OPK and Ted

Ted is at his new home tonight. The Kemper family who owns the farm where Jared and I used to live bought him from us and I am really happy that he is at their home. He fit right back in to the herd of horses and is going to be very happy there. We dropped him off this afternoon and I snapped 1 shot of him as we were leaving in the truck. He is eating hay with Will and Bubba.

I took an OPK last night and it was a little lighter than the one from the night before:

But then I just took another one tonight and it is back to being almost positive. This is the darkest yet this cycle.

I am probably a day or 2 away from seeing a definate + though and if that's the case, we are looking at a day 24/25 O. We'll see anyways. I like that I am temping this cycle so I will know for sure.

Well, I think that is all for now. Oh, I don't know if I mentioned this but, our house is for sale. We stuck a sign out front earlier this week. We are also putting our duplexes for sale and of course our land is still for sale. We are getting ready to buy a 1-800-Got-Junk franchise.

OPK

I went ahead and bought 5 OPKs tonight. I saw my first hint of EWCM today so, I think I may be getting closer to O time. Thankfully, I think I am Oing right on time this month. Last month was a pain Oing so late.


Here is tonight's OPK. It's getting there. I imagine in another day or 2, it will be +!

I haven't heard anything from my Dr yet so, I went ahead and called them this afternoon. The lady I talked to wasn't a big help but she said that they would call me as soon as the results are in and as soon as the Dr. has time.

Anyways, that's about all of my news today. I have been shopping the past couple days with my Christmas money and have bought a few new tops and a pair of brown church shoes. I love to buy new stuff :)

Christmas

Whewwww.. I have been busy the past couple days.

Christmas Eve (Sunday)- Went to church. Played the piano for Sallie's solo and Jared and I sang "As With Gladness Men of Old". Got lunch at Burger King, came home and made cookies. We left a little before 5 for Jenny and Chris's home to have a lasagna dinner which was very yummy. After dinner, we went over to Gary and Judy's to watch a movie with them and Grandma Zelma. My parents came over as well and we started watching "It's a Wonderful Life". Jenny called and said that Michelle had stubbed her toe really bad and that she wanted administered to so, they came over to Gary and Judy's house. Michelle was administered to and then my mom wanted adminstered to then Zelma. Once our little service was over, we finished the movie and Jared and I went home. We got home around 11:00 pm and started cooking the potatoes and got the turkey ready for the next day.

Christmas (Monday)- we woke up at 6:30, got showers then opened presents. We drove 2 cars to Independence because Jared would have to come home and put the turkey in the oven. We stopped at Gary and Judy's first and opened gifts with them and then were on our way over to Brian and Lisa's for breakfast at 9. Brian and Lisa made delicious french toast. Jared left at 9:40 to come home and I left about a quarter after 10.

We got the house and food ready and the family arrived at 1:00'ish. We ate at 2:00 and had a great time.

One of the gifts that Jared gave me was Photoshop. I love it and have been having fun playing with it and figuring out how to use it. Here is a sample of one of my first projects:

That is a quick run-down of our weekend. I now have this whole week off of work and am so glad to have a little time to spend with Jared and the pugs before our regular routine begins again. Tomorrow is when we take in the sperm sample. I think we will be putting a for sale sign out front at some point this week. More later.

Our Christmas card

Here is the photo we used for our Christmas card:
Here is another attempt:

Here is our house decorated with the lights:

Our next step

We have our next step arranged and that is for Jared's semen analysis. We will take that in on Wednesday December, 27th and have the results a day or 2 later.
I am really interested to see what type of results we have.

The next step is for myself to have my progesterone checked. I need to have that done 7 days after I ovulate. I am glad that I am temping this cycle so that I can know the precise day. Hopefully 7 DPO won't fall on a weekend when the lab is closed.
The lab is just walk-in on a first come, first serve basis so, I will go after work.

Christmas is just around the corner and I have been busy preparing for that. We are having Christmas dinner at our house, so I have groceries to buy, house to clean and food to bake. I am also organizing the music for the Christmas service at church and although it is pretty much done, I need to learn a song on the piano that I am playing for Sallie to sing to. It's not an extremely difficult song but, I haven't had much time to prepare and that just adds to the whole stress of Christmas.

I do have new pictures to post, including the one on our Christmas Card but, I'll do that when I am on our home computer.

That's all for now!

The Appointment

Our appt. went pretty well yesterday.
We went over things that Jared and/or I pretty much already knew but, we do now have a game plan in place.
The Dr. described to us, the way conception occurs and what all needs to work in order for that to happen. It did help me realize how conceving a baby can be very tricky and how it sometimes does not happen very easily.
I discussed some of my concerns that I have with my late ovulation and short luteal phase and even my longer periods but, none of that seemed to concern him. He did mention that an 11 day luteal phase was a bit on the short side but, that probably was not "the reason" that we were not conceiving.
Our game plan will be to first have a semen analysis. Hopefully we can get that scheduled for next week when we are both off of work. The lab that we need to take the sample to is all the way over in Kansas. We will get the results from that within a day or two after they analyze it.
The second step would be to have a progesterone check about 7 days after I ovulate or 7 days before my period starts (based on a 14 day luteal phase). That will basically confirm if I have ovulated. This test will also be done this cycle.
After these 2 tests, if my period comes again, I will have a procedure known as an HSG performed. This is where they place dye into my uterus and the dye flows up into my tubes. While the dye is being placed, they perform an ultrasound to see where the dye goes. This will tell us if one or both of my tubes are blocked or if I have any cysts on my uterus or ovaries or if I have an oddly shaped uterus, along with many other things.
The Dr. also told us that if we do have this procedure done, I am usually pretty fertile for a few months following it. The reasoning the Dr. gave us was this:
He said the best way he can desrcibe it is if you compare it to a shirt that you have just ironed with starch and how after your done ironing it, the sleeves will be kinda stuck together. Once you put an arm through it, it opens up. He said alot of times, the tube may be kinda like that sleeve and once the dye is put it there, it helps open them up.

So, that is our plan for now. Hopefully all of our tests come out great and we get pregnant very soon. It just helps to know that I am being proactive about it and if something really is wrong, we can catch it now instead of a few months from now.

Monday

Well, Ted is still here. The deal with the family in Kansas fell through. I am a little dissapointed. I was really looking forward to Ted having a wonderful home with them but, it will all work out. I love having Ted but, it can really be a burden when we don't have a place of our own.

Our fertility appointment is today. I am looking forward to that and seeing what the Dr. has to say.

Christmas is sure coming quickly. 1 week from today, exactly. We are having dinner at our house and I am really looking forward to that.

I had a good weekend. Jenny and I cleaned Gary and Judy's house on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon, Jared and I went with my dad to stick a for sale sign on our 5 acres in Buckner then we came back to Independence and hung out with dad for a little bit, then we went home.

Sunday was church and I played the piano. Then we came home and I did a little Christmas shopping, drove back up to Independence to hang out with my sister, then we had Jenny and Chris and Peter over to see the Chief's game. Brian, Lisa, Mom, Dad, Ashley and Andrew stopped by for a little bit. They had just gone to see the Christmas lights at Longview Farm.

That pretty much sums up our weekend. I will post after our appt. today.

Bye Bye Ted

Ted is going to a new home on Saturday :(
I will miss him very much but, this will be a good thing for him. It is hard keeping a horse when you don't have a place of your own. Not necessarily just the cost of it; although, that can be a strain at times. I also haven't ridden for almost 2 months. It just is not fair to Ted.
He is going to a home that has 4 children. They have 80 acres with a run in shed for the horses. The parents of the children are both Dr's and have had horses most of their lives.
I am happy that he is going to a really good home. The family that we bought him from 5 years ago are really good friends with this family so, it will work out wonderfully.
Ted has been the best horse that I have ever had.
LOVE YOU TED!

UPDATE

AF is here. CD 1 for me.
Onto cycle 9 of trying again.

Nope

Must have been a bad, bad evap line yesterday.
I tested negative this morning. There's a line but, there's always a stupid line on these tests. The line today does not look positive like yesterday's did.
It appears as if I was fooled again.

Looks like we will be attending the fertility appointment Dec. 18th. Hopefully we can get some help and get us a baby.

Here are pics of today's test.. just for fun.

LINES

Jared and I and a bunch of girls on the internet are seeing lines.
Is it real?? I dunno. Will know better tomorrow. But, the good news is that I have no pink in my CM so, that is a good sign.
Now for pics. It looks really good in person but, you may be able to see it on these pics as well:

Snow Dogs

On Monday afternoon, Gary came over to see the dogs and I was able to get some cute pics of them outside in the snow (mainly of Obi):




This weekend can' t come fast enough. It's almost TESTING time!!!

This weekend

I am off work today so, we have had a nice 3 day weekend. Friday night we went to see the Christmas Carol and we also went to dinner at the Capital Grille beforehand. It was delicious but, quite spendy.

Saturday we got our tree then spent some time with my mom and dad.

Sunday morning we started decorating the tree. It spend the night in the garage so it could defrost and the snow could melt off of it.

We also went to church and I had to play the piano.

Here is the beginnings of the tree:Here it is Decorated:
Here is my new ornament:
Here is our bannister decorated for Christmas:

And here is me and the Pugs watching the Chief's game:

So, that is our weekend in a nutshell. Hopefully next weekend will be a little more exciting with a BFP!!! We'll see!