Happy Doctor's Day!

I just wanted to say Happy Doctor's Day to my two favorite surgeons!   Hope you both had a great day and it is an honor to be your nurse!

Dr. Barker

Dr. Smith

Sleepy Sunday

Thanks again to everyone who left me comments last night and today.  I have felt much better today.  The storm only lasted about 30 minutes in our area, but it was still pretty scary for me.  Michael ended up coming home while they were passing through which made me feel much better.  I am still trying to decide if I want to call for an appointment with my OB, but I'll decide something by tomorrow afternoon.  

This is how we spent most of the day...

Spencer and I have slept and watched TV on the couch all day except for the 30 minutes I took to get a shower and when I stopped to cook dinner.  We decided this morning that since it was a cloudy, cold day, that we would just lie around in our pjs!  It was the most relaxing day I've had in a LONG time!  

Hopefully this will be a much slower week at work.  Last week wore me out!  I think that is why I felt bad yesterday and crashed today!  Also, don't forget if you see any doctors tomorrow to be sure to tell them Happy Doctor's Day!  :-)

Rainy Days Get Me Down

First, I want to thank all of you who have shared your personal experiences with clotting disorders with me.  Your stories have helped me so much.  Also, I feel like I have to be honest with you today.  So many of you have commented or emailed me over the past three months to say how strong you think I am and to tell me that I give you strength.  Well, girls, I am not always so positive and today is one of those times.   I am not going to lie to you, I'm having a hard day today.  It is windy, rainy, and just plain gloomy here.  I started out having a good day and then somewhere this afternoon I physically started feeling blah and then my emotional selfpitty took over.  

After I cleaned my house I started reading sad blogs and researching my clotting disorder AGAIN.  I seriously need to step away from google!  I just feel like I cannot know enough.  I guess it is the nurse in me, but I.MUST.KNOW.EVERYTHING.ABOUT.FACTOR.V.LEIDEN.  I have pulled out my nursing books, miscarriage books, pregnancy books, and googled until I can't google anymore.  All that I am left with is, yes, this can be a potentially life threatening problem for both mother and baby and no one is sure how to treat it.  However, women have healthy pregnancies and babies everyday with no effects.  At one point I wasn't sure if I even wanted to try again.  What if this time I make it to 40 weeks then have an umbilical cord clot and loose my baby at birth?  Or, what if we make it home and we are alone and I have a pulmonary embolism and die before anyone can get to me (I have a few patients that have had this very thing happen and come close)?  It is just sooooooooooooo overwhelming.   

I think I am going to make an appointment to see my OB this week and talk with him in person with Michael.  We both have a lot of questions and I need to know EXACTLY why he has the plan he has for me.    I just want to be 100% comfortable with the treatment plan.  If I am not, I may ask for a referral to a hematologist (specialist in blood disorders).  

Michael is planning on having a guys night out and I think I am going to curl up on the couch with a book or watch Lifetime Movie Network.  We have a lot to do tomorrow, but I may just spend the day in my pjs being lazy.  We haven't had a Sunday like that in about 4 months!  It may be time!

EDIT:  We have a tornado warning only about 2 counties over and Michael just left.  Here is my first test with my fear of storms that is obviously gotten worse since the fire.  Looks like Spencer and I have some serious cuddle time coming!

Coincidence, I Think Not!

Do you ever wonder just how much of a coincidence things really are?  I have always been a believer that everything happens for a reason.  It doesn't matter what it is, good or bad.  As I have thought about my clotting disorder and the events that led to it's discovery I realized God has done some AMAZING things in my life over the past ten years that I know have all worked together to get me to the same place.  Here is the chain of events:

• Fall 1998 Decided to go to UT Chattanooga instead of going "away" to college

• Fall 1999 Joined Alpha Delta Pi sorority

• Sept 2001 A sorority sister introduced me to Michael and fell in love after our blind date.

• January 2002 Started nursing school with the anticipation of working in labor and delivery for my entire career.

• May 2004 Graduated and began working in the adult CCU at Erlanger Hospital instead of L&D.  I cannot imagine how I could have ever delivered babies on a daily basis and dealt with infertility. 

• 2005 Got married and began missing Michael during the three days I work nights and he is working days and we never see each other.

• Late 2005 realized I need a day job and preferably a Monday-Friday job, found one working for a trauma surgeon.  This becomes a job that I love and I feel so blessed to have it.

• 2007 started TTC, how hard could that be?!

• Fall 2008 After one year of TTC and a miscarriage, no answers from OBGYN, started to get frustrated, a former coworker and the before mentioned trauma surgeon recommend I see a new OBGYN they both think highly of

• Jan 2009 second miscarriage, ready for some answers, NOW! 

• March 2009  find out I have a potentially life threatening clotting disorder and I realize that if I had not followed the path I took in my life to get where I am RIGHT NOW, I would not know and could have possibly had a blood clot or worse before finding out.  (My previous OBGYN would not test me for this disorder even though I asked TWICE)

God works in some AMAZING and AWESOME ways, doesn't he?!  Let this be an example that God puts you in the right place at the right time everytime and everything happens for a reason.

Thankful Thursday

I have something very important to be Thankful for today!  I received my final results from my OBGYN today.  Apparently my first test was correct and I do have a clotting disorder.  I have heterozygous Factor V Leiden.  I know you are probably wondering what in the world that is!  I know I was!!!!  It means I have a deficiency in Factor V meaning that I have an increased risk of developing blood clots than a normal person.  Only 3-5% of the population has this disorder and those with ancestors from Sweden have a 10% increase in the chance of developing the disorder.  Well, guess where my paternal Grandmother is from!  

I'm not really sure how to explain this to you as I am trying to figure it out myself.  I do know that the concern is that it can cause small blood clots to enter the placenta or umbilical cord and cut off blood supply to the baby therefore cause a miscarriage.  I am at a peace to know what is wrong, however, I am worried about the treatment my dr has recommended.  He is wanting me to take 81 mg Aspirin daily once I get a positive pregnancy test.  From what I know from nursing (again, it is a HUGE handicap to have the knowledge that I have) it might would benefit me to begin now and then take an actual blood thinner during pregnancy.  I am really happy to have a cause for my miscarriages and a way to treat it, but on the other hand, I am really nervous and upset because I am not sure I am happy with the treatment.  If you have any experience with MTHFR or Factor V Leiden, please email me and tell me your story.  

I did start cycle 13 today and what a great way to start it by receiving news we are ready to start trying again!  I just need to trust my doctor and continue to have HOPE AND FAITH that great things are coming my way!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It is a rainy, dreary day here.  I am preparing for my first test of my nerves as it looks like the first thunderstorm since the one that caught our house on fire might be coming through the area tonight.  I have been anxious about this day for a long time.  I have always HATED storms and never sleep well during one.  I am still working out my fear of another fire (which many tell me I will always have) and tonight will be the first real test of my fear.  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!  :-)

I've been swamped at work this week.  I guess that is payback for me being off a few days and for having one of my doctors out a full week.  It's been a L-O-N-G week!  Only two more days until the WEEKEND!   I am already thinking of things that we need to get done!  

I should be getting the results of my bloodwork soon.  I am praying for it to show what we think it will so we will at least have a cause for my problems.  I promise I will share more when I get a definite diagnosis.

So, who is watching DWTS?  I missed the first two weeks due to getting ready to move and then not having cable last week.  However, I caught up over the weekend with last weeks episode and then watching this week. 

 I am LOVING Melissa from the bachelor and Lawrence Taylor (I ALWAYS love the football star)!  Who do you love?

PLEASE continue to pray for Baby Stellan.  He took a turn for the worst today, but is doing better now.  He needs our prayers in a big way!

Just Another Manic Monday

Whew!  Today was a busy day!  Since I was out Friday I had some paperwork and some messages to work on this morning which always take up a lot of my time.  Then, we had one of the busiest days in Dr. Smith's office we have had possibly EVER!  He has been told that he can never leave town again!  Haha!  It was CRAZY times!  The good news is my back/neck pain is almost gone, but I am planning on changing clothes and then crashing on the couch with either Logan's takeout or a pizza, which ever one Michael shows up with.  Ha!

I am officially becoming a blogger user instead of a mac.com blogger.  I am back on my mac, but I LOVE blogger soooooooo much more!  Look for me to buy a domain soon.  You'll of course still be able to access this page through the current address, but since it is no longer a temporary home, I thought I would celebrate us being back in our permanent home by renaming it with it's own domain!  I am also in the process of starting a new recipe blog!  I have moved over a few of my recipes from the mac site.  Check it out!  I plan to add to it as I try new, yummy things!

Well, that is about it for this Manic Monday!  Hope you all had a great day!

EDIT:  Please be praying for Baby Stellan.  If you are unfamiliar with his story please click on his name to read his story.  He is a miracle baby, similar to Harper and Brayden and he could sure use your prayers tonight!

Weekend Wrap Up

I Hope everyone enjoyed the first weekend of Spring as much as we did!  It has been a busy weekend, but still great to spend it in our house!

Friday, the direct tv guy was here from 8:30-2:30 (apparently we had a bad dish, so it took longer than it should, whatever) so I only got a few things accomplished.  That night we went down the street to our regular Mexican restaurant, yum!  Saturday I spent most the morning going to Hobby Lobby, Sam's, and Walmart.  I baked and cleaned house in the afternoon because we grilled out and had our friends Rodney and Sarah over last night!  I made Kelly's double chocolate gooey butter cake and it is unbelievably good!!!!  I have some left over, so I'll bring those to work tomorrow.

I got a few cute things at Hobby Lobby yesterday.

I got this pretty lamp for my guest bathroom

This red lamp for my wine cabinet

Is this not the CUTEST egg plate ever?!

Today we've just been kind of lazy.  It is nice to just lie around!  I have somehow hurt my neck and upper back, so I am just taking it easy on the couch.  However, we did have this exciting thing happen this morning!  Santa, I mean Sears, brought my new washer and dryer!!!!!!  Yes, I am FINALLY enjoying doing my laundry and yes, there is laundry going in this picture!  Ha!

I wish I had a pic of my OLD washer and dryer to show it, but just imagine your Grandparent's set!  Yes, it was a 1979 Kenmore!  Haha!

Next, I have a question for you.  If you have hardwood floors, what is your cleaning routine and what product do you use?  I am having a hard time keeping mine clean (I know that is just part of having a new house and dark floors).  So, PLEASE give me some advice!

Go Mocs Part II

Ok, so they didn't win (or even come close for that matter!), but just to give you a little taste of my school, here is our most famous alumni (well, other than Terrell Owens) to introduce Jimmy Fallon to our mascot. Don't lie, you know you are jealous that Mr. Belding is my fellow alum! Haha!

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Happy Spring!

Spencer says "Happy Spring!"  God knew what He was doing when He made Spring!  It is so beautiful with trees and flowers blooming, warmer and longer days, and green grass.  Today is the beginning of Spring, which is the season of new beginnings.  I don't think there has ever been anything so true!   We have said from the beginning of the house ordeal that when we got back in our house it would be a new beginning.  Our house would be new again, we would start TTC again (well, as soon as ALL the bloodwork comes back) and find a new church.  Well, guess what, we are back in our house, getting settled, hoping to start visiting churches soon and SPRING HAS SPRUNG!  

Spencer and I have already been outside playing ball and enjoying a pretty Spring day.  I had to take off from work today to meet with the insurance adjuster this morning (that was fun, let me tell you!), and to be here for some repair people to look at our electronics.  This afternoon I am planning on making a trip to Target to make some returns of things I thought I would need, but turns out I didn't and to Sam's and Walmart to get some groceries.  It is shaping up to be a beautiful weekend!  We have a lot to do around the house.  We have to do some serious landscaping from where everyone has trampled all of our shrubs and mow the yard (as if you can't tell from the picture! Ha!).  Hopefully we can make some progress to have the outside looking as nice as it did before.  The inside sure does look better, might as well improve what we can outside!

Have a Great Weekend!

PS: I almost forgot!  Congratulations to Kelly on your new beginning!  You officially have my dream job!  I wish you and your adorable little coworker all the best!  :-)

Go Mocs!

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As a proud alumni, I just had to post this video!  Jimmy Fallon has selected my alma mater, UT Chattanooga as his March Madness team!  Too bad they aren't the best out there, but who cares, it is pretty awesome anyway!  Haha!

Praise For Our Blessings

Kelly has asked everyone to share a few of the things that we give PRAISE for.  I really don't think I could have asked for a better post for today!  Wonderful Wednesday really doesn't cut it today!  

PRAISE:  We are in our house and getting settled!  Here are some pictures I took quickly this afternoon.  It is N

O WHERE near completed as far as being settled (like most of my window coverings or pictures are not hung), but you'll get the idea!

Living Room, notice my furniture showed up yesterday!  Ignore the extra floor lamp, it is moving to our home office soon!  :-)  Also, look who is HAPPY to be home and playing away!

The kitchen.  It is a little cluttered right now.  I usually don't have the candle, dishtowel, or coffee maker out!  

Our Bedroom.  I am in love with the way this turned out.  Now if only I could get Michael to hang my brown curtains!

PRAISE:  We might have a cause for my recurrent miscarriages!!!!!  I was having a feel sorry for myself afternoon (which usually happens when I am not busy seeing patients, just something about that time of day) and my OB office called and my bloodwork was back a week earlier than we thought!  GOD has some good timing!  :-)  Something did show up on my bloodwork and I go back tomorrow for a redraw.  I actually want it to be correct so that it can be treated (it is something that is easily treatable) and we can move on.

PRAISE:  SPRING IS HERE!  It is 72 degrees outside and not a cloud in sight!  It makes me excited to get outside this weekend and do some yard work!  Ha!

PRAISE:  I was sooooooo worried about Spencer and my parents dog, Beasley when we took Spencer home.  They had become doggie BFFs and I was so sad to take Spencer.  However, after four days, Spencer seem so be doing pretty well.

What about you?  What are you Praising GOD for today?

There Is No Place Like Home

There is not a more true statement than that! When you are homeless for three months and you get to move back in, it is truly the best feeling in the world.

I'm sorry for being MIA for awhile, but we have been so BUSY trying to get everything ready, moved, and settled. We also have not had internet until today. This is also my first day back to work and I am swamped, but I'll give you a quick recap.

Thursday we had the all clear to start moving in. Everything was completed and ready to move in!!!!!! We finished one day ahead of schedule and technically one week ahead if you look at the original time line! DSI (the company hired for our moving and storage by the insurance co) pulled in at 9:30 and started unloading. We realized pretty quickly that it was going to be quite an ordeal! We have found a few broken things and a lot of our furniture has scratches on it, but I must say that I am EXTREMELY grateful to just have our belongings and furniture! The boxes are quite random, so we have just spent the past four days just opening them up, running to Goodwill, and then bringing in to the house what we need. We still have a garage FULL of boxes waiting on another Goodwill run or to be put in the attic or garbage.

Our living room furniture also had to be returned to the DSI storage place for cleaning. Somehow, they FORGOT to clean it (imagine a moldy ashtray!)! We are hoping to see it arrive sometime today. I do not have any good pics yet since we are not settled. I PROMISE to post some soon!

Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers, emails, and everything else you have all done for us since December 10. We love you all and there is no way to repay you for all that you've done. There will be thank you notes soon, but I just haven't got around to that yet. I promise, we have not forgotten a single one of you! :-)

Happy 60th Birthday!

Today was the 60th Birthday of one of the surgeons I work for. Our MA, Shelly and I spent some time this morning decorating the office and his office and then this afternoon we had a party while he saw patients. Here are some pictures from his party!

Happy Birthday Dr. Barker!

The Guest of Honor!

The.Best.Cake.EVER!

House Update

There will be a lot of house updates this week, but this is the latest. Today, the hardwood was finished, granite was installed, and we are on track to move in on FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!

Our living room/foyer! I LOVE the green with the dark hardwood (please excuse my dust!)!

Kitchen is almost finished! The backsplash will be done tomorrow!!!!!

Candles Anyone?

In everything that has gone on I've never told you about my hobby. I sell Gold Canyon candles as a hobby, but unfortunately with car sales the way they are right now, I am having to sale them to help pay the bills! They come with my personal guarantee that you WILL love them more than anyother candle you've ever had! Every candle with the exception on some specialty and 5oz candles have two wicks to burn evenly. They last a LONG time. I have a couple of Christmas candles that I have burned for about 3 Christmas seasons now!

If anyone is interested, go to my website and take a look. I promise that you will NOT be disappointed! :-) If you order anything it will come directly to you within two weeks, most of the time within 10 days! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at AJLedford@mac.com.

Fabulous Friday

Yay for Friday!!!! I am spending my day working on FMLA forms, charts for next Monday and Tuesday, and cleaning my office. I can't believe how dusty it gets over just a few days! Yuck! With it being Friday, it also means that it is only a week or so from our completion date!!!!!!! We went to the house last night and it was wonderful being able to actually turn on or off a light! We haven't done that since we went to bed the night before the fire! Just yesterday, the remainder of our light fixtures/fans were hung, cabinets are in and on the wall, closet organizer systems are in place, all the damaged vinyl has been replaced, and now we are just waiting on hardwood, countertops, carpet, and plumbing. You know, all the pretty stuff to make it complete!!!! So, barring any major crisis or catastrophe (and we do tend to have a lot of those! ha!), we should be complete next Friday at the latest!!!!

Speaking of crisis, let me update on you on light fixture crisis '09. My builder went by the lighting store and they actually had ONE and only one of our foyer fixtures in stock! So, obviously I told him to go ahead and pick it up! Then there is the issue of my beautiful, most favorite fixture in the dining room. We have found a way to rig it up and it will be usable. So, that was the end of my mini crisis of the week! :-)

I will be posting some pictures this weekend to show our end of week progress. Hopefully, but not likely, we will have countertops today. I am not really looking for them until Monday though.

Hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Midweek House Update

I started feeling better around 2, so I went and met my builder to discuss the next week of building and got the best news yet (well, other than my girly parts are ok!), we WILL be back in sometime the week of March 16!!!!!!!!! PTL!!!!!!!!!! While I was there, the electrician was finishing up, the granite guy came to measure for the countertops, and the tile guy came to replace the few broken tiles!

I was able to get some better pics today with my big camera.

Look what came home today...my cabinets! Oh how I've missed you! The glass door and molding around the top should show up soon.

I had them change the light kit on my fan to one of the old ones that were on the damaged fans. Much better! I always hated the one I had before.

And since everyday has to have a little crisis, here is today's crisis. I am a little sad about this. My two favorite fixtures I had in my house, my dining room fixture (shown above, please excuse the electrician's ladder) and my foyer fixture are causing problems. First, the foyer fixture is MIA. The last time we saw it, it had been removed by the fire department (yes, they really did remove it and we LOVE them for all the time they spent making sure everything was safe!) and laid on the floor in our office. Well, the insurance people came, packed everything up, moved it all to storage, and as of today, has no clue what they did with it. Beautiful foyer fixture, please come home, I love you and miss you!!! Then there is the case of the fixture that I fell in love with so much, it made me want to buy the house (well, not entirely, but it did help persuade me!). When the electrician hung it he could not get the bottom piece back on. It is warped and probably won't go back together. The sad part of this story, it is no longer available. :-( I am still hoping for a light fixture miracle and that it can be rigged up!

I didn't get a picture of this room Monday, but this is our home office/boy nursery. I love how the crown molding and dark paint just pop! GORGEOUS! (in my opinion anyway!)

Wonderful Wednesday!

Today is one of the best days I have had in a LONG time (at least so far at 11:30 am!)! Here is a few reasons why:

No, this isn't me, but this is what I had done this morning. I went to my OB's office for a procedure under ultrasound that would show if I had any anatomical problems with my uterus, tubes, or ovaries. It was very uncomfortable, well, ok, it just flat out hurts, and still does two and a half hours later! The OB dilates your cervix and inserts a catheter to fill your uterus and tubes with saline. After it is injected, he watches the screen to see the flow of the saline. My uterus looked perfect, tubes are wide open to let a little egg travel, and my ovaries looked great! So, what's next you may ask? After a pretty lenghty conversation, it was decided to draw a few more labs and wait for those to come back in two to three weeks. If those are normal, I am back into the swing of things. If not, we fix the problem and then start again! So regardless, I should be back to babymaking by May if not April!!!! We are going to do a few new things when the time does come that we are pregnant again. I am to start taking progesterone the day I get a positive pregnancy test and call his office immediately. We will get beta HCGs and ultrasounds from 4 weeks on. He has promised me he will do everything in his power to keep me from having another miscarriage. That is all I need to hear!

Thank you all for praying for my OB decision back in October. It was such a hard thing to do, as I really did LOVE my old OB, but she didn't specialize in infertility and her staff just wasn't the right fit for me. This OB is FABULOUS and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE his nurses. So, thank you God for putting me in the right place at the right time to get encouraged to see him. He has made all the difference in the world in my attitude right now!

The next thing is too cool! Last night I had a comment from a girl that is not only moving to my area, but DOWN THE STREET!!!!! How exciting is that?! The funniest part of the story is that she found me through Kelly's blog. It just makes me laugh that neighbors found each other through a blog of a girl ten hours away! Ha! Brittney, if you read this, email me, I tried to email you, but I don't think it went through. I want to get to know you better! I promise I am not a weird stalker! :-)

In a couple of hours after I start to feel better (they said I should feel better in a few hours), I am going to run to my house to look at our light fixtures and cabinets, which should all be there by afternoon!!!! PTL, we are still ahead of schedule!!!!! I'll post some pictures when they are all installed. I'll also bring my better camera today and try to get some better paint pictures.

Bachelor Finale Recap

All I can say is "WHAT IS HE THINKING????!!!!"

What did you think? I'll post another post tomorrow to follow up on part 2!

UPDATE: I seriously could not have written this any better myself, but this is what my good friend Lauren had to say.

Paint Makes Me Happy!

Today is the day I've been waiting for the last few weeks! The day the painters came and essentially painted the entire house in one day! There is only one thing I am going to have them do differently, but otherwise I AM IN LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I am going to list the colors because I had a hard time finding pics of the colors I liked and at least now it may helps others! Ha!)

Living Room, SW Tansy Green

The room that is quickly becoming my favorite, the kitchen, SW Nuthatch (this is not as dark as it looks in pictures)

Dining Room, also SW Nuthatch

Please excuse my mess! They are using our bedroom as storage! The ceiling in our room is the only thing we are having changed. They painted the inside part blue and we wanted it white. The walls are SW stream.

Our bathroom (yes, that is a toilet in the center of the room! ha!). SW Brevity Brown (which we used in both bathrooms, master ceiling, and both extra bedrooms).

My future little girl room! I can't wait to accessorize this room in pink and green, but for the time being it will have white and green accents.

Sorry that the picture quality is so poor, not sure what that is about. :-( Anyway, that concludes our tour for today! Hopefully by the end of the week you can see our light fixtures and kitchen complete!

Weekend Wrapup

The Ledfords had a great weekend! They are almost done painting, which I will take pictures of tomorrow. I decided to wait until it was finished to take pictures so you can get the full effect, and we are about two days ahead of the timeline I was given two weeks ago! God is so good! I talked with our builder today and he expects painting to be done tomorrow with maybe some touch ups on Tuesday, cabinets set on Tuesday, lighting hung and countertops in by the end of the week or first of next!!!! Hardwood, carpet, and plumbing will be all that will be left except a few minor things that we are doing extra! I am getting so excited!


We went today and picked out our ceiling fans and hung out with a good friend this afternoon at Fox and Hound. I love Sundays since it is the only day we are both off from work and we get to spend the entire day just hanging out together. It is always a good day! :-)


So, be sure to come by Life With The Ledfords tomorrow night to see pics of our paint! Can you tell that I am SUPER excited?!?! Ha!