Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated! Here's a brief summary of the last few months...
- In February, Ben and I traveled with his parents to Los Angeles, where I had the privilege of meeting many of his family members for the first time. We also got to visit Disneyland while we were there. Lots of fun!
- Also in February, Ben had a fertility test. The results did not appear to be good. He started taking a lot of vitamin C in addition to a multivitamin, hoping it would help. We decided to take a two-month break from trying to get pregnant. (We've just finished this two-month break and we're starting fertility testing/treatment... read below.)
- We celebrated Elam's first birthday on March 2. Some of our friends and family joined us at the gravesite, we had dinner, then came home for some birthday cake. We were very blessed by everyone's support! Emotionally, we were ok. The day after his birthday was much harder for me. I think not being pregnant yet made his birthday a lot harder than it would have been otherwise. But that's ok. Trying to remember to receive everything as a gift and trust God and His timing...
- I am still doing volunteer work at our church. I'm now also maintaining the church website, which I really enjoy!
- Our life group is undergoing some changes. We have merged with a larger group, and we'll be multiplying in a few months. We've enjoyed the changes so far, and we look forward to getting to know the people in the large group better.
A lot has been going on in the last couple weeks! I spent the last week of April, including my birthday on the 27th, in Orlando with my very good friends and their three kids. We spent time in the awesome pool at the resort, went to Disney World for a day, and Seaworld for two days. We had a lot of fun! The only thing that would have made it better is if Ben had been able to come with us. Unfortunately, he couldn't take the time off work to come.
We returned to Nashville on May 1st, just a few hours before the massive flooding began! Our neighborhood is located right next to Mill Creek, where the waters rose well above flood stage. The water began creeping up our street, and was only 1-2 houses away. We started putting a lot of our belongings up high in the house in preparation for a flood. Thank goodness the waters quit rising and our home was spared. Unfortunately, many homes in our area, and our church buildings, were not. Since the flooding, we've been trying to do our part to conserve water, keep our church website updated for volunteers and donors, and we've done some volunteering of our own to help families in the area. It's been a crazy week!
Also this week, we had our first appointment with the fertility specialist. It was a good, encouraging appointment. My OB seemed really concerned about Ben's test results from February, and she thought they would likely recommend artificial insemination. However, our fertility doctor did not seem too concerned. She just told him to stop drinking caffeine and take antibiotics for a couple weeks just in case. She's also testing both of our blood for problems. While we were there, she got our (very complicated) medical history, and she did an ultrasound and exam on me. During the ultrasound, she was able to rule out a few major problems. Like my other doctors have thought for years, she suspects that I have endometriosis, which could be the reason we have not gotten pregnant. (We started trying to get pregnant about 10 months ago.) I'm scheduled for laparoscopic surgery on Thursday, May 13, to diagnose and treat the endometriosis. We've known for years that I'd probably have to get this surgery eventually, especially if we ever had trouble getting pregnant. The recovery sounds a little rough. I'm hoping it won't be as bad as they've described! Please pray! We're really hoping that this is all the treatment we need to be able to get pregnant.
So this next week, we'll be doing a little more flood relief work, and we'll be working to prepare our home and the little details of our lives for my surgery and recovery, which hopefully won't take too long!
Well, I think that's it for now. Lots of things going on! I'll try to update again soon after surgery. We appreciate your prayers!
Also this week, we had our first appointment with the fertility specialist. It was a good, encouraging appointment. My OB seemed really concerned about Ben's test results from February, and she thought they would likely recommend artificial insemination. However, our fertility doctor did not seem too concerned. She just told him to stop drinking caffeine and take antibiotics for a couple weeks just in case. She's also testing both of our blood for problems. While we were there, she got our (very complicated) medical history, and she did an ultrasound and exam on me. During the ultrasound, she was able to rule out a few major problems. Like my other doctors have thought for years, she suspects that I have endometriosis, which could be the reason we have not gotten pregnant. (We started trying to get pregnant about 10 months ago.) I'm scheduled for laparoscopic surgery on Thursday, May 13, to diagnose and treat the endometriosis. We've known for years that I'd probably have to get this surgery eventually, especially if we ever had trouble getting pregnant. The recovery sounds a little rough. I'm hoping it won't be as bad as they've described! Please pray! We're really hoping that this is all the treatment we need to be able to get pregnant.
So this next week, we'll be doing a little more flood relief work, and we'll be working to prepare our home and the little details of our lives for my surgery and recovery, which hopefully won't take too long!
Well, I think that's it for now. Lots of things going on! I'll try to update again soon after surgery. We appreciate your prayers!
