Good News!

The last 3 months have seemed like the longest months ever. We FINALLY met with the specialist on Thursday for our consult to go over ALL the tests they have ran on me and Andrew and to go over, as the doc put it, "what we found and what we didn't find". We ended up leaving the doc feeling very relieved and gracious. They could not find anything wrong or abnormal with any of my blood work except for my prolatin (hormone) level being high. For those of you who follow the blog, you know that they informed me about 2 months ago about this level being high and since then I have been treating it with some medication. This was also why I had to have the MRI to make sure there was not a tumor that could be causing the high level (prolactin is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain). Good news, no pituitary gland tumor and the mediation is working and is keeping my prolatin levels where they should be! So, from ALL the blood work, that is the only thing that came back 'wrong'. In regards to all the other testing: chromosomal, auto-immune disorder, structural (making sure the uterus is in good shape), and a few others; everything came back normal. Praise God! Obviously we left the appointment with a lot of hope and optimism.
So I am sure you all are wondering, "now what?". Well they basically told us we could start trying again right away and that they will also start treating me with progesterone since the high prolactin was causing low progesterone and low blood flow to the uterus. So, we will keep you all posted and in the meantime, please continue to keep us in your prayers. Also, out of respect, we would greatly appreciate it if people would not ask us every month how it's going. We will defiantly keep our family and close friends updated as we see fit.
We are excited and grateful for the good news and look forward to see how God will continue to bless us.


On a side note. I wanted to share something that God has laid on my heart and I want to share it in case someone else needs His encouragement.

" 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'." -Jeremiah 29:11

I have read this verse MANY times and I am in Bible Study and was reading today and it referenced to look up Jeremiah 29:11. Well, let me back up to about a month or so ago. I was going through a rough spot and my Dad and I were talking about giving our worries and concerns over to God. In to which I answered that I felt like I had and that I felt that I was constantly giving these worries to God. But through our wonderful human nature I was always taking these back and not relying completely on God. My Dad gave me the idea of actually writing these worries and concernes on a sheet of paper and to put that in the middle of my Bible and each time I start to let those worries creep back into my mind/heart, that I should go to His Word and acknowledge that I have already given those worries to God and that He is in control of them. So, today when I went to look up Jeremiah 29:11, guess what I found tucked in my Bible where Jeremiah 1 starts? Yep, my piece of paper of my worries and concerns. When I placed this in my Bible months ago, I just opened up my Bible and just put it in there, not regarding to where in the Bible I was placing it. I know that today God wanted to remind me of that commitment I made to Him and those worries and concerns that I have already given to him. I just had to stop in the midst of my Bible study lesson and just praise God for being so good and so loving and so caring. I hope that if any of you are struggling and going through rough times, to just let God be in control. I will be the first to tell you that that is not an easy task for us humans to do and at times it feels like you are all alone and that all these "bad things" are happening only to you and at all the same time. But, luckly we have a gracious Father who forgives us and gently reminds us that He is there for us and He has plans for us and that His plans are not to harm you but to give you hope and a future. Believe it and cling to it! I KNOW that God has a greater vision for my future than I can see or imagine. I KNOW that God will use all my worries, concerns, and hardships to make me stronger use these things for good!

Love you all and enjoy the gorgeous Fall weather!

Update

Okay, so I have not fallen off the face of the earth. Just been busy and truthfully, just really not ready to give an update.

So, we met with the specialist and the initial appointment went fine. Basically the doc just explained all the reasons why miscarriages happen. Not like I hadn't researched all these millions of times. However, we really liked her and the nurses. The doc set me up for some extensive blood work. Basically, they check EVERYTHING and then look into it all and then go from there. So, a couple days later I went to do lab work. I gave about 25 vials of blood, yes, 25. It was crazy. They said all the blood work could take about a month to get back, so we would just schedule another appointment to discuss everything in about 6 weeks.

Well, about a week ago, the doc called and explained that one of my hormones, prolactin, came back on the high end, and it should not be high right now. They wanted me to get a MRI to
"rule out some stuff". Prolactin is produced by your brain, hence the MRI. High prolactin is a cause of either 1) your body just produces too much or 2) there is a tumor or excess skin on the pituitary gland. So, of course I panicked. They can't get me in for a MRI till August 23rd. So, needless to say, these next 2 weeks are going to be LONG. They are re-running my prolactin level to make sure it wasn't just a "fluck". We should get those results back tomorrow. Also, I have been in to the doc the 3 times this week giving blood on my progesterone.

It has been a long road and at times I just want to throw in the towel and let God be God and just go back to the "natural" way of getting pregnant. I guess we will just have to find our "normal". God is good and He has a plan, now it's just being patient and waiting on Him to reveal His plan. I know He will bless us with a family, so we will just have to wait and see! Please continue to pray for us, we truly appreciate it! I will keep you all posted!

Hail Storm - May 2010

So, I forgot to mention that we had a HUGE hail storm back in May. I have had some people ask about it and decided I should post some pictures. It was a Sunday afternoon. It was so hot and sunny that I decided to go for a run. Andrew as in Edmond doing a baseball lesson. Luckily I run with a mp3 player that also has the option to listen to the radio. While I started out on my run, I realized the weather man reporting on the radio that a storm was on it's way to Oklahoma City. Of course I just kept on running, thinking yea right, it's sunny and hot here. About 8 minutes passed and they were now reporting that hail was going to be moving through the Nichols Hills area (we live on the edge of this area) at 3:45. So, I decided I better just head on home since it was already like 3:25. My luck I would have sprained my ankle running and get stuck out in the storm. I got home and called Andrew who was heading home. Andrew walked in the door and about 7 minutes later the hail came. It happened so fast and it was SO loud and scary. The hail was golf ball to baseball size hail and lasted almost 10 minutes. Since we live in an old house, our cars don't really fit in the garage, so they were outside as well. We ended up having about $8,000 damage to our house and another $16,000 damage to our cars combined. God kept his hand over us and the doggies though, so we are thankful!

The Hubs!

Okay, I know the last time I updated I did not give any news on Andrew. So here it goes!

BASEBALL, BASEBALL, AND MORE BASEBALL. I guess that is what it is like when you are married to a coach. His high school team, the Edmond Santa Fe Wolves, had a great 2010 season. They ended up with a record of 36-5 and made it to the State Playoffs again this year!!

For having summers off, Andrew is staying busy (hence why I have found time to update this blog). He is coaching a summer baseball team and they are packing in the games. They play double headers almost everyday. So, I am getting real good at this whole coach's widow thing.

Hopefully later this summer we will be able to squeeze in a few trips/weekend getaways.

Why Hello!

Well I decided to send an update, since I seem to do that about once a year! I promise, I am going to try to get better at this blogging stuff. I don't even think anyone follows the blog or not. However, we have had a lot of things happen to us over the past year and I am going to be using this blog to update friends and family, share my thoughts (to any of you who care to listen), and just ramble on! So, here it goes!

Where to begin? As most of you are aware of, we have been trying to grow our family for the past year. We started trying in June of 2009 and got pregnant that month! We were of course, very shocked to get pregnant so quickly. After the initial shock went away, we were very excited! It was a very painful and scary experience to miscarry for the first time. So many emotions and questions seemed to flood my mind. I remember lying in the ER room and just confused and scared and thinking that it was not suppose to end this way. While I was at the ER, I actually had not yet miscarried, but I knew it was not going to end good. The nurse, was so sweet and she told me she has had multiple miscarriages. I saw tears in her eyes as she cared for me, and right then and there I knew that this little baby was not going to make it to term. Baby McGuire #1 went to be with God on July 29, 2009. I clung to my faith and hope and that God as in control and that we were going to get through this. As they say, this too shall pass.

So, we waited a few months and started to try again in October of 2009. And as luck would have it, we got pregnant that month. Scared and excited we immediately got in to my doctor to make sure everything was okay. At first, everything looked fine, of course I was only 6 weeks along, so there wasn't much to see. So, I went back in to the doctor one week later and there was no progress and no heartbeat. I went to a few more ultrasounds within that week and the next and still no progress; no growth, no heartbeat. This time we had what as called a 'missed miscarriage', where my body wasn't recognizing that I was miscarrying. So, after 2 weeks of nothing, we decided to do a d&c. With Christmas coming up, I just wanted to move on (as much as one can) and not have to deal with the physical pain of the miscarriage while traveling. The d&c really took a toll on me emotionally. It took me a good month or so to feel 'normal' again after that. I can't explain the feeling, but if you have been there, then I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about. Baby McGuire #2 went to be with God on December 17, 2009. This time around, my faith and hope was still there, but I had a lot of anger and a lot of unanswered questions. Some days were good, others were not. I got angry at every pregnant person I saw. I as so sad, hurt, depressed, and anxious. I just kept real busy and tried to keep my mind off of everything.

During this time, I started attending a Miscarriage and Infant Loss Support Group at my church. Which I am SO blessed for. I have met a group of ladies who have been or are going through the same things as myself. It has been a safe haven and I praise God for putting all those girls in my life!

That now brings us to this year, 2010. Our plan was to wait till about Summer time to start trying again. In the meantime, my doctor wanted to run some blood work on my progesterone levels since they were somewhat low with our second pregnancy. So, I went in on April 20th for some blood work. I had my annual appointment scheduled for May 4th, so we were just going to discuss my blood results then. And of course, as luck would have it, we ended up getting pregnant again in April. So, when I went in for my annual, I informed my doctor that we just found out we were pregnant again. Since I was VERY early along, just about 4 weeks, she did not want to do an ultrasound because it would have been too early to see anything. But, they did run blood work. The next day, the doctor's office called around 1 p.m. to let me know that my progesterone was VERY low and if there was any chance for this pregnancy being viable, that I needed to get on some progesterone supplements immediately. They called in my prescription and told me to start taking two a day starting that evening. About 3 p.m. that day, I was sitting at my desk at work and knew something wasn't right. I went to the bathroom, and realized I was miscarrying...again. I left work and came home and ended up having to go to the ER later that night. Baby McGuire #3 went up to be with God on May 5, 2010. Physically this miscarriage was the easiest because we were so early along. Emotionally it also seemed to be easier; which is sad to say. I think that is because I did not let myself get excited when I saw the positive pregnancy test this time around. It's a sad time when something that is suppose to be such an exciting time in your life, is one filled with doubt and anxiety. God did fill me with a sense of peace and calmness, something only He can give in such a time.

This now leads us to going to see a specialist. We will be going to Dr. La Tasha Craig at OU Medial Center. Our first appointment is July 16th. We are excited and scared about this next step. Hopefully, they can pinpoint what our problem is.

So, I will use this blog to keep everyone updated! Please pray for Andrew and I and our future family. We are hopeful (yet scared) and are putting all our hopes (and fears) in God and know that it is all in His hands. I have learned that no matter what, we are NOT in control and that we have to put our faith in Him because there is no humanly way that we could bare all this on our own.