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Jennifer's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 12/31/00 -------------------- 12/18/00 12/10/00 12/3/00 11/20/00 11/14/00 11/8/00 7/7/00 5/24/00 5/16/00 5/15/00 5/2/00 4/26/00 4/16/00 4/12/00 4/11/00 3/28/00 3/21/00 3/13/00 3/7/00 2/22/00 -------------------- Jennifer's Introduction

November 8, 2000

Hello ladies!

Anyone remember me? Just kidding, although I'm sure some of you must be wondering if I had dropped off the face of the Earth. Well, I didn't and I'm back! I have lots to update you on so I guess I'll stop wasting time and start ...

As some of you may remember, I left off in May. My husband and I had been TTC since December of 1999 and we were on our seventh cycle. My mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer in February, I had a trip to Las Vegas planned in June and we thought we could really use a break from TTC. A few months "break" turned into seven months. We were actually avoiding TTC because we were busy with work, school, my mom, and just plain being stressed out about our attempts of conceiving. I took our "break" time as an opportunity to get into shape and take some time out for myself. I started going to the gym every day, eating healthy (well, more healthy) working out, and lifting weights. I started to feel so good about myself and the pounds started coming off. To date, I've lost 30 pounds! Yea!!!!!

So much has happened since I last posted an entry, so I'm going to break it all down into months:
May: My husband, Mark, got a new job and in a field he had been wanting to get into. He now works for an investment and mutual fund company. He loves it and is learning a ton of new things on how to make our money work for us. He assures me we will not have to wait until retirement age to retire. That makes me happy! Mark only has three (Algebra ...yikes) classes left to obtain his legal assistant degree (he's done with all his legal classes!) so he's still working on that too.

Our good friends, Heather and Brett, got engaged! Yippy! We are so happy for them. Heather asked me to be her matron of honor and Brett asked Mark to be one of the groomsmen. The wedding is set for Sept. 29, 2001. It'll be a great time for sure!

June: Viva Las Vegas! What a great time I had. One of my best girlfriends, Denise, whom I've known for 15 years, lives out there with her husband and son and when I go visit, I stay with her. We had such a fun time. Since TTC, I've been so good with totally eliminating alcohol and caffeine, so while out in Vegas I got the chance to "indulge"! This was my second trip there and I plan on more. I'm hoping I can drag DH with me next time; he's never been! The glitz, the glamour, the nice weather, the fun party spots, and all the sights really make it a place to relax. I'm not really into gambling, but I do love the clubs and checking out all the different theme hotels.

July: My girlfriend, Denise (the one I visited in Vegas), came home to Omaha for a family wedding, so I got to see her again!

My Uncle and little cousin from Portland, Oregon, came home to visit. We had a terrific time catching up and spending some "family" time together. He came home and wanted to surprise my mom (in hopes of lifting her spirits) and that he did! When he walked into her front door, I thought she was going to jump out of her skin! They have always been really close, so seeing him, was just what the "doctor ordered."

August: My 28th birthday. We went camping with some friends of ours. It, of course, rained almost the entire weekend, but I didn't care. I love camping and although it's funner when it isn't raining, it only makes it that much more interesting trying to figure out ways to stay warm, dry, and occupied!

KISS came to Omaha and we got tickets to see them. I'm not a huge KISS fan or anything but I wanted to see them since it was their farewell tour and they had on all the their old outfits and makeup on. It was a great show and we enjoyed it.

September: The annual Corporate Cup Run was held downtown and DH and I both took part in the 1-mile walk. It was fun and we got to help raise some money for a good cause (American Lung Association).

My Grandfather from California came back to visit and we had a mini family reunion. Most of my family got together at my parents' house and we had dinner and had a great time. A day full of lots of laughter, memories, and smiles! My mom enjoyed herself and it was nice seeing her laugh.

My supervisor at work went to Paris for two weeks on vacation and I got to take over! It was nice to learn some new tasks at work and I seemed to have handled everything well. I even got an award at work for a job well done.

Sept. 23, I went over to my parents' house to visit. My mom was lying on the couch (she hadn't been feeling well at all for the past several days) and my stepdad was sitting in the chair watching TV. I sat down and talked to my mom for a while and I had noticed how tired she looked. My mom has been known to fall asleep, yet still be awake, so sometimes she talks in a "dreaming" state about things that make no sense. She started doing this and we were sort of laughing, thinking she was sleeping and talking in her sleep. Then things got really weird and I noticed that things just didn't seem right and I started getting a little freaked. The next thing I know, I look over at my Mom and her arm is up in the air and she's flopping it all over the place towards her face (like she was slapping her eyeglasses off) and her face was all tightened up and twitching. She was making all these noises and grunting and my stepdad and I instantly jumped up to try to help. My mom wasn't conscious and she wasn't breathing either. I ran into the office and called 911 and my stepdad was trying to get my mom's mouth open so she would breathe.

The ambulances showed up and had to put a tube down my mom's throat to get her to breathe and they had to start an IV. She wasn't stable and they needed to get her to the hospital ASAP. We got the emergency room and the doctors told us she had a grande mal seizure from swelling in her brain. See, a few months ago we were told that a few of her breast cancer cells had floated up to her brain so they started radiation on her. The radiation caused some brain swelling and that's what caused the seizure. My mom still wasn't conscious, but they said that she should be in a few hours. Well, needless to say, those few hours turned into days and the news from all the specialists and doctors was that my mother would NEVER EVER regain consciousness or even live! I was heartbroken. My mother is my world and I just couldn't imagine life without her. The entire family was devastated! My mom was hooked up to all kinds of machines, all kinds of medicines, oxygen, the whole nine yards and none of it was going to save her life. I was angry and very sad. I laid in her bed with her, stroked her head and whispered in her ear that everything would be OK and that she could "go" if she wanted to. She wouldn't have to worry about us, we loved her and she was the best Mom in the world.

After several days of this and my mom going through bouts of apnea (non-breathing) every minute (she also had what's called the "death rattle") we had to make a tough decision. We decided to have all life support taken and to let God take her in peace. We called all family and friends and our Father from the church came up to anoint her (what used to be called Last Rites). We prayed and cried and waited ... and waited ... and waited. Minutes turned to hours and my mom was still hanging on. What wasn't supposed to be no more than a few hours turned into the next day and the doctors were amazed she hung on through the night. They insisted on hooking her back up to everything because if she made it though that night, she was going to make it! What terrific news!

The next day, my mom regained consciousness and opened her eyes. It was a slow process, she couldn't do anything but open her eyes. She couldn't talk, move her arms, legs, or remember anything. Days passed and she slowly began to "come to" and to make a long story short (well, I know, it's been long anyway) she went through therapy, finished up her radiation and is now at home and back to her ol' self! She went through a few more bouts of being allergic to some of her meds and a horrible case of thrush, but she's good now. Thank you, God! She's a true miracle. The doctors and nurses (and even our Father from Church) all call her their miracle child and can't explain what happened. Makes you really believe!!!! Now we're all praying that my mom finishes up her chemo with no problems and that she's on her way to a full recovery from this awful cancer!

October: Our third wedding anniversary (Oct. 11), and the Race for the Cure (breast cancer). I ran three miles for a terrific cause! Also, the one-year anniversary of buying our house.

Now to the present, November: My husband turned 30 on Nov. 2 and I threw him a surprise party. He had no idea and he about passed out when he walked into one of our favorite restaurants and all our friends and family were there to yell SURPRISE! What a great night that was. After that we went to a local bar and watched a band and danced. OK, OK ... you have all been so patient with reading all this that I think you deserve a little surprise yourself ... ready? I'M PREGNANT! Yahhooooooo! I can't even begin to tell you how thrilled and shocked I am.

Remember, I said that DH and were taking some time off TTC! Last month, we didn't even pay attention to the calendar and I had no idea what day I was to "O" or anything. Looks like we hit it on the perfect day! I was due for AF on Nov. 4 and I knew she was coming because I was very crampy. Saturday came and went and nothing. I wasn't even thinking that being PG was a possibility because we hadn't been trying and I didn't even know when I "O'd." I had had these twinging pains in my lower right side and my mom and DH both told me I might want to get those checked out in case it was appendicitis. Guess it wasn't! :) Sunday came, no AF. I started to get a little suspicious and looked at the calendar and did some figuring out. We had BD'd right on my 14th day! Wow! I guess it really was a possibility. I didn't want to get myself all psyched up again (like so many months before) so I just sort of dismissed it. I wasn't even spotting, which is really unusual for me before AF shows up.

Monday I decided to take a CONFIRM test and it didn't do anything. I was sort of bummed but not too upset. I set the test down and went and put some laundry in the washer. I came back upstairs and decided to take one last peek at it and I saw a very, VERY faint line. Not even a complete one, just the sides. Talk about confusing! I decided that I probably wasn't and threw it away without mentioning a word to DH. Tuesday came and STILL NO AF and my breasts were really hurting. I decided that on my lunch break I would go vote and stop and get another test. This time I picked up a ClearBlue Easy and I went home. I did the test and BAM, not even 10 seconds and that second blue line showed up! I thought I was going to pass out! I had a smile on my face a mile wide and I couldn't believe what I was actually seeing! I gathered myself, went back to work (and told a few coworkers). I was busting at the seams all day! After work, I booked it home, took the test, wrapped it up in a nice box and waited for DH to get home. I sat him down on the couch and told him I had a belated birthday gift to give him. He opened it up and cried (well, after the shock wore off). He is soooo happy! He can't believe it! We both feel this is a gift from God and we are so blessed and thrilled.

My first doctor appointment is Dec. 7 and my EDD is July 15, 2001! Yippy!!!!!!! We're going to tell our families on Thanksgiving. My mom is going to be so elated; I can't wait to tell her!

Thanks, everyone, for being patient with me and with reading this novel of an entry. I'll be sure to keep you posted and to keep up my entries now. God bless all of you in your journeys to conceive.

Hugs, Jennifer