Happy Birthday Jesus!

Mr. Larry holding up his Christmas gift from Tracey and Emma!
Emma playing nurse like her mommy!

Tracey and Emma!

Opening gifts!

Us:)

Emma in her room with her princess tree!

Riley opening gifts at his Granna and Grandpa's!

Grayden rolling around on the floor!

Uncle Jonathan helping Riley open his Santa gifts!

Riley's stocking at his Granna and Grandpa's

Grayden's stocking at his Granna and Grandpa's!

Now that Christmas has come and gone let me share with you what our Christmas was like. The weekend before Christmas Jonathan and I headed up to Memphis with his parents to stay with Tracey and Emma. We spent all day Saturday together. That night we had dinner and opened gifts. Then Jonathan, Mr. Larry, me, and Tracey headed upstairs to start putting together Emma's Santa Claus gifts. Early Sunday morning Emma woke up to a new doll house, a Sleeping Beauty vanity, a Little Mermaid big wheel, and some dress up clothes. She loved everything that Santa brought her. Jonathan and I were so excited we were able to spend the weekend with both her and Tracey. I'm going to post some pictures of the weekend. You won't believe how much Emma has grown!

Now to Christmas morning. Jonathan and I woke really early and headed over to Tab and Meribeth's. They had the grandparent's and great grandparents over to watch the boys open their Santa gifts. Riley got a new tricycle, Mr. Potato head, Mega Blocks, Ants in my Pants game, and lots more. Santa brought Grayden some teething rings. He just got his first tooth too! He also got some smaller things. Everyone sat around while they played and we had a nice breakfast. After everyone was done eating it was time to head over to my parent's house to do our Christmas. We all sat around then opened gifts. Riley and Grayden went first and let me just say that their Granna and Grandpa spoil them beyond words! Riley got a Thomas the train tent, a tee ball set, basketball goal, football, several books, clothes, a doodle board, a Elmo camera, and I can't even remember the rest. Grayden got clothes, books, a musical fish tank, and lots and lots of more toys.

After opening all of our gifts and spending time with my family it was time to head up to Trussville. All of Jonathan's family was up there besides Tracey and Emma. We had lots of good food and fun sitting around catching up with all of his cousins. Then it was present time. Jonathan and I are so thankful for everything we received this year. We got way more than we deserve. After visiting with everyone a little while longer it was time to head back to Montgomery.

When we got back to Montgomery we went over to my parent's to meet up with my mom, Tab, Meribeth, and Riley to go look at Christmas lights. We do this every year. It is always so much fun.

That pretty much wraps up our Christmas. It was a great one, but I have to say I'm glad it's come and gone. Both Jonathan and I are looking forward to moving on to 2009 and everything it has in store for us.

Now it's time to get ready to head back to work in the morning:( I guess I can't complain to much because we have another short week! I will check in soon.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. Happy New Year if I'm not back on here before the new year!

Healing!

Sweet Grayden! He always looks so serious=)

Uncle Jonathan showing Riley around.

Riley got to do one of his favorite things that day. Color!

Family Photo!

Take 1 of the Santa photo. They have the "real" Santa picture.

The Blackwell's with Santa! Grayden loved it!

This isn't the best picture, but it's one with all four of us!

Riley playing ball before we went to see Ho Ho!

It feels good to be back blogging. My surgery went just as planned and I'm healing a little more everyday. I am still having a lot of draining from where Dr. Evans put in a drain at the end of my incision. That gets pretty annoying having to wipe my neck all day. I know YUCK! Other than that I get my stitches out next Monday the 22nd.

Well it looks like this week is going to be another busy one for us. Besides finishing up some last minute Christmas shopping. I am going to my Annual Secret Santa Party with my closest girlfriends Thursday evening. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this. I can't wait to catch up with each and every one of them. It is WAY over due. I love them all so much.

Then Friday after work Jonathan and I are heading to Birmingham for the night to stay with his parents. On Saturday morning all 4 of us are heading to Memphis. We are going up do Christmas with Tracey and Emma. They aren't able to come down to Birmingham this year on Christmas so we celebrating with them a little early. We are both so excited about this too because it's been a while since we've seen them. It amazes me how much Emma grows each time we see her. I will try and take lots of pictures since I never have any new pictures to post of her.

We will be back late Sunday. We are going to miss our babies (Chloe and Hank). We are still trying to make plans for them. I think they will probably end up staying with their grandparents, my mom and dad. I always feel so guilty for leaving them. I know I'm crazy right, but they really do mean so much to us.

Ok I need to get in bed. I'm going to post a few picture's of Riley and Grayden's Santa Visit. Enjoy!

Today!

I forgot to post what time my surgery will be this morning. We have to be at the hospital at 6:00. That is an hour and a half away. YIKES! I'm a little nervous, but ready to get this over with. I will update everyone as soon as I feel a little better.

Thanks for all your prayers!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Tab, Meribeth, and Riley!

Uncle Jonathan and Riley!

Our Tree!

Another shot

Ok so this is the only thing I "collect". I love my Christopher Radko ornaments. I usually get them every year for Christmas and my Birthday.

Grayden getting his breathing treatment. He actually enjoys it!

That is what it's been like around here!

First let me update you on my appointment with the ENT that was on Thursday. The Dr. is still really confused on why my same lymph node keeps flaring up so I had two options wait until it flared up again or remove it. Of course no one ever wants to have surgery, but I don't want to have to keep dealing with this several times a year for several more years. I have decided to have it removed. One of the ways that I came to this decision is when people have 2 or 3 throat infections a year they almost always get their their tonsils removed. The doctor's don't always know why they get the infections, but by removing the tonsils it decreases their chances for infections by a lot. I'm hoping that removing this lymph node my infections will decrease too. I am having surgery this Wednesday at Jackson's Hospital. I will go Tuesday for my pre-op to see what time my surgery will be, but the surgery coordinator for Dr. Evans said it should be around 8:00 am. I will post the time of my surgery Tuesday evening after my appt.

Let's see what's next. Oh I know, I am officially off birth control!!!! I can't tell you how much of a relief this is. Technically Jonathan and I could do treatments this month, but I'm going to rest the rest of this month from surgery, Christmas, and everything else. We will start back at ART after the first of the year. Of course I will keep everyone posted on that.

This weekend Jonathan and I went with Tab, Meribeth, and Riley to get our Christmas tree. We took some pictures at Roger's Tree Farm and some of the final product. I'm going to post some pictures for y'all to see.

One more thing. I want to ask everyone to please pray for Grayden. He has such a hard time with his breathing from infections that just won't see to go away. He was put on breathing treatments twice a day. I really hope this give him some relief.

Good Report, BUT another ER trip!

Let me first start with the good news. I had my ultrasound yesterday and my cysts are gone!!! I am now off pelvic rest and have the go ahead to continue with treatments as soon I as start my new cycle. The best news is I only have 4 more days of birth control (forever, UNLESS we do IVF again).Now if we can just get my lymph node taken care of we will be set to go. I have a feeling the New Year is going to bring us great things!

Now about the ER trip. Riley was at the hospital visiting his great grandmother yesterday afternoon and fell and hit is head. He had to get 3 stitches. I was back there when they put them in. Let me just say it was heartbreaking to watch. His feelings were so hurt. It almost made me cry. He is doing just fine other than the fact he has double ear infections, an upper respiratory infection, and now 3 stitches. Please say a little prayer for Little Ri!

It's time for me to head back to work. I have my appt. with the ENT tomorrow so I will update everyone tomorrow night on how that goes.

My Favorite Time of the Year!

Welcome to our Home!

Some of the outside decorations

It's starting to look a little like Christmas!

Grayden at 5 1/2 months

Iron Bowl 2008

Jonathan and I started decorating our house for Christmas this weekend. We are going to get our tree next weekend. We got our tree last year a little to early and it dried out so we are trying to wait a little longer. I just love this time of the year!

I know that a lot of you know we had a very eventful Thanksgiving this year. My mom was drug by her car 20 ft the night before Thanksgiving. She was rushed to Emergency Room and we stayed there until early Thanksgiving morning. Jonathan went to Birmingham to see his family and I decided it would be best for me to stay here with my mom. She is doing better just really banged up, has severe road rash, and stitches on a 6 inch cut on her head. Please keep her in your prayer for a quick recovery.

I am getting ready for 2 doctor's appointments this week. One at ART to check on my ovaries and see what is going on with my cysts since I've been on birth control for 2 weeks. My other appt. is with my ENT regarding my surgery to remove one of my lymph nodes. I will keep everyone posted on the outcome of both appointments. Have a great week!

Passing Time

I just wanted to jump on and let everyone know, not much has been going on around here. I was sick all last week with an infection in one of my lymph nodes. This is something I suffer from like 2-3 times a year. It has been going on for about 4 years. I already had one lymph node removed the day before my 21st birthday and I am going back to my ENT on December 4th to discuss removing this one. I saw him last Thursday and he wanted to get rid of the infection before he touched it. I have been resting a lot and I'm finally starting to feel like myself again.

On the fertility side of things. My follow up appointment is a week from tomorrow, Dec 1st. I will have my ultrasound to see what the status is on my cysts.

Sorry this is such a boring post, but I just wanted to give everyone an update.

Friday's Appointment

I had my normal baseline appointment on Friday morning. Except things did not turn out as they usually do when I'm getting ready to start my meds for a new cycle. When I got there they drew my blood. Then I waited for my ultrasound. As soon as Sarah started the ultrasound I knew something was wrong. She was looking at my left ovary and saw a really big cyst. It was over 3.0 cm. It looked like it almost took up my whole ovary. Then she went to the right and found one on it too. This one only looked like the size of a tennis ball. It was a lot smaller. At that time there was no point at her counting follicles, looking at my uterine lining or anything else.

She stopped the ultrasound and she gave me 2 options. The first one was to start birth control this weekend. The 2nd option was to not take anything this month and see if they went away on there own. If I chose not to do the BC and they were still there at the end of this cycle they would put me on the birth control anyway. I chose to take the birth control with great hesitation. I told myself after taking it with my IVF cycle I would NEVER take birth control again and now look I'm still trying to get pregnant and about to begin another 3 weeks of something that makes me feel horrible. I will begin the nuvaring tonight. I made an appointment for December 1 to come in and do a ultrasound to see if they are going down. I will not be doing any medications this month or treatments. I am now on complete pelvic rest.

We are praying that they do go away this month. We are also praying that they go away and not rupture fast. This can very painful and dangerous. There is a chance if they do not go away surgery may be needed to remove them. Hopefully we won't have to get to that point.

I have to admit I left the office crying and very upset, but not so much that we were having to wait this month out. Jonathan and I had discussed if we should take a break this month. He was starting to get concerned about the stress my body was going through after doing this month after month. I knew in my heart that I probably needed a break too. Not only physically, but emotionally.

Standing there in ART checking out everything just hit me, all the failed treatments, the pain of going through this every month, the desire to have a child that I would put myself through anything to have, the financial stress, the fact that my body as a woman had let me down again, and just everything else. I am so grateful that God made this decision for us. As much as I want this. I know we both need this break.

Alright, It's time to get ready for dinner. Have a great week everyone. I'll be back soon. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Especially during this time. The Holidays were tough on us last year and I'm sure it won't be any easier this time around. Good Nite!

Broken

That is the perfect word to describe how I feel right now. We found out today that IUI #3 was not successful. Please keep us in your prayers.

I apologize for the shortness of this post, but I just don't feel up to writing tonight.

Blog Slacker!

That is what I've been. I apologize for not posting for several days. I have been sooooo tired. I have been on my routine progesterone for over a week now and it wipes me out. I had my progesterone level checked last Tuesday and it was 19.9. This is the highest it's been since I've been at ART. Even though it was high they would have liked to have seen it at 20. Since it was not quite there I had to increase my progesterone from 2 a day to 3 a day. Many of you may know, but progesterone is what rises rapidly doing the first part your pregnancy. It is very important to keep a pregnancy, until the placenta is formed. ART keeps a very close watch on all their patient's progesterone. The standards are a lot higher than what a regular OBGYN would like to see. I guess it's good since your paying so much money to get pregnant you don't want to risk anything you can control and have a miscarriage.

I guess that's all I have to update you on right now. It's 7:21 and the bed is already calling my name. I will check in soon. Night!

Happy Halloween! A Couple Days Late!

Elmo already in the Candy!

Riley and his daddy blowing bubbles!

Playing the Duck game!

Uncle Jonathan and Riley playing in Aladdin's Castle!

Checking things out in Build A Bear!

All ready to go to Nite Nite!

I want to apologize for not posting on Friday like I said I would, but it was not a very good day for me. My appt that morning went fine. My ovulation was moving along like they had hoped so we did not have to do another insemination. That was not the reason I was having a bad day. I was just having a down day. I think the HCG shot kicked in because I was really emotional and irritable all day.

Jonathan had to do inventory at work so I did not get to see him until midnight. I went over to my parent's to see Riley all dressed up as Elmo. Grayden was sick and did not need to be out in the weather so he stayed with his great grandmother (MiMi) and great grandfather (Pops) that night.

Saturday night Riley spent the night with me and Jonathan. We took him to the mall to play in Aladdin's castle, to Build A Bear (which he LOVED), and to get some dinner. After we left there we took him to Toys R Us to look around. We had a such a great night. He is such a sweetheart. We can't wait til Grayden feels a little better so we take him out.

Now we are just waiting to see if this round of IUI worked. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Resting after the insemination

Waiting for my ultrasound after our IUI

The instruments used for an IUI.

The exam room I'm in every week.

Waiting to have our IUI!

Well, this morning was our IUI. Jonathan had to be at the clinic at 9:00 for his part and our IUI was at 10:00. Everything went smoothly during the insemination. They had me lay down for about 30 minutes after. Then they came in and did my normal post IUI ultrasound to see if my eggs were already released or if they were in the process of it. Jonathan missed the ultrasound today. He had to head back to work so he missed what happened next. My ultrasound showed I had not released my eggs. This is what our previous IUI cycles showed, but this time was a little different. Right before you start to Ovulate you start to get fluid around the follicles. I only had a small amount of fluid today and it was in an odd area Sarah said. We are hoping that my ovulation is just going a little slow, but there is a possibility my IUI was done a little too early.

Sarah has asked me to come back in the morning for a collapse ultrasound and blood work to see if ovulation has started. If we are still in the same place she said they will probably offer us another insemination for better timing. This is fine for both of us. This is already a little different than our previous IUI's so maybe this is good luck in some strange way. We just don't know if they want to pay for this 2nd IUI. Hopefully not!

Other than that little suprise. The ultrasound showed 1 mature follicle on each ovary. I really hope both made it to maturity and contain an egg. The more eggs you have the better chances you have. I will do a post tomorrow as soon as I get a chance.

Triggering Tonight!

I got the go ahead to take my HCG shot tonight. I had 2 good size follicles today on the ultrasound and my blood work was good. Our IUI will be at 10:00 on Thursday (Ashley's Birthday) morning! Jonathan usually gives me my HCG shot in my hip, but I think we are going to try my thigh tonight. It kind of scares me. I have never had a shot in the thigh. I know it's going to be sore, but I want to make sure it is in the muscle without any doubt.

I will keep yall posted on how everything goes. Please say prayer for us!

Stim Check!

Our Pumpkin!

Grayden watching us carve pumpkins!

Us as Pirates!

Randy Travis

Me and Jonathan at the Randy Travis Concert!

Uncle Jonathan, Riley, and Aunt Jessica Celebrating Tab's Birthday!

Tab's Birthday Cake!

Last night was my 6th night taking my injections so I had to go in this morning for an ultrasound and blood work. I have lots of follicles growing. I have one lead follicle on my left ovary that is 1.5 cm and one lead follicle on the right that is 1.2 cm. They want them to be at 1.9-2.0 cm for me to take my HCG (trigger) shot. My Estrogen level was at 182 and my Progesterone was 0.7. The nurse said those numbers correspond with what they saw on ultrasound this morning. The plan is for me to do another night of injections and go back in the morning to see if I have at least one of the follicles big enough for me to trigger. If I do trigger tomorrow night my IUI will be on Thursday morning. If not, I will do the same tomorrow night with another appointment on Wednesday morning and my IUI will be on Friday. I will do a post tomorrow to let everyone know what is going on.

Jonathan and I have been going nonstop. I thought I would catch everyone up and post some pictures. Last Thursday, my brother had his 23rd Birthday. We went over to my parent's house to have cake and open presents. Then on Friday night we got free tickets to the Randy Travis concert down at the new civic center. Me, Jonathan, Tab, and Meribeth went. It was lot of fun. On Saturday all four of us plus Riley went to the Holiday Market. It got me in the mood for the Holidays. Saturday night Jonathan's coworker invited us to his Halloween Party. After our original costumes fell through we found some pirate costumes we went and had a fun night. To end the weekend we went over to my parent's to carve pumpkins with them, Tab, Meribeth, Riley, and Grayden. To say that we have been busy lately would be an understatement, but it's been a lot of fun. I hope y'all enjoy the pictures!

Baselines!

Well I was back at ART in Montgomery again this morning. I had my ultrasound and blood work done. My ultrasound showed 35 follicles!! Yes, 35! I have NEVER had that many. I think the most I ever had was 21 or somewhere around there. I had no cysts! My labs came back within normal range too. My Estrogen level was 42.1 and it just needed to be below 100.God is so Good!

I got the go ahead to start my injections tonight. I'm doing Follistim 150U Sub Q (under the skin) again this go round. I will take these until Sunday night. Then I go back in for first stim check to see how my follicles are growing and get my blood drawn to check my Estrogen and Progesterone levels checked.

Our IUI will be sometime next week. I'm really hoping it is on next Thursday. That would've been my sister's 28th Birthday. I think if it worked on that day it would be so much more meaningful. For those of you that don't know the day before my 10th Birthday, my older sister Ashley was diagnosed with bone cancer. She was only 12 years old. She passed away 6 months later. We all still miss her more than I can express in words. I know she is looking down on us cheering us on, to go on as tough as it gets sometimes.

Ok. I've got lots to do. Nite!

"The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayer." 1 Peter 3:12

The Pumpkin Patch!

Us in front of the pretty Sunflowers

Riley and his daddy riding the tractor train!


Riley and His Uncle Jonathan!


Riley and his Aunt Jessica


The Blackwell Family minus Grayden

Sweet Riley!

Me and my Hubby!

I know 2 post in one day. I'm doing GOOD! We just have so much going on this time of the year. I want to keep everyone updated. This weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Clanton on Saturday. We had so much fun. Me, Jonathan, my mom, Tab, Meribeth, and Riley went. It was a little cool for Grayden to go. He stayed with his MiMi and Pops. This was everyone's first time going. We walked around, went and saw the beautiful sunflowers, rode the hayride, and then looked through tons of pumpkins. They were all starting to look alike after a while.

We have a busy week ahead. I'm sure I will a lot more to update everyone on. Have a good week!