OBGYNo she didn't!

Warning: obgyn talk ahead.
So yesterday was the medical day from hell for me. I mean, I know, it could be so, so much worse. I could be dead, or have cancer, or a sick child, or a laundry list of other problems. But the problems I do have are so frustrating to me I can't even hardly tell you. Ok, so what you don't know is that I'm on week 5 of constant, heavy bleeding. Back in June I had an endometrial ablation where they basically boiled my uterus out to stop literally months of heavy bleeding. Like can't leave the house without wearing a Poise pad and sitting on a towel no unstained sheets or undies left bleeding. And it worked. I didn't bleed. And then in November I bled a little but that was normal. Then again in December. Then it started in late January again and just hasn't stop. All along I've been told that my next option was a hysterectomy. Not fun. So I called my obgyn and made an appointment, but first I asked if I could just have a phone appointment instead of driving so far with all the bleeding. And it wasn't like she could examine me anyway, again with the bleeding. They said no that I had to come in because the hospital requires an exam, blood or not, within 30 days of surgery. So this meant I would surely be uterus free soon.
So I went. And the door was locked. So I went to the back of the same building I've been going to for over 8 years and that door was also locked. So I called and asked what door did I need to go through.

The lady said "Are you on Park Rd?"
Yes.
Oh, well, we closed that office.
Ok well where are you now?
We're at the corner of Blank Rd & Blanky Blank Rd.
I have no idea where that is.
(here she gives me directions)
Ok, well I'll be there in a minute. But why wouldn't y'all send out a notice that the office has moved?
Oh, well Blankety Blank hospital was supposed to send something out but I guess they didn't.
Ok, well I'll see you in a few minutes.
Oh, well by the time you get here you'll have missed your appointment.
But I wouldn't have if I'd been updated with the right location.
They didn't tell you when they called?
No. (yeah, they told me but just for kicks I went to the wrong place)
Well let me see about rescheduling you. pause..... How's tomorrow at 10:45.
-here's where I start to cry-
Ma'am I HAVE to be seen today. You have no idea about the bleeding and what a pain it is to just get out of the house and I've driven all the way from Blanktown (45 minutes) and I'll sit in the lobby all day til she can see me if necessary.
Sigh. Ok, hold on. ............ Ma'am? If you can be here at 1:45 she can see you.

So I got in and when I was called back to the exam room I hopped up on the table with my shaved legs and painted toenails and do you know she never examined me?? She told me she'd like to try an IUD before we get to the hysterectomy. I don't want a hysterectomy, but I want to be fixed. I'm tired of feeling light headed and bleeding all the time. I'd like to have sex again. I'm married and when I was a teenager I thought marriage meant 24/7 sex and you can't do that when your uterus is falling out! I'm tired of them telling me "well we don't like to remove the uterus when you desire children" when they are the ones who told me I can't get pregnant. Hell, SHE's the one who sterilized me with boiling water! So I started crying again while on the table. It's just so frustrating. I don't have time for this not to work. I will hopefully have a baby in less than a year and I can't be recovering from major surgery while trying to bring a child home from another country. And the IUD won't even be in until like 2 weeks from now. She says it should work by releasing progesterone into my uterus to prevent the build up of the uterine lining. Last year I took progesterone orally to make the bleeding stop and that didn't work, but she seems confident. Keep your fingers crossed. Cause if this doesn't work I may just rip my uterus out myself!

Visit recap

Well, Lisa is safely back in Baltimore. I'm so glad she came. We had a great time!
Thursday night I picked her up from the airport and we came home with dinner and sobbed through Grey's while Jon snickered.
Friday we got some breakfast, went grocery shopping for Saturday night's dinner ingredients, then took my little sister Morgan to the cardiologist (she's having heart palpitations and had to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours. We should have the results in a few days). Lisa was amazed at the grocery store where I shop. They have little hand held scanners that you scan your groceries with while you shop. Then all you have to do at the front of the store is pay. It saves so much time. She couldn't believe you could shop on the honor system. Anyway, after the doctor we went to a late lunch, dropped Morgan off at home, then raced home to freshen up. We had a Circle that night. It was a lot of fun and we collected a huge amount of donations for Summit House.
Saturday Lisa & I hung out at the house preparing for a dinner party that night. We made 2 ginormous lasagnes and I put together a little salad bar. My next door neighbors C & D & their kids came over, as well as Sara, my nephews, Papa, Gigi, Morgan & her bfriend Moe. Including the baby there were 15 of us. C made brownies and cake for dessert and we all had a good time over dinner.
Sunday Lisa & I went to lunch at a diner where they had a new twist on the "suicide" (where you mix a whole bunch of sodas in one glass)- they add dill pickles to it! I've heard of peanuts in Coke, but dill pickles?? Then we made a Target stop where we discovered a Jamba Juice!!! I was so excited! I've heard of Jamba on LJC's blog for years, but had no idea we had one in the next town over! Lisa & I each enjoyed a smoothie on the way home then settled in to watch the Oscars. It was so much more enjoyable to watch the Oscars with a dvr. We could fast forward right through acceptance speeches and awards of categories &/or people we weren't interested in. Cut that 3+ hour show down to just about 2.
Monday we chilled out and put off packing her up for as long as we could. Then we hit Bojangles again so she could take some biscuits home to Pete and I dropped her off at the airport. I missed her as soon as I got home.

Lime time

We finished painting our kitchen! We left a couple inches unpainted near the ceiling for future crown molding. Besides the crown, all we have left to do is add the knobs to the cabinets and hang curtains & art. The color is Limonata from Lowe's but the paint is Sherwin Williams. We're going to put a chair rail and beadboard in the breakfast area at some point. And one day we'd like to upgrade our floors, but one step at a time! Here are pictures!

House guest!

Lisa is here!! So excited! She's staying until Monday night. I picked her up from the airport, we went through a drive through then watched Grey's when we got home. We sobbed and cried while Jon laughed at us and acted like he was going to give away the ending. I'm so excited to have the guest room all set up for this visit. The last time she came we had just moved in and she had to sleep surrounded by boxes. Big busy day tomorrow so it's off to bed for us.

Picture pages

Why does my husband find it necessary to have 5 brushes in rotation at the sink, and another 3 in the shower? Granted, he's never had a cavity, but still. That's serious dental commitment.

For some reason when I mention that CSP & BIL are smoking cheese people think it's Southern code for smoking weed. It's cheddar people. And when I'm lucky, muenster (sp?).
I felt very housewifey the other night and made 4 little meat loaves .
The inside of CSP's new truck! So big! So spacious! Even car seats fit for impending babies! Here are my mom, Sara, Jacob & Joey showing you how roomy the back seat is.
2004 Chevy Silverado with just under 17k miles. Carmax was awesome. We'll definitely go there again.

I knitted my BIL Marc a hat to match his pullover. He's not crazy about the points, but since I only know how to knit squares and rectangles, he doesn't have much choice.Jake tried it on and looked quite dashing, points and all.
Joey and Kiki have some serious issues to discuss and ponder.

They looked so cute hanging out on the sofa, like they're bellying up to a bar or something. No idea why the rest of my post was in link form. Maybe if you click on the links you'll discover a worm hole in space and time. Let me know how that works out.

This kind of thing only happens to me

So I'm home. I should be in surgery by now. We drove 45 minutes to the hospital (the one by where we used to live) and as I was checking in the desk guy said "Oh, you're gonna hate me." Get this- my surgeon called in sick. I was like- can they do that? It's as if doctors can't get sick. Or at least they aren't supposed to. So, I'm rescheduled for March 12. The hospital gave us free breakfast so at least there's that. I was up til 2 this morning and back up at 5:30. I wanted to be tired so I wouldn't think about the fact that I couldn't drink after midnight. It worked. I'm tired. So now we're off for a nap. Jeesh.

Going under

Well it is a quarter to 7 and we're about to leave for the hospital. Just waiting for CSP to join me downstairs. I wasn't nervous until this morning. I'll have the boy post when we get home that I'm still alive!

Stick n slice

Today I went for blood work at the hospital. Monday I'm having carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand. I hope it won't be as bad as the right hand was. I'm thinking that since I know what to expect this time will be a breeze! Well, as breezy as surgery can get. My surgery is early in the day so I can come home and crash out for the rest of the day. This weekend will be a whirlwind of cooking and cleaning and painting to get ready for the week. Jon's taking off work Mon-Thursday to take care of me (and paint! I'm the trim girl, he's the roller man). I'm so excited too because Lisa is coming to visit on Thursday night! It will be so great to see her again. Sunday night will be my last night sleeping with an arm brace. Woohoo!

So romantico

CSP had to work early this morning, but he took the time to leave this for me in my medicine cabinet. He also got me some tulips. I love tulips and I carried them at our wedding. They are purple (like the ones my bridesmaids carried) but they photograph kind of pinky.
Jon's truck came in today so we spent our Valentine's evening at Carmax picking up his truck. We'll go out for a nice dinner on Saturday to celebrate what I hope will be our last Valentine's day before we're parents!

2.14

Upgrade

See this picture? See the face on Joey? The one that says "I can so take pictures better than you, you mere mortal, so give. me. that. camera!" I have taken far too many pictures like this because every time he sees my camera that's the pose he makes. As much as I love my nephew Joey, and I do love this boy- so much I have to grit my teeth to keep from eating him alive- I can't stand it when he grabs my camera. He loves to take pictures so that's why I got him & Jacob their own Fisher Price camera for Christmas. But I suppose the lure of the Canon is too much for a toddler and he goes after mine. And now I have no zoom. So, I would like to upgrade my camera before going to pick up my baby. Susan has recommended upgrading and she takes amazing photos so I'm inclined to take her advice. As she says "It's the best money we've ever spent. Well, except for our rotisserie oven." Naturally.
Anyone have any suggestions? Brands or cameras to stay away from? Good places to find great deals on 2 gig memory cards?

Sweet nothings

Friday night Jon was watching a Godsmack dvd and I noticed that the lead singer has a little star tattooed on his cheek.
Ooh, wouldn't that be cute? Like 3 little stars tattooed up by my eye?
Hmmm.
But tattooing your face really requires that you commit to a lifestyle that I'm just not cut out for. I guess I'm just not punk rock.
You're punk squishy.


My boy CSP & I went through the Jack in the Box drive through yesterday for some milkshakes. The JITB guy handed me a stack of napkins, 2 straws, AND a milkshake at once. I tried to grab it but the milkshake flew out of our hands and exploded on the ground. I stared at JITB guy all wide eyed while CSP just laughed and said "This is why you shouldn't be allowed out of the house, my little T-Rex."

Cheffin'

This morning I attended a Pampered Chef party at my next door neighbor's house. That's her daughter E above modeling the PC kid's apron and hat. She took her job seriously. I really like my neighbor C so I knew it would be a fun time, but it was even more fun because my sister and nephews came and so did Susan and Olivia. All the kids played in C's ginormous playroom upstairs while the party went on. The kids got along famously. Joey has started calling me Gigi instead of Shanny lately. Gigi is my mom. Jacob did the same thing when he was Joey's age. I think it's because both my mom and I have blonde hair. Anyway, halfway through the party Joey comes and stands on the stairs and yells GIGI! and got no response. Well, would you turn if someone yelled Barbara and your name is Jennifer? So he let out a super loud GIGIIIIIIII! and that's when I remembered oh! that's me! We got some weird looks from the party goers since I'd just introduced myself as Shannon, but what can you do?! I took plenty of pictures of the kids and you can see them here.

Red dirt and dead cars

I went to a James Taylor concert many, many moons ago and he said "Welcome to North Carolina- the land of red dirt and dead cars." Well, you can add Iron Monkey to the list. Iron Monkey is Jon's Camry. Jon's driven nothing but Toyota Camry's for a million years and has never had a problem. Back in 2001 when a Cadillac hit me and totaled my car I was forced to buy a new one and that's when Jorge, my Rav4 entered our lives. We were just about to leave the dealership when Jon asked what they'd charge him for that there Camry. It's a 2002- not that old- just a lemon. And for the last few months it's been stalling when slowing down from speeds over 50. But not all the time. Not when we took it to Toyota and showed them and paid $300 twice for them to fix something that they couldn't find. So CSP's been driving Jorge to work since we moved and I've been stuck with IM. I've been pretty lucky up til a couple weeks ago when IM died on the off ramp going to my mom's. He wouldn't start for a good 15 minutes. Then today on the way home from the dentist he died at a stop light and a kind man pushed me off the road where I sat for a half hour til IM would start up again. I drove him straight to the car wash/ inspection place (used a coupon from that book I worked so hard to get) and got him super clean and inspected. Then I went home and hopped on Carmax.com to find CSP a new ride. He's been needing a truck so I searched until I found a good deal on a basic Chevy truck. I called Carmax and told them I was coming in for an appraisal and could they put in a transfer for a truck from their Winston store. She told me to come in first then they'd do the transfer. No problem. Sara & the boys wanted to go so we piled in and headed down to the dealership. Of course by the time we got there the truck I wanted had been sold. But while they were appraising Iron Monkey we found another truck and put in for the transfer on that one. It's coming from Memphis and should be here in a couple weeks.
The boys played in the play room (kudos to Carmax for including this awesome playroom for parents!) while we waited. I got a good trade in value for IM and CSP can't wait to be a truck driver. I just can't wait to get my Jorge back!

Mall stalker

At the urging of my sister I went ahead and joined an online local mom's group. I've already met one adoptive mom (from yesterday's play date) and have chatted with and learned from many more adoptive moms. The bio moms aren't too bad either ;) So one of the moms is selling Citipass books for her child's PTA. I wanted one and we made arrangements to meet at the mall's play area at 9:30 this morning. I got there and realized I couldn't remember her real name, just her screen name. So I walked up to the play area and asked the moms inside if any of them were from my mom's group.
Are you Shannon?
Yes.
You just missed her! She went that way. You can probably catch her if you hurry. Her son was acting up.
Oh no! Thanks. What's her name?
I don't know. All I know is her screen name.
Me too! Well, what's she wearing?
I don't remember. But she has brown hair and is pushing a stroller.

*Let me just tell you that it was before the mall opened and the mall was teaming with mall walkers. And I'd say roughly half were moms with brown hair and strollers.

Ok thanks!

And off I ran, or rather limped quickly as my sprained ACL in my right knee is still healing. Let me set the scene. I was wearing a lavendar outfit comprised of crop pants and v neck long sleeved top and light blue Crocs. I am not a runner. I am aware that I need to get in shape. And I was hot. And when I get hot I turn red. After passing a few stores I spotted a woman with longish brown hair and a blue stroller. So I picked up the pace and decided to call out to her. But what? All I knew was "lilmomma" her screen name. So I figured I'd just yell my own name and hopefully she'd hear it and think hey I was supposed to meet a Shannon.

Shannon!! Shannon!!

OMG I'm yelling my own name in a mall. All I got was a few odd looks from the shop keepers opening up for the day. I tried yelling Ma'am! But then every woman within 50 feet of me EXCEPT HER turned around. I thought of asking the freakishly fast power walkers to tell her to wait for me when they caught up with her but then realized that was seriously stalkerish.
Luckily she slowed up a bit at a couple of points and the crowd thinned a bit once we'd covered half the lap around the mall. So I broke out into the following screaming refrain:

Shannon!!
Ma'am!!
Lilmomma!!

Over and over I yelled this, like some bizarre window shopper with Tourettes. She looked over her shoulder in my direction from time to time but apparently didn't see me waving my arms. Then a group of people passed in front of her and I was finally able to get within 20 feet or so. I yelled Ma'am!! one more time and she finally turned around and looked at me.

I'm Shannon! Please stop!

"Oh hey!," She said and we made our way to some benches where I collapsed in a sweaty, huffing & puffing, Easter egg colored heap. "I thought someone was following me!"
Really? Cause you could have turned around at oh, mile 8 and saved me a heart attack! I bought my book and we chatted for a while before walking back the way we came to our cars.

There better be some damn good coupons in this book.

Play date

Today we had a play date at my sister's house. We met up with a mom who adopted her son from Guatemala. He's 2 years old and just as cute as can be. He got along great with my nephews and his mom showed us all her pictures from their trip to Guatemala. You can see pictures I took today here.

One size fits most

I had dinner at my Mom's last night along with a handful of neighbors & family. Morgan (my 16 yr old sister) and her new boyfriend were there and tried on the hat I just finished knitting for Olivia. I hope O's head grew cause I think I made the hat a wee bit too big!

Punish the brave

I'm going to climb up on my soapbox for a minute just so I can rant a little and wave my fists around. It won't change anything, but it will make me feel better. The picture above is of my Effexor XR. I take them for anxiety. And since China changed their regulations, the simple fact that I take the above pills on a daily basis means I can't adopt from China now. China can do what it wants, and some of the new regs I understand. I don't agree with a lot of them, but I can see where China would feel the way they do. But the one that really sticks in my craw is the one where they say that depression and anxiety are severe mental illnesses and if you've been treated for either in the last 2 years you're barred. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a whole heck of a lot of people who've gone through the agony of infertility and come out without some sort of depression or anxiety. And to those who then went and got help, I say bravo. Would China rather a give a child to a woman who desperately needs help and lies or denies herself treatment just to get the child? Or a woman who realizes hey, depression and anxiety can be treated and I can have a normal, positive life if I just admit I need help? A correctable chemical imbalance does not a bad mother make.
Ok, getting off my soapbox now.

One door closes...

I realized that I haven't explained yet if we're still adopting from China. As our social worker told us "That option is closed to you now". So no, we're not adopting from China. It feels like a break up. We've been in love with China and our Chinese baby for 2 years. We've collected books, art, toys, all sorts of stuff about China. I even started learning Chinese (of course I only got as far as the basic phrases including "I'm an American and don't speak Chinese". A fact that I'm sure was painfully obvious).
We're still going to be parents of a child of another race. But I need to keep the country of her origin private for now. Until we get a referral. When will that be? Our dossier will be complete in about 100 days or when we get our 171 H (immigration approval) and then it will be sent to the country. When we get our referral will then be based on how many available babies there are and how far down the list we are. We're hoping for 3 months or less after dossier submition. Then some legal things need to be taken care of and our dossier will need to get processed in country. Bottom line is we're hoping to have our baby home by or around Christmas. But that could always change, as international adoption is unpredictable. We're still asking for a girl. Not holding our breath for twins. Apparently they are extremely rare in this country. After we get our girl we'll go back for a boy. Jon's decided he wants one of each and we figure we might as well take advantage of the one thing we can control in this whole adoption and build the classic family. I just can't wait.

Oh, by the way, hello and welcome to my new readers! I've noticed some new names in the comments lately and I appreciate you stopping by. Sit back, relax, have a cup of tea! Enjoy the insanity that is my life while we stumble along toward parenthood.

Snow day

Today we had a bit of a snow. At my house we got maybe 2 inches. The whole city was shut down. Other parts of town got a bit more though, in some parts up to 5 inches. It was Molly's first snow and at first she didn't know what to think of it. She quickly formed an opinion though and decided she wasn't much of a fan. Kiki decided a couple of years ago that the best place to be on a snowy day is inside. So no snowy Kiki pics.

After getting CSP off to work I met up with my neighbor C & her 2 daughters E & M for some snow play. C's husband D stayed inside with baby boy C. I wore my Crocs boots * and was all excited about it too. Then as play time came to an end I realized my boots had some serious suction going on with my feet (even though I'd sprinkled them with baby powder as advised). So I asked C if she could help me get my boots off. I sat on her 3rd step of her stairs and she stood on the floor and pulled with all her might. By the time both boots were off we had worked up a sweat, laughed hysterically, did some serious huffing and puffing, and I was on the floor 5 feet from the stairs- she had pulled me all that way! Her husband D was holding the baby and threatening to get the camera the whole time. Her girls were on either side of me wide eyed. The 2 1/2 year old said to me "Wow, that was close Miss Shannon." Indeed.

*By the way, while getting the link for this post I noticed that Crocs has some new models coming out for Spring. WAY cute ones too in fabulous color combos. Damn you Crocs and your adorable, yet comfy shoes!! Don't you know I'm on a budget?! Oh well, a girl can dream, right?