an ER, the unknown, and a baby

We shared our happy news on Monday about our sweet bean and I wrote this (long) account of our experience back when I was 5 weeks along. If you're interested, read on!
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Mark and I had decided we wanted to get pregnant soon. Around the summer of 2014, we decided we would start actively trying in December. December came and it was time! We tried, and then we waited…

…during the ‘waiting’ time, I started having some pain on my right pelvic side. It was severe for a few seconds but then just felt like I had pulled a muscle. It lasted for 5 days before I decided I needed to go the doctor. I had been reading ALL of google over the weekend and had self-diagnosed it as a corpus luteum cyst. So, off I went to the doctor with hopes of a similar diagnosis and a possible positive pregnancy test.

Once I got checked in, the nurse took my temperature and I was at 100.2. Whoa! That’s weird. Oh well, I felt fine. Back I went to see the doctor who chatted with me and did an exam, including an ultrasound to look for a cyst. He made one passing comment while explaining the ultrasound to me, “you’ve got a nice thick uterine lining…” (sorry if TMI) and then carried on the exam. No sign of a cyst, but my fever concerned him. They came back and did two more temp readings (on my forehead) that were even higher. That’s when I started feeling sweaty. He said that he was concerned of appendicitis, and while I wasn’t showing all the symptoms, I wasn’t showing symptoms of anything else and the best way to rule out a seriously threatening case of appendicitis was in the ER. Yikes.

I had to fight my natural urge to ignore him and go back to work because, hello, I felt fine! After a frantic call with Mark, my mom, and my cousin whose husband is an ER doctor, I decided I should go in, just in case. So I went home, changed, and Mark and I headed to Baylor Plano.

Things were fine and normal while we waited. We laughed, chatted, made jokes, and were our normal selves. I would get a little twinge of pain and think, “really? This is what appendicitis feels like?” and then move on. After a blood draw, IV, contrast solution and a CT scan, we were released four hours later after the CT scan showed fluid around my ovary, the result of a ruptured cyst. Adding to the anti-climactic ending was that I had seen “HCG negative” scribbled on my paperwork, meaning my blood came back as negative for pregnancy.

I told Mark after we left the hospital that it didn’t work and I wasn’t pregnant this time. Oh well, we would try next month. I tried to put it out of my mind and turn my attention to Mark’s birthday the next day and the upcoming holidays. A full day back at work the next day was pretty normal and I came home to an empty house as Mark was out for his birthday with his dad. I think it was part boredom, part stubbornness, and part of the doctor’s whisper about my ‘thick uterine lining’ that made me say ‘what the heck’ and pull out another pregnancy test (I had taken about 4 prior to this). I sat there, calling myself stupid for even trying and already prepared for that blank space I had seen before – when lo and behold, there was a line! What?! My face went flush and I couldn’t believe it…

…My elation only lasted about 2 minutes. In the back of my head, I remembered something about a corpus luteum cyst being able to cause a false positive. Could this be real?! I called the ER feeling foolish but hoping to get some insight into my tests that were run just 24 hours before. The nurse on call immediately said “no, you can’t ever get a false positive” and then said “wait –“ and yelled to someone in the background. After the doctor confirmed that it indeed COULD happen (read your pregnancy test instructions – people –it’s possible) he was just as flabbergasted and confused as I was. I hung up with no answers.

Mark came home and I shyly told him about how some cysts can cause false positive results….and…I had gotten two positive results that night. His face looked like I had told him he just won $1.000,000. I don’t think he heard my explanation, but I’m glad that he was so excited because it allowed me to accept it a little more each morning when I had a darker line and a positive result, one after the other.

Christmas was hard. I had the PERFECT way to tell my family. I had bought my sister a planner months in advance, not knowing about a pregnancy, and was going to write the due date in it and have her flip through it. Christmas was only two days after that first result, though, and I wasn’t confident yet. My doctor was closed for the rest of the week but had scheduled me for blood work on the 26^th, which I wouldn’t see the results until Monday the 29^th. I just knew, though, if I told my family, the results would come out negative. So I waited…

We saw them twice after that, and after 7 positive results, a darkening line, and a missed period (sorry, y’all), I decided it was real enough and I wanted to tell someone. I wrapped a sweet onesie up with our due date on it and gave it to my mom for her birthday, after she had unwrapped the other presents. I was a nervous WRECK – I don’t know why! I knew it would be much anticipated news! Long story short, my mom was excited and said she was expecting it (who knows why!), my sister was totally shocked (mission accomplished) and my dad and Chris were equally surprised, I think. From then on, we got the positive results from my first HCG, shared the news with Mark’s family (who were equal parts excited) and got great numbers back on my second round of HCG tests, a week after the first confirmation.

Phew! As I type this, I’m 5 weeks and 1 day along. That means I was only 3 weeks and 2 days along when I found out, which is super early! I was so anxious to know but I also think time would move more quickly if I hadn’t found out until 6 weeks or so. Oh well! Mark and I are overjoyed and can’t wait to see where this year takes us. We are praying for a healthy 9 months and delivery and an even healthier and happier lifetime with this little one.
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I'm 12 weeks now and luckily things have been much less eventful for the past 7 weeks! We have seen a healthy baby and a healthy heartbeat and we are just nurturing this baby right now. Thanks for all of your kind words!!!

my valentine

We let the cat out of the bag on our 'big news' this weekend:

Our valentine this year happens to be the sweet bean growing inside of me! Mark and I are happily expecting our first child, due September 2nd!!!

We shared our news with the public this weekend after we shared this fun announcement with our extended family back in January:

We are over the moon excited and have LOTS of good stories to share about what it took to get here. It's been a wild ride with this little one already!

A lot of other bloggers are expecting right now and I'm so excited to share this special time with such a wonderful and encouraging group of women. Plus, Mark and I are, of course, over the moon about expanding our family.

Happy Monday!

a twist on good, better, & best

I wanted to do a fun post today with a 'good, better, and best' on movies lately but unfortunately I could only think of three movies I've seen recently and they are as follows:

Bad, horrible, terrible, won't recommend to anyone

Mark begged me for MONTHS to watch Guardians of the Galaxy. He swore that it was SO GOOD and that so many people had told him that. I'm not really a sci-fi kind of person but I can get into the early Star Wars so I was willing to give this movie a chance. It. was. horrible. Really, it was SO BAD. No offense to any fans out there, but I can't really see any redeeming qualities in it. Granted, I didn't make it all the way through, I had to get up and walk away. Just...no.

Good

Steering clear of any political bias here, I really did like American Sniper. It was a semi feel-good movie that brought out the patriot in me and hey, I always like anything with Bradley Cooper in it (even if he's 40lbs heavier). It wasn't until the end of the movie that I realized WHO it was actually about. I remember the caravan through Dallas and Arlington during Chris Kyle's funeral. It was a sad day. You should see this movie!

Better

I was really surprised with this movie. Like I said, sci-fi isn't my thing, but if it's done well, I can get into it. This was a LONG movie but it was really good! I don't even like Matthew McConaughey very much and I loved the movie. I think that says a lot about it! The one thing I didn't like was Anne Hathaway. I think she was totally the wrong actress for this film. She is much too "broadway" and I just couldn't believe in her character. Anyway, if you're on the fence, I say give it a try! This was one of the better movies I've seen in a long time.

I'm sure you can tell that I don't watch that many movies and I'm pretty behind the times, but I wanted to share my thoughts! What movies are you loving these days?

girls weekend

My fave ladies came in town this weekend to spend some quality time together. They got in earlier than usual on Friday night so we indulged in Urban Crust, then treated ourselves to manicures and pedicures on Saturday along with some Velvet Taco, shopping, and a birthday night away at the Le Meridien hotel. Sunday brunch was spent on the patio at Breadwinners and it was awesome!!! We always have lots of laughs and eat lots of food when they are in town. I didn't take a bunch of pictures but I did take a few, so I'll let them fill in the gaps of my story. Happy Monday!

                    

 

ways we save

Hey y'all! I've been really open in the past with our money routine and the ways we budget and pay down debt. I used to be horrible at handling money, even just 2 years ago right when we were getting married. I pretty much had no savings and carried a balance on a high-interest credit card when we got married. My ultra-frugal husband, along with some sense that comes with growing up, has turned me into a money-conscious freak! I'm not an extreme couponer, but I've learned so much in just the last two years about managing our money better. I'm excited to keep learning and stacking my savings in the years to come, because I really believe it can get better!

For some odd reason, I really like writing about this topic and I really like sharing it with you guys. I feel like it's our little secret and we can all take over the world with our savings. I started a new post with a ton of different tips and ways that we save money, but I've decided to break it down into a few parts to make it easier for y'all to get through.

So today I'm talking about my other lover - Target! (my condolences to all of my Canadian readers) Read below for ways we save at the best store in America:

(and here are some posts in the past I've done about Target)

Target Tuesday - tips and tricks

Trickery and Target

Target Tuesday

It's back!

Target Tuesday - Christmas edition

Target Tuesday

if I shopped on black Friday

Christmas cheer

the Target REDcard

I finally FINALLY signed up for the Target REDcard about a year ago. It's embarrassing how much I go to Target and the extra 5% cash back has made up the difference between a 'to buy or not to buy' dilemma a time or two. ;) Here's a secret: sign up for the DEBIT card to avoid getting yourself into even more trouble. It's linked to our bank account and automatically debits a day or two after we make a purchase. Also, once you sign up, go online and sign up to have a portion of your purchases go to help a school in your area! I'm signed up for the elementary school down the street from our house. It's so cool that you can personalize it!

Along with offering 5% cash back, you get free standard shipping and an extended return period with your red card. I must have saved HUNDREDS of dollars with the red card! It's free to sign up and you can do it online here! Go sign up!!!

Target Cartwheel

This one is a no-brainer. It's an app for your phone that offers coupons. Things range from 5-50% off and there is a built-in bar code scanner that you can just use in the checkout line (like me) if you forget to look before hand. It will tell you if there is a coupon for your item! Check out this pouf I got for a steal with my redcard/cartwheel combo.

Target Promotions

A new thing I've noticed in the stores is that Target will put up signs for promotions where you have to text a number to get the coupon. I've done it twice, once on clothing and once on bedding and bath - and ended up saving $50! That promotion was 10% off a $50 purchase or 25% off a $100 purchase. We needed lots of new bedding and bath things, plus there were multiple offers on cartwheel, PLUS I always save 5% with my redcard. OH YEAH, our town just banned plastic bags so we have to bring re-usable bags. Guess what? Target gives you a $.05 discount for every bag you bring in, no matter where you live!

Seriously, you guys, it's too easy to save at Target!!!

If you have other tips on Target or any other ways you save elsewhere, please share with me! I'd love to see what else is out there and pass them on in my next segment of 'ways we save'. I'll be talking about where we get groceries, Amazon, shopping for clothes, and getting points and cash back on our purchases. Y'all come back!

(I promise I'm in no way sponsored by Target! I just love it!)

What had happened was...

I've been really bad about taking pictures recently and thus, really bad at blogging; and for that, I apologize! I'm trying though, I really am.

I don't have much to update you on other than work for Mark and me both is crazy, and we just want to come home during the week and veg out on the couch. We live it up on the weekends with the occasional 8pm trip to Target where the adventure gets even more exciting when we realize at the checkout that we've forgotten our reusable bags. I'm not kidding y'all, I can't make this stuff up. It's riveting. 

Anyway, I'm still doing SOME things, so here's a quick little recap of those things from last week:

We made the trek to Fort Worth on a Tuesday night (see, I told you? We're wild.) to catch the FWSSR, or the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. Fort Worth is where the REAL cowboys are. I grew up going to this rodeo and stock show and it has always been fun...but this year I found myself hiding behind my hands most of the time. Last year we witnessed a fatal accident for one of the calves and this year the same thing happened in the same event...I'm not a big animal activist and I love my meat like most Texans, but watching it happen for sport is pretty jarring. I think we will probably skip the rodeo next year.

Depressing news aside, it was still a fun time and we always like getting to see family in the middle of the week. Mark was in a chipper mood and he posed for this cutout board at the Cowgirl Museum, which I love. It's SO not Mark, but I love that he was a good sport. :)

Another high point of my weekend was enjoying the spoils of our wild night at Target on Sunday. I usually skip the dollar section but I went out on a limb and checked it out during our trip and snagged this AWESOME "be mine" banner. I love it. Like, it might just stay up in my house all year. Like most of pinterest, I've fallen in love with banners and my new goal is to collect one for every season and holiday. LOVE IT!!! (also, my new Netflix binge is Parenthood. I watched it when it was live and then stopped around the 4th season so now I'm picking it back up and hoping the last season is released soon so I can catch it on Netflix without interrupting my momentum!)

We watched the "big game" with my family and my sister's in-laws in Arlington and I came across this meme during the game and L-O-Led. I'm not a big NFL fan but I follow the 'haps' and this just gave me the giggles. 

So that's what's going on in our lives right now! Glad I could catch everyone up! 

NYE Cabin Trip

Since we aren't your typical New Year's Eve 'people', we put together a little group cabin trip just up the road in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. It's about 3 hours from Dallas and wasn't a bad drive at all. Our friends Jevon and Kim and Patryk and Ryan joined in on the fun. 

We left on Tuesday night and spent New Year's Eve (day) hiking, lounging, reading, playing games, and enjoying some pizza at one of the few restaurants in this small town. 

We rented a cabin in a neighborhood called Southern Hills north of Broken Bow. It was a 2 bedroom cabin with a TON of outdoor activities like darts, Foosball, horseshoes, a fire pit, and lots of room for lounging. We really wanted the woodsy feeling and this one was just that. It was so cozy!

It was still decorated for Christmas, which made it THAT much better. 

Motley tagged along for the trip and did lots of pacing...she was a good girl for about 60% of the time. She needs practice!

As I said, we went out for pizza on New Year's Eve so pictures were needed!

Patryk is not cooperative for pictures...at all.

It was delish!

We had a great time and I'm thinking we need to make this a new tradition!