It's been FOREVER, I'm sorry!

Talk about major slacking, that's me!  I've been slacking so much lately when it comes to the blog!  I figured since I'm home alone with the animals that this is a good time to write a long blog with out Eric bothering me.  So, in the last blog I wrote that we are not pregnant.  Since then we were told to check out another fertillity doc.  Even though they are in Grand Rapids, but they are HALF of the cost!  So, I checked the website out to get more information about them (www.fertilitycentermi.com) and they have so much information on their website, it's so helpful!  I then checked out other sites that have forums to see if there were good/bad comments about them.  I didn't find anything negative, only positive.  We decided to switch after thinking about it.  And since we have gone there - OMG!  Such a difference from the other doc.  They think much differently than what the other doc did.  So, they had me start on Gonal F and I was on it for a while, actually tonight was the last dose of it for the month.  I have to get my HCG shot tomorrow at work (8am), so, Eric is going to come into the office to give me the shot.  Whoo!  Then, we go for the IUI on Saturday morning.  Then we have to head off to mom's for the rest of the day.  So, I will know 2 weeks after the IUI.  So, cross your fingers!  Cause if this doesn't work, we will have to do IVF, which is roughly around 5,000!  It's not as bad as the other at 10,000, but it's still bad.  It's not like we can just come up with that much money!  Like I have said in the past...  Want to make a donation to the Crystal Hope fund?  

Let's see what else has happened in the past little while that I haven't written a blog...  The computers are still "down".  They have gotten a "new" program, but it's still not working up to par.  We had one test store and there were errors!  Go figure, right?  We will see how quickly they can fix all the problems, if they will even fix them.  I'm sure since the stores will be bitching they will end up having to do something about it.  I did get a new computer though!  So, now I have Windows XP!  It's so much better than my old computer that had the 98!  The only bad thing with the new computer is that I can't do anything anymore!  They now have software that they can watch what I'm doing at anytime OR they can operate my computer from a remote location!  Like I was having problems connecting to my network drive to get to some files.  They logged onto my computer and were messing with the computer through theirs.  It was weird!  So, now I'm SO nervous about doing anything now...  Oh, well.  That just means that I have to work when I'm at work.  HAHA

My mother was in the hospital...  She was sick and had went to Redi-med and got meds, well, after taking the meds for a few days, she got worse.  Come to find out the meds were having a bad reaction with her - body rash, not being able to eat, almost passing out, no strength.  Come to find out after having to be hospitalized for 5 days.  She got admitted after finding out her blood sugar was SO high and they found out that her kidney's were not working propperly.  She's back to her normal self now, so, that's good.  She has even moved into her new place, which we haven't seen yet.

I had my 11 year high school reunion...  I had worked on it for a while and spent some of my cash planning it.  It was a bummer when not that many people showed up for it.  It was a good thing that everyone that showed up for the most part got along.  They were thinking about starting something over the summertime, but I'm not up for that.  I'd go to it, I just don't want to plan something like that since I had put so much time into this one and not getting that much for it.  Oh well, such as life.

We finally got a dishwasher!  It's so nice having a dishwasher and having clean dishes!  I no longer have to dread doing the dishes anymore!  THANK GOD!  I'm so glad that I had one the guys from work install it than spending the extra money that Best Buy was going to charge to install the dishwasher!  

It's been so nice out the past couple of days (besides today, it was kinda chilly) that I have been grilling out for dinner.  That's the best!  Having Steak, BBQ Chicken, Cheeseburgers and Hot dogs though the week has been nice too (not many dishes)...

Well, I will try to keep this blog a little more up to date than what I have been doing lately.  

For those dying to know...

Well, we went to the doc's office to find out that I'm NOT pregnant, but I have cyst's!! The doc said that we could try one more round of IUI, but he feels like IVF would be the next step for us. I feel the same, but the cost for it is $10, 000! We don't know where we are going to come up with the money to get it done. I wish we had the money, but we don't. I just feel like we are hopeless now since IVF is what we should do, but with no cash to do so. We are taking donations for the procedure if you are willing to be so kind and donate some money. We need all the help that we can get. I'm not really in the talking mood at the moment. So, if you need to get ahold of me, send me a text or message.

Thank you everyone for the hopes and prayers. Hopefully next time, whenever that is, will help us then.

I know, I know, I know...

I've been slacking A LOT on the blog. I have so much to update...

Jan 2nd was Eric's birthday. We went out to eat at Red Lobster, where he wanted to go. On that Saturday his sister, Heather and I set up a birthday party thing since he was turning 30! First of all we started at the Mason Bowling Center for bowling and cake. Then afterwards we went to Buddies bar and grill, then since we were kinda getting kicked out of the place we went to Champions bar and spent the rest of the night there. I was a fun night! :-)

I came back to normal after having my ovaries the size of CANTALOUPES! I went back in the 20th of Jan to see how I was doing. Doc was surprised to see that everything was back to normal. I started the clomid and the gonal f injections for this cycle. We then went in to find out that I had 5 MATURE EGGS! Everything is starting to look up now. And I was to get the HCG injection that night and come back on the 4th of Feb for the IUI! We are so excited and hoping that this works! We are now in the waiting period I have to go in on Monday to find out if I'm pregnant or not. I do feel different, but I'm not sure! My boobs are sore, I'm running to the bathroom all the time to piss, I'm more tired than normal and I've had some cramping going on. You never know, I might be pregnant, than again, maybe it didn't take.

Work has been nuts for the past 2 weeks. We are used to running AS/400 (a 20-30 year old program), but 2 weeks ago, that DIED! So, we have been doing everything by hand. I tell you - it's hard and stressful! But I think it's starting to come around. I guess we are going with another system called RAMS. I don't know what the hell that is. I have never of heard of it. I can't really find anything on it. UGGG!!! Oh well, I guess we all will be learning the system together. Yippie - until then I get to have paper pile up everywhere. By the way, my company is killing FORESTS now! We are going through SO much paper!!!

Well, I should be going for now, I don't want to bore you. :-)

We are now on HOLD!

We had everything planned for having an IUI done the Monday before Christmas, but I was not able to go into the office the Friday prior due to the funeral. So, instead I was going in for blood work and they were watching my levels through my bloodwork. You should have seen my arms. I looked like a druggie that kept on missing! I had SO many bruses on my arms! Everything was seeming to be fine, up till Sunday when I got the call from the doc that states that my levels are over 3,000 and it should only be at 2,000! Also, that I need to keep moving - I can't sit or lay for longer than 4 hours. I am HIGH RISK and have a higher chance to getting a blood clot! I was told to take a baby asprin a day. I had my ultrasound on Christmas Eve, only to find out that my Ovaries were the size of cantaloupes! Yes, you read that right - Cantaloupes! He states that I responded too well to the meds. He said that most women that he deals with can have 4 vials a day and only produce 2 or 3 eggs, while I was on 2 vials and produced 12! I was scheduled to go on on the 6th, but that is now canceled! Since the Sunday after Christmas my body decided to go ahead and start the cycle without no meds... I NEVER start on my own!!! I always have to take meds to get they cycle going. So, because of this, my appointment is now not till the 20th! I guess we will have to wait till then. Just by what happended this past month makes me think it's more possible - since now my body is reacting the meds, since when I was on the clomid by it's self I didn't respond very well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The Christmas Holiday...

The holidays came and went TOO fast. I swear that I didn't have time to enjoy it at all with everything going on. Well, after the funeral, mom came back with us to stay until we went back on Christmas day. I think it was good for her to stay with us - it was a chance for her to get out of the environment for a little while. I was working a lot, due to the holiday schedules - I unfortunately was not home for long.

Christmas Eve
We went over to Eric's aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Christmas with his side. We took over a meat and cheese tray. OMG! I didn't think it was going to cost so much for us doing it ourselves. Next time I will spend the $25 to have someone else do it. All the food was good, as usual. Mom had gone along with us.

Here are some pictures...

The kids playing together...

Brandon being the little helper...

Watching the kids open their gifts...

Aunt Nancy...

Mom (in-law) and Dana..

Christmas Day
Morning
We started off by heading over to Eric's parents house to have them open gifts. It was entertaining watching Heather open our gift. Well, it all started with Eric's idea of rolling up cash. I took it the next step... I used a ziplock bag and filled it with powdered sugar and made sure it was airtight. I made a "starter kit" consisting of a mirror and a credit card. I had tightly rolled up 25 dollar bills and each of them were taped together. Along with some loose money in the box. We were all cracking up over it.

Here's some pictures:

Hannah - all dressed up!

Heather counting the rolled money...

Mom(in-Law) opening her gifts..

Afternoon
We headed up to Saginaw to celebrate Christmas with my side. We first went over to the house, set up the cage for Hannah, make the green bean casserole, and finish getting ready. When it was about time we headed over to Uncle Don and Aunt K's house. Once again - good food. Eric enjoyed Aunt K's holly cookies. Eric seemed like he was kinda bored. It was more low key then what it normally is. Since grandma was still so fresh in our memories. We did the white elephant gift exchange and Eric and I got left with the crap! So, not fair! Oh well, I'll use the one I got for next year. Since I don't want it. Usually after Christmas we always played cards, BUT this year it all changed. Everyone decided to do their own thing. Which was rather lame - since Eric and I were planning on spending the night just do we didn't have to run around and leave to come back home.

Here are some pictures...

Sitting around for the White Elephant Gift Exchange...

Jennifer not wanting her picture taken...

Playing the white elephant gift exchange...

Eric and TJ being bored...

Jenn and I (I love this picture!)AWESOME WINE!!!

Evening

Since there was nothing else better to do - Eric decided that he wanted to go see a movie. And since I was bored too, I said sure. We took along my 14 year old cousin - Jennifer. We went to go see the Spirit. At least tried to... We went into the theater and we were waiting for the movie to start... It was rather loud, but thought that it would quiet down after the previews started... WRONG! The theater was filled with rude, immature, little gangsters or wannabee's. I'm from that area and it was NEVER that bad! They were SO loud, walking all the time (even in front of the screen) talking on their cell phones, kicking chairs, throwing popcorn. When the little punks behind us started shaking Jennifer's chair - we decided to go. Eric was SO pissed. He asked to talk to the manager. Before we could even tell him what theater we were coming from he had already guessed. We got our money back - took Jennifer home and then went back to the house and went to bed.

Day after Christmas
I didn't feel very well from the time that I got out of bed, but we were still keeping our plans to go meet Steph for lunch. We met at Hunan for lunch. I couldn't really eat - I just felt sick. Then we went over to the mall. I just felt like I was getting worse. So, we had to call it a day. We said our goodbyes and we went back to the house to start packing. I tried taking some pepto while Eric was packing and loading up the car. I still wasn't feeling well and Eric just wanted to get me home. Well, on the way home - yeah - didn't make it home before we had to take a little detour. I had gotten sick IN the car! All over myself. Eric helped me the best he could by getting me a change of clothes out of the trunk and stood cover as I got changed on the side of the road. I had to sit in the back with Hannah for the remainder of the trip... Poor Eric, he could barely handle the smell. Yeah, it was rather bad!! I did start feeling better from that point. As soon as I got home. I took the LONGEST shower ever! I was a big ol' prune afterwards, but it was worth it!

The Funeral - the goodbye...

Grandma's funeral went over well. The day of the showing was long but we all got through it. The day of the funeral, it had snowed overnight. And OMG it was bad! All of the roads had at least 10 inches of snow and the snow continuted to fall. Eric drove to the funeral home and when we finally got there it was NOT plowed! When we parked and I opened the door the snow came to the door... They decided not to have the continued service at the gravesite, except for immediate family members. So, after the funeral service was over with we went over to the cementary. We stood around the gravesite shivering in the cold watching grandma's casket be lowered into the ground. As Eric, I, Aunt K and Uncle Don were walking back to our cars, Eric slipped on some ice (since his shoes had NO traction), then as I was trying to help him up he slipped again and then fell face first into the snow. Poor Guy! It was a little humor on the dark day. We then were off to the church for some food. As we were trying to get out of the cemetary - we got stuck! Stupid snow! I was the one that was chosen to drive to the church. OMG! The roads were so horrible - One lane on a major road with no salt or anything with white out conditions. The food at the church was decent. It's always nice the church does so much for the family when something happens.

Now it comes to - everyone coping with the loss of a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a sister.... R.I.P. - Barbra Lou Morse - I will miss you and love you forever, my grandmother. I know that you and grandpa are together now looking down watching over all of us.

Things are starting to look up.

Even in this dark time of Grandma's passing we are seeing a little light.

So, I went in for bloodwork before I came into work yesterday. By 8 am the Doc already had the results and asked if I could come right in. So, I did... They did an ultrasound to see how many eggs there were and the sizes. Well, I have 1 that's the size of 13 and 4 the size of 12 then a bunch of smaller ones. I was told that it almost looks like a honeycomb! The mature size is 15, so, almost! I had to get bloodwork done before I came into work today too. You should see my arms, they look horrid. Thank God it's wintertime so I can cover it up! Then I have to go in for bloodwork on Saturday when we get back. Then either the doc will call me once he gets the results or I have to call him by 1. He will then give us directions on how much HCG to use and when to give it. It should be given either Sat or Sun. Then, the IUI on MONDAY! I plan on working only 1/2 the day and then going home afterwards and resting. Hopefully I can! I should know 2 weeks after the IUI which if it's on Monday will be Jan 5th. Just past Eric's birthday. I only hope that it's going to be positive! That would really spread some light to the family. Since this Holiday is going to be really hard on everyone!