Sunday Thoughts On Prayer

In my life I don't think I have prayed  for one thing as much as I have to start our family. Seriously sometimes I think okay Heavenly Father has got to be so sick of hearing from me. But then I always hear people say to continue to pray so I guess he's not that sick of me. :) With today being fast Sunday Justin and I asked our family and friends to keep us in their thoughts and prayers, I know I keep saying this but I have been so amazed by the amount of love and kindness we've received and continue to receive.


Prayer has been a blessing in my life, not only during this trial but all trials I have been through. Most times I don't feel worthy to be able to kneel down and ask my Father in Heaven for blessings but honestly I think that is when I need to pray and He needs to hear from me most. Have you ever heard the term convenient friend? Well I sometimes feel as though I am a convenient prayer, and I hate that about myself. So I have been trying extra hard to not just pray when I am struggling but to make it a daily habit and to express my gratitude for the incredible blessings that I am blessed with day in and day out.

I wanted to thank each and everyone of you who have been so kind as to keep Justin and I in your thoughts and prayers. I wish that I could reach out to all of you individually to let you know how much I love and appreciate you, but I thought this might be easier as there are so many of you! So Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, whether you be friend, family or stranger who has read my blog. No matter who you are I want you to all know how much I love and appreciate your thoughtfulness. I will forever cherish this trial as it has brought me closer to my husband, family, friends and helped me meet some new friends. Not many people say this, and I know I've said it before but I am grateful for this trial and I can't wait to see the journey it takes Justin and I on.

IVF Update: Stop then Go....

Okay so I decided that I should give everyone an update because my Facebook and Instagram post was pretty vague. So as many of you know if you are following me that we began Day one of our shot calendar this week on Wednesday June 1st. If you didn't know that now you do. :) I will begin there and hopefully be able to keep this short, but we'll see I tend to ramble.

Tuesday night I got everything ready and decided that if I was going to get a decent nights sleep that I should take a sleeping aid, nothing too major just an Advil PM. So at 10:30 pm Justin and I headed off to be. And I slept so well, I really worried that I would toss and turn all night due to being anxious and nervous but I ended up sleeping through the night. 6:30 am my alarm went off and it was June 1st and our 1st day of shots.

I woke up and took a hot shower, I read that the heat helped your body to relax and could help make the shots easier to handle. I then got ready for work and Justin's alarm went off at 7:30 am. He was so sweet to wake up early to help me administer the shots. He even watched the shot videos Tuesday night to make sure he knew what he was doing. I told him I wanted to watch with him but he told me he didn't want me to worry about the shots that he would do them for me. My hero!!

Justin promptly went to the kitchen and prepared the two injections, it was fun to watch him, because he is going to Pharmacy school I had no doubt he would be good at this but I am worry wart and wanted to make sure he followed all the directions carefully. Now in reading other blogs and hearing about IVF most people put the shots in their belly, but according to the video Justin watched they said you could put it in the back fat of the arm. So Justin being the sweet guy he is told me he didn't want my stomach to be irritated all day since I sit at work. So we decided to give my arm a try.

Shot #1 burned as anticipated, I think because I was so anxious and knew what to expect once Justin injected the shot I lost my composure. I cried, but just a few tears and told him that it burned! He kept saying its okay babe it will all be worth it and he is right! Shot #2 I didn't even feel him inject it, so that was nice. After the shots were done I went in and did my hair then brushed my teeth and we headed to Idaho Falls for my Ultrasound and Blood work.

Baseline Ultrasound- When we got to the Dr's office we got to see Stephanie again for the first time since January. Stephanie is going to be the Dr. in Idaho Falls once the clinic is fully functional and able to do IVF there, so she will do all my ultrasounds before our actual procedure. We chatted for a bit while walking back to the room, she had me undress from the waist down and then come in to check my uterus. She asked me if I had started my month cycle because my uterine walls was really thick. I told her not yet but that it would be soon as I had noticed some spotting and discharge. Then she asked me about the shots and I told her how sweet Justin was and how he had tried them in my arm. Surprised by this she asked us why? I told her it was in the video and Justin said " I didn't want her stomach to be irritated while sitting at work. She kindly told us we were wrong without saying that of course. :) She explained why it was supposed to be in my stomach and we told her that we would do it there going forward. She printed off the pictures she needed and told us we were good to go do the blood work and that Amberlie my coordinator would call me at the end of the day with results.

Blood work- I don't know if I will ever get used to this, I know that is what everyone keeps saying to me. "One you get pregnant you'll be poked a lot so get used to it." But seriously, how do you get used to someone shoving a needle in your arm and taking your blood? Anyway we drove to Idaho Fall's Express Lab to get our blood work done, I informed the nurse of my fear of needles. She told me to not look and then promptly wrapped the band around my arm and shoved, and I mean shoved the needle in my arm. I winced a bit and she quickly filled the vile that she needed. After she wrapped it we left and I complained that it hurt but Justin quickly shushed me as she was walking right behind us. I waited until we were in the car and then I wined about how much that hurt and how mad I was that she would do that. We then headed back home to mail our huge payment to the Fertility clinic and then headed back to work.

Phone Call- I played a bit of phone tag that evening with Amberlie as I was still at work until 5:30, but we were able to talk finally at a quarter to 6. She informed me that because I had taken my shots that morning before blood work was done that my estrogen levels weren't where they should've been and that due to my period not starting on time my uterine lining wasn't measuring where they wanted either. So she told me to stop the injections and wait until my period, if it came by Friday I needed to go back to Idaho Falls to repeat the Baseline Ultrasound and I was already scheduled for blood work so I would need to do that too. She said that after all that was done another coordinator would call me with a new schedule. {She was headed out of town} She also instructed me that if I didn't start by Friday I needed to cancel the appointment and then call her on my cycle day one. I am pretty sure that in my whole adult life I have never wished for my cycle to start, but that day I wanted it more than anything. Mainly because I really didn't want to wait until almost July to do the procedure. Well my wish came true and I started on Thursday so we were on for my appointment Friday.

Friday's appointment- I woke up at 6:30 am again took a shower and got ready for work, I then headed off to Pocatello's Express Lab to get my blood work done as instructed to do so before my 11 am appointment in Idaho Falls. I arrived a little after they opened at 8 am and was able to get right in. The nurse who took my blood this time was very careful not to shove my needle in as I explained my right arm was bruised from last time, and asked if she could use my left arm today. After that I headed to work until 10 am and then drove over to Idaho Falls. I arrived 10 minutes early and headed in to see Stephanie. This time it was good news! My uterine lining was measuring at a 4.5 instead of 7 and the blood work results came in later and the Fertility office called and said we were on schedule. Yay! {I think....:)} So now we are back on for shots. I got my new June calendar today and tomorrow at 8 am sharp we will start up the injections again. Thankfully we were only delayed by 2 days so it won't be so close to July as I thought. That was a relief.

New June Calendar 

My amazing best friend Ashley made me this cute IVF survival basket, don't know what I would do without this amazing and caring friend of mine! Love you Ash! 

Well friends and family, as always thank you for your love and support. We are so lucky to have great friends and family. Everyone has been so kind and encouraging! We love you all, please continue to keep us in your prayers!

IVF: Medication Delivery Day 5.25.16.

I thought that when my coordinator Amberlie sent me the IVF calendars that that meant this got real, I was definitely wrong about that. When I got the call from Integrity Rx about our medications and was given the total my mouth about hit the floor....My goodness I never thought that I would spend so much money on medication in my life. Well a little over $3K later and I was informed that our medications would be shipped by May 25th. I wasn't sure what to expect, I was talking with my co workers and over exaggerated by stating "I bet there will be like a million boxes on my front porch tomorrow." Haha we got a good laugh about that then and after the medications arrived.

 Luckily Justin had Tuesday off so I didn't have to worry about rushing home to put the box(s) inside the house, I informed him that it was his job to take pictures of the box(s) for me and he reluctantly agreed. {He hates that I want pictures of everything, but little does he know that'll never stop!}At 10:30 am I received an email stating the shipment had arrived so I called Justin. He told me that the meds came in one big box so my millions of boxes theory went out the window. haha :)

When I got home we took everything and laid it out on the kitchen table, since we live in such a tiny apartment I wasn't sure where else to put it. So for now it will clutter up my kitchen table, which is fine since we eat dinner mostly on the coach or on our coffee table. Well once I started to see how much medicine was actually in the box I started to get a little overwhelmed and scared. Justin knew instantly how I was feeling because he called me out on it. I told him he was right and he sat down with me and talked me through it all. {He's a keeper for sure}

Now we wait, yep the waiting game continues. We will begin our first round of shots on Wednesday June 1st and for now I am relieved to have a few days before I will begin the shots. The shots came before Memorial Weekend and I was preoccupied with my cute 4 nephews and brother and sister in law. Which was much needed as we don't get to see them nearly enough. Well for now I will be enjoying my last few days of being shot/needle poked free and will keep you all posted going forward.

Thank you as always for all the love and support, we're lucky to have such amazing people in our lives. Until next time! -The Almonds

P.s. Later we found out that one of the medications wasn't ordered so we just received that round of shots today 6.3.16.

April Baby Girl Showers!

Baby Girl showers are always so fun to host, but I think what made this even more fun was the fact that it was for my best friend Ashley. She and I have been waiting so long to become mothers and I couldn't be more thrilled that she will welcome her precious girl to her family this June. Ever since we became best friends we've talked about this moment and how we would host each others baby showers, so naturally I was pumped that she let me host!

If you know Ashley she loves the color teal, we thought at first that we would do a breakfast at Tiffany's theme, but Tiffany blue was not a popular color in April. While I was in Nampa visiting my in laws we went to Hobby Lobby and I found some cute teal blue and pink decorations. So I decided to do those colors and its actually turned out better than I hoped.

I decided that I wanted to do a different baby shower game since Ashley has been to every shower I've hosted I didn't want it to feel like the same, I went to my trusted Pinterest for help. And as usual it didn't let me down, I found a fun Baby Shower game with brown paper bags. You spell out Baby Shower a letter on each bag and in each bag is a baby item to go with that letter. Now of course me not being a mother some of the items on the list to buy I was lost on what they were. But Wal-Mart didn't let me down and I was able to find some fun things.

We also had a diaper station where the ladies who attended could write advice for those late night diaper changes, I think that she got a few good ones for sure. :)

The food was amazing, luckily our sweet friends and Ashley's mom were kind enough to offer to help with food, sometimes when I host I forget to let others assist me so I was more than happy to have volunteers. We had muffins, fruit and some of Ashley's favorites from her mom, our friend Kori made some delicious mock Mimosas for us to drink.


Baby Girl Stokes you sure are loved, your Aunt Melissa can't wait to meet you, I hope that one day if I have a little girl that you and her can be just as close as your mommy and I are. Ashley I can't wait for you to become a mom, I know that you will be an amazing mommy! This little girl is so lucky to have you and Nathan for parents. Thank you so much for letting me shower you both! Love you!

PrOm 2016!

Well as promised here is the post on Emily's first PROM! Where to begin, well one night I was sitting watching tv and I got this picture from my sister, immediately I knew she was being asked out to her first dance. So I hurried and texted her back asking her to not respond until I came down that week for a visit. She kindly agreed and I got on Pinterest {my internet bestie} and found tons of fun cute ways to respond to being asked to dances. {Because back in my day we just simply said yes} Okay so I am not that old but seriously I only remember being asked to Prom in a super fun/cutsie way one time. But this isn't about me back to Emily.

Fast forward to the weekend I came down for a visit, so Brandon asked her with a cute poster that said: "On a scale of one to America how free are you April 23rd?" So of course we had to find something to go with the America theme. Well Pinterest didn't let me down {as if it could...its AMAZING} and I found a cute Army saying to say yes. So we ran down to the Dollar Tree and purchased our poster board, and set out to find some Army men. While they didn't have Army men {which was odd} they did have play Army toys for kids. So we bought a hat and a set that had a grenade, knife and walkie talkie to put with the board. Luckily mom kept some of our older toys from when we were kids and we found a few Army men to put on the board as well. It read: "It would take an Army to stop me from saying yes, and these guys ain't big enough." Super cute I KNOW {see what I  did there? I just took credit for something on Pinterest...that's how I role :)}. Once we were done we drove to Brandon's house and dropped it off, well more like door bell ditched and ran. Oh and that is when I found out that I am out of shape. Man as soon as I rang the door bell Emily was gone like the Flash, seriously one minute she's next to me the next she's in the car and then there's me running "as fast as I can" and I am winded by the time I reached the car. Sadly cardio isn't part of my daily routine. Anyway....

So now it's the weekend of Prom {which came so quick!}I worked a half day and headed to Utah Friday at noon. When I got there Emily had to attend a funeral for a girl in her school who sadly passed away in a car accident. So I wasn't able to go to the nail salon with her, but she got her nails done in a french tip and they looked amazing. The next day she headed out at 9:30 am for her day date, they went to the Space Center. While she was gone I researched make-up tutorials since she wanted me to do her make-up. When she got home at 1 we ate lunch and started preparing her make up. I warned her that I had never done this before but she insisted she liked how I did mine. And I must say thanks to the tutorials I found she looked pretty good. {if I say so myself, wink wink}After that we headed to her friends Aunts hair salon to get her hair did....I mean done. :)

The lighting isn't very good but trust me she's a babe! 

Emily had looked up many prom updo's online and found a super cute braided twisty bun...the pictures will make more sense. We had so much fun chatting with the lady who did her hair. Before I knew it her long hair was braided and twisted into a fabulous updo. After taking hundreds of pictures we headed home to get her dressed before Brandon arrived. Wow I thought I felt old celebrating her 16th Birthday, but as I was helping her into her Prom dress I started to jump ahead of myself and think of what it will be like a few years....hopefully 5+ years :) on her wedding day....Okay let's move on because that brings back those teary emotions.

5:30 pm and it was time for Brandon to pick her up, and boy was he prompt! He rang the bell right at 5:30 its like he was outside waiting watching the cell phone clock or something. Haha, well they both looked great, his tie matched her pretty peachy pink dress perfectly. And he bought her the prettiest corsage...side note my co-workers teased me all week leading up to this that I would be the type to have a prom dress rented just to join her. :) And believe me had I thought Emily wouldn't have killed me I probably would've gone to that extreme.....maybe. But it made me reminisce and after we took tons of pictures {Brandon was a great sport} and they headed off to prom, I found my moms scrapbooks and looked back at my old pictures.

Well once she finally came home we stayed up to talk until 12:30 am, she had so much fun hanging out with her amazing group of friends. But I think for her this being her first date and dance she couldn't have asked for a better date and friend. One dance down and many many more to come. What a fun experience, I am so glad that I was able to be there for her. Love you Emi!

A little party never killed anyone...... Sweet 16 Murder Mystery!

I can't believe that my baby sister is now 16! Let the tears start flowing.....but seriously I feel so old! Ha ha. Well starting last December I told Emily that I wanted to plan her party, we started off thinking it would be a Paris themed girls night. Then she decided she would like to do a glow in the dark party and do night games, but ultimately we decided to do a Murder Mystery. Right away I got to planning, we bought the game and Emily decided that she wanted to do a teen idol award murder mystery.

So if you know me I love Pinterest, so of course I got online and searched for any DIY ideas for this fun party, but in the end I kind of got busy and lost track of time. So Zurcher's became my friend and I was able to find most if not all of the decorations. Justin was such a help and so sweet to help me decorate and chaperon the night.

All of her friends did an amazing job with there costumes, the characters were either musicians, actors and actresses. But of course due to copy right we couldn't use their real names so they had fun names. :) I wont lie I was a little worried at first because none of her friends had been to a murder mystery but it turned out great!

All in all I think that the party was a success, actually I know it was (not being cocky) Emily has told me multiple times how her friends are still talking about that party. So I am pretty proud because again if you know me I always worry about the parties I host, I just want to ensure that its what the other person wanted and that everyone has FUN! Well little sister I sure do love you, super proud of the amazing young women you have become! Happy Birthday Emily Michelle!



{up next will be her first PROM!}

Adventures of IVF: What's Next??

Okay so I admit it has been too long since my last post/update. Luckily I have amazing friends and family who care so much to check in. The main question on everyone's mind here is what's next? Well since Justin and I aren't doing this the most traditional way (I say that like I know what way is the best way, I don't), but it seems like most couples say we're doing IVF and then the next month they are on the meds and or possibly ready for transfer. We're...I'll say unique ha ha! We have as most of you read decided that June will be our month. We thought May but it would have fallen on finals week for Justin which wasn't going to happen. So now we're looking at June, I don't know for sure what day exactly until my cycle starts this month. But don't worry I promise that I will keep you all updated as soon as I can.

Now on to the big question what is next for us? Well as you know we did the pre-blood work already and our water base ultrasound so really its a waiting game for us. But one thing I forgot to mention was that since I was a heart patient as a baby my fertility doctor would like us to have my heart checked out to make sure that we are good to go. I kind of forgot about that part you know with all the consent forms, figuring out the financials and balancing everyday life ha ha. But I finally made time 2 weeks ago to call my Physician to get his opinion. I had my appointment with him last week.

If you didn't know this about me (not sure if I even talked about it) I was born with holes in my heart and diagnosed at 6 weeks with congestive heart disease. So because of the operation my fertility doctor wanted me checked to make sure my heart could handle labor basically. When I saw my physician he didn't anticipate me having any issues since I haven't had any complications since my surgery. But to be safe he did order me an Echocardiogram or echo to make sure things checked out. He asked me when I would be free to do this and I told him anytime I just would like it done ASAP. Later after my appointment the receptionist called to let me know I was scheduled for April 26th and 1 pm. Which was great but also not so great, reason being I was scheduled to start my cycle on April 22nd and I wanted to make sure things checked out before I got my calendar for IVF so I was bummed.

Luckily I was able to call and ask if I could get on the waiting list in case of a cancellation, and I was able to bump up my appointment to April 6th at 3 pm. Yay! I was so happy because I was also hopeful of quick results/feedback. Can I tell you that was one of the coolest things I've done, I mean it wasn't comfortable by any means she put a lot of pressure on certain areas that made it not fun; but I have never seen an ultrasound of my heart before and the lady was so fun to talk with. She was interested in why I was ordered an echo since I hadn't been admitted to the ER recently so I explained the situation. After that she talked to me about our plans and how many kids we wanted things like that. Super nice lady for sure, if you don't count the painful minutes.... :) After 45 minutes talking about what I was looking at in my ultrasounds and the whole IVF process it was time to go. She told me that the Cardiologist would have the pictures reviewed and results to my doctor either Thursday or Friday, then she wished me luck and I got dressed and headed home.

This was the sweet text I got from my husband after informing him it could be an expensive test. Love him! 

 

This was my super excited face (not) as I waited to go into the exam room. Don't worry it was only me in there so no one saw me snap this selfie. :)

So Justin and I had plans to head to Nampa last weekend and so we didn't think we would get any feedback from my doctor right away, thankfully we were wrong. The office called me Friday afternoon and informed me that the cardiologist, my physician and OB were all in agreeance that my heart has checked out and we are clear to start IVF, not only that but they don't foresee any complications for me where my heart is concerned. The only thing they would want to keep an eye on is a leaky valve but I've known about that thanks to my mom. :) So that's it, that's where we are now. I will know more in 2 weeks and will get on and update as soon as possible. In the meantime I was fortunate enough to host my cute sisters sweet 16 birthday party last month so I'll blog about that to keep you are entertained until my next IVF post. Also look forward to a cute baby shower I am honored to host for my best friend Ashley and her baby girl. :) Until next time, we ask that you continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We love you all for your unfailing love and continued support to us both.


The Almonds!