My blog needs some visuals

My cousin Jason finally updated his blog with a picture of our visit to Chicago a few weeks back. I haven't had a photo in awhile so here is a picture of JB and myself with my second cousin, Cullen which I stole from his blog.

I also heard from Tara who is loving Oregon. Here is proof that Tara cut her hair! Actually, JB loves long hair so I thought he would scream when he saw the picture, but he said, "Hey, I like it." So there you go Tara. Donated the hair to a good cause, and JB approves. Well done.

In other news, I got the disappointing news that my friend Stephanie had a failed IVF yesterday. My heart absolutely cracked for her. Knowing that pain and the difficulty surrounding these events, I truly feel for her during this time. She is strong, and I know she will be fine. She is also blessed with a fabulous husband, but keep Stephanie in your prayers during the next few weeks as she recovers and prepares again. She has one sticky baby remaining.

As for me, I must tell you that I feel like I am in one of the best places infertility-wise that I have been since we started procedures three years ago. I also feel like my perspective is the best it has ever been. I pray that this continues even after I start taking the heavy meds. I am currently taking progesterone every evening and lupron shots every morning. I am blessed because so far, despite being fairly sick with this cold, I have had ZERO insomnia or migraine issues. This has made this cycle seem like a breeze.

I feel like I can go into this next attempt with a much less "desperate" feeling, knowing that I will be okay no matter what. John says I should write this down (and I guess this blog qualifies) and go back and read it later if the medicine starts talking louder than my normal brain (as opposed to my medication-ridden brain).

I also heard back from an acupuncturist here in town. We are seriously contemplating doing acupuncture before and after the transfer. We are still trying to figure out the logistics of this. Most of the articles we have found indicate the procedure should be performed 25 minutes before and 25 minutes after the transfer. This isn't possible as I would have to go to his office and it takes longer than 25 minutes to get "processed" and into the operating room, and then after the procedure I am on bed rest for a solid hour in the hospital. But John is going to do some research to see how "tight" this window needs to be, and we will see.

I can't believe we are now only about three weeks away. Time is really flying. In some other bits of news:

• No I didn't take a sick day yesterday, and no, I'm not taking a sick day today. What is with me?
• I am still feeling pretty crummy.
• I found shoes to go with my dress for Keith and AD's wedding.
• I finally found a pair of brown shoes and tossed my old ones that were ripped in two places. 'Bout time!
• We ate Nik & Willie's pizza last night for dinner. I love that place. Bravo Rachel for introducing us these take and bake pizzas.
• We have been having some difficulties keeping up on housework and planning good meals between me not feeling good and JB working 60+ hours a week. I am all stressed about it. John just says, "'Tis life!"