Finding out I was pregnant...

Finding out I was pregnant with baby #3 was such a joy. I was in the 2 week waiting period and am usually searching for any symptom that might give me hope of good news! It was funny, the month before, when I wasn't pregnant I had a tingly chest, and a super sore tummy, I thought for sure I was pregnant but turns out, that's what getting ready to start my period feels like. This month I felt NOTHING. The only thing that I had read was a common symptom that I had were cold like symptoms. I had a runny nose and the like, just three days past ovulation, which would be before implantation which seems impossible to me, but that was all I had. I felt nothing, until 10 days past ovulation I felt REALLY tired. I think this was the day I implanted because I remember feeling that exhaustion with my miscarriage. I am a serial "early tester." I usually start testing around 9DPO so this time I decided I would wait until 14DPO which would be right around my missed period. 
The night before I decided to test, I felt like a kid on Christmas. I was so excited and nervous, and barley slept all night. I woke around 7 and rushed to our bathroom to test. I seriously felt like it could go either way. I KNEW I was pregnant with my miscarriage but this time I wasn't sure. But I also knew that feeling nothing could be good, since the month before, I had many different symptoms. 
I set a timer on my phone for 3 minutes and set the test to the side while I waited and I closed my eyes and just prayed the whole three minutes. I thanked God for my children and told Him I will praise Him just the same, if I get a negative test. When the three minutes were up, I looked down at the test and BOOM there was that beautiful 2nd line. It wasn't so faint where I had to squint to see it either! I ran in our room and jumped on our bed, where Luke was still laying and starting crying and told him the good news. It was a sweet sweet moment that we will always remember. I called and texted my closest friends and family that day to share in our joy. We are still SO very thankful!

Here's a sweet note Luke wrote on my mirror :)

Getting pregnant the second time around...

I just want to thank all of you sweet friends for all of the encouragement, support and joy that you have shared with us after our announcement this week. We are beyond thrilled and feel so very blessed. 
At the same time, I know friends, that many of you are struggling to get pregnant. You may look at me with two 2 year olds and one on the way and feel like I can't relate to you. And while I know that my road is not the hardest, and I have been so lucky and blessed to be pregnant, I still understand the struggle. I have very close friends who still don't have baby #1 and I know my journey may pale in comparison to many of you readers. But please know, I understand the frustration of waiting longer than you would like and wondering what steps you will have to endure to conceive. I am NOT one of those lucky women who can get pregnant the first month they try. But know that each one of us have struggles in life that are unique in our own stories. Just because you are super fertile doesn't mean you have your whole life together, just as taking me a year to get pregnant seems SO no big deal when I look at my sister in law and best friend, a 38 year old widow and mother of three who I am SURE would love to go through a year of trying in a second in comparison to the unimaginable road she is on. Its all about perspective friends.
With all of that being said, I know those pregnancy announcements that seem to pop up in your news feeds on the daily when you are trying so for a baby can be so hard but please know I will not stop praying for all of you and will rejoice when you one day receive your good news. Please keep sharing with me your stories!   
So many of you know that I have PCOS which you can learn about here. You can read about the beginning of our road to number two and my miscarriage here. Much of the beginning of our story for baby number three is written in my miscarriage story but to give you the rest of the story and to sum it up, I will tell it here...

The day after the twins first birthday was the day we decided we would "not-prevent." I was winding up nursing my twins and still had not had a period. The day after their birthday I got my first period since having the twins which I felt was such confirmation from God, as we were a little scared to start trying so early after having twins, but knew we would regret not trying if it took us a while to get pregnant like with the twins. That period was in August and I got one more in October all on my own but when January came and I still didn't have a period I went to my new OB to discuss options.

Since it had been almost 6 months of trying and still no regular periods we decided to get started on meds. I had to be put on provera which is a 14 day progesterone drug and within 14 days of being off the drug, you get a period. I started on that and then we chose to try Femara, a new drug that is being used to help ovulation happen (lower chance of twins than with my previous clomid.) I got put back on metformin and started my first round of femara and BOOM! I was pregnant. I couldn't believe how fast it was! So I got my period in February and found out I was pregnant in early March but miscarried soon after.
I had to wait a whole cycle to get put back on provera to get a period all over again and this time I took my femera but never got a period, which means I didn't ovulate. 
I then got put back on provera again. This was the hardest part. I feel like if I had a chance every 28 days like most women things would be SO much easier but the waiting to induce a period thing, really stinks. I got a cycle and my doc upped my femara dosage. I was in Louisville (late July) when I was supposed to test and I really felt like I was pregnant. I had all the right symptoms BUT what I didn't know was that I was not pregnant but just PMSing. Since January of 2011, I have only had 3 natural, un-medically induced periods. So I don't really know my body all that well when it comes to knowing when a period is coming and believe me I am in touch with my health and body. During the twins party in Louisville, I started my period. I was sad because I was really hopeful I was pregnant, but I was also excited to get a period because that meant no waiting for an extra month to get a period to try all over again. And sure enough the next cycle I would be pregnant!
To sum this up:
It took 12 months of total trying.
It took 8 months of trying with meds.
It took 4 cycles of meds to get pregnant. 
In the 24 combined months of trying to conceive the twins and baby number 3 I had FOUR chances to be pregnant. That means I ovulated only four times in twenty four months, but the good news is, I got pregnant three out of four of those times. I rejoice that I get pregnant really easily if I can just get the help needed to ovulate.
Each month on femara I had ultrasounds to look at my follicles. With the twins, when I was on clomid I never had ultrasounds, so I will never know how many follicles I had with the twins but each time this time, I had one mature follicle except for the month that I conceived this baby, that month I had two. 

As far as WHAT I did on top of taking the meds to get pregnant....
Eating well and exersizing regularly. Most of you know I lost almost 40 pounds before conceiving the twins and have maintained that loss. I wanted to give my body every chance on its own as well as be at my healthiest for baby. 
DRINK WATER. Tons and tons of water. I hear the more hydrated you are, the plumper your follicles and the more fertile cervical fluid you will have.
Pomegranite juice which is good for your over all uterine health. 
We used preseed (sorry TMI) fertility friendly lubricant. 
And this is KEY and what I really think seals the deal.... 5 days prior to ovulation thru the day after ovulation I took mucinex. You want to make sure the ONLY active ingredient here is guaifenesin. I just bought Target brand and took around the clock. This helps thin your cervicle fluid, making it easier for sperm to travel. My aunt did this after years of infertility and I have recommended it to many friends having a hard time and they have gotten pregnant!
So there you have it I hope that helps those of you who are struggling with fertility. 
Know that God has your story beautifully planned and purposed. I came to realize that while God could make me pregnant at any time, he wasn't CAUSING my infertility. My body is flawed in this area because we lived in a fallen world where there is sickness and sin. When he blesses me with children I know it Him pouring out the magnificent on someone who is sick and sinful. While it may not always be easy, rest in his perfect will and trust Jesus through your waiting and when you see His plan unfold, it will be all the more beautiful. 



 

Big Announcement...

There are no words to express our joy! We are expecting our third baby, due May 8th, 2015. We give God all glory for this blessing we are so undeserving of! I have lots and lots of blog posts to come to sum up these last 12 weeks! Thank you readers for sharing in our joy. 

And BIG thanks to my friend Kayla of Pure Joy Photography for taking this amazing photo. If you are in the DFW area, you have to book her! Check her out HERE

Hall Pumpkin Farm 20

We had so much fun again this year at Hall Pumpkin Farm. You can see our time there last year HERE. The babies weren't even walking last year so it was amazing to see how much they have changed. They loved it and it was great soaking in our favorite season. 

Curb Appeal Progress: Phase 1

Curb Appeal. Our house NEEDED it!!!! It is still a major work in progress but the first photo was taken just 7 months ago. For whatever reason, we had ZERO landscaping. Our house was a foreclosure, so it was just a bit neglected. We still have LOTS of work to do. We painted our front door which you can see here and added some simple landscaping. All our plants are still very immature which is sad, but time will grow them and make things look much fuller. I would like to add carriage door hardware to our garage door and we are getting ready to hire a lawn company to treat our ugly grass. We are big time DIYers since we have limited budgets but our grass needs some professional help! We don't have an irrigation system, which in Kentucky is a luxury, but we are finding out down here in the Texas heat, it is pretty essential. We are thinking of saving up for one! 

I encourage you all to take progress pictures of whatever you are working on to give you encouragement. Sometimes I feel like there is so much work to do, but when I look at how far we have come, I am motivated to keep moving! This isn't before and after but rather progress...