Hope Ball 2017

What girl doesn't love the chance to get all glammed up to dance the night away with her Prince Charming?

The hubs and I received an invitation last month to attend the Hope Ball.  We went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to go.  Neither one of us would really say yes or no.  We finally said yes though neither of us were super excited about it.

Well...I was excited about the buying a fancy dress part.

And I definitely had fun trying on dress.

 (This one made me feel like Diane Keaton)

(If we go again...I will be wearing something bright like this)

But the rest?  

Didn't really seem like our thing.  In fact when my mom told me that her and my dad would be playing Bingo at a church event the night of the ball...that sounded like more fun to me.

But oh how I was wrong.

I started the day off getting a mani/pedi with my beautiful sister-in-law Krystal.  I just love her!

After the nails were done I ran a few errands before meeting back up with Krystal.  A sweet friend of hers, Chanda, did our hair and makeup for the event.  We didn't take a before picture, but let me just tell you she did an amazing job.  True artist!

I was obsessed!  I could have sat and stared in the mirror at those lashes all night.

We ran back home where our men waited on us and then it was off to the ball.

It was so much fun checking out every one's dresses as we stood in line to have our picture taken red carpet style.

Cedar Creek had ten seats.  I just love everyone we spent the evening with.  It's nice when your husband works with family and friends.

(One couple was already at the table when we snapped this pic)

It was such a fun night.

We ate good food, had fabulous conversation filled with laughter, and danced to some fun music.

It was a special night.

And not just for our own memories...

The ball was a fundraiser for The 20th Century Club's Lodge.

The lodge is a place where cancer patients along with their caregiver can stay during treatments at  no cost to them what so ever.

Through the Hope Ball they raised over $112,000.

Amazing!

If Cedar Creek sponsors a table next year, I look forward to getting all glammed up and going again.

Until then...my favorite picture from the night...

Our First IUI

I'm not sure when I will actually post this, but I want to get down the events of the weekend and how I'm feeling.

So...we did our first IUI yesterday (January 29).

I'm still in shock that I'm writing that sentence.

It seems like we have been waiting forever to make it this far and all of a sudden we were there.

I got a positive surge on my ovulation test Saturday morning and called the doctor to let them know.

We were in the middle of dress shopping when the nurse called me back.

Shot at 9:00 that night.

IUI at 9:00 the following morning.

Umm..what?

Cue all the emotions.

Excitement.  Fear.  Hope.  Nervous.

All the emotions.

We were already planning to spend the night with Andrew's mom and dad that evening.  Having given one shot, my mother-in-law had the most shot giving experience.  I am so glad she didn't mind to give me my trigger shot.

I wasn't expecting it to hurt, but I wasn't sure I could inject myself.

I didn't even feel it.  Now I think I could do it myself next time.

The IUI went very smooth.

No pain.

Easy as pie.

It felt like any other appointment we've had.

I kept having to tell myself that was it.

We did it.

The rest of the day was spent resting and attending the symphony.

The distractions were nice.


Fast forward to a week later...February 3.

I went in for blood work so they could check my progesterone.

Late that night I got the results.

My progesterone was 2.9 ng/ml.

That's very low.

I spoke with the nurse Monday afternoon and she confirmed my suspicions.

Progesterone being that low meant that I didn't ovulate when we thought.

I'm not sure why I got the positive surge if I didn't ovulate at that time.

Chances of this being a successful IUI were next to nothing.

I spent the next few days feeling sad and heartbroken.

I also felt dumb for believing this was going to work on the first try.

I wanted to call it quits and walk away.  Yet at the same time I felt impatient and ready to start my next cycle and try again

Infertility brings a huge range of emotions.

And now we're at today....test day.

I went ahead and took a test this morning even though my progesterone levels meant I wasn't pregnant.  I guess I was in denial.

The test confirmed that our first IUI was not successful.

I told myself from the beginning that I would be thankful just to complete an IUI.

And I am.  I am so thankful that we had the chance to do that.  I'm thankful that we know a little more about my cycle than we did before, allowing us to have a better game plan for next time.

We have an appointment next week to discuss a new treatment plan.

I'm not sure when next time will be.

Andrew will be traveling for work soon and we have some other things going on that need to take precedent right now.