Thursday, December 31, 2009

My Christmas Surprise

This year I guess my husband wanted to get me something extra special for Christmas. Back in November he asked me which weekend we had free in December and I told him the weekend of the 5th, so he told me to keep it free and that I would have to deal with getting my present early this year (fine by me!) So I figured that we were probably going somewhere or going to some sort of show or something. He told me he would let me know what was going on the night before so I could be prepared if I needed to be. Well on that Friday night when he got home from work at 1 am, he woke me up and gave me a card. First of all, it was seriously a REALLY pretty card. On the inside he had wrote "I didn't get you perfume, but I still wanted to get you Romance. Love, Chris" (One of the things I wanted this year was some RL Romance perfume.) Anyhoo, and then folded up was a printed off online reservation to stay at the Amway Grand downtown. I was like YESS!!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to stay there, and seriously, how freakin sweet is that?! And not only that, but he booked us the "romance plus package." We got to check in early and check out late, access to the pool/hot tub/exercise center, a $50 voucher to any restaurant in the hotel, which there are a ton to pick from, and they brought champagne and truffles to our room that night. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked. And he already had it all worked out for our dogs to be taken care of (we only live like 3 miles from downtown.)

It was a romantic snowy afternoon! This was one of the views from our room!


After we checked in, we walked over to Hop Cat and grabbed a quick bite to eat for lunch. They have really great food there and some awesome beers *they were rated 3rd best beer bar in the world!!*


Me by one of the really pretty trees at the Amway.


After that we changed, went back out, and went ice skating in the rink that is seriously like 100 ft. from the hotel. I wanted to bring the camera and take pictures, but it was my first time ice skating ever! I was nervous one of us would fall and the camera would break or something. It was SO fun though. I was nervous I would fall, but I didn't, and Chris actually ended up falling a couple times.

We were cold after that so we went back and used the pool and hot tub, and then got ready for dinner. We ended up choosing to eat at The Grill at the 1913 Room. The food was amazing, the chef there is really talented.


And then last but not least, our dessert. It was a really unique presentation.



After dinner we chilled in the room for the rest of the evening. It was fun watching the Food Network and just hanging out, sleeping in the next day, and having breakfast in bed.

Oh, and he also gave me some diamond earrings.
How did I almost forget that?!?
It was a really great weekend. I am a lucky girl. <3

Christmas Card Pics

It was a trip trying to get the dogs to cooperate for these. Some of them are seriously hilarious.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love,
The Ostranders





Wednesday, December 30, 2009

New Years

I am sooooooo happy that we will have short day at work tomorrow (most likely). And sooo happy that I will be O'ing any day, and Chris and I have a nice little 3 day weekend together. Also trying the Sudafed thing this cycle. Who knows, it might work. Stranger things have happened, right?

Also, Christmas was amazing. We seriously have some incredible families! I am hoping to have some time tomorrow to upload our Christmas pics to facebook and then write a Holiday post. I simply cannot believe that it is almost 2010. This year flew by.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I know this is silly of me.

But deep down I was hoping for some sort of Christmas miracle.
I thought it would have been so cool to be able to tell Chris on Christmas morning that I was pregnant, but alas, no.
On to cycle #15.
I started this morning, and the cramps came on around 2:30, which thankfully my boss let us out at 3, bless his heart. So yeah, pretty much my whole night was shot up until now. I still have them but I am forcing myself to get up and get moving, I got presents to wrap and food to make for tomorrow! It is crazy how tired AF can make you though. The past couple nights I have been falling asleep on the couch around 8, then I'll wake up for an hour or so and go back to bed until at least 6:30 am. It feels nice but there is sooo much I should be getting done.
Also, I know I have been quiet on here, but let's face it, I don't have much to write about. Everything is still a waiting game at this point.
I hope everyone has a fabulous Christmas, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Even though I feel disappointed at times, we are so amazingly lucky and blessed. :)

Sunday, December 13, 2009

I have been putting this off.

And mostly because we did not really receive good news.
We were hoping Chris would just have an infection or a varicocele, so we could fix the problem and be on our merry way. But they did not find either one of those. What they did find was a epididymal cyst. But according to the urologist, she made it sound like that would not contribute to the fertility issues. She basically told Chris that some guys just have bad sperm, and that he is probably one of those guys and you pretty much just have to deal with it (not in those exact words of course.) She told him that there is still a chance of conceiving naturally because, although a very small amount, there are SOME good sperm. She said we should just keep trying. Some times it just takes people a couple of years, and that we should keep trying for another year. They scheduled appointments in January for him to have blood work done so they can test some other things and his hormones, along with an ultrasound. I love how everything takes a whole month to move on to the next step, it can be so annoying. But the fact of the matter is that this isn't something very serious so they aren't going to rush things, which is fine, that is life. She was also telling him that from comparing his 3 S/A's that she did not think his morphology was that bad, and that his motility was the worse of the two, which is opposite of what my OB told me, so I was trying to explain to Chris that I am taking my OB's stand on this because she is looking at it from a change of conception point of view. Then the urologist proceeded to tell him that we should look into both of us taking sudafed. She said that there was not any substantial evidence that it works, but that many couples have tried it and for some reason it worked for them. I honestly do not think that I need to take, since I am supposedly fine, but Chris going to give it a go this next cycle. I mean why not, what can it hurt I guess.
But from what I read online it basically just helps you get out more semen, which I guess wouldn't be bad if there were some more good ones in there. My friend also told me that they made her husband do this before as well, so I guess this is something they do in the urology world because my doctor was like oh.....ok?

Ok, pause...I am going to apologize for this being so long, but to really know what is going on I have to include all the details.

So here is what we have talked about and decided: Chris will get his testing done, we will keep trying naturally for a while, and then proceed to trying an IUI.

So I called my OB to tell her all of this info. She apologized that they did not find anything concrete and said that it sounds like they are doing the right amount of work up for him for the next steps.
I told her our plan and she said that if we want to try an IUI she would support us in that. She wasn't pessimistic but she was not exactly optimistic either. She basically said that for our situation she would not typically send people down that path to getting an IUI and she still thinks that we should meet with the RE to get their opinion.

Ok, really....here is my question then: If you would NOT suggest our next step to be an IUI, what would it be then?!!! IVF?! Ok, I am certainly well aware that we may have to go down that road, but seriously, we do not have ten grand for one, and two, we are not going there until we have exhausted our other options.

It makes more sense. Chris has probably at least 1 mil. good sperm in there. If we get an IUI she told me that the afternoon I get a positive OPK to call the office, the next morning Chris will give his sample, they will spin them out to get "the best and the brightest" and then put them past my cervix and into my uterus. Now I am well aware that people do this procedure all the time and that there is not a guarantee that it will work, but come on. If it is all of his good sperm, and I am fine....I just don't see how they wouldn't make it to the egg. I guess I am just really hopeful about this. And I do not get why my OB was not. Everyone else I have talked to agreed. Can I get anyone elses opinion here?? I guess our thinking is that we just are not yet ready to move on to all of this other more serious stuff until we have tried for a while longer and tried an IUI or two. If the IUI's do not work then we are definitely going to meet with the RE to see what he tells us.

It is interesting, the doctor we would be seeing is the doctor that my friend Jess from work goes to. I feel so awful for her...her husband had testicular cancer and just had a procedure done this past week where they had to cut out a chunk....ugh...poor guy! But the sperm is on ice, so that is good! They HAVE to do IVF, and they have to do the special IC SI method, which is even more labor intensive. He is going to Iraq soon and she will be implanted right before he is going to come home, I am so super excited for them. She keeps telling me how great the doctor is, so that is good at least.

Oh, and by the way....
One of my best friends, Kerri, whom I work with...she is pregnant.
Yup.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Tomorrow is the big day.

Chris has his appointment tomorrow. We are both anxious to find out what is up with him.
Hopefully the weather does not interfere with his appointment! (We are supposedly having a blizzard tonight.....) Lovely huh? :)
Can't wait for tomorrow!!!!!!!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

My First Award!

Thank you Nlvaden!
I know it is silly, but I was pretty excited about this! :)

To accept this award: Post it on your blog together with the name of the Person who granted and his or her link. Pass the Award to 5 other blogs that you newly discovered & remember to contact them and let them know.





So here are my 5 picks:



1. Mrs. G
2. Lilmisa
3. Kismet
4. Jenny
5. A Little Bit Delirious