Starting to Pay off

I am happy to announce that we have finally paid off the first round of IVF!! Woohoo! Working extra hours, picking up two new jobs and really working on saving money has paid off! I am still making monthly payments on round two so it is showing awesome progress. I have a 31 party fundraiser coming up next month that I am really excited about and also my yard sale. I will probably shoot for early October for it since we have three dog events in September. We will be super busy! Cannot wait to see how the hard work with the dogs has paid off. We were really excited to get offer to breed Taz for the first time this weekend so we made a quick trip to Jacksonville, Florida to see what the stud can do. Also more money to go into our IVF fund. Super excited and nervous about this round. I feel like this will be it for a while. I have talked to a few people about adoption and feeling very drawn to that possibility if this  time is a fail. We will see. I cannot give up on the idea of carrying a child just yet. But on a lighter note, Taz may be becoming a father the same month Daniel will! 
http://www.gofundme.com/ycac5g

Are you there Lord?

Sometimes we all ask this question. I know I have the last couple of years! In church this morning, my Dad talked about even David and Jesus asked this question. Why have you forsaken me? In truth God is always there. He lets things happen to us, his distance seems far so that when he does answer we know it is him. He is always there and has his hands in all things. Sometimes he lets things go further than we think they should. It's not up to our plans. I have to remind myself of these things. I have had the pleasure of talking to so many great people due to infertility. I have started a whole business for myself because of infertility. I am getting healthy due to infertility. I am getting tougher due to infertility. All due to God. Don't get me wrong! I pray every day that I "fall Pregnant" ( I HATE that term). I pray multiple times a day that October is the month for us. Because I don't know how to handle it if it is not. I know God will get me through it. But you guys know I am a grudge holder.
I wanted to update you guys on our fundraiser efforts! In September two dear friends are going to help me out by doing a 31 party to help with our IVF funds. So be on the lookout for that! 31 makes great gifts and you can get some Christmas shopping done early! Beachbody coaching is going great! I never knew I had it in me to reach out to people and meet strangers, but I am glad I did. My coach Brynn is a fellow infertile myrtle and to see how she has transformed her life through coaching has amazed me and I hope to be a 1/4 of the coach she is. Going into my third month I have almost signed enough clients to secure my free ticket to the convention next year, but the month is young and I will make it! I have my first coach leading her first challenge group and signed her first challenger which is exciting for me to see! I am also gathering more stuff to have another yard sale hopefully in September when it cools down a little.
Next month I will start my birth control once again and start the process all over again. I would appreciate prayers for Daniel and I for strength and understanding. Pray for our schedule to fall into place so that we do not have to worry about work. I pray for every one of you guys daily. You have no idea how much everything you guys have done has impacted us! Love you!!

 http://www.gofundme.com/ycac5g

Working Hard for the Money

So we have set a potential date... October 2015 we will hopefully try IVF again. It seems like a long time away, but that gives me even more time to try to pay off at least one of our previous tries. I started the nurse and nurture company this week and had my first client. I worked some overtime last week at the hospital. Next week I will also be attempting to make some extra money donating plasma. I have also set a date for my first yard sale. It will be July 17th at 8am at my house at 1340 Patton rd. Bessemer, al 35023. I live out in the woods so I do not anticipate this one doing very well, but wanted to try before having to haul the stuff all over creation. Any donation are greatly appreciated! I have also broken down and made a gofundme.com page. I will not post this frequently. I do not want to beg people for money, but I have had a few people say they wished I had an account so they could support us. We just do not feel right about asking for that since we do still have extracurricular activities. So do with it what you will.
www.gofundme.com/ycac5g

My latest business venture has been such a blessing. I have signed on with Beachbody as a coach and have loved this company! I am a very shy person and thought the coach thing would never work for me, but I have bonded with some pretty great people. My coach is going the infertility treatments and eventually will try IVF with the money she has made through Beachbody. I am currently on day 9 of the 21 day fix and working with a group of ladies in a challenge group. As of last week I had already lost 6 inches! I am eating so much better with this program and making time to work out every day. There is also a sale going on through this month on the 21 day fix, so if you have been on the fence now is the time to order it! Shoot me an email at jmvines@uabmc.edu or a message on facebook and I will hook you up!

Operation Baby Vines

So things have been hard since May, but we are getting by. We had two dog shows that helped provide a much needed getaway and distraction. Love meeting new dog people and spending time with our old ones! They did well in their first protection competition. We know we need to work on somethings and this competition showed that, but next time we will come up bigger and better! We went to the ABBA (Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog Association) dog show in Dallas. It was wet and dirty, but we had a blast! We met some great people and dogs from Canada. I got to get some pointers and try my shot at judging. Rose won Reserve Champion in the second show! We also got to see what our dogs would do (and not do) in the water.

I have recently began two new adventure in my life. We are trying our best to conserve money and raise money so that we can try IVF again. I have been torn about wether to give up and do the adoption thing. I am not oppose to adoption and would not mind adopting at some point in our lives. But it is so hard to give up when we got so close last time. Just knowing that I can see a positive pregnancy test make me want to keep trying to have our own family at this time. So... in order to do that I need to make some extra money. I have decided to have a big yard sale at some point to help raise funds for this. I am hoping for it to take place on a Saturday in June or July at David's Pharmacy. I just have to get some final plans nailed down and get all this stuff organized. I also have gotten two new jobs in the past week. I will be working as a nurse at Nurse and Nurture part time where I will be staying at client's houses during the night caring for their newborns while they catch up on some sleep. I am hoping I can get a couple of nights a month doing this and working full time at the hospital. I also have started working as a Beachbody coach. This scares me more than anything.  I have gained quite a bit of weight throughout this fertility journey and though I have tried exercise, diet has been hard to stick to. I will be starting a 21 Day Fix challenge group in June that incorporates 15-30 minute exercise each day with a diet plan that helps you learn how to control your portions with healthy choices. I am excited for this challenge to begin because I know that i will see mad results. I will be sending out invites this week or you can email me at jmvines@uabmc.edu if you are interested.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings and caring about my life. It has really awed my family to know how many people follow me and pray for me! Love you guys!!

One week

That is how long I got to enjoy being pregnant. Friday I went to dr and my numbers tripled. We all rejoiced. What a miracle. I was finally pregnant. Dr was excited but wanted to see me Monday for one more Beta blood test before an ultrasound was schedule. Friday at work I began to cramp. That is normal they said. Then I began to spot. Also normal especially for IVF. Saturday I had terrible cramps and bright red blood. I held it together for Daniel. I didn't want to lose hope. I read many stories where women had this happen and are happy with their babies now. As the weekend went on I did lose hope. This morning I woke up and took a test and it was barely there. The last hint of my baby hanging on. Went and got my blood work done and as long as no one looked at me I held it together. Just got the call back from the doctor and it's not good. Number dropped to 25. I get to stop all my meds and take some pain medicine. I guess there is always a silver lining. I just don't know what to do. We were so close! Why would God give us an opportunity for a miracle and take it away? When do we get our happily ever after?

The Waiting Game

So as most of you read before I was struggling to hold back the urge to POAS. I didn't fight to hard a took my first test on Sunday. Negative... I told myself that the test was out of date so that got me through that day. I had bought tests a long time ago on clearance and had a variety, but they were all expired. Monday I woke up and took another kind...Negative. I was slowly beginning to think that adoption was a great option. I began to come up with fundraisers in my head that would help us raise money to help a child that was not our own. Over the weekend I found Early Response tests buy one get one free. What a deal! But this would mean there were no excuses. I bought them and woke up Tuesday morning and took the new kind. I got in the shower, no reason to sit and stare at it. I got out and there were two lines there. I couldn't believe it. Daniel was asleep so I didn't wake him. I enjoyed that piece of happy news all day at work. My mind was still reeling and my stomach in knots. I got home and surprise Daniel with the test and we both agreed not to get too excited until we got the blood test back.
So today was the day. I went in and got stuck and spent the rest of my day with Ginger. However, before I left to meet her I got the call... my blood test was positive. My doctor still seemed a little guarded. My beta was 56 and she said anything above 50 they are happy with. Of course I have to be on the edge. This journey will never be on the straight path, always has to have curves and bumps. She was excited about where we are at and asked me to come back Friday to retest. From there we may have another beta test or schedule an ultrasound!! I cannot wait to share the rest of this journey with you guys. I of course went to both of our parents and told them. Everyone is ecstatic! I am still scared to death that this can be short lived. I don't know at what point I will be able to relax and enjoy, but I hope it comes soon! Thanks to everyone who has texted and prayed!

Sitting Waiting Wishing

I don't know if it is the frappacino I just drank, but I just got anxiety about wanting to POAS (pee on a stick). I was looking up my "due date" online (January 12, 2016) and it said today is the first day I would posibly see a positive on a test. I am holding out till test day so I still have a ways to go, but that overwelming need to know hit me today! Many have asked how I am feel and I feel pregnant. Thanks to the medications I am on I will feel pregnant until I stop taking them even if I test negative. My boobs hurts, I am exhausted, bloated and was having cramps up until today. Hopefully that means that our little rascal has latched on for the long haul. I appreciated the prayers and the word of encouragement. This baby is already so loved! I just hope he or she makes it to see how much!