Project Management: Back door and pantry, and the results...

 So, in the midst of everything we were going through, we did what we typically do, start another project.  I truly think that my husband did this to get his mind off of what we were going through, and to have things to talk about with his patients and people he met other than to talk about the fact he didn't have children.

We wanted to get French doors on the back since we bought the house.  

I can imagine that having to tell people you meet constantly, "no we don't have any little ones" and then for them to ask "why not, or do you want any" knowing that you do, and that currently your wife is going through a torturous 12 days of waiting to find out whether she is pregnant or not, and how much time and money you just spent to possibly not have it work.  Its exhausting to even think that, and smiling each day is hard.  

Then we added a pantry in the front of the house, in the "sitting room" that is o so not useful!  Its great, we keep extra food, the vacuum, all our appliances for the kitchen, towels, sheets, games, our winter coats that we may never wear again in Florida but want to have them for when we travel north, and light bulbs!  Its a great use of space, and I am proud of my hubby for coming up with the design! I got to paint the room purple, the door yellow for ECU, and the side in the hallway chalk paint so I can draw and write all over it.  Its such a great use of space!!  I love it!  And it got our minds off of things.  

12 days later, tested, and we got a positive.  We were so excited, we just couldn't believe it worked, we were pregnant.  It was surreal!  Of course when you first find out, you are scared and excited, all kinds of emotions.  

So we went to the doc, to test the levels, they were ok.  They told me to come back in 2 days, they needed to double and things would be looking good.  2 days past, and I went back in for more tests.  I waited all day for the call, just to find out, my levels didn't double, they actually went down a few points.  They wanted to test me again in 2 days, it may have just been a bad reading. 

2 days later, back in, more tests, then the call.  Levels had dropped again.  I was going to loose it.  It had only been 3 weeks since we did the procedure.  They told me to just be prepared for my period to start any day now.  Well, it didn't, I went another 2 weeks with nothing, and the 6th week I finally started bleeding.  It took 6 weeks for the embryo to leave me.  We were devastated.  

Then, I had to wait this out, 3 weeks of bleeding.  I know this is graphic, but it was.  It was heavy, and painful, in many ways, physically and emotionally.  My levels dropped so they didn't feel a need to do a D&C, so we waited things out.  This was August at this point, mid summer, the weather was hot but gorgeous, and we decided we needed a vacation.  We had just gone through IVF, and a miscarriage, and I didn't know if I could ever do it again.  

Information day

Spring, the flowers in the garden were blooming, and the weather was warm.  I was enjoying getting tan for the summer earlier than in NC.  We also were visiting the doctor again, talking about more options.  The doctor really said our next step was to either have exploratory surgery or IVF.  IVF was something hubby and I talked about when he had his tumor, not knowing this could actually be real one day.  At the time, I was completely ok with it, and then again today, when it was becoming a real topic, I was scared out of my mind.  IVF isn't anything to take lightly.  Its a journey in itself.

So what you have to do, is get regulated, but being on birth control for a month, and also to sync up with other girls going through the process.  They like for a group to be going through it instead of individuals.  Which in theory makes sense, but after the procedure, I found that it wasn't as easy to be in a group.  Everyone is excited if they get positives, and upset if they get negatives, and you have to watch others around you get good and bad results, all together.  I know it makes sense for the docs.

Then, after BC for a month, you start to build up your ovaries.  They want them to be huge, full of eggs.  They become the size of grapefruits, and you look 3-4 months prego.  There is pain, the ovaries are so big, it feels like the worse ovulation you have EVER had.  In my case, that was a new experience since I rarely ovulated.  Then, they would do a procedure to remove the eggs, then merge with the specimen (taken in the office same day) and left to grow for 5 days.  Once the 5 days arrives, you can tell how many embryos survived, and they insert them back in.  Then any remaining get frozen for any future transfers.  So there is fresh and frozen.  Fresh is IVF and happens 5 days after retrieval.  Frozen is called Frozen Embryo Transfer, and they thaw out the little guys, which in turn is like a 5 day fresh transfer.  Yeah I was overwhelmed!  The doctor and nurse were giving us all this information along with what it may cost.  We were again shocked.  And that was not mentioning the medication.  Medication that had to be refrigerated, and was time sensitive.  I had no idea what was about to happen.

New Year....2013

We were hopeful, this was a new year!  Everyone always says that, new year, and new things to come, new outlook, and new hopes.  We of course went right to the doctor first part of the year, because we wanted to know what our next steps were.  We had heard hubby had a low count, and I had PCOS, and so we wanted to find out what our options were.  This time, we met with the doctor. At the time, I was 2 days into my friend, and the doc said we should go ahead and try IUI again.  Hubby got tested again, and it was normal, odd....and I got checked, and started the process again.  I then started to research PCOS, which caused lack of ovulation at times and difficulty getting pregnant.  It was very common amongst women.  One of the solutions was to work on diet, gluten free, more protein, no sweets, and to loose some weight.  2 weeks later, friend showed up again, the IUI didn't work.  We had done 3 sessions now, and we decided one more just to try.  I had to take a month off, due to having a cyst, and then tried again for number 4.  That was also unsuccessful.  I had also started working on our diets, new recipes, salads, a lot of fruits and veggies, less grains (I couldn't go completely gluten free) and no sweets.  I started dropping the weight, not trying to, but it was not a bad thing.  Hubby started loosing some as well!  I started exercising more, walking in the evenings with Bella, still had the occasional glass of wine, but cut out sweets altogether.  And for those of you who know me, that is NOT easy.  I love chocolate, and sweets, and this was quite a challenge for me.

One of the new foods we found, because I was going semi gluten free, was spaghetti squash,  I tried all kinds of new recipes with this vegie.  This was was with marinara, mozzarella and basil.  I mean overall, these new recipes weren't bad.  Hubs enjoyed trying new things too.  I started going crazy on pinterest, new recipes every other night!  No sweets....

So, since we were still not pregnant, I started pouring myself into my etsy and sewing.  I mean, it was like therapy and I would earn a little money :)  I also really got into gardening a lot, it was spring by this point!  Oh so many projects, it was taking my mind off of everything.  I was over a year of trying, and 4 unsuccessful IUI's, 15 lbs lost, and I still had nothing to show for it...

Project management: table and dining room

So with everything that has been going on, I decided to pour myself into a project.  And I drafted the hubby!  Always a good idea!  There is an adorable antique shop not far from the house.  I visit this place all the time, just looking, not necessarily buying anything.  You have to go to these places all the time to get the good stuff.  I fell in love with this table, it had all the right lines, it was French looking and the chairs were amazing.  They had terrible fabric and the base was yellow.  I decided to paint the table and chairs, so in doing so, you have to strip the paint first and sand it down.  

Stripping....

More stripping....

Then I went to the local fabric store, and found this!  And of course, my 1 table project turned into 2! Kitchen table and Dining room curtains!  

Luckily, we didn't have a lot of furniture at the time, so I had the whole house to work on these projects!  

Not so pretty fabric.....

Fabric for the chairs!  

This turned into a PROJECT!  

Yeah its like I have ADD when it comes to projects!  So once I got the table stripped down, well I decided I liked the way it looked, just like this!  I didn't want to paint it, why when its got the most amazing look to it!  It looks like its so old, and has been in the family for years, when in reality, all we did is strip off paint!  I love it!  

So I used the chairs for the dining room, and I used the table for the kitchen, and bought a new table for the dining room, stained and painted the table to look like the stripped table in the kitchen.  I love this room, I just need to figure out the chandelier!