Happy 60th Anniversary

This couple, my lovely grandparents, are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this weekend.  More to come.

Not for the Faint of Heart

In a strange little twist of my own real-life fertility drama, it appears that my fertility doctor does NOT agree with my OBGYN's diagnosis of Premature Ovarian Failure. She agrees my FSH levels are high, yes, but that I am in no way going through menopause or showing any kinds of symptoms. Thank God, because all I need right now is to start having hot flashes. That just might put me over the edge.


But seriously, even though I am not sure why I'm not getting pregnant naturally, we are at least in the process of finding out. The last year has been a weird limbo stage and now that we have a plan, I feel a calmness that I haven't felt in a long time.

I'll be having more tests done this next month and a half. Country accompanied me to this morning's visit. I was to have a saline sono-something-or-other done to check out my ovaries and tubes and when they said to get naked from the waist down, I didn't even blink an eye. Country kind of looked at me strangely as I hopped up on the table and put my feet in the stirrups. I looked back and said, "There is no room for modesty when it has to do with anything baby-related." I have been poked and prodded and given more blood for testing in the past month than I quite possibly have in my entire life. I'm pretty sure the folks down at my insurance company are probably scratching their heads right about now at the sheer number of labs being run. Oh well. What are you gonna do?

Meanwhile, the countdown is on. 12 days until we leave for Ireland.

Farming and Fertility

The truth is, I don't know at what age I felt that I should live on a farm. I can't quite totally wrap my head around the idea or butchering a pig or performing some of the other farm necessities, but I can picture the land, feel the dirt in my nails and smell the scent of sweat, love, and of course, tomatoes. Why is that?
Apparently, I'm not the only one with the same romantic idea of farm life. I just picked up this book from the library last night and I can't.put.it.down. It's called "The Dirty Life," by Kristin Kimball. Stay tuned for a book review when I'm finished.

In other news, March 8th will be my first appointment with a doctor at a fertility clinic. After a year of heartbreak and disappointment, I finally know that there is a viable medical reason that I haven't gotten preggers yet. Thank God, because if one more person told me to relax or suggested that maybe I wasn't meant to have children, as my co-worker did, I might have poked my eyes out. But yes, after three rounds of blood tests this month, I have found out I have Premature Ovarian Failure (POF). Apparently it's pretty rare and there really isn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason as to why this happens. I have read that certain auto-immune diseases can be a contributing factor, but when I asked about Ankylosing Spondylitis, my doctor told me no (although there is very little research with AS and pregnancy/fertility).

In a nutshell, what this means for Country and I is that we will (hopefully) be having a baby by in vitro (IVF). Yup. It seems my lady parts don't want to give me a baby naturally, so we're about to embark on a strange, fascinating, shot-in-the-ass-daily, kind of world. I'm reading a lot about IVF online and trying to learn the lingo. I think Country is a little bewildered but on board. We're praying that we will be able to use my eggs and not a donors (we don't know for sure yet if I have any good eggs). Wild, huh?

Although I was obviously very upset to learn that I can't have children naturally, I can't say I'm especially surprised. Let me tell you a secret---for as long as I can remember, I have felt that I would adopt a child or children. So while I pretty-pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top want to have biological children, I also can say that I wouldn't be especially surprised if IVF isn't an option or doesn't work. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally optimistic about the whole thing.....it's just that I don't think it'll come as a big shock if it's not in the cards for me.

With that being said, send me your fertility vibes and wish me luck next Monday!

I Wish I Was From the South. . . .

and someone would sing this to me.

Brrrr

What do you do when the temps are in single digits and the highlight of your day is being able to wear sunglasses for a few minutes because the sun is actually out (and bright)?  You start dreaming of your gardens, of course!

I don't think a whole lot has changed. . . .my hair is longer, my body larger, but I still wear stupid shoes and more often than not have skinned knees from playing around in the dirt.  I am longing to be outside, planting, digging, nurturing, sweating. 

The older I get, the harder it is to live in a state where the seasons are so dramatically different.  Don't get me wrong; I do like the season change.  I even get excited about winter's apperance every few years.  After all, it is fun to bring out the pretty scarves and mittens and my leather peacoat that is so worn in that it feels like butter.  But after Christmas, I'm over the cold and snow.  Bring it on, Spring!

In other news, I took the plunge and painted over the red paint in the dining room.  No pictures yet as I am waiting for the other pair of curtains to come in.  (I purchased the last two panels from a store that was closing but when I went to order the other two panels that I needed online, they were out of stock.  Bummer.)  My mom was cracking up about this dramatic change in the dining room.  She said, "What?  Your house was on a decorating website and now you're changing everything?"  That's just how I roll, I guess.  So, pictures to come soon and the story behind the paint choice.  Stay tuned!

And lastly, Country and I have a new obsession.  Ping Pong.  Yes, you read that right.  We've been playing every chance we get.  When the temperature is -1, you must make the effort to find things to keep yourself occupied and so ping pong it is.

Have a great week friends.

Provisions and Priorities

I heard on the news that before the huge storm was supposed to hit, everyone was scrambling to buy bread and batteries.
We bought vodka and tortilla chips.

Priorities?

Check This Out!

I almost fell off my chair at work today when I was stalking  checking out one of my favorite decorating websites, Apartment Therapy.  You see, a few weeks ago, I was cleaning and organizing the house and decided to pull out my camera to take some pics.  On a total whim, I submitted 5 photos and filled out the submission form to be featured on the website.  Never in my wildest dreams did I expect anything to come of it.  But then today, I was clicking around on my lunch hour and there it was!  My house!  Yeah baby!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/house-tours/melanies-farmhouse-house-call-135639

Here are the pics I submitted:

How much fun is that?!