Seriously? Saga continues

Apparently my sacrifice to the gods wasn't enough.
The doctor called this afternoon with the results of my blood tests. My hormone levels should have dropped between yesterday and today to verify the miscarriage. And guess what? Mine went up. Yes, up. They think this means I am still pregnant, but it is an ectopic pregnancy (in the fallopian tubes). Apparently when they transferred the embryos into me, they moved around enough that 2 settled into one of my tubes. Great. Dangerous and bad. So tomorrow I see a fetal radiologist to determine if this is accurate. If it is I either need to have a surgery or take medication to terminate it so I don't lose a fallopian tube, or worse, my uterus. This is starting to get annoying. I'll keep you posted.

A Sacrifice to the Gods

Let me bring you up to speed. For those of you that don't know, Jon and I just went through invitro fertilization. That's right, more shots, and lots of them. Everything started at the end of February. I checked a voicemail every afternoon to see what I had to do that night (usually a series of 3 shots) and then went in for a blood draw and ultrasound every morning. On March 5th I had a procedure to remove my eggs, and though I was swollen and sore, they took out 22 mature eggs. Those that they couldn't reach, or weren't mature were left in. Sixteen were successfully fertilized and stuck in the incubator, and 8 made it to 5 days old. On March 10th we went in and they transferred 2 back into me, and froze the rest in pairs for future use. On March 19th we found out we were pregnant Yahoo!
Unfortunately, it didn't last long. I miscarried on Monday. And no, this is not an April Fool's joke. It has been a week of health follies as I have fallen apart at the seams. I had this crazy heat rash all over my legs for 2 weeks. Thursday I woke up with a fever, that turned into a full blown cold with some vomiting. That weekend, I slept so much that I was afraid I would lapse into a coma. Night sweats broke my rash, but Monday I broke out in hives, which usually send me to the ER, and then in the middle of an intense 2 hour state mandated test for all of my students to move into high school, I started bleeding (I am glad I wore black pants that day). On bed rest until I could get to the doctor on Tuesday, I was actually excited to go home and take a nap. Officially, I can't say that I miscarried until I get the results of my blood test back today, but let's be real. There was no visual pregnancy on the ultrasound yesterday, and they don't know what caused it. Though I am sure my having so many illnesses at once didn't help.
Yeah, it sucks, blah blah blah. But I would rather have no pregnancy than an unhealthy one. I think on top of everything, I would have a hard time dealing with a special needs child, and I mean that in the nicest way. Now that I have made my sacrifice to the baby gods (and lord knows I bled enough for that) we wait a month and try again. So here is my top 10 things on the positive note of miscarriage:
1. I got pregnant. That is a start.
2. I fit back into my regular bras overnight. You have no idea how good that feels. It is bad enough to have boobs on the big side, I sometimes worry they will be permanently stuck on extra super huge.
3. We have 6 frozen embyros in the bank, which will make the next process less complicated since I don't have to go through the egg harvesting process.
4. I can drink again, for a while. And I am not talking about water and Shirley Temples. We finally started carrying my favorite beer in AZ (EX Street Wheat by O'dells), and I haven't had it yet, so now I can. And wine. Sweet wine. Aaaahhhhh.
5. My body has time to heal from the itchy, rashy, stuffed up, feverish, coughing, vomiting, bleeding, sleepy mess that I had become. Plus, not having been to the gym in a month, I was turning into Jell-O, which brings me to my next point,
6. Gym, gym, gym
7. We paid for a package deal, so now we get to use it. It's not like I have to come up with another small fortune. It's like buy 1 chance, get 5 more for free. What girl can resist a sale?
8. I didn't want to have a baby on Thanksgiving or during Christmas season anyway. Too crazy.
9. Maybe I can get through bikini season before I get preggo fat. I can't bake in the sun when I am with child, so now I can work on my tan.
10. Practice makes perfect, and since we got to do no such spontaneous acts during this whole process, I can get back to enjoying my husband again.

So there you have it. I feel fine. My health wasn't at risk. I am alive and on the mend. I am not emotional about it, and don't plan to be, and I don't think that is abnormal. That won't get me pregnant again. Something like 40% of IVF cycles are successful the first time, I just fell into the wrong percent. Besides, my dead grandmother through 4 different phsycic readings promised me a boy who chose us a long time ago, and I'll be damned if I let this one speed bump stop me from denying that soul a place on this earth (I know I sound crazy, relax, I have always been crazy, you just may not have know it). If I am not pregnant by November 26th when this one would have been due, I may feel a small twinge of sadness. But that is a long time from now. There are a lot of people having babies right now that I am trying to knit for, and I can get that all out of the way in time to clear my knitting schedule for my own child.

Where can I get....?

Wow, I know. No post for months, and now 2 in one day. I guess boredom has officially kicked in.
Last night I recorded a new show on TLC. This afternoon when it was too hot for birds, but not for lizards, I decided to go in and watch the train wreck that I was sure would become one of my new favorite shows. This show is called Toddlers and Tiaras. Yes, that's right, an entire hour of little Jean Benets that compete for the Grand Supreme title and a crown bigger than my head. One little girl had won 83 tiaras. She was 6 years old. I totally wanted to be one of those girls when I was younger, and now I get to see how it all happens. I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen, and added it to my Tivo season pass manager so I will never miss another episode. I still can't seem to curl my hair wiithout it looking like a fuzzy halo, so the hairpieces alone were mindboggeling. And after 3 days of napping on teh couch (I can't seem to get enough sleep), I decided to take a shower. I am sure Jon was thrilled.
I love days when I don't have any obligations, they are perfect for experimenting. So I decided to put my hair in curlers, and see if I could spend the evening with big Texas hair, even though we are going out to dinner with some friends of Jon's parents. Bold, and hilarious.
Here's the thing though. My hair won't dry on these curlers, so in the past I have resorted to a neat hair drying thing that my grandmother gave me when I was a kid. Why I still have it, I don't know. But you hook it to the end of the hair dryer, turn it on, and you look like someone straight out of the 1950's hair salon.

And then something dreadful happened. I ripped it. And I cried. I actually cried. My grandmother gave me this. And I can't put tape on it because when the plastic heats up it could melt the tape glue.
And my hair will never dry with these curlers in. Here is my question. Do they still make these things? Where can I get my hands on another one? And what the heck is it called? Anyone know a hairdresser who can answer this question?

Birdwatching

It is Spring Break, and I enrolled in a couple classes I need to renew my teaching certificate. What better time to get some undisturbed studying done, right? Wrong. It is a beautiful morning (supposed to be 85 today) and I have decided to sit on my porch and bird watch. Yes bird watch. If you remember, my favorite Christmas gift was a National Geographic field Guide to birds. A few weeks ago, Jon and I walked through a preserve that our local library backs up to. It was filled with small lakes (some call reservoirs) and birds, birds, birds. I had meant to look some of them up when I got home, but forgot. This morning I woke to the chirp, chirp, chirping of many morning birds, and reached over onto my nightstand to thumb through my field guide. I decided that today was a day to enjoy my natural surroundings. So I rummaged through the garage and found the binoculars. I moved one of my living room chairs onto the porch, and am snuggled up with a cup of tea. My school work is sitting next to me, but I have yet to crack it open. There are a lot of different birds in my front yard! There is one I am struggling to identify, but I think they are building a nest on my neighbors roof, so they aren't going anywhere. I hope the neighbors don't think I am looking in their windows. I have also noticed that 2 doors down there is a house we thought abandoned, and there is someone in the garage and doing yard work and I am terribly confused as to where they came from.
I have also discovered some great websites to help me with my classification. One site even has sound bites of the birds calls, which has forced me to admit that I have been wrong about a few. Which just means I will have to stay out here a little longer than planned.
I am also taking a break from my new found love of vampire books and I started reading a non-fiction book called Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding by Scott Weidensaul, and it is quite interesting, if you are into that kind of thing.

Hell Yeah!

I have to say, Broncos are my team. And though my loyalties lie with them, I also believe in rooting for the home team. I have enjoyed watching the Cardinals even though they have lost some close games over the last few years. They often break my heart, I'll be honest, but I still stand by them as a team (be it my number 2). Today they rocked, and are going to the Superbowl, which also happens to fall on my birthday. So I'll say it again - Hell yeah! Way to go Cards! I am ready for the party

Thought I could dodge it.

After 2 official days of rest last weekend when everyone left town, work started again on Monday. I could have used 2 more days. I am glad to be in a routine. But I am tired, and have a cold. I thought for sure I would not get sick this year because kids wash their hands so much in my classroom. And, of course, whatever I caught, I caught on vacation, and it hit on Monday. Figures. Could the weekend and no alarm clock arrive any faster?

Happy New Year!

Jon's uncle owns a ranch (Horseshoe Ranch) in the middle of Agua Fria National Monument. It is about 2,400 acres, surrounded by nothing but beutiful Arizona scenery. We couldn't think of anything more perfect for a week with out of town guests. We knew Pete and Jess would love it, and after only 6 weeks, my friend Kim flew back out for more fun. She never got to see more than a 5 mile radius from my house. Jon's aunt and uncle were thrilled not to have to go up there for a week, we packed a truck, and were off.
Yep, that is me. And yep, I put the ATV there. Did I get mad and push it over with my super human strength? Not this time. I was actually riding it when I did it. Oops. Luckily, all I did was snap the front break off. Oh, and a lot of bruises on me. I strategically managed to wait until this particular 20 feet of road that contained a ditch between the road and the mountain, so I was cradled in my fall, and also managed to be under the quad, without it touching me. I was more concerned about the ache in my hand from smacking it on a rock then the goose egg quickly forming on the back of my head. If I had to go to the hospital, then I wanted to be ble to knit while I waited there. We had been out for 4 hours, and I guess I got a little confident, and was going a little too fast into a curve. After we realized that I was ok, Jessica and I were laughing so hard, I peed my pants- or maybe that happened when I rocketed through the air. Either way, it was funny, and no one was hurt. So we mosied back to the ranch, had a shower, a hot meal, and a lot of wine, and I was ready to rock and roll. It hurt to brush my hair and sit down for about a week, and I bruised in places I didn't know you could bruise. I was tempted to shave my head, just to see the bruise, it had to be impressive. We hiked, shot some guns, and drank and ate our weight. We had more friends come up for New Year's, and though we had origionally planned on 20 people, we had an intimate 10 to ring in the new year at midnight. All around, a great time. Here are a few more pictures.

This is the river you have to cross to get to the ranch, and also the view off of one of the bedroom patios.