad for them. She called me several times while they were there. I prayed with her and told her that God is in control. He didn't say Never, just not right now. The doctors have given her hope and they plan to go back next year. They are home now and resting up, she said that it's starting to hit her. She needs to be able to be still and be silent and to listen to God. They are taking their time and praising God.

God seizes to amaze me!!
We met some new friends that are interested in going over to the Czech Republic in January. An Elder's wife sent them our way. They go to our church, but his parent's go to my inlaws church. They actually prayed for us last year. God has brought us together! Had dinner with them and was able to share our testimony and journey. God is really good and We've met really great people during this journey.

I've been tasked to come up with names and addresses for my shower. How fun!! It's a tough job, but I will get it done. We bought baby furniture for her room this past weekend. Russ has such great taste! It will be delivered this Friday :) I would like to paint her room green, steam the carpet and then put the furniture together. This is starting to become real!
I have 4 more months!! Can you believe it??

My next perinatal appointment is Thursday. We get to see our baby girl, it's been 6 wks since the last ultra sound. She should be about a pound and the size of a large Mango :) How sweet!
She love's to kick and dance. She tells me when she is hungry, already starting to be bossy! haa.. Watch out Russ :)

More to come...

20 wks

2009-11-22T14:14:00.000-05:00

I had my normal OBGYN app Friday. Blood pressure was great, 122/72. She wouldn't stop kicking, so it took Schilling a little bit to get her heart beat. She is a very active girl!! That's a good thing and I enjoy feeling her move. I was supposed to do a 5k walk Saturday for a friend who has cancer, but was told NO because of the Placenta Previa. Smart move!

We registered yesterday. Russ enjoyed holding the gun and scanning. I'm sure there are some things on there that he "had" to have. Haaa ;) So much to look at and it got a little over whelming. We registered for the important things and then finished on line. It was really fun, but wore me out. Babies R Us offers some classes, so we will take advantage for sure.
We will register at Target in a week or so, that way people have more options.

My friend Dee Dee left Friday to the Czech Republic. They arrived safe and sound yesterday and are starting their journey! She has a 10 yr old daughter and has had problems getting pregnant. I lift her up to God! I know this is her time as things have fallen in the right place. She is on stronger fertility meds and ran out. I knew I saved mine for a reason! I was able to bless her just like we were blessed! She has enough to get through her treatment and will not have to buy anymore. God is so Good!! Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

More to come...

The meaning of Lillyan

2009-11-15T16:10:00.000-05:00

Lilly - Meaning of the Name and Flower:
Lilies have divine flower meaning of purity and motherhood. It gives Hope of everlasting life!
Lily is the flower of Hope!

How awesome is that? Lillyan Hope. What a meaning

Lilly started kicking a lot last weekend. I actually can feel her! It's an amazing feeling to know there is actually a growing baby in my belly ;) I never thought I would get a chance to feel something like that. God really is amazing and we are so blessed to be walking down an exciting journey together! We are ready to become parents to this precious little girl of ours.
I could never understand why parents would want to rush their kids to grow up and move out of the house, you can't take that for granted. It should be something you treasure for ever and you would think you want your kids at home as long as you can. We are treasuring ever moment we have and are praising God during this journey.
I day dream all the time wondering what she will look like. Will she have dark hair or blonde hair, bald or peach fuzz, will she be long or short, chunky or skinny, long fingers or short fingers. I know she will be beautiful and I can not wait to see her!

I go back to the OBGYN on 11/20 to hear her heart tone! I love to listen to her heart beat, it sounds so sweet!

More to come...

Our 10 Yr Anniversary Trip / Baby Moon

2009-11-09T20:35:00.000-05:00

We celebrated our 10 yr 11/6. We decided to make a little trip out of it and go to our favorite place, Orlando :) We relaxed the couple days we were there. The resort had a lot of things to do there to keep us occupied. No parks this time around, had to keep it safe. Russ surprised me with a prenatal massage (Was an amazing experience). We went out to dinner that night and then went back to our room and he had chocolate covered strawberries and champagne (non alcoholic of course). He is such a romantic :)

We did a little shopping for our baby girl. Bought her first minnie ornament. Says "Baby's First Christmas" and had them put 2010 on it. Bought her a little Pooh outfit. We could really do a lot of damage at that place, but we did really good. Lilly was doing a lot of kicking while we were there. I found out she likes cold milk. Every time I drink Milk she would kick. It felt amazing to feel her kicking. I love those moments!

Here are Lilly's photo's from the 17 wk appointment.

(Lilly's profile) (It's a GIRL)

(Her Foot) (Clapping hands)
More to come...

17 week ultrasound

2009-10-30T22:31:00.000-04:00

I had my perinatal appointment today. Got there at 3:15, waited & waited until 4:45 to go back there. I was told they had a pregnant woman with twins who had a lot of complications. It was well worth it. The u/s tech asked me if we wanted to know what we were having and we said "yes" We got to see the brain, heart, kidneys, bones, etc.. Then she showed us the butt, thighs and then said.. you see here.. there are 3 lines.. so IT LOOKS LIKE A GIRL!! Wow.. a little girl. Amazing. She kept saying "She" and it just sounded so funny. I'm use to baby this and baby that. But we are having a baby girl.. our baby girl. God is really amazing! We saw her fist, then she waived, gave us a thumbs up, saw her foot and then we saw where it looked like she was clapping. Haa.. it was so sweet. Dr Yeagley is wonderful. She told me that we have a very healthy baby girl. We past the glucose testing and the downs syndrome test :) Dr Yeagley told me that my placenta was too low, which is a sign of Placenta Previa. She said I had a slight case of it and told me not to worry at all. I didn't want to hear those words. Yeagley said please do not look it up or read any books. It will heal itself and will keep a close watch on you. If I was in my 3rd trimester then it would be something to really worry about. God has brought us this far and I know He is in control. Please pray that the Placenta Previa will heal on it's own.

So.. we are having a GIRL!! and her name will be Lillyan Hope. Hope means so much to us, as we have never given up "Hope" God had a plan for us this whole time. I will put u/s pictures on here soon!!

More to come...

Glucose Testing

2009-10-29T18:26:00.000-04:00

I must say it wasn't that bad. I've heard such horror stories. The one I had tasted just like Hawaiian Fruit Punch. The lady made me drink it in 1 minute! I will never drink Fruit Punch again though. I felt so sick the rest of the day. Drained and headaches, I could barely eat.
But it's over. I didn't hear anything and I thought, Well they must have sent the results to the perinatal dr because they were so bad. My sister in law asked me today if I heard anything, so I just called the dr.
She told me that I passed!! Thank you Lord. Levels were 125 and anything over 155 is bad. I was so excited and happy that I didn't have to do the 3 hr. I really thought I would fail, considering I am insulin resistant and been taking metformin for 6 yrs. I guess I got it back to normal. Whew!! I was so happy to hear those words.

Tomorrow is the BIG day!! 17 week ultrasound and the perinatologist! I hope to hear the words "It's a boy or It's a girl" Please baby cooperate this time and don't be stubborn. You will have a small crowd of people just watching :)

More to come...

OBGYN App

2009-10-22T18:17:00.000-04:00

We heard our baby's heart tone today. What a beautiful sound. It was just a ticking away. We heard the baby kicking and heard the placenta (whatever that means) But it was very sweet.
Blood pressure is 122/70.. woo hoo!! The bottom number keeps dropping.
I have to go Monday to do the Gestational Diabetes blood test. So not looking forward to that.

I'm getting bigger every day, 16 wks. I looked down one morning and thought when in the world did that happen. I'm now in maternity pants. Can't wear the shirts yet, which is okay.
I feel really good, headaches are slowing down.

Our 10 yr anniversary is 11/6. We want to do a "Babymoon" vacation, just a long weekend. Have no idea where to go. Some place warm. I found a maternity bathing suit at Target for $19. It's really cute. So where ever we go I will put it to use :)

Waiting on the perinatal app 10/30. Can not wait! Hoping to find out what we are having :) :)

More to come....

15 wks

2009-10-13T19:44:00.000-04:00

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I'm enjoying this pregnancy and making it to the 2nd trimester. My energy is increasing.. woo hoo, but the headaches are still here.. boo hoo. But that is ok. I've felt little twitches and butterflies. What an amazing feeling. It took my stomach the first time I felt them. I feel more twitches, it says that the twitches are tiny kicks, but it's not that strong. If you aren't laying still you can miss it. I guess I'm real in tune with my body :)

15 wks, I still can't believe it. I've stopped taking the prednisone Saturday. I was nervous about that. I'm only doing the blood thinner injections (through out the pregnancy) baby aspirin and prenatals. That's it! I go to my obgyn on 10/22 to listen to the baby's heart tone. I go to the perinatal on 10/30, hoping this baby won't be stubborn so they can tell us "your having a boy, or your having a girl" I can't wait to hear those words. We invited Nana & Papa (Mom T and Dad T) to the ultrasound. I think it will be an awesome moment for them to share this special time with us. They've been waiting so patiently to become grandparent's so they can spoil them. Faith will have a cousin soon to play with :)

I wrote my testimony for Mag at myivf to post on her website. I was honored to be able to share our journey. Here is the link: http://www.myivfalternative.com/ivf-testimonials
I've had several couples contact me about going overseas, God sure works in mysterious ways. It's a passion of mine to be able to share our journey and the ways God has worked in our life.

More to come....

12 Wks!!

2009-09-25T22:48:00.000-04:00

What an amazing appointment(s) we had. I left work at 12:30 just to make sure I would get from Peachtree City to Morrow by 2:00 for my perinatal appointment. This pregnancy brain has taken over. For some reason I could not remember how to get to Morrow from Peachtree City. Thanks to Tom Tom I remembered :) We both arrived 30 minutes early and did not realize it was in the heart of the ghetto. Past the mall going towards Forest Park and you turn down this back road. I wasn't sure if I was at the right place. I thought we were going just for a consultation to meet my new doctor, Dr Yeagley. But nope, they went ahead and did my 12 wk check up. Had to pee in a cup, then wait. Weighed me (I gained only 2 pounds) then took my blood pressure, which was 126/78. Pretty good I might add! Then we headed straight to the ultrasound room. There our baby was... so big! I could not believe how much our baby has grown. From 9 wks to 12 wks, big difference. We got to watch the show for about 15 minutes. Let me tell you.. we have a VERY stubborn baby. Would not cooperate for nothing. The tech needed to measure the back of the neck where it meets the spinal cord. Standard testing, it tests for Down's. After 15 or so minutes trying to get our stubborn baby to turn (she had me turn from one side to the other and even shook my belly) the baby finally turned a bit. The measurements were 1 1/4 which was great. She said.. man you sure have a stubborn baby and then laughed because the baby was standing up in my uterus. Russ thought it was funny and said "baby takes after momma, so it must be a girl" Haa.. ;) The tech asked a lot of questions as why we went to Czech to get pregnant. She was amazed at our Faith and willingness not to give up. I didn't want to test for the Down's/Spina Bifida, but we went ahead anyway. We decided on the two step process. Prick the finger now and come back in 4 wks to get blood drawn.

We met with Dr Yeagley, she was amazing. She cheered us on and gave me a high five for making it to 12 wks. We talked about the medications I was on and told me to go ahead and stop taking progesterone, estrogen and metformin. Woo hoo!! I was so glad to hear that. Then she said I need you to start weaning yourself off the prednisone. A little nervous, but God is in control. I take 2 pills daily, that is changed to 1 pill for 5 days, then I'm done. The only medication left are my prenatals, baby aspirin and blood thinner injections. I will take that through out the pregnancy. Russ and I really liked her! Thank goodness, I didn't want to hunt down another practice.

We left there and headed to my OBGYN, Dr Schilling. He was so excited to see us and said he was proud of us and said.. "see, all it took was Faith" He did my pap and a quick ultrasound. Told me that I needed to come back in 4 wks (I'll be 16 wks) and then I'll go back to the perinatal in 5 wks. I really love my OBGYN, he is such a motivator. ;)

They wanted me to get my blood work done. To see what my blood type is, check my iron and run all those disease tests. I went ahead and got that out of the way since I was over in that area. Finally done and on my way home by 5:15. Was a long day, but well worth it.

We have 4 awesome profile pictures... trying to figure out who this baby looks like! Any idea?

More to come later...

Another Doctor Appointment

2009-09-08T18:40:00.000-04:00

After doing more digging on my auto immune disease, I decided to try another doctor. Same practice, but different doctor. I was not as ease at all this weekend. Worried about if I get off my medication too soon will I have another miscarriage? I can not take another miscarriage. I know God is in control and He's brought us this far, but it's so hard to not worry. I don't like feeling this way. Is it wrong? I just want my questions answered and I want a doctor to sit me down and tell me everything will be okay and that I'm doing everything the way I should. I'm scared to death to get off the medications. I know God has a hand in this pregnancy, we've come such a long way. Being able to hear the heart beat and seeing our wiggly baby. It brings tears to my eyes. We were told that Dr Yeagley was amazing, so we will give her a try. She was booked up in Fayetteville, so Morrow here we come. 9/24, consultation to discuss what they will be looking at when they do all the ultrasounds, to help me understand the ups and downs of the auto immune disease, is it safe to come off the medications, etc... I want her to understand my concerns and to see how scared I am. I'm starting to actually enjoy this pregnancy, I don't want to have a doctor that steers me in another direction.
I sure hope people don't think I'm acting silly, but we've waited for so long for this. I don't want anything to go wrong.

Mag, my coordinator from myivfalternative is able to get all my blood thinner injections in Czech. She is actually over there until October. She said she will bring the injections back with her. Woo hoo!! $565 per month here vs $150 per month there. Time to save.. save.. save ;)

Please pray we can find the answers we are looking for and that Dr Yeagley will be patient with us. Lord, please give us peace

More to come...

9 wks!

2009-09-04T21:11:00.000-04:00

Women of Faith was amazing! To hear Steven Curtis Chapman's story and how they are overcoming the death of their baby girl. They are such an inspiration. Mandisa was awesome as well, she sang her heart out. It was a great time and so many women were there worshiping God together. I ran into an old friend too, I haven't seen her in 5 yrs. It did wear me out, I could have slept for 2 days :)

9/02/09 was our perinatologist appointment. We are 9 wks! I was so nervous and had no idea what to expect. Russ was waiting for me in the parking lot and told me I came close to hitting two vehicles while pulling into the parking lot. HAA! He said.. "Woman! Did you not realize you almost got hit" I laughed and said "Yes, I knew" My mind was just on the appointment. That's pretty bad. I had to fill out my life history and then they asked me to give a urine sample so they can check to see if I have sugar in my urine. After that they weighed me (hate that part) but I lost 20 pounds :) then took my blood pressure... which was good.

We went back to the room to get ready for the ultrasound. No need to get undressed!! This was done on my stomach. I handed her the USB Key.. and she said "Oh.. we don't do that, we are trying to take it off the web" How rude.. I was looking forward to getting the pictures on the USB Key. Instead we get the normal pictures, just like everyone else.. but that is okay :)

She was a little rough doing the ultrasound, I had to ask her to not press so hard.

Then after we saw our baby.. the pain didn't bother me. There the baby was.. just a moving around, arms and legs going to town. Such a little wiggly worm. I cried when I saw that and we also heard the heart beat. Sounded like a galloping horse. Russ just watched in amazement. We've never seen anything like this. Our baby!! Is right there. Growing so fast!

She was trying to count the heart beats, but laughed because the baby wouldn't stop wiggling. Finally.. Heart beat was 183 beats per minute. Very strong. A lot of people think it's a girl, but we will take whatever God gives us :)

I was in love! I didn't want to leave the room and I wanted to keep watching the screen... Russ said it looked just like a cartoon... it was wild.

Here are a few pictures of our ultrasound:

(1st ultrasound: 6 wks)

(2nd ultrasound: 9wks)

Amazing the difference :)

Now.. on to our doctor.. Dr Ho (Really, that is her name) She was so not friendly. Had the coldest hand shake. She sat down and barely reviewed my information... and then she said "Why are you here"? I looked at her strangely and said well.. because my OBGYN recommended that we come to AMFM (Atlanta Maternal Fetal Medicine) because of my auto immune disease. Then she said "Is it certain that's what you have? I mean who tested you"? I was in shock! I told her Yes.. it's certain, I was tested because of the miscarriages I had and the specialist needed to know. How in the world could she ask me those questions. She obviously didn't read my information. She went over all the medications I'm taking and told me that I can get off the medications week 12. The only thing I will keep taking will be the prenatals, folic acid, baby aspirin and my blood thinner injections. She questioned why I was on prednisone and I told her because of my auto immune disease.. then snapped back and said that's just for you.. not the baby, so there is no need to be on that. Lady.. it's working! Russ was so mad, but I tried to not let it ruin my day. Satan sure was working hard. I go back for my 20 wk check up, and believe me.. I will be seeing another doctor. No more Dr Ho, please.

God is amazing! We are overcoming this long journey. Praising God! :)

More to come...

Feeling Good

2009-08-26T12:26:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling good today. Had a bad headache yesterday, finally went away when I woke up this morning. Thank goodness, I do not do well with headaches. I get migraines a lot and it's been awhile since my last episode.
I'm going to Women of Faith this weekend. Can not wait, Steven Curtis Chapman and Mandisa will be there. This will be an AWESOME weekend.

We finally received the call from the perinatologist. My appointment will be 9/2/09 at 1:15. Thank goodness it’s in Fayetteville, a short drive from work. I was told to expect an ultra sound, which will be done every time I go. About once a month to start and then twice a month, etc…
They will also check my urine each time to make sure I do not have sugar in my urine. It’s amazing what I’ll be able to see on the ultra sound. They do Level 2 ultra sounds; we get to see the chambers of the heart, the brain, the bones, etc… They will also discuss when to stop taking the medications. Yay! Can not wait to hear those words! It’s tiring to have to remember if I took a certain pill. I think after this appointment we might start feeling a little bit more at ease.

One of my co-workers went through IVF in February, discovered they were having triplets (2 boys and 1 girl) She was due in November. The babies were born 2 wks ago. So small, they weighed about 2 pounds each. All 3 are doing great. They are eating and growing. They probably won’t be able to come home for another 5 weeks or so. I can not imagine how hard it is to leave your babies.

More to come…

Another Mile Stone

2009-08-20T10:16:00.001-04:00

We are 7 wks today! Can you believe that? WOW... what a mile stone!

The sickness is progressing more and more each day. It was only in the evenings and at night, now it’s through out the day. I don’t have an appetite so I keep losing weight. I guess that’s ok, 18 pounds now. Peanut butter and jelly has become my new friend, it really helps with the nauseousness

I still can’t believe we are pregnant, pinch me please. Our first ultrasound was amazing, being able to see that little flickering heart beat. Never made it this far and we are in awe. My 6 yr old niece keeps calling the baby “peanut” she got a kick out of looking at the pictures of the embryos. She said “what is that… a peanut?” So that name stuck. Haaa… made me laugh. Russ has football practice 3 times a week, so I don’t feel bad taking a nap while he is gone. I can’t keep my eyes open, once I hit the pillow I am out. It’s the best sleep ever.

We are waiting on the perinatologist to call for our first doctor’s appointment. I was told that it might take 3 wks to get in. I don’t get it, what is the point? Patience… patience! It will be so well worth seeing the more extensive ultrasound pictures. They said no cameras please, but we can bring in a USB Key and they will copy the images for us. Great idea!
USB Key shopping this weekend and I also want to get a book so I can jot down what I’m feeling and what is going on each day. I will one day be able to share that with our precious little one : )

More to come…

1 Heart Beat!

2009-08-13T17:40:00.000-04:00

What an amazing trip to the doctor. My blood pressure was the best ever (127/78) Holy cow! It's never been that low. I guess losing 17 pounds and having peace works wonders.

So on to the dr appointment. Everyone knew who we were, Schilling's been awesome during our years of trying. Of course me baking them cookies & brownies helped. The Ultrasound was great, we saw (1) one flickering heart beat. What a beautiful sight, I was in heaven. Tuned the Dr out, which was bad. Glad Russ was there to fill me in on what else he said. Haa :) He said as of right now, I see (1) one.. but you know they hide. I'm measuring to be 6 wks along and the due date will be Aprl 9. Because of my blood disorder we have to do the AMFM Dr as well (Atlanta Maternal Fetal Medicine- aka: perinatologist) Double up on all the appointments. It's okay, I will get to watch our baby grow. It's a more extensive level 2 ultra sound. I should hear in the next couple of days when my appointment will be.

Giving God all the PRAISE!!
Thank you for your prayers

More to come...

God is working

2009-08-11T13:46:00.000-04:00

Okay... so I have some awesome news to share. It just tells you that God has a hand in this pregnancy… Other than the fact that I will be 6 wks on Thursday and that I will get to see our baby or babies : ) I was contacted by Mag at myivfalternative.com to let me know that there have been several people who mentioned my name to her. How they found my blog on line and how I gave them Hope. I was in awe to hear that. She asked me to share my testimony/story and she will put it on the website for others to see. She said people keep asking for more stories about using their own eggs and not using donor eggs. I told her I would be honored to do it. So, I will be working on my testimony and she will put it on the website.
Wow… I’m still in awe right now. I actually see God working and it’s an amazing feeling to see God work in our family. Our family; it’s been just the 2 of us and our 2 baby girl pugs for 10 yrs. We are about to be a family of 3, 4 or more ; ) (plus our pugs)

I’m starting to get excited about the ultrasound, I’m nervous and anxious and ready to see those beating hearts on the screen. I know this is still the “crucial” time, but we still have peace. We actually played around in the Baby Store over the weekend. It was so fun… will be fun until we have to make a decision on what we need and want. But we enjoyed ourselves, we felt like little kids in a candy store. ; )

More to come….

5 weeks :)

2009-08-07T10:41:00.000-04:00

We made it to 5 weeks... Thank you Lord, You are Amazing!

I feel good today, my back hurts a little, but that’s ok. Thank goodness I’ve been getting nauseous at night. I hope it stays that way, it would be hard to get up early in the morning and get ready if it was all day.

We are getting anxious about our first ultrasound Thursday. I have no idea what to expect. It will be 6 weeks on the dot that day. I’m hoping and praying to see 2 babies and their heartbeat (or more if it is God’s plan)
What an amazing moment that will be. We have never made it this far.
I haven’t been spotting; Lord knows I keep checking just to make sure. I need to just let go, but that is something that scares me to death.

Russ is starting to get active in Little League Football. When our kids get ready to play, Russ will have his time in : ) He has practice 3 times a week and a game on Saturday. He loves it. Thanks to his boss, Dan Salvador, for getting Russ involved. I am so proud of him ; )

We have a “Free” night at the movies, that expires tomorrow. So I guess we will do date night. Better do as much as we can now, because when those babies come it will be hard. ; )

More to come…

God's Blessings

2009-08-04T13:09:00.000-04:00

It’s 11:30 am… and can you believe it?? My doctor called. Wow… sure beats getting the call on my way home from work. Ha-Ha ; )

AWESOME news… after my last blood work (4 days ago) my HCG levels went from 565 to 2200. 2200… how amazing is that? I am so over the moon right now. I cried when I got off the phone and poor Russ called while I was in the middle of my boo-hooing and said... “What is wrong” he heard 22 and was freaking. I said no… 2200. I didn’t mean to scare him; he just called at the wrong time. Haa. It was great news after Russ told me that some guy backed in to the truck in the parking lot this morning. Russ is okay, not hurt, Thank you Lord :) What a way to end the day. : )
My first ultra sound appointment is scheduled for Thursday, August 13 at 4:00.

I can not stop saying “God is Amazing” Russ and I have hoped for a family and we prayed for a family and it’s actually happening.
After having 4 failed pregnancies, we almost gave up and went straight to a surrogate. I was crushed because I wanted to feel what other mother's feel, their baby grow inside of them and to nourish them. I had a hard time and was set on surrogacy. But God had other plans for us that’s for sure.

Overwhelmed by God’s Blessings
More to come…

Testimony

2009-08-03T12:12:00.000-04:00

My dr called this morning and said that he wanted me to do one more blood work. Wanted to see how much it’s increased in 4 days. After that, an early ultra sound will be scheduled.
I will go today and will not know anything until tomorrow.. here we go.. more waiting.. haa :) I think it will be interesting to see how much its increased. It’s pretty amazing! God is amazing!

I was told today that I’ve been a testimony for several people. Me.. ? A testimony?? I never thought I would be able to touch as many people as I have. God sure is truly amazing. It gives me chills to see how God uses other people through their testimony. If God told me 6 yrs ago that I had a testimony and I can share my journey with others I would have laughed. Looking back, I see the big picture. He sure knows what He is doing. I'm in awe right now.

More to come…

HCG Levels looking good :)

2009-07-31T21:11:00.000-04:00

I received my call today.. Felt like it took forever. I was told that everything is good and that my HCG levels went from 322 to 565. Your HCG levels should rise by 60% every 48 hrs, which means my levels rose 75%. Pretty amazing!
I'm not sure what the next steps will be, I should find out Monday. Hopefully no more blood work and then we can do an ultrasound.

God is amazing, I feel Him answering our prayers every day. Can I say "This is really happening?" I still hold my breath and still feel every ache and cramp wondering if this is bad or what does that mean. I'm hoping I can let go and let God do His work.

Please pray that I can let go and let God, pray that these babies will grow and that my body will accept them.
More to come...

The waiting game

2009-07-30T19:25:00.000-04:00

Why is it so hard to wait and why am I not blessed with patience? I hate this part. I want to receive the call from my doctor now letting me know that my HCG levels have doubled :)
Patience.. patience. I will not ask for it, God does have a sense of humor. Haaa!
He has blessed us both with Peace, so I will take that.

I've been craving spicy foods.. like salsa. Russ stopped by Publix and bought me some Yummy salsa and chips. MMMM. What an awesome husband to think of his wife like that. Sure hope I don't get heartburn tonight.
I've also been getting really tired, not good when it's during the day at work. I work in front of a computer, so today I rigged it where it looked like I was looking at a spread sheet and shut my eyes for a minute. I guess as long as I don't hit my head on my desk it will be ok :)

I will post tomorrow once I hear something from my doctor.
Please keep praying that these babies will keep growing and that my body will accept them

More to come...

God Is So Good!

2009-07-29T20:50:00.000-04:00

I will start off by saying "God is so Good". He really has blessed us and gave us peace during this process. We stepped out in Faith and had no idea what we were doing, but God was there the whole time.

July 28 - I couldn't sleep and was feeling very anxious and ready to get this test over. I was told it was okay to take an at home test on the 28th! I woke up at 5:30 am, had to use the bathroom (it was the 3rd time that night.. haa) I waited patiently to see the results and then I started freaking. The test the doctors gave me was not a fast results test. I thought it was negative!! I cried and cried and asked God to wake me up from this nightmare. There was no way! God you brought us this far.. please tell me this isn't true. I felt a little nudge to take another test, so I did.. and WHAM.. bright pink and double lines. I felt so silly and I was upset with myself for second guessing God. I woke Russ up crying and well.. needless to say we couldn't go back to sleep. We laid there laughing about what happened and how silly I was :)
I went to the doctor that afternoon to get blood work done to confirm the pregnancy and to see what my HCG levels are. I wouldn't know the results until the next day. I've been waking up every morning at 4:30 am starved to death. It's not a good feeling. I'm excited to start feeling the pregnancy symptoms. I will probably get sick of it later :) haaa

July 29 - Waiting.. waiting.. waiting.. Please call me doctor, I can't stand the wait. Received the call on the way home confirming that we are pregnant and that my HCG levels are at 322!! I repeated that back and said.. really? She asked me how far along I was, I told her I will be 4 wks tomorrow. She said the results are excellent, but I still want you to go back tomorrow to do more blood work. The past pregnancies have never been this high. It's alway been around 50! I was praising God all the way home. So, tomorrow I will do this again and the HCG levels should double. I will not know anything until Friday. I hate the waiting game, but this is so well worth it.

We are still taking it one day at a time. I will keep taking all my medication/injections up until 12 wks of the pregnancy. Dr Mac (In Czech) wants us to have an ultra sound 12 days after our first blood work. He is still keeping in touch with us and wants to know everything. The ultra sound will confirm that the baby or babies are implanted in the right area and they will also tell me if we are having more than one.

Please keep praying that my body will accept these babies.
More to come....

We are Home - Part II

2009-07-24T11:57:00.000-04:00

Going back to work has been hard after having 13 days off work. Everyone has been so very supportive at work, helping me get caught up and making sure I’m not doing too much. I’m still not able to get back in the swing of things. Russ and I are tired and I’m hoping we will adjust back to our time.

I’m still taking my medications as prescribed. I look like I’ve been beaten on my legs; I am so bruised from the injections. My body has gotten use to the 2 a day prednisone; well at least I think it has : ) No complaints here, I will need to get use to it because I will have to keep taking all the medications for 12 wks. You do what you have to do.

God has given us both peace and faith during this journey. It has been a long & tiring journey these past 6 yrs. “If He brings me to it, He will bring me through it.” I have to repeat this several times a day, it helps.
I have an amazing husband. He will not let me lift or do anything. He’s done all the cleaning and not once complained. He also asks me every day if I've taken all my medications. I am so thankful for such an awesome and Godly man.

We are still waiting to find out if everything worked. We should know by the end of this month. Please keep praying that my body will accept these babies and they will keep growing.

More to come…

We are home!

2009-07-19T11:27:00.000-04:00

We had an amazing journey and a lot of support these past couple of weeks.

The train ride to Prague was great and the driver who met up with us was awesome. Russ nor the driver would let me lift anything heavy :)

Train ride back to Prague

The driver took us to Prague Castle for a bit and let us do a little sight seeing. It was beautiful! The Czech Government lives in the castle. The castle was over 1,000 yrs old. Here are a few pictures

We flew stand-by, first class(thank you Lord) That is the only way to fly overseas.. haa :)

Russ' parents met us at the airport and took us home where my parents and nephew were waiting at our house. Thank you to our neighbors, Burch & Janice Wright for thinking of us and our family and brought us over a lot of BBQ.. YUM! :) It felt good to come home and see family and our girls. I'm not really sure Annie and Lucy missed us too much. They didn't greet us, I guess we were replaced. My parents left to go back home today :(

I have to take it easy for awhile, Russ has been amazing. He unpacked everything last night.

We both go back to work on Tuesday.

Will keep everyone posted on the "waiting" process.

More to come....

2 Healthy Babies.. God is so good!

2009-07-16T08:45:00.000-04:00

Our transfer is done and it was very painless. We even got to see our 2 babies, how amazing is that? Not everyone gets to see their babies at 6 days old :) Here are pictures of Baby A & Baby B

Our 2 healthy babies :)

Dr Mac did the transfer, he was amazing and had a lot of kind words to say about our babies. He thought they wouldn't keep growing after the PGD testing, but he said he was amazed that they are both excellent. I wanted to say, that's all God, but I didn't :) He gave us a 60% chance that everything will be good. Here is a picture of Dr Mac and Dr Marek (Marek was with another patient, so I didn't get a real picture of him

Me & Dr Mac (did the transfer)

Dr Marek (did the retrieval)

I can not do anything today. Russ is picking up all my medications needed and doing a little shopping of his own. He is such a wonderful husband :) He's been a trooper through this whole process. Dr Mac upped the prednisone (to shut my immune system down) I will take 1 pill in the am and 1 pill in the evening.

Eva booked our seats on the train for tomorrow. We leave for Prague tomorrow (Friday) and will fly back home Saturday. We are both ready to come home.

This has been an amazing experience and one we will never forget :)

more to come...

Thank you Lord

2009-07-16T03:26:00.000-04:00

We received a call this morning at 8:30 am (2:30 am your time - ha) I thought I did it again and was running late. Ha-Ha. It was Eva, our coordinator & nurse at the Reprofit. She said she had great news about our 2 babies. They are both very healthy and passed the PGD testing. Thank you Lord!! You are amazing - "You are Lord, God of all mankind, NOTHING is too hard for you" Thank you everyone for your prayers. We are so overwhelmed right now and feel God working big time. It's started to become real. God has given Russ and I faith and peace during this process and it's amazing. :)

My appointment is still scheduled for 12:00 pm to transfer both babies in their incubator for 9 months. I am no longer nervous, I know God has his hand on this.

I will update later on today after the transfer. :)

More to come...

Day 5 Embryo Status

2009-07-15T16:51:00.000-04:00

We are still scheduled tomorrow for our embryo transfer. We will transfer all 2 and thankful that we have those 2 to transfer. They are still being tested for the PGD and we do not know the status on them. Please keep praying that they pass the PGD testing and they keep growing.

The medications that I'm taking makes me feel so bloated and irritable (poor Russ) Progesterone (6 pill a day), Estrogen (3 pills a day), Fragmin (1 injection a day), prednisone (1 pill a day), metformin (2 pills a day), and the ususal pre-natal and baby aspirin daily. It's hard keeping up with all these meds, but we will do what we need to do. :)

Our Day in Vienna, Austria... to help bypass the anxious waiting period.

We decided to do a tour of the Schoenbrunn Palace yesterday. It took about an 1.5 hours by train to get there. It was beautiful! Marie Anntoinette was born there and Mozart played there when he was 6 yrs old. 13 century old palace, pictures do not do it justice. We did a package where we can tour the castle (40 rooms), gardens, do the maze/labryrinth, and Panorama Terrace. A lot of walking and it was hot, no shade. I'm glad we went there, we rested on the train there and back. Here are a few pictures.

We started the dreadful packing. Plan to fly back Saturday on stand-by and the seats are looking great. Thank you Lord. We will take the train to Prague on Friday where we will have a driver waiting for us to take us to our hotel near the airport. Saturday our flight will leave around 11:00 am. I don't want to leave, but am getting anxious to get back to the real word. Ready to see our family, friends and our baby pug girls. My mom and dad are watching them now and my mom said Annie Sue is doing a lot of pacing and whining. She's a smart pug for sure. :)

More to come...

Day 4 Embryo Status

2009-07-14T17:52:00.001-04:00

The 3rd embryo did not make it. Dr Marek said there are 2 very good embryos that they sent off for PGD testing today. I will not get any updates until Thursday, which is the actual day of our transfer. We have to be there at 12:00 pm (6:00 am your time) I think they scheduled us later in the day because they knew we had a hard time getting there early in the morning the other day :) Haaa.. Please pray that our 2 babies will make it through the testing and everything will be okay for Thursday. I'm getting nervous, but God has also given us both Faith during this procedure.. what an adventure for sure.

We went to Vienna, Austria today... ran out of batteries(our charger does not work here.. argh), so I can not upload any pictures until tomorrow (hopefully)

I am so sleepy, just got in about 11:00 pm and it's storming here. I will write more about our trip to Vienna tomorrow.

More to come :)

Day 3 Embryo Testing

2009-07-13T14:31:00.000-04:00

Happy couple at Spilberk Castle, what a way to celebrate 10 yrs and our baby making time :)
Russ and I want to Thank you for all your prayers and support our family/friends have given us. It means a lot to open up the blog and see so many comments. It helps us get through the day. Everyone in Brno has been very nice to us and makes us feel at home.

I spoke with Dr Marek today. He said that 2 embryos are doing great and growing like they should and the 3rd embryo is growing slowly. They post-poned the PGD testing until tomorrow (Tuesday), he wanted to give the 3rd embryo a chance. I have to call tomorrow after noon to get status on how many will be tested. Hoping for all 3, but we know God has a plan for us.

I'm still having a hard time getting around, still sore and ache, but we aren't letting that stop us. We try to get our day started after lunch. Today we wanted to get a massage, but the massage therapist was not there. We met another American couple(from Jersey), they are staying in the apartment next to us. This is their second time here. She told me they did the PGD testing on their 3 embryos and discovered that they are both carriers of Cystic Fibrosis. It broke my heart to hear that. But yet, they were here again and not giving up hoping. They want to atleast get 1 good egg. She gave me a card this morning for a massage specialist, who specializes in IVF massages. I will be contacting them to get an appointment. :)

We searched for the Tex Mex place and found it! Woo Hoo. It's called Rodeo Drive (American Grill) I guess steaks, ribs, fried fish, etc.. is Tex Mex to them :) It reminded me of a Texas Roadhouse. It was perfect.
Rodeo Drive (American Grill/Tex Mex)
Russ ready to eat. He ordered the Colorado Chicken, Corn on the cobb and mashed potatoes. I ordered Fish & Chips with coleslaw. They even had Tartar Sauce (Tar-Tar)

Ordered "still" water.. so not good.. Yuck :( By the way Holly, No Music Trivia here.. what a bummer.. BUT they do have swings as your seat :)

Did a lot of walking and looking at different stores. We haven't been able to find many stores with souvernirs that say Brno on them. To my Dixie Chix (at work) not able to find magnets either. Hoping when we get to Prague or to Vienna we might find something. I'm still trying :)

The weather is different here. One day its in the 60's and the next high 80's. You have to stick your head out the window to see how the weather is and what to wear :) Haa, but it's been beautiful and very peaceful. Things shut down so early here, I guess they get a head start when the sun comes up at 4:30 am :)

Thanks again for reading our blog and I will keep you posted...

More to come...

Day 2 Embryo Status

2009-07-12T16:40:00.000-04:00

Today we talked to Dr Marek on the phone. He said that we have 3 fertilized eggs (out of 5)! We are praising God right now! 1 egg didn't mature and 1 egg didn't fertilize. We are looking at it as God will allow what we need, nothing more and nothing less. They start the PGD testing tomorrow and we should know more information tomorrow afternoon. Here is the website just incase you wanted to know more about the testing. www.pgdtesting.com
We are taking it one day at a time :)

Today we went to the mall and to IKEA. The Czech people love their IKEA store. You even get a free bus ride over there.. haa :) Pretty neat. On the way back we stopped at KFC and got a couple sandwiches for dinner. You do a lot of walking and are so tired the next morning. We still aren't use to the time difference, but we should come back in better shape.

Tomorrow we may go get a couples massage to relax (after we hear from Dr Marek about our 3 little embryo's) and may go to a movie. There is a Tex Mex restaurant that we can't seem to find and Russ is determined to find it. :)

More to Come....

Egg Retrieval process - Done!

2009-07-11T07:06:00.000-04:00

The Painful process is over, but first let me tell you how my morning went.

I had the alarm set for 6:00 am, that way I can take a shower and relax before my 7:45 am appointment. We were provided with a cell phone and the phone started ringing. Trying to wake up to figure out what that noise was, I looked at the clock and noticed the time was 7:35 am.

Eva was calling to let me know she was down stairs waiting on us. Oh no!! I was still in my pj's and still half a sleep. I had to get Russ up, we got dressed, washed our face, I ran a razor over my legs and we grabbed our stuff and ran out the door. No time to think and no time to get nervous. We were laughing all the way to the car :) God sure has a sense of humor. He knows that I stress over the silliest things. Ha-Ha.

Anyway, back to the Egg Retrieval process. We arrived and Reprofit at 7:50 am (remember, we were supposed to be there at 7:45 am.. not too bad) They took us both to the recovery room and I changed into my gown and socks.

Me in my gown :)

The nurse took Russ back to get blood drawn and to get a sample of his army men :)

and I was taken to the surgery room. Anesthesia here I come. Dr Marek Koudelka was the one doing the procedure, I saw him giving me 2 thumbs up and I was out. The process took 15 minutes. I was taken back to the recovery room where I had some juice and a chocolate candy bar.

me out of it

Russ was in there waiting for me. Dr Marek came in there several times to check on me and make sure I was ok. He told me out of the 10 follicles, there were 5 eggs retrieved. The other 5 follicles were empty. He said that was very good, considering my history and that I was a PCOS patient. He said that sometimes PCOS patients will produce a small amount or a large amount and the eggs could be bad. He said they looked healthy. I will be given status on our little embryos daily. I have to keep telling myself that nothing is 100% and that God is in control. We are praying that all 5 embryos grow and remain healthy. We were told that some could die off, not fertilize or all could be just fine. * Fingers crossed *

We will be meeting with the PGD specialist soon to go over what we want tested and looked at.

Dr Marek said the Egg Transfer (if everything goes well) should be Wednesday, July 15.

I'm sore and very tired. I start my progesterone pills (2 pills - 3 times daily), Estrogen pills

(1 pill - 3 times daily), Fragmin (1 shot daily) today. I will keep taking the prednisone and my other medications. Very hard to remember. :)

Our day yesterday:

Salt Caves

We went to the Salt Caves. It's said that it is suppose to relax and heal your body (good for the auto immune diseases). It was an awesome experience. 45 minute session for only $10.00. Not too bad. We ate Czech style pizza, which was ok(Russ said it was good) and had Gelato ice cream.

Cookie flavored Gelato Ice cream

I'm going back to bed and try to get feeling better.

More to come...

Doctor Visit #2

2009-07-09T04:40:00.000-04:00

Outside the Reprofit Fertility Clinic
The Waiting Room

Ultra Sound Room

Just got done with doctor visit #2. Ultra sound nurse said everything looks great. There are about 10 follicles on my right side that look good. Egg retrival is scheduled for 7:45 am (1:45 am your time) Saturday, July 11. Today, I will take 150 units of Gonal F and also cetrotide (to slow the ovulation down) and at 9:00 pm I will take the ovidrel (which makes your eggs ready for retrival) Tomorrow, July 10, I am medication FREE!! Woo hoo.. a day to relax and not have to worry about did I take that injection or did I take that pill :) I can not eat or drink anything after mid night before the egg retrival. We have to fill out forms for the anesthesia doctor. So not looking forward to the anesthesia, I get sick when I wake up. I'm hoping they will give me something to calm my stomach down. They gave me 2 prescriptions to fill here, it's so much cheaper here than in the states.

Pills/shots to take after egg retrival:
*Fragmin (same as Lovenox or Heparin:blood thinner injections) I will take 1 injection daily up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. In the states:$560.oo Czech: $150.00

*Progesterone - I will take 2 pills 3 times a day up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

In the states: $250.00 Czech: $64.00

Thank you Lord, you are so good and I praise you! I was so happy to hear that I can get the medication cheaper here and can get it mailed to me monthly :)

On our way home last night: "Old Brno Monastery and Cathedral of the Assumption of our Lady" Very beautiful at night

Russ.. he is so handsome :)

The movie Theater

Me, Walking to the Movie Theater

Brno's Brewery (Starobrno beer) They say it's the best beer in Europe. But we wouldn't know that :) ha-ha

We are still getting us to the time difference. Yesterday was the hardest. We slept until 1:00pm. Relaxed around the apartment and then went to Mendel Square, about 10 minutes walking from our apartment. We ate at McDonald's. There were a lot of different items on the menu. Of course we ordered what we were use to. Big Mac and Qtr Pounder w/cheese. It was the best hamburger ever.. :) haa. You do a lot of walking, so you are so hungry. I think we will lose weight here. :) We went to a movie, saw The Hangover (In English w/ Czech sub titles)

Today, we plan on going to the Spilberk Castle. It's an amazing place and has a lot of history.
Royal castle built in the 13th century and was converted to a "jail of nations" and was the most feard prison in Habsburg monarchy.

http://www.spilberk.cz/ (click on the English Flag)

Going sight seeing..More to come...

Our Day In Brno

2009-07-07T16:11:00.000-04:00

Brno is such an amazing town, it is old and un-touched. Castles, Cathedrals, Statues, etc.. you name it.

We met up with our coordinator, Eva. She showed us how to use the tram, bus and the train station. We went to St Peter & Paul Church and it was amazing! I wanted to take pictures in the church, but it said (NO CAMERA's) hmmm.. I think we might go back and "sneak" a few.

Here is our coordinator and her husband

(Eva & Palva)

Her husband, Palva (Paul in English) met up with us for dinner. They took us to an authentic restaurant. What to choose.. what to choose. Lamb, Duck, Duck liver, Pork, Chicken.. (ah Chicken) I chose the Chicken with cream sauce and walnuts, roasted potatos with sour cream, ham and chives, small salad and corn. Drank Coca-Cola and water (with out 'Gas' - meaning not bubbly) Russ chose the lamb, roasted potatos with sour cream, ham and chives, small salad and corn. Drank a Czech beer, which was pretty good. For dessert we shared a crepe. That was the best part of the meal. This is what we ate

(My meal: Chicken w/ Cream sauce)

(Russ' meal: Lamb w/ spicy red beans)

(Crepes.. mmmm)

After dinner Eva pointed us in the direction to our apartment (about a 5 min walk). We are listening to it rain and it is very peaceful.

Tomorrow I think we might try the Brno Zoo and walk around the gardens. The zoo cost $4.oo per adult.. cheap :)

Thursday, July 9 is my next ultra sound appointment. Our coordinator will pick us up at the apartment at 8:45 am for our 9:00 am appointment.

More to come....

First Ultrasound Done

2009-07-07T03:42:00.000-04:00

We woke up this morning with day light coming through our window at... 4:00 in the morning.. Yes.. 4:00 am. I thought I missed my appointment and we slept through the alarm clock. Very strange to see the sunrise this early.

My first ultrasound was done at 9:00 am (3:00 am your time..why aren't you awake? ha-ha) 15 minutes in and out! The fertility clinics in the USA took for ever.. they like to keep you there making you anxious. The Ultrasound nurse said everything was looking good. My lining of my uterus looked very good and she said that I had 5 follicles on my left and 11 on my right!!! No wonder I've been crampy :) Thats a good thing. I take 150 units of Gonal F today and tomorrow and my next ultrasound appointment is Thursday, July 9 at 9:00 am. I wanted to take a picture of the clinic, but they are doing a lot of remodling. The buildings here are so old and beautiful. The details are amazing.

We are back in our apartment relaxing and will wait on our coordinator (Eva, who is also a nurse at the clinic) to pick us up around 4:00. She will take us around and take us to our first authentic Czech dinner.. wish us luck :)

Here is a picture of our apartment and the view from our back window.

Our Apartment

There is an Indian Restaurant = Indicke Restaurace (Czech) right down stairs, they speak great english, we might try the food

View from back window

We may walk to the Mendel Square, not too far from us, maybe 5 minutes and do a little sight seeing.
More to come...

We made it!!

2009-07-06T11:04:00.000-04:00

We are finally here after a long night of flying

The flight was great, we flew First Class... and it was awesome. I felt like royalty :) We had a full coarse meal, watched as many movies as we wanted, and the seats lounged back in to a bed. We still couldn't sleep, but was able to get a little shut eye. We arrived in Prague at 9:20 am and we had a driver waiting for us (holding a sign up with our names) haaa.. I use to laugh at people when I saw that, but not anymore. It was helpful. He took us to the airport, quiet fast I might add. I was holding on for dear life. They do drive on the same side of the road as we do, but way faster :) Arrived at the train station just in time for the 11:15 train to Brno.
(Russ on the train)

We were not the only American's traveling, we met this nice older couple from California who helped us out a little. I knew they were a God send. The train was 2.5 hours long and arrived in Brno at 2:14. (remember, Czech is 6 hours ahead) Our coordinator picked us up at the train station and took us grocery shopping. I wish I had my camera, it was very strange. I did find some food that we knew, like Pringles, Coke, Mayo.. and by the way, Coke tastes the same as it does in the US. The water is a bit different, but we bought several big bottles and will do Crystal Light, hoping it will change the taste a little.

We will be un packing and settling in to our apartment. My first appointment is tomorrow @ 9:00 am (3:00 am your time) then our coordinator (Eva) will take us around the town showing us different places to go and eat and take us sight seeing to different castles. Will also show us how to use the trams and buses. It's a little strange to look up and see wires everywhere, just for the trams.

We've been up almost 24 hrs.. so trying to get some shut eye

More to come...

Count Down.. 1 More Day

2009-07-04T21:35:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! :)

I think I'm about to pull my hair out. We've been at this packing/cleaning thing for 10 hrs!!
Packing.. Packing.. Packing!! Cleaning.. Cleaning.. Cleaning. Not sure why I bother to clean, its my family coming in. If you know me, I'm very OCD and I have to make sure things are just right. Oh well!

We are both taking 2 suitcases, not too bad. Not sure how to pack for 15 days, but we will figure that out. We will be up late tonight getting everything we can done. My sister arrives tomorrow morning, can't wait to see her. Our flight still looks great to fly stand-by.. Thank you Lord.

I still can't believe it's here, God has given us both peace about this trip.

More to come.... :) :)

2 Days.. Count Down

2009-07-03T19:28:00.000-04:00

For some reason we aren't feeling like we are about to go over seas for 2 weeks. Feels like God has given us complete peace about this trip. My cycle started when it needed to, thank you Lord. I started my 150 units of Gonal F July 1 and my prednisone. The prednisone gives me headaches and makes me very anxious for about 4 hours and then I start getting tired and cranky. Hopefully my body will get use to it. I had to come up with a time that I can take the injections here and it will be the same time over there. 6 hour difference... 4:00 pm here means doing the injections around 10:00 pm.

Russ and I got our hair cut today and I also got my hair colored (thanks to Jennifer). We finished up all the extra odd's and end's today. Walmart trip took about an hour. Ohh.. we need this and I might need some extra of this. Not sure what we are thinking, but they have several grocery stores over there. I guess we feel like we are going to the "Land of the Lost" haa :)
We are cleaning and doing laundry. Will start packing tonight and making sure we have all we need. I hate this part, anyone interested in helping???

Annie Sue knows something is up, she follows us every where we go whining and stuck to us like glue. Very smart girl. But they both will be in great hands.
My sister comes in Sunday and my parents are coming in later next week. So I think they will be good :)

The flights still look great, banking on flying 1st class. Our flight leaves July 5 @ 5:50 pm and the flight is 9.5 hours long. Wish us luck, not sure we will be able to sleep.
Mag sent us the picture of our coordinator, the one who will pick us up and take us to all our appointments, etc...
Writing about it is making me excited. It's really here...!

I want to Thank all our family and friends for the support and prayer and for following our blog. We will be taking the computer and I will post pictures and what we do daily. (try)
More to come....

2 wks.. count down!

2009-06-19T11:53:00.000-04:00

2 wks away!! I received my protocol the other day. I start taking another pill Sunday for 6 days and will stop taking my BCP pills on the 26th. The Dr. wants to make sure that I start my cycle : ) double the plan.
They are expecting that I will start taking Gonal F injections (150 units) July 1st and I will add prednisone that same day. Lord, please be with Russ. I will be so frumpy and headaches will be coming. Prednisone is to shut my immune system down, sounds scary, but with my auto immune disease, you do what you have to. We fly out on July 5th. The flights still look good and are wide open, so we are still planning on flying stand-by. Hoping they will put us in First Class, would that not be awesome. 9 ½ hour flight with more leg room and the cooler I will have to take to keep my meds cold.

I’ve found great deals on several of my medications:
Prednisone – 1 pill a day for 30 days is $2.97 per month
Estrogen – 3 pills a day for 30 days is $10.00 per month. I start taking right after the egg retrieval
Lovenox – 1 injection daily for 30 days is $31.00 per month. I start taking that after the egg retrieval. (for my auto immune disease)
The killer… is my progesterone pills. The cheapest I can find is $150.00 per month. That’s in Czech. Here it would be over $297.00 per month. Insurance doesn’t cover progesterone medication for “infertility” Not sure why.. doesn’t make sense, but whatever.

Man... I will start looking like a human pin cushion. Haa-Haa, but well worth it.
I will do the Gonal F injections for 6 days, then the 7th day (July 7) I will go in for my first ultrasound. The doctor will make sure I am responding to the dosage and will decide if I need to increase or decrease the dosage. He will tell me when to come back in from there. The Dr. said “estimated” egg retrieval will be July 13. 6 days to grow in the dish after fertilization and that will also include the testing (PGD: pre-implantation genetic disorder) July 18th for egg transfer. I’m hoping that I will produce a good amount of eggs and everything will be okay. Once they are done testing, I will have 2 eggs implanted and the rest will be frozen for later use. :)

So, we have to decide on what sight seeing trips we want to do. We will be in Brno, which is a 3 hour train ride to Prague. $30 each way for the both of us and Mag, My IVF coordinator will arrange for a taxi to take us to and from the train station. I would love to tour the castles and museums. The Charles Bridge is another great destination.
We want to go to Austria too, that’s a 2.5 hour train ride. It’s such a beautiful place to go site seeing.
The days that we are in Brno, we plan on going to the zoo, castle’s, water parks, shopping malls, trying out all the neat cuisines, movies (yes, the most recent movies.. and they are in English)
Russ and I will also do our first ever couples massage. Mag will provide us with a discount coupon, so we will defiantly take advantage.

The day we arrive - our coordinator for 2wks will either be Mag’s mom or Mag’s friend and we will have a personal driver to take us around. Their job is to take us to all the appointments, show us places to eat and visit, and will take us to our apartment where we check in, etc… That evening we will have an authentic Czech dinner planned for the patience that day.

So much to do and plan for, but this will be an exciting trip with lots of memories and hopefully the best memory every… a Baby... or... Two :)

More to come….

Faith

2009-06-08T20:42:00.000-04:00

So our dates have changed, thank you mother nature :) We are looking at flying out July 5th and coming back July 20th. It actually works out a lot better for us. Going and coming are direct flights to Prague and that means we can look at "flying stand-by" Do we take that chance? You tell me... $2,500 round trip or $750 round trip for the both of us. Of course I will be stressing out the whole time.. wondering if we'll get bumped? Faith! We must have Faith. Obviously God is in control.

Sunday's sermon was an eye opener for me. The sermon was about "Faith Builders" I prayed my prayer before Paul preached that his sermon would reach someone.. not knowing that someone meant me!
I wanted to share what I got out of the sermon yesterday

How does God build our faith?

Dream - Let's see.. Russ and I have been dreaming for a family. Dreaming doesn't hurt anyone.. does it? "According to His power that is at work with in us" Eph 3:20
Decision - We should go for it! We believe that God will bless us with children. We need to Let Go and Let God. "Ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. " James 1:6
Delay - We've been praying and praying and praying that God will answer our prayers. We are so ready and can not understand why our prayers have not been answered. But they have!! In a round about way. God is teaching us patience, Trust and Faith. We know God is working and His delay is NOT denial. "For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." Hab 2:3
Difficulty - We've received a lot of criticism from people around us wanting to know why we chose this route to go abroad to seek treatments and not stay here in the US. Or why we keep putting ourselves through this difficulty journey. I don't know how to answer that.. other than it takes Faith and a lot of prayer and guidance to keep going. I've wanted to give up so many times but I honestly think God wants us to Rejoice in our circumstances and to look past the critics and lay it down at his Feet. "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. " I Pet 1:6-7
Dead End - Sometimes it seems that we never will get there.. or it's so far out of our reach. I hate to say it, but I even yelled.. "Where are you Lord?" "Why me?" I know God allows our situations for a better purpose. I'm starting to see that. My favorite verse. "I am Lord, God of all mankind, Nothing is too hard for You." Jeremiah 32:27
Deliverance - We are still trying to "rise up" over our situation. It takes a lot of Faith to step out of our comfort zones and we are doing this together with God in the middle holding our hands all the way there.

Was this not the perfect sermon??

Okay.. so what happens now? I start taking my birth control pills tonight for 19 days. I went this morning to get some blood work drawn. Ouch.. they left a nice bruise on my arm. The results will be sent to my doctor in Czech and I should be receiving my protocol in the next couple of days. More to come...

Mother Nature... blah

2009-06-03T19:06:00.001-04:00

This has been my favorite verse for the past 6 yrs, it helps me get through a lot.
You are the Lord, the God of all mankind, Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:27
I have to keep reminding myself that God is in control.

I am still waiting on my cycle to start. When you want it to start it takes its time and when you don't want it to start it will come early.. Why? I took Provera, nothing.. met up with my IVF coordinator, Mag with www.myivfalternative.com. She is awesome. She's from Czech and lives in Marietta. She's been through everything I'm going through and understands and is very supportive. She just had her baby girl on May 18th through a surrogate, she was delivered 6 wks early and Mag seems to still have time for me. She was having a baby shower and invited us to come Sunday. She also had some pills to give me to help bring my stubborn cycle on. 5 days of taking these pills.. so hopefully it will help. Russ has been reading up on ways to make my cycle get here. So.. he said you need to eat Hot food.. we got wings.. then said you need to drink Ginger tea.. he stopped by Publix and picked up some Green Tea with Ginger.. hmm .. we will see how that tastes. :) And I need to take a Hot bath. So.. I guess its Hot wings, Hot tea and a Hot bath tonight... :) Russ is so supportive and tells me not to stress, it will come. I'm just hoping it doesn't change our trip dates. More to come...

5 wks until Czech

2009-05-28T20:25:00.000-04:00

I had a lot of people ask me what treatments we were seeking over in Czech. So I will share a short story of our experience these past 6 yrs. After going through 3 miscarriages we had extensive blood work drawn to see what may be causing me to miscarry. The only positive test that came back showed that I had an auto immune disease called Antiphospholipid syndrome. It's a blood disorder that causes blood clots and will fight off foreign objects in my body. I was told to start taking baby aspirin and an injection daily of Lovenox when we go through our treatment cycles. I thought this was it.. I knew this would be the answer to all our problems (except for PCOS and Endometriosis) I can get pregnant with help.. so I will stick myself daily to have a child if I need to. We did our first IUI procedure November 2008 and it resulted in a pregnancy. The blood test confirmed that we were pregnant but my numbers were low, the doctors we very optimistic and wanted me to come back in 2 days. The 2nd Hcg test, my numbers tripled.. good thing. I was so excited. Then I went back 2 days later and my numbers went back down confirming I was miscarrying. I was frustrated and angry. We took a couple months off and went back to the doctor to discuss more options. He mentioned trying IVF that way he could actually look at the embryos to see if they were good. We would also be doing PGD testing on the embryos, which is pre-implantion genetic diagnosis. It's highly recommended with my past history and with having the immune disease. It is a method of identifying chromosomal abnormalities before implantation of the embryo. So, we were looking at well over $25,000 just for one procedure. That is something we do not have.. Lot's of money. But I was not ready to end it here. We got this far.. why not keep going. I'm too stubborn to give up and I know that God has a plan for us.

Russ' boss, Dan Salvador, brought up the idea of doing our treatments abroad. Hmmm.. great idea. So I went on a search and found Czech. I was floored at the pricing. We are saving 75% of what we would be paying here in the US!! Accommodations, Air Fare, the procedure, etc.. Still so much cheaper there. There had to be a catch... The doctors and specialists are rated very high with the US. We've been praying about it and God has given us peace. So IVF treatments with PGD and an awesome vacation with lot's of memories here we come.

I received my Free medication today. Came in a huge box and lot's of frozen blocks to keep it cold. It will remain in our fridge until we leave. Now.. how to transport it overseas. This should be fun. I guess we will get a cooler and a thermometer, has to remain cool at all times. Our girls didn't know what to think when Russ brought the box in. haa.. they thought he had something for them. :) More to come

Count Down (5 wks & 2 days)

2009-05-26T22:21:00.000-04:00

We both received our passports, took about 3 weeks. Not bad at all. I am so impatient, it felt like it took forever. So much to do and the time is flying by so fast. Made a check list of what needs to be done before we got to Czech. It's hard, I want to pack everything.. Delta charges $15 per bag to check on.. why? That limit's to what I can pack :) I guess I can't bring a suit case of just shoes.. haaa! Passports..check... new camera.. check.. applied for free fertility meds.. check.. WOO HOO!! received a call today and we were approved for free meds!! YES I said it.. FREE meds. That will save us $2,500. God is sooo good! Everything is coming a long so well, I feel like something bad should happen to slow it down. Does that make sense? I know God is in control, so I should not worry. My parents and my sister will be house/pug sitting for us while we are gone (16 days total) What a blessing. So.. what can I mark off my check list? hmmm.. Need to start my cycle so I can get my blood work done and start on the BCP's. Once that is done I will receive my protocol from my Dr in Czech (Reprofit International Clinic of Reproductive Medicine) Exciting.. can't wait! More to come...