Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe Day 1

I'm going to be saying this novena starting today, November 30 and finishing the day before my surgery, December 8. If you would like to join me and get an email, comment or send me an email at mrsblondies (at) gmail (dot) com.

Immaculate and Perpetual Virgin of Guadalupe, you appeared on Mount Tepeyac to reconcile mankind to God. Plead and intercede with you Son Jesus today, that a bond of Holy Love is formed between all humanity and God.

You left your image on the cloak of Juan Diego, using a humble vessel to bring your Grace into the world. Imprint on our hearts the virtue of humanity, dear Mother, and use us to bring others to your Son.

Your Image of Guadalupe was a symbolic story to the Aztecs, converting them from paganism to Christianity. Pray for us, dear Mother, that our lives will be symbols of Holy Love, converting those around us.

You proclaimed yourself our Mother and Protectress when you appeared on Mt. Tepeyac. Take us into your Maternal Heart, dear Mother, and protect our faith.

Our Lady of Guadalupe pray for us!

To wait and to hope

Today at Mass during the homily, the priest was discussing how Advent is to remind us of the time of the Israelites in the Old Testament. The quote that really struck me was that they "had little reason to celebrate, or to wait and to hope." This quote is so applicable to infertility. Even though Advent is waiting for a birth, I think that it's also a season for infertiles. Our lives are spent in waiting (trying to be hopeful).

I also talked to my priest about getting Anointing of the Sick next week.

I'm at 11 DPO and still spotting/bleeding, but not so much that it's a new cycle yet. I'll be on cycle 7-9 on surgery day, which is in 10 days!

Thankful

I'm thankful for

-my family, even though they are far away

-Skype, so I can "see" my family

-my in-laws, who are all wonderful people

-my grandparents, who are still chugging along

-D, who is a wonderful husband and truly loves me

-my surgery being in 13 days, and hopefully getting some answers

-the Catholic IF blogger community for all the support and information that I otherwise won't have

-God's love and blessing, even when I don't recognize them

-a friend who invited us for Thanksgiving, so I don't have to make a Thanksgiving meal for 2

-live in a country that allows us to have so many blessings

Picture Post

I just made this braclet. It has medals of St. Gerard, St. Anne, Blessed Kateri, and the Miraculous Medal.

D got these flowers for me on my birthday (Oct. 11). Lavender roses are my favorites, and white are a close second.

Our front yard during the flooding a few weeks ago.

This is our garage during the flooding. It's hard to see but there's about 2 inches of water inside the garage.

Our truck on the garage driveway during the flooding.


The flooding in the front yard on video. It's dark, but you can see how fast the water is flowing.






The flooding in the garage.

Awesome deal on Matt Maher's new album!

This week only - download Matt's newest album for $5 on Amazonmp3.comhttp://bit.ly/maheramazonmp3


If you've never hear Matt Maher, go check it out and also go look at his older albums.  He's a Catholic musician/songwriter.

Another brother as a priest?

One of my brothers (third of the four siblings...I'm the oldest) is a seminarian right now (the one who help to found the religious order that he's part of).  My youngest brother is a sophomore in college and is on a semester abroad in Austria.  He was recently in Medjugorje and this is what the email he sent:

Okay, so I haven't told anyone this because I wanted to tell you guys first. During the first day at Medjugorje, we climbed Apparition Hill, where the Blessed Virgin first appeared to the visionaries. We prayed the Rosary up the hill, and at the top there is a statue of Our Lady where she first appeared. Everyone sat there and prayed quietly. As I was sitting there, completely out of the blue, I hear a voice in my head, "K, I want you to be a priest." And, of course, my first reaction is "Woah, woah, woah, wait a minute, this is not what I planned." So of course I try to put it to the side and forget about it.

Later on that evening, there is adoration going on in the church. As I am in adoration, I hear the exact same thing again, and I honestly don't want to hear it. I want to have my own little plans and hopefully God will fit in them. Of course, God ruins our fun little plans and so yeah. God is calling me to become a priest. It's crazy. I still don't think I have quite processed it yet. But praise God for that. I really think this entire semester, especially on 10-day, prepared me for this in Medj. I really have just learned to trust in the Lord in all things, and to give Him all that I am. And I am so thankful for Our Lady's intercession, because I really do believe that this was the reason I finally heard the voice. I was able to be quiet, to get away from things, and just listen to the voice of the Lord.

I'm pretty sure that the oldest of my brothers will not end up being a priest since he's a big hippy, has never really been a practicing Catholic and has been dating the same girl for 9 years and bought a house with her (but still hasn't proposed).

Nevermind

I started spotting/bleeding last night right before bed.  Clearly I shouldn't have said anything in my post yesterday.  I really hope the surgery takes care of this.  I'll probably have bleeding from now until my surgery (and a bit after).  I hate bleeding for three weeks straight.  Only 16 more days until surgery.

Where to next and worries about IF and health care reform

Now that I'm about 2 weeks (17 days to be exact) from my surgery, I'm starting to think about what to do if there are problems other than what Dr. H looks for/finds.  What if I have implantation failure?  I don't know if I can afford to go see Dr. K.wak-K.im (in Chicago, TCIE is being treated by her).  I'd like to know whether the implantation zone of  my endometrium is getting sufficient blood flow.  Unless adoption falls into our laps (like might be happening for Sew), we couldn't afford to adoption for a couple more years.  I'm ready for the surgery to be done and to know what treatments we might need (or if he was able to clean out a moderate level of endo).  The good news is that my change in diet (based Fe.rtility, Cyc.les and Nu.trition) seems to have stopped my crazy spotting.  I can't guarantee it since this is only the third full cycle (and I'm only P+4) since I started it, but even D said that there was a difference.

Now that the Senate is getting close to passing health care reform, I'm getting worried.  I know that it doesn't go into effect for about 3 years, but I worry about whether IF people, especially us Catholic who want to treat the underlying causes and not do ART, will be able to get the treatment we want and need.  I don't know if there are any provisions in there about IF (IF is pretty much only on the radar of those who are dealing/have dealt with it).  Yes, changes need to be made to the health care system, but I'm very weary of the government (and especially this administration) being involved in it.

P+3 quick update

We ended up using P-2 and P-1.  CD 1 should be no later than Dec. 2, a week before surgery and I'll be on about CD 8. Surgery is in 18 days.

Concert

I'm on CD 18, waiting to o with 10KL.  Although D has said we will TTC this cycle, we haven't used any days yet.   I'm fine either way since my surgery is in 23 days.

This Saturday I went with my choir friends to the Mich.ael W. S.mith, Mat.t Ma.her (who was the main reason we went even though he wasn't the headliner), Ph.il St.acy, and Mer.edith Andrews concert.  It was lots of fun and M.att Ma.her was definitely the best part, although I'd have preferred to see a concert were he was the headliner and not at a Protestant church.

Men and IF

The Misfit at Being Infertile posted about how her husband finally showed his feelings about IF.  Her post got me thinking about the difference in how men show their feeling about IF.

I know that I've had issues where I got really frustrated with D because it seemed like he didn't care about all the IF stuff.  I think there are a few big issues that cause it to be difficult to see the pain that our husbands are going through with IF.  The first issue is that I think that often they don't want us to see their pain.  They are trying to be strong for us.  It's really hard for both people to be highly emotional over long periods of time, and we usually do need them to be our rock.  The second reason is that the men handle the intense emotions differently than women do, and men often have a hard time even acknowledging certain painful emotions (like sadness and depression).  We get frustrated because we don't see them showing their emotions the way we do.  Our husbands can feel intensely about IF, but we may only see small glimpses of it.

And on a complete different note, I've actually updated my recipe blog recently (I started in January but didn't do much with it until October).

27 days until surgery.

Another weird pain: Updated

For the past two days, I've been having a weird back and abdominal pain after I eat.  It lasts for a few hours, but it goes away so I don't think it's anything like appendicitis or food poisioning or anything like that.  I haven't eaten anything new, so I don't know what's going on.

I'm on CD 13 and I'm still waiting to see any sort of CM.  28 days until surgery.

Update:  It's worst after breakfast.  It's not as bad after lunch, and I don't remember it after dinner.  Since JB asked this is what I ate:
Yesterday & Today breakfast- Smoothie- Homemade with Spinach, Yogurt, Berries, Avocado & Flax Oil (it's what I have every morning) &Cereal- Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 Almond
Yesterday & Today Lunch- Multigrain Pita Pocket with Hummus, Tomato (yesterday I had spinach and today I had brocolli and bean)
Yesterday Dinner- Swordfish in Herbed Butter Sauce & Ben & Jerry Peach Cobbler Ice Cream

Quick Update: 1 Month Until Surgery

Only 30 more days until my surgery with Dr. H in Omaha!!! It's CD 11 and I'm still spotting, even though it's more of a pink tinge to 8C. It seems like this cycle will probably go until just before my surgery, since I'm not feeling like it's going to be an early ovulation this month.

Another interesting feast day

St. Hannah's feast day is celebrated on December 9, the day of my surgery. St. Hannah is the mother of the prophet Samuel.

Patron Saint and Novena Plan

In the Patron Saint 0f 2010 drawing done by Where Angels Blog, Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist was chosen for me. Of course, Elizabeth dealt with infertility until advanced age, but finally conceived her son, John (the Baptist). Her feast day was yesterday, November 5.

Since my surgery falls on the feast day of St. Juan Diego and the day after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, I'm planning to do a novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Right now, I've just got spotting, which is normal for me on CD 8.

Cycle #25

Cycle 25 started Friday. Friday and Saturday were L days, but I'm pretty sure I'm moving up to M at least day, and the cramps have started to kick in. Like I said in my earlier post, I'm not really upset about not being pregnant now since the surgery is coming up in 38 days, and we have the tickets and everything. I'm disappointed that I only had an 11 day LP. I don't know if we'll try this cycle or not; it depends on D.