Disney Getaway Recap

Hey guys! I meant to do this post earlier this week, but the house stuff has kept me very busy. Before I get into our weekend with lots of pictures, I did want to mention I had my 2 week follow up for my D&C with Dr. Garcia. He said everything looked good and I was able to resume life as normal. It made me a little sad being in there, but he was so kind and had a confident attitude I would be pregnant again. I told him this wasn't the last of me and hopefully I would see him within the next 6 months! :) Atleast his doctor's office has a nice view of the St. John's river.

Anyways, heres a recap of Disney. We drove down very late Friday night to Orlando. We were hoping to all ride down together, but David was stuck in surgery. We waited and waited but by 7 o'clock we decided we needed to hit the road. Dave ended up meeting us down at the hotel at 10:45. Glad we didn't wait on him.
Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn and out the door for Epcot at 8 am. The park didn't open till 9, but we wanted to be in there first to head straight to the new Frozen ride before the wait got too crazy. Our plan worked! They ended up opening the gates at 8:40 and we ran straight for the ride....So did everyone else who was there early :) We ended up waiting about 10 minutes. By the time we got off the ride, the wait time was already 70 minutes. The ride was nothing spectacular, but at least we did it and don't need to do it again for a long time!

After the ride we met Anna & Elsa and Blakely did surprisingly well. It was cute to watch Delainey hold her hand and walk her up to meet the princesses. She didn't love them, but there were no tears.

We headed off to do some rides and then at 11 the real fun began when all the food and wine stations opened up. Dave & I did pretty good. We ate at Tuna Poke at Hawaii, Gyros at Greece, Bratwurst & Schnuddle at Germany, and Chicken Parm, Gelato, & Canollis at Italy. Dave also did some beer flights while I enjoyed Prosecco. If you haven't been to the Food & Wine Festival, it's amazing!

We did one more ride after lunch then headed home to swim at the pool for a little bit and take naps. After naps we went out to dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant called Fresco Cucina Italiana. I will 100% be going back! Then we headed to Magic Kingdom around 8 to watch the fireworks, do a few rides, and watch the Electrical parade 1 last time before it is gone forever next week. The girls were champs!

Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We stopped by Ikea to pick out some house things we need. (Not buying them yet though bc we have no where to store them) Then we headed back to Jax. It was a great little weekend getaway with the family and it was just what the Doctor ordered! :)

Erica's Baby Shower Tea Party

Last Saturday, we celebrated Erica and little Miss Lula with a Tea Party Baby Shower. Amanda, Krista, & myself hosted and it was 100% the way to go when it comes to hosting! We did a few decorations, brought some champagne and OJ and called it a day. Everything else was provided. It was so fun drinking tea and eating little cucumber sandwiches and scones.  :) It was a great little shower for Mama Erica. Lula racked up and will be sporting flamingo attire for a good 3 months straight. LOL 

One week later

It has been a week since my D&C and I am happy to report that I am doing pretty good. The side effects have not been bad at all. Emotionally I am doing pretty good. Church on Sunday was a rough one for me. Music is 100% the way I feel and connect with God. More often than not at church, they will sing a song that hits home and I feel the holy spirit just fill my body. It is a crazy feeling and hard to explain. You just have to experience it to understand. When it happens I usually tear up. Sunday none of the songs at the beginning made me feel that way. After the sermon, we sang one more song before communion and it was "Jesus I come." I lost it.

Here are the lyrics:

Oh how I need Your grace
More than my words can say
Jesus I come Jesus I come
In all my weaknesses
You are my confidence
Jesus I come Jesus I come

I will rise stand redeemed
Heaven open over me
To Your name eternally
Endless glory I will bring (oh)

Oh what amazing love
We need Your cleansing flood
Jesus I come Jesus I come
In every broken place
You are my righteousness
Jesus I come Jesus I come

Thank You Jesus
Just as I am I come
Hallelujah
Oh what amazing love

Check it out on iTunes. The Thank you Jesus part....its amazing! 

I have received so many texts, Facebook messages, blog comments, phone calls over the past week. Each and every one have really touched my heart. I even received a hand written sympathy letter all the way from Wisconsin and a gift from my sweet Aunt Terri about when God calls little Children Home. I really do appreciate it all and want to say Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 

God definitely had a plan in all this. If nothing else, 2,960 people read my blog post last Friday and got to hear my testimony. Hopefully it reached a few and in turn will draw them to God. He is so clever and uses us in the craziest ways. How dare we ever doubt your plan God. 

We are off to the happiest place on Earth this weekend (literally) and I am so excited to get away with my little family and enjoy some time with Mickey! Food & Wine festival here we come. I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

(IN)FERTILITY FRIDAY - The close of this chapter

Hey guys! I've been debating on whether or not I was going to do this post, but you guys have been with me through this whole journey so you definitely deserve to hear how it ended. This was totally not how I thought my next infertility post would be and if you read back to my last post, clearly I was shocked when this week hit. Like I said last week, I was passed from Dr. Brown over to the normal OB, Dr. Garcia, and had a routine appointment with him yesterday. It was supposed to be a 3 hour ordeal: go over cost of appointments and delivery, an ultrasound, an appointment with the dr.... all that good stuff. I went and did the financial appointment and then went to wait for my ultrasound. Thats when it all came crashing down. She did an ultrasound on my stomach and within a second you could see the baby had no heartbeat. She stopped and said maybe we can see it better vaginally. So she switched probes. (I've had enough ultrasounds to know this was not good. I said a quick prayer.) She did it vaginally and still no heartbeat. She said she was so sorry and took me to a room to talk to Dr. Garcia. He pretty much told me I could choose to miscarry on my own or do a D&C and that was the route he recommended. It is very painful and long to miscarry when you are this far along. I opted for the D&C and he said how about tomorrow morning. And I said ok. 

I had a rough day yesterday, it was honestly the craziest mixed emotions ever. I was devastated one second because obviously we wanted this baby so badly and had gone through so much and then the next second I was ok and thanking God for protecting me. Thinking something must have been wrong genetically with this baby and God was saving us and the baby from a lifetime of possible pain and suffering. The entire day I kept going back and forth. I am a researcher and I deal with pain or tragedy through logic. So of course I start wracking my brain thinking of all the scenarios of what could have gone wrong, maybe I stopped the progesterone before I was really ready to, the baby was measuring 5 days behind last Wednesday...why and why didn't Brown seemed concerned about that? 

Every possible scenario was researched and that also helped me find peace. 

To be honest, in hindsight, I knew something wasn't right. There were several things that God had ordained to put me in that exact scenario. 1. I switched to a different OB (my original OB who got me pregnant with D) bc he was much more caring and loving. I am so glad it was with him and not my old practice where I was just patient number 423. 2. I was concerned with the measuring behind last week but blew it off 3. I was in the waiting room for a while so I started catching up on my Jesus Calling devotions. Every single one was about trusting God and finding peace in him. 4. I was going to see my 2 friends who were at the hospital that day and as I was about to text one something in me said, just wait to text her till after your ultrasound.  All of those things were sent by God to help me go though this process. 

So this morning, Dave and I got up early and headed to the hospital for my D&C. It is a quick outpatient procedure where you are put under and everything is basically cleaned out. I was having such anxiety that things were just moving too quickly. It was almost like I was in a bad dream, just 24 hours ago things were great! To ease my mind, I asked Garcia to do one more ultrasound to make sure there was no heartbeat. He said he was 100% sure but if I needed that confirmation to make me feel good he would give it to me. Of course there wasn't one, and I felt much better about everything. I got my IV, the anesthesia started and off I went. 

 Before I knew it I was back in the room talking to David like a crazy person. He actually recorded some of it. It was pretty funny! Garcia said all went well, I may experience some mild cramping and light bleeding and he would see me back in 2 weeks for a follow up. Once the meds wore off and I was good to walk, we were on our way.

To say this is not how I had planned this pregnancy to go is an understatement. But I can't help but think, I had a feeling this would be the outcome all along. If you look back at my second blood draw that didn't double,I feared this would be the scenario. I always thought since being so open about this journey God was going to use me. He was going to use me to A. allow me to experience things that are relatable to others and B. use me to go through some serious trials/tradgedy and show with God on my side I can overcome anything. Well we are following your plan God not mine and I am going to accomplish both things. I am can now relate with others not only in the infertility world but also in the miscarriage world. And I will be living breathing proof that although I am sad, I am ok. I will heal, my body will heal, and when my world was shaken like an earthquake yesterday , God never left my side. He provided me with words of comfort just seconds before the ultrasound in the form of a book, he provided me with a ultrasound technician who came back 15 minutes later to just hug me and say how sorry she was, he provided me with the most supportive friends and family whose words made me cry every time I got another sweet text message, friends who were willing to take off work today to be with me if I needed it, friends who sent me gorgeous flowers, provided me with parents to come home to to hug, kiss, and watch my children while I mourned and went through all of this, he provided me with a husband who was able to comfort me without even saying anything, he provided me with the 2 most precious girls on Earth that I could come home to and squeeze and just thank him for these wonderful blessings I had already been granted. This my friends is a perfect example of holding on to what matters most... your relationship with God and your relationship with others. When tragedy strikes nothing else in the world matters except those 2 things.

No matter what "storm" you are going through in life, I hope all of you can take something away from this and apply it to your own situation and really just evaluate whats most important in your life. Hopefully your top 2 priorities already are God and your relationships with others, because with out either one of these there really is no meaning to life. I really appreciate all of your prayers over the past 3 months and will continue to appreciate them as you pray for healing and closure for me. I will be taking a little break from the baby world for now and just focus on all the other craziness going on. School, soccer and gym for D, finish the building of our new house, and the holidays. No plans yet, but since I know myself so well I think we will probably try for another baby after the new year. Thanks again for all your support and love from near and far! We definitely felt it! XOXO  - Jamie

(IN)FERTILITY FRIDAY

Hey guys! Here with the latest update from my ultrasound on Wednesday. We have one healthy baby! The other baby has "vanished" and there is just an empty sac there now that will eventually reabsorb into the uterine wall. Grammy came with me this time and got to see baby wiggling around and hear the heartbeat. It is starting to look like a baby which is awesome!

Dr. Brown jokingly said it must be a boy since its hanging out on its head. LOL We will see! 

 Blakely came with us to this Dr appt to see her little bro/sis. :) 

I have officially been passed from Dr. Brown the infertility specialist to a regular OB. I have a doctors appointment with them next Wednesday to do all the newly pregnant bloodwork and work up.  The most exciting thing happening this upcoming week is I will be 10 weeks on Sunday. That means no more progesterone shots in the booty!! Hooray! They aren't even horrible anymore to be honest, but it will be nice to not even have to worry about it in the mornings. Pops did a dynamite job though and I'll refer him out if anyone is looking for a nurse ;) 3 weeks to go till we are in the "safe" zone. I am feeling pretty good about the pregnancy, but there is nothing like hitting the second trimester and feeling pretty confident you will have a baby at the end of all this! I am still so tired and so nauseous but again it's a good sign....baby is sucking the life out of me to grow itself. I will continue with the heparin shots in the stomach until 12 weeks and then we are home free from meds. I hope everyone has a great week and thanks for the continued prayers. God knew exactly what I needed and it was 1 healthy baby. I couldn't be happier or more thankful for this blessing! 

Emily's Wedding Recap: Wedding Day

Saturday morning, the girls all headed to Marcia's bright and early to get their hair done, have breakfast, and just hang out for the day. It was a nice relaxing morning. Everyone headed to the church at 2 to get ready for professional pics and the wedding!

The ceremony went great and afterwards they exited in a horse and carriage which was a surprise from Will. The reception was at the River Club on the top floor of the Wells Fargo Building. The food was great and Emily & Will did not step foot off the dance floor. 

It was a lovely day overall and I think it was exactly how Emily wanted it to turn out. 

Emily's Wedding Recap: Luncehon, Rehearsal, & Sunday Brunch

Sorry it has taken me so long to do these posts. I have been worn out this week! Here is a recap of the day before and the day after the wedding. 

Friday morning all the girls went to a Bridesmaid luncheon at one of Marcia's friends house. After the luncheon we headed home to change clothes and head back out to the rehearsal at the church and dinner. 

 The rehearsal went well (the priest was feisty) and then we moved over to one of the rooms at the church for the rehearsal dinner. We had BBQ for food, gave speeches (thank the Lordy I survived), and then watched slideshows of Emily and Will. In true Will fashion, he surprised everyone with a Mariachi Band to end the dinner.

 We headed to another hall where there was dessert, a Photo Booth, and square dancing. It was definitely like nothing I have ever been to, but it was fun square dancing for a little while. My children just ran around like crazy women! We headed home around 9 since we knew we were in for a long day that was starting at 9 am.

 Sunday, the morning after the wedding, Marcia had all the family over to hang out before everyone headed out of town. They did a huge breakfast spread and we just laid around for the morning. It was great to see everyone, but I think we were all worn out. We went home for naps (for everyone) and laid low the rest of the weekend.