Wonderful News!!

Paul talked to human resources today and found out that our insurance will start the second week of November. They also said that pregnancy is not a pre-existing condition so we could have been pregnant before coverage started and the baby would have been covered. It sucks to hear we could have been trying in May, but its good that we waited until we knew for sure rather than have to pay out of pocket for a baby.   Oh well.  But at least we know that we can start trying and I'm SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!  hopefully by the end of the year we will  be pregnant!! :)  

FED UP!

The day after we bought our Sentra, I called the dealership to cancel the warranty that was $2000 and clearly a waste of money. (we were tired by then and were not thinking clearly) The guy told me he would take care of it.  Now, a month later I'm trying to get our financing moved over to the credit union and I called the dealership to make sure the warranty was cancelled.  WELL..... it sure wasn't. AND the man who did our financing no loner works there, so I have to explain everything to this new guy.  And what does he do? he tried to convince me to reconsider.  For like 10 minutes!  he offered to up the coverage to 4 years.  I called Paul and he said to just cancel it.  After trying to call him back 4 times, I spoke with someone else in financing and he offered to take a message, after I told him that I call all the time (for a different stupid problem) and no one returns my calls and I will try back, I ended up hanging up on him, almost in tears. I feel bad now because I had never even talked to that man.   oops.  I  gave up for the day, completely frustrated.  Paul told me he would take care of it on Saturday.  So today I ended up calling them back today and I spoke with Brad again, the one who tried to talk me out of cancelling, and this time I gave him a piece of my mind.  I told him I needed to cancel it and get a full refund (since I oriinally called the day after I purchased the car) and after him trying to up the coverage again to 60 months, he finally told me that I needed to come in and fill out a form.  ARE YOU KIDDING!?!?!!  And yes I really said that.  I live 4 hours from you.  (I would  have went in a long time ago if I lived closer) and his response was I will TRY to get someone to mail it on Monday.  I said, you will TRY?!?!  NO, the last time someone said they would mail something on Monday was a month ao and it STILL isn't here.  So I plan to head to Queen Creek for haydens birthday in 2 weeks.  If I don't have that stupid form by then, they will be very, VERY sorry.  


Different stupid problem... when we got the car the salesman told us he owed us floor mats, a key FOB battery, another key, and a check for gas. he said he would mail it Monday.  It has been over a month and it still isn't here. I called about 2 weeks ago and he said it mailed 2 days prior. well, where the bleep is it?!?!  It doesn't take 2 weeks to mail something  200 miles.  So you can see why I'm a little upset.  All of this on top of me calling and leaving multiple messages with several people over the entire month.   I'm so completely frustrated. And in my gut I just know that its going to take me walking in there to get anything done.  Maybe Monday Ill be taking a road trip.

Moral of the story.  NEVER buy a car from out of town. NEVER.

Labor Day

We were finally able to make it up to Columbine.  Last year Paul had just started his new job as a nurse and couldn't ask for days off.  In July Paul was sick so we didn't go up that weekend.  It was such a nice break from the heat!  So many people went up this year and it made it fun to have so many kids for Hayden to play with.  

Some of the men made a swing for the kids to play on.  It started as a hammock and rope but later turned into a board and rope.  The kids had a blast on it!

...And so did Paul.  :)

All the kids constantly had a dirty face. Either from wiping noses or crying and wiping their tears with their dirty hands.  

There were 5 or so kids that were all 3, 4 of which were blonde boys.  

We went on a little drive down the road to the raspberry patches.  Some of us climbed the hills and picked a bunch of them.  I played it safe and stayed on the road.

Here's Paul up on the hill, his cup was full by the time he came down.

I mean, JUMPED down.  

 Hayden had a car and decided that driving it in the back of the truck was more fun that the raspberries. 

We ended up only staying Saturday night, because Paul had allergies or a cold and didn't sleep well. But it was well worth the trip up. We had a blast!!  Can't wait for Fall to finally arrive!

Puddle of fun

Dear Emily, My mommy wanted to experiment with shooting in RAW so I said, "OK mom, I have a great idea...."

HI MOM!!

"... You can play around with your camera, and I will play in this water, deal?"

"Mom, can I sit in it?!!  Can I????!!!"

"Watch THIS!!!"

PLOP!

"... And then I got to take a bath."

"Miss you Aunt EM"

Love,

Hayden

A "quick" little update

 I'm sure this won't be very quick. HA!

Paul started working in Willcox at their nursing home in July.  He likes it so far.  He's hoping to be able to move over to the ER eventually. He was taking the civic (oh yeah, we bought Katie and Brendan's '06 Civic last September, and we LOVE it!!) to work, and I was driving the truck around. No big deal, except, this is Arizona, and it is summer, and the truck doesn't have A/C.  BOO.  So after a while of this we decided that we should look into getting a commuter car.  We looked at an '89 Honda CRX for $1000 but decided we wanted something that will last longer than a few years.  So we looked at local dealerships and found a Sentra that we liked, but we didn't like the price and they wouldn't come down to a price we did like. I looked online after the first time we test drove the Sentra that was here in town but didn't find anything similar.  So Paul went back the next week and tried to talk the price down again. No luck, so we walked away.  I got online again and the first car that popped up was an '09 Nissan Sentra in Avondale.   So we jumped in the car and headed down. We got there at 5 and drove it a few times. The price started at 13,900, marked down to 12,900 and had an internet price of 11,900.  So the price was $3,000 less than the Sentra we looked at here.  We bought it that night.

The out the door price on this Sentra ended up being the sticker price of the local one. HA!  We win.

 Don't mind the towel, out floor mats haven't come yet.   Paul loves it! It has cruise control so he can just enjoy his music and the drive.  And it has hands free bluetooth so he can call me on his way home.

In other news.... Hayden is potty trained! :)  After about a year of trying to get him interested, he practically potty trained himself.    

Beth gave us some pull ups after Quinton was potty trained.  It was Maelee's birthday and they were doing a water party and I didn't have any swim diapers left so I stuck him in a pull up. After a few minutes he said he needed to go potty.  So I took him and he went!  So he got a sticker and a little dollar store toy and lots of high fives.  Well after a few days he was doing so good that all his dollar store toys were gone his sticker chart was getting full.  At first he was asking for a diaper when he needed to poop but I kept reminding him that he would get a sticker and treat if he went and he would. After about 2 weeks of using his little frog potty he was refusing to pee anywhere but home because he was scared of the big potty. I told him he should go potty standing up like daddy does and it isn't scary if he were to stand and if he did he would get a quarter in his jar and he could buy a big cool toy with his potty money.   So while we were doing the dishes one day he said he needed to go potty and I said how about standing up and get quarters so he did.  And he's been doing awesome!!  He only had one accident (from holding it too long because he was scared of the big potty at the friends house)    So thank you Beth for the Pull ups! 

In January we repainted the living room and kitchen.   And got new furniture. Pictures to come!  

We put baby number 2 (well 3 I guess) on hold for now. We currently don't have insurance because of Paul's job changing. He's on a 3 month probation period before he gets insurance and who knows how long their policy will make us wait before they will cover a baby. So I'm thinking we won't be able to try until April or something.

That's all for now... I guess I'll clean my house to get more pictures! :)

I hope they call me on a Mission!

My little brother got his call last night! He's going to Salt Lake City South, Spanish speaking. He reports to the MTC on April 25th!! We are soooo excited for him!!

Congratulations Darren, You'll be a GREAT missionary!

Georgia

{WARNING: A lot of this post is about the miscarriage}

Learning that I was going to miscarry the week before my sister's wedding made me wonder if I should even try to make the trip. I really wanted to go and she had asked me to take her wedding pictures, so I just prayed everything would work out okay and I went anyway. I started bleeding lightly on Wednesday and I didn't worry too much about it. Thursday I flew to Atlanta with my sister, Adrienne, and her 4 kids and my dad. Hayden did SO good on the plane! Friday we went to the church to help set up for the reception. Not much happened, light cramps and light bleeding. Saturday I prayed and prayed that I could make it through the day and be okay.

We headed to the temple at 10 and got there at 11 so my mom could help Jessica. The rest of us waited the the annex behind the temple until 11:30. My brother and his friend watched all our kids while we went in for the sealing. After the sealing we grabbed everyone and the camera and tripod and when Jessica and Justin came out we did pictures. Then I did the bride and groom pictures. After that we went to PF Changs for lunch. We headed back to the church and finished last minute things and put out food, etc. The reception was so pretty and a lot of fun! My best friend from my senior year in Alabama was able to come too so that made it even more fun! She helped me a lot with Hayden and I'm so grateful! Everything went super well the entire day. Even the rain waited until we the reception started before coming :) It was such a perfect day! I'm so happy for my sister!! She looked beautiful and she found herself a good man! (sorry there aren't any pictures, I want to edit first)

After the reception was over we did clean up and that's when everything started going downhill. I felt stronger cramps and had to sit down a few times. Right before we left the church to head home I put one of Hayden's diapers in my underwear. (its about a 45 minute drive from the church to my mom's house.) The drive home was awful! I had cramps that were more like contractions when you're dilated to 5 cm (and maybe I was). I was leaned on the seat in front of me breathing through them. When we got home I got up and felt a huge gush come out so I raced to the bathroom. I jumped in the shower and stayed there until the hot water ran out. Then I turned it off and just sat on the tub floor for probably an hour and a half. After a while I decided the bleeding had calmed down enough to get out. I grabbed another diaper and went to bed.

I was able to get a good nights sleep and woke up feeling a lot better. I jumped back in the shower. After I was dressed I went downstairs. I felt a sharp pain in my side, but it felt more like bowel pains than uterus pains. After about 10 minutes it was getting worse. I went and sat down and I couldn't do anything but sit there bundled up in pain. The pain got so bad that I was in tears! I imagine it was equal to being 10 cm dilated (not that I've felt that before). I'm so glad I was staying with my mom. My step dad is a doctor so he came to my rescue. He had this thing called a TENS unit. Its got 4 sticky pads that you put in certain spots on your body and it sends little electrical pulses through you. So my step dad put them around my uterus area and I turned it on to where I was comfortable. He also got me a heat pad. The combination of the two of them took my pain completely away. After a few hours I turned the TENS unit off to see if my contractions were less painful. They started coming back so I turned it back on before they got worse. I used that with the heat until the evening. I turned the TENS unit off around 5 or 6 and just used the heat on medium and felt a lot better. I had my brother and my brother in law give me a blessing, which I think helped the most! I got my things packed that night and woke up with mild cramping Monday morning. My mom took me to my dad and sister's hotel at 7 am and we loaded up and headed to the airport. Adrienne's kids all ended up getting that nasty stomach bug that we all got a few weeks ago, so sadly she wasn't able to go to any of the wedding stuff on Saturday. Luckily she got some nausea pills because 2 of her girls woke up feeling nasty Monday morning. After the pills, the were fine and did great on the flight home. Hayden did great again too and even slept the last 2 hours of the flight and didn't wake up until we touched down and applied the brakes! I was glad because you run out of things to do in such a small space on an airplane. After we got off I went and found Paul and we met his parents for lunch at In N out. I was glad to see them. It is sooooo good to be home and to see Paul again. It was a fun weekend but we missed him SO much!

I think everything worked out perfectly considering the circumstances. The fact that Paul didn't come so I was with my mom and step dad when everything happened. The fact that everything happened AFTER the reception and AFTER I was done taking pictures. The fact that I wasn't on a plane when it did happen. I do wish that Paul had been with me, but since he wasn't able to be there, I'm glad I was with people who could take care of me, and take care of Hayden when I needed that help. I'm so grateful I had priesthood holders near me to give me a blessing when I was in need. I know the Lord was watching over me this weekend.

Now to get rid of this headache I've had ALL weekend that I just can't shake.

Blighted Ovum

Blighted ovum (or anembryonic gestation) is a common cause of miscarriage. It happens when a fertilized egg implants in the uterus but the resulting embryo either stops developing very early or doesn't form at all.

This is what a 10 week sonogram should look like:

Source

This is what my 10 week sonogram looked like:

Source

In January I had spotting with sharp cramping. After calling the doctor they said not to worry unless heavy bleeding occurs. Nothing else happened until Friday. I went in for my 10 week pregnancy check up and pap smear. Dr. Jones brought in a cheap sonogram machine to take a peek at the baby. I got my phone out all excited so I could take a picture and send it to Paul. After a few minutes looking around she called in Dr. Gurrero who is better at looking at sonograms. Neither of them could find the embryo. After the pelvic exam she ordered an official sonogram and blood test to check my hCG levels. After a quick call over to building B they sent me over right away. My bladder had to be full so I drank a ton of water and had to sit for an hour while it made its way to the bladder. I had to pee when I walked in the place... so you can imagine how bad I had to go while they did the sonogram! While I waited I had my blood drawn. After an hour I decided to tell the ladies I couldn't hold it anymore and they called me back. They did one sonogram on my abdomen and one with a probe inserted in the vagina (after I emptied my bladder thankfully). At 7 pm Dr. Jones called me and said that my hCG levels were pretty high (meaning there's a chance I could just be earlier in the pregnancy that we thought) but the sonograms showed an empty sack.

Tuesday I went in for more blood work (my arm is sore and bruised!) and this morning I called to get the results. My hCG levels were at 33 thousand when they originally took my blood. This test showed them at 18 thousand, confirming my worst fears. Miscarriage.

We have to wait a few months until we can start trying again. But try we will! :)

Guess what!?!?!

Even though I'm pretty sure that everyone that reads this already knows, but...

baby number 2 is on the way!

My due date is September 9th. We are really excited!!!