Thursday, December 31, 2015

Another Year coming to a close

This past year has just flown by.  But it has been quite amazing.  I am so incredibly blessed.  I look forward to the next year being full of just as much love and passion.  Probably even more exciting since Ezekiel is becoming more and more active and interactive with everything he does.  I just feel beyond blessed.  I feel like I could repeat that over and over and over again. 


So what do I look forward to in this next year?  Lots of love and family.  We will get to go to Louisiana twice next year along with visiting with our friends and going on vacation together.  I know Ezekiel will just get funner as the year draws on.

In the beginning of January my sister in law will be coming to stay with us for a weekend so we will be having a date night.  I think we need one very badly.  Not just to have some time away to ourselves but to reconnect and just spend some quality time together.  I am very much looking forward to it. 

Friday, December 25, 2015

Ezekiel's First Christmas

I woke up this morning just feeling so incredibly blessed.  This past year has been an absolute whirl wind.  I know that last year I never pictured being where I am today.  Life seemed so hard and things just seemed so broken.  With Nathan having just passed away the year before and then No family in town for Christmas.  The constant bleeding I was dealing with in the pregnancy.  Everything was just so incredibly hard.  But this year I woke up with my heart overflowing with joy and gladness.

We had my husband's family come into town and they are staying with us for a few days and it was so nice to celebrate Christmas with them here at home.


I feel like I could go on and on in ramblings but really The person I need to thank is God:

Heavenly Father, you see my heart and hear my thanks even though I feel words themselves are not enough.  You Lord Jesus have blessed us beyond measure.  Let us continue to bring praise and honor to you in everything that we say and do.  Let us honor you with our words, our hearts our everything.  Lord help us to raise up this young man you have blessed us with the way you would desire for us to raise him.  Help us Lord Jesus to be examples of love, compassion, gentleness and giving.  Let us constantly build him up to be more like you.  Thank you Lord for bringing us out of the fire.  Thank you for using this past year to bring healing to our hearts.  We Praise and thank you for that Lord Jesus.  In your holy name Lord.  ~Amen

Here is Ezekiel this morning in front of the tree and then a really plush reindeer stuffed animal that Nana and Gramps(my in laws) got him for Christmas.  He loved it he just held it and wouldn't let go.  So adorable





 

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

At Peace

Lately I just feel at peace.  I know that if God wants us to have another baby it will happen and I feel content letting it be so.  It's a a huge emotional change from last post.  I think in part though I can credit my body getting slightly back on track or so it seems.  I did hours of research on certain essential oils that can help regulate my hormones and essentially do what the fertility drugs did and help get my body back on track.  I am not a doctor and there are so many contradictory articles out there but after a lot of research on what is safe and not safe while breast feeding and contacting a few people I know who sell essential oils I decided to give it a go.  And it is already making a big difference on my cycles.  I'm only on day 5 of use but can see a difference when it comes to temping compared to last time here was my last temping chart from September followed by my current one:



As you can see it is a huge difference!  I am absolutely amazed by what I see. I think this is the reason I feel at peace.  It's not that I necessarily have the huge desire to get pregnant right away but more that I just want to be fixed.  I just want my body to do what it's supposed to do every day and at least give myself the opportunity to get pregnant every month.  I keep picturing in my head the little story line of I realize my period is late take a test and it's positive.  I'm overjoyed and think of a fun way to surprise Isaac with the news.  I much prefer this over what we both had to do last time: obsessing over the tests taking them as soon as possible and sometimes several times a day.  I just want to be able to be able to be over the moon excited without the anxiety of staring at the test with a I'm going to freak out if I get another negative type feeling.

I'm interested to see how the rest of the month turns out.  I'm not at a place yet where I want to do ovulation kits and other fertile testing with sex every other day but just knowing that there is an actual possibility that my body is getting back on track just makes me so incredibly happy.  Though I have to admit I need to try to not count my chickens before they hatch which is easier said than done sometimes.  But I feel like it will just take so much pressure off of me.  Not that Isaac was pressuring me to begin with.  

As to the family dinamic we are in a good routine.  Ezekiel has started getting me up at around 6 pm every night which is okay since he sleeps most nights through or just wakes up once and is normally back asleep within 30 min.  I can not believe he will be 6 months in just two more days.  Where on earth did the time go?  I just can not believe it.

With Christmas right around the I am feeling very blessed and grateful.  I can't believe all the healing that has taken place in the past year.   Last year we did not have my brother with us and those holidays were just so incredibly hard but knowing this year we have the most precious gift we could ever have I just can not imagine anything better.   Isaac's family will be coming to stay with us for Christmas and it will be quite a full house but a lot of fun letting them all play with the little guy. 

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

De Ja Vu

I just can't do it.  I can't go through it all over again.  Its like a bad case of de ja vu.  My periods came back at 12 weeks and I was so excited since the first two seemed to be "normal" 4/5 days 31 days in between everything looked so promising to be able to get pregnant on our own.  Then things started going downhill.  First with the third period coming just two weeks after the other one ended(where I ovulated or got a + opk) just two days prior to its arrival it lasted 7 days and was really heavy.  Then that cycle  the next period came at 28 days and I am now on day 9 it is very heavy and painful and have all these horrible memories coming back of how hard it was to get pregnant the first time and how messed up my cycles were before.

We always wanted our kids close in age and if I can not be ovulating on my own then chances are that I might not get to get pregnant on our own as well.  But really we can't afford  fertility treatments.  But then as I begin to get disappointed I keep feeling that tugging on my heart asking why isn't one enough?  And I begin to get this overwhelming feeling to foster and bring in all these little ones that are less fortunate than us who need someone to love them.  The desire to foster has become so strong on my heart.  But Isaac isn't there.  He would rather adopt then foster.  He said he is afraid of falling in love with a child only to have them taken away.  I understand that but also feel those might be the kids that need the most love the ones who get placed in our care from a bad situation but then may be required to go back there.  Then I think of those kids that are a little older, siblings that if they don't get adopted together will be separated and placed in separate homes and I want to take them in to.  My heart just feels like it's breaking so much for all these little ones.  All I want to do is bring them all in.

I have an idea that popped into my head even as I'm writing this.  What if we were to get a house, or someone donated one, and we build it up almost like a daycare center, but with rooms for children to sleep in, toys ect; and it is a foster care house, not an orphanage but a place where other foster parents come together and we take shifts where there are always a few adults together there 24/7 and we are able to take in as many foster care children as possible.  I know in certain states(I've heard here in PA) there are so many kids in need that some of them have to sleep at the cps offices since there are not enough foster parents to take them in.  This just breaks my heart and should never be the case!  Wouldn't it be great to be able to join together with other foster parents and have a community built like this.  It makes me almost think of an orphanage.  But I guess really I need Isaac to be on the same page as me when it comes to fostering over adoption.  This isn't something I feel i should talk constantly to him about.  He knows my heart and I've left it at that.  He needs to have God point him this direction if it's the direction we are supposed to go.

But back to the current.  I am very frustrated with my body yet starting to realize that God has a plan.  Some days that is easier to accept then others.  But I decided this month I will check for ovulation just to see if I'm even ovulating at a place where it will make it possible to get pregnant.  If not then Okay I know that no matter what If God wants it to happen he will work another miracle.  If it turns out I am ovulating then okay, we will see if we get a surprised blessing one month.


It also brings up fears that my estrogen levels might be high again naturally and not going down which according to google(never should have looked it up) can lead to all sorts of issues such as ovarian cancer, breast cancer ect;  I know this isn't something I should give into I shouldn't allow fear to rule in my life or heart but I can't help getting angry and frustrated.   I won't let the fear control me but I will be proactive about it.  If we end up not getting pregnant in the next few years I might talk to my dr about what can we do to decrease my estrogen levels that do not include birth control since every   one they put me on isn't a high enough dose so I end up having break through bleeding every single time and just all around I'm kind of a mess on it.



So that being said that is what is going on with me lately.  An inner struggle and argument with myself on a regular basis of one minute being okay and happy with not getting pregnant again and the next thinking it's just unfair and Ezekiel is so amazing I want  another one and I loved being pregnant.



But I choose to let it go.  God I give you control.  I know it is so easy to get frustrated with the way things are and to allow myself to obsess and just overall become a little crazy.  But I choose to truly lay it all down at your feet.  I ask that you would make me who you desire for me to be.  Help Isaac and I to have our hearts both line up with what you desire of us.  I ask that you would open doors you want open for us and close those you want closed.  We thank you and praise you for it Lord in your holy name.  ~Amen.  

And for your viewing pleasure here are some Christmas photos I took of Ezekiel






Saturday, November 28, 2015

Family Traditions

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was an amazing day.  I feel like having Ezekiel there to share it with us just made it all the more special.  I am just so incredibly grateful for him and so very much in love. 

God thank you for blessing us so very much with our beautiful baby boy.  Thank you for blessing our relationship and allowing us to get closer together throughout the challenge from conception to birth.

Lately I feel like we have gotten into a really good routine.  Ezekiel wakes up between 6:46/7 am and goes to be at night around 7 pm.  Nap times are no longer a screaming match and he actually lets me know he wants to take a nap.  I feel like he's a new baby most nights sleeping through the night but every few days he wakes up once or twice but normally falls right back to sleep.

I feel like Isaac and I are getting closer together as well.  It's nice to have time to spend together almost every night after the little guy goes to bed.   I don't feel like I have a ton of in depth things to talk about but over Thanksgiving  We did manage to take a few family photos




Today we also started our yearly Christmas tradition.  Every year we want to go and pick out an ornament together and so of course being that it was our first year I wanted to try to find something for myself representing being a mom and receiving my promise and it has been quite a challenge finding the perfect ornament but after 3 stores we finally found it.  I actually got very teary eyed when I saw it.

I feel like it is the perfect ornament to show exactly how I feel about everything.  I will also share Isaac and Ezekiel's:








And here is Ezekiel's 5 month photo:
 I just can't believe how big he's been getting.  He isn't crawling yet but he sure is trying.  The other day I laid him down on a blanket for tummy time in the living room walked into the other room just to put his food in the microwave was gone for less than a minute I come back into the living room and he rolled himself all the way to the other side of the blanket.  I am just so not ready for him to be mobile!

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Afraid Of Dissapointment

As my little guy is getting closer and closer to 5 months the thought of having another one is coming more and more frequently.  I wanted to wait till he was a little older but now I am ready to start entertaining the idea.  Or more I"ve been planning and have my timeline all together but if this journey taught me anything it's that my own desired timeline basically can go to hell.

I would love to have another one in September or October of next year or sometime around the fall(my favorite time of the year).  I would love to have new life come around the time Nathan left us as it would just be a glorious reminder that as one life ends another somewhere begins.  But in all reality I don't know if this is even an option.  My periods have returned yes but ovulation has not.  In fact my last period came just two weeks after the one before ended and was extremely heavy and 7 days long.  Which would not give any opportunity for implantation even if I were ovulating. My body just seems all over the place.  But we are going to try none the less.  I'm afraid of being disappointed though and not being able to get pregnant on my own.  I just pray that God works a miracle in my body. 

We did the math and if we get pregnant in December then the baby would be due in September we are not going to go all crazy with trying with fertility treatments, having sex every other day but at least we can try naturally and just go back to enjoying marriage and sex without the thought of I must get pregnant!  Though of course we want it again so that thought will probably be there either way. 

I have to say though my mindset has changed or rather is changing on going back to see an Fertility Specialist.  I hated the emotional turmoil and the frustration that was there but the reward was far greater than the frustration was and therefor was so worth it.  I can't say for sure that we will go back but as of now if we can't get pregnant on our own I think I will be more than willing to try but if it doesnt' happen I wont be devastated since I want to adopt anyway.  But I will at least be able to say I tried.  I loved being pregnant and would love to experience all of that again.  I honestly don't think Isaac would be happy with me not trying.  He wouldn't force the issue but I think he would be hurt I wouldn't be willing to do it again.  But we will broach that subject later since you can not do fertility drugs while nursing and I plan on nursing him for another 7 months.  So that is that. 



But with

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Something other than Anger

I'm so aggravated I wrote an entire post only to press the wrong thing and it deleted everything!  So I will attempt to make it up but I don't think it will be quite as good as what I wrote before:

The one year anniversary of Nathan's death has come and gone.  I look back and can not believe that it has been a year already yet at the same time so much has happened.   I was working most of the day but when I got home it just hit me.  Yet at the same time I felt like I just couldn't feel anything.  As hard as that is to describe.  I wanted to badly to have a way to let out the emotions.  Next thing I know I'm pulling out a can of beer and it tastes way better than it should have.  I then decide to pull out a few bags of frozen breast milk and make a couple bottles in case Ezekiel, who was already in bed at this point wakes up, and I tell Isaac he was on baby duty if Ezekiel wakes up.  I then act on the feeling that my beer wasn't enough.  I wanted to get drunk.  I wanted to numb the pain I felt that just seemed so crippling or even to relax myself enough that I could actually let the emotions out.  It's so hard to explain but I felt for the past few months that I have wrapped myself up like a snug little package so tightly in anger, unforgiveness and resentment that I couldn't feel anything anymore.  It was as if a wall had been built up in self defense to keep myself from dealing with the real emotions.  And since Isaac was already prepared to take care of Ezekiel I began to do shots of Jaegermeister back to back as I cooked dinner.  Rather quickly that warm tingly feeling began to come over me and I felt myself begin to relax and the walls begin to come down.  I felt my inner self allowing weakness to show and I finally felt some relief.  I know, I know, I can see you readers shaking your heads right now in disappointment and displeasure.  But for those of you who have been with me from the beginning will remember that I pride myself in being real.  I want you readers to get a glimpse of the real me and the life I live.  The good the bad and the ugly.  And to be quite honest I feel lately I've been lacking in that area besides a post here or there I don't feel like I've talked about my heart or hardships like I used to.  But back to my point.  I drank and finally was able to let go.  As sad as that is I think the only reason I've held onto so much anger is because it is the only emotion I have felt like I could feel.  I know I've grieved, I've felt sad, sentimental ect; but mostly all I've felt for months has been anger.  Anger that he is gone.  Anger that life moves on yet he isn't a part of it.  But that night it seemed I finally was able to relax enough where those mental blocks came tumbling down.  And today I feel like I can finally say that I forgive Nathan for what he did.

Forgiveness is choosing to live with the consequences of someone Else's choices. I choose to forgive him.  I might not understand it or agree with it.  But the bottom line is it is done nothing I say or do will bring him back but I want him to be at peace and I want my spirit to move on as well.  So That is what i will do.  I will do.  I will choose forgiveness.

My brother shared this blog with me to try and help me understand what Nathan and himself go through/went through on a daily basis.  It is a really good read:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html

Tonight Isaac and myself will be going out on a much needed date night.  Our good friend and neighbor will be coming over to watch Ezekiel so that we can go do dinner and just have some alone time.  And I am really looking forward to it.   Thankfully becoming parents hasn't put too much stress on our marriage but it has definitely made it harder to make each other a priority which is what needs to happen.