Post surgery aftermath.

Two weeks ago yesterday, I underwent another Laparoscopy to remove my endometriosis. The procedure went surprisingly well, the Hospital and staff were amazing, and recovery was as good as could be expected. I was super sore and ended up with a bruise that hurt more then the actual incision areas. Brian was wonderful! He took such good care of me and made sure that I was comfortable and didn't need anything. If I needed anything, he was quick to jump to it. Made me dinner every night and held my hand if we were out and about. I was super lucky with the whole experience.

However, in comparison with my previous "Lap" in 2011, my pain was a lot worse with this one. I ended up having to take the meds they prescribed me, which I really didn't want to do. But there came a point that the pain was so bad that it was all I could do to even sit or lay down, getting up to use the restroom was an entirely different story! So I broke down and took the meds. Sweet sleep came shortly after that.

Wednesday I had my follow up appointment. The first thing the Doc told me was I was a champ. He told me that he had no idea how I had been able to function before the procedure. Apparently the severity of my endometriosis was shocking to everyone. But now we have a game plan. For the first time in 5 years, we have a PLAN! Even saying it gives me chills. We've had pretty good experiences with Doctors, minus my first doctor who was horrible. I wasn't too excited about leaving my last doctor, but after seeing Dr. M. we're convinced that we made the right choice! For once, I feel like I can be positive about our situation. I feel like I am in control and that for me is a hard change to grasp. For once, I get to be the one saying what I do and do not want out of our experience. I get to be the one calling the shots. Most importantly, the whole picture is in our sites. Not just the process of getting pregnant, but the following 9 months.

As always, we remain hopeful.

Chasing a dream, or running from reality

It's been a while since I "blogged" anything, but there's been a lot happening! So let's start with...

May 2009, the month before we got married, we decided that we wanted to start trying for a family. Since I'd been on birth control (BC) for so many years before, we were told by my doctor that it'd take a while for the chemicals to be completely out of my system, so to go ahead and quit with the BC whenever we wanted. So, we decided, May was "the month." Fast forward 4 weeks, past the wedding and our honeymoon, and BAM, positive pregnancy test. It happened the first month! We were going to be parents! Happiness, fear, excitement, and terror set in. At 7 weeks, we saw our baby on the ultrasound screen bouncing around with a healthy heartbeat, reality set in and we became super excited! At 12 weeks, our baby left this world too early. His/her heart stopped beating and we lost it. We were told it was an incompetent cervix, and "sometimes these things happen." So we dealt with grief and the fact of not being parents soon, and moved on to try again.

Fast forward again to present day (almost 5 years later), as I sit at home recovering from surgery, I'm thinking about the past years. Since that sunny day in October 2009, we've lost 3 other precious babies. We've dealt with infertility and loss, happiness and excitement. Right now, our home is filled with love and excitement, as we are starting with a clean slate. I was diagnosed with Endometriosis 3 years ago,  but we were told it wasn't that severe. Last Thursday, we went to our new doctor for another laparoscopy (surgical procedure to remove the endo), he removed more tissue then he thought he was going to need to. But, good news was ahead of us. With the removal of the endo, we should have a clean shot and best chance of conceiving our "Rainbow Babe."

Of course, with the excitement, comes the fear of the "what ifs," but Brian and I have chosen to be positive thinkers!! We are going to make this happen, and it will work!!!

We all have beginnings, this is ours.

Over the years I've been asked the story of how Brian and I met. So here it is, the low down. As many of you know, Brian and I have both been very active in the Agricultural World. With Brian growing up and working on the Family Farm, and me with my horses. Both of us were very active in the FFA (Future Farmers of America) Programs at our High schools (Brian in Pomeroy and Alia in Asotin). Our senior year of high school, 2006, we both competed in FFA competitions. Both of our teams that we were on that year won state and got the chance to go to nationals; Brian in Ag Mechanics and myself in Food Science. So in Ocotober of 2006 Brian and I, as complete strangers, with our teams flew to Indianapolis, Indiana to compete. All of Washington State stayed in the same Hotel, as well as 2 other states. Towards the end of the week, the Hotel hosted a dance for all of the FFA Members. SOMEHOW in the crowd of everyone there our Food Science team of all girls met the Pomeroy Ag Mech team of all guys. Brian and I ended up dancing with each other for one dance, not knowing that we were going to get married a few years later. After going home, I remembered dancing with this tall, red-headed guy. Well 2years later, this familiar red-headed, tall guy walked into the same math class as me at school. Neither of us could remember why we both looked familiar. One day he asked me if I went to FFA Nationals in 2006, and when I told him yes, he said that he thought that we danced together. Talk about a small world. Well we started talking and realized that we had a lot in common, both love the snow and snowmobiling, love the outdoors, and the list went on. We went on a date and that was the end of our single story.

After being together for just a few months, we knew that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We were together for 6 months when he asked my dad for permission to marry me. That same night he got down on one knee in our living room and asked me "the big question," and of course I said yes! We set the date for a late June wedding.

We got married June 27, 2009, and it was a beautiful wedding. It was the perfect wedding! Our families joined and gave us the best day ever. Our special day was shared with tons of friends and family. What a wonderful day.

Well, here it is, a year and a half later, we're still happily married and so much in love. . For now this ends the long story of us. Now you're caught up with us.