Baby McMillan

I know I have left y'all hanging since we told the world we were pregnant!! Softball season is over and I can finally take a breath at school from all my paperwork! Baby McMillan has been growing like a weed (and making my belly get larger)! We found out on April 19th that Baby M is a BOY! To say Matt was overjoyed would be an understatement!! I am thrilled as well and cannot wait for trucks, bugs, and balls to quickly takeover our house! We also found out that everything was perfect at the anatomy scan. He has all his parts and organs! Mamie(my mom) was able to come for the ultrasound and it was so much fun! He was facing straight toward my belly so we didn't get a cute profile picture like most people do. The other cool thing was that as she was measuring the ventricles of the heart he was punching me! It is so cool to be able to see the miracle growing inside of me. I drove with an envelope in my car to Knoxville so Matt and I could find out the gender together! It was so fun watching him open the card (see video below)! I am now in full boy mode when I am out and about! We have started pulling some things together for the nursery! I will reveal it when it's done! I have also registered us at Buy Buy Baby, Target, and Amazon.com! Now I am working on cleaning out closets and upstairs bedrooms so we can move stuff around! Baby Boy does not have a name yet, but we are working on it! Which is so unlike me because I am usually so prepared. I was prepared with a name but it was a girl name!! Hahahaha!

A Baby, In September!!

That's right folks! Matt and I are having a Baby! It was a long road but we are so blessed and cannot wait to welcome this baby to our family!

A Journey to Parenthood

Matt and I went through fertility treatments in order to get pregnant. When Matt and I decided to start a family I thought I would get pregnant on the first try. I know that it is highly unlikely and a fantasy, but as the days turned to months and the months turned to a year we knew this would be a journey. I am sad that my body will not do what most people's body do without a second thought. At first Matt tried to be extremely positive about everything while I went into a mini depression. I say mini because I was still able to go about by normal day I was just not feeling like myself. Plus, I was also not sleeping AT ALL! I have a plan, schedule, and I rarely can survive without some sort of 'good' sleep!
I am deciding to write this because I have found out first hand what it feels like for people to ask that harmless question: When are you going to have a baby? I have asked a ton of my friends this question without even thinking about the fact that they might be going through fertility problems. I don't want people to feel sorry for us or pity us. My doctor was very optimistic about us conceiving we just needed a little extra help.
Here is what our timetable looked like:
June 2011-Off Birth Control
July 2011-November 2011 Trying To Conceive(TTC)
November 2011- Doctor's Appointment, decide to do blood work
November 2011-January 2012- TTC
January 18,2012- Blood work shows Low progesterone. Given option of Clomid
February 2012-July 2012- TTC(when we could since Matt was gone)
June 2012- 1 year trying=infertility issues
August 2012- Dr.'s Appt. Re-do blood work, found out Progesterone still low but Thyroid and other blood work looks good. Given the option of Clomid. Told my sister who is a nurse and she recommends getting a second opinion since Clomid can have some pretty harsh side effects.
September 2012- Changed Doctors. We met with a Doctor at UAB that my sisters works with. She was very optimistic and has decided a different route instead of Clomid. We both had some tests run and then we will see if medicine is the way for us to go. Basically I am having a test run to see of my tubes are blocked and if my uterus is shaped correctly. Also I will have another panel of blood work done. Matt will have a sperm sample taken and it will be read by the fertility doctor. Once all the tests are in my doctor will decide if medicine will be the way to go or if we need to see an RE(fertility doctor.); HSG/FSH-Mollie, Sperm Sample-Matt, Results of New Tests: My tests were both normal; Matt's Sperm count is low. Maturity is good. We have been referred to a fertility doctor.
October 2012- Met with Fertility doctor at UAB. She re-analyzed all of our test and I got more blood work. We also found out that my hormones are actually ok(my Progesterone was a 7 and she said I only needed a 3 to get pregnant!). Also found out that Matt's "low sperm count" is actually not low, it is just right at the edge. She has label us as "unexplained infertility", meaning something is just not working exactly right. She is very hopeful that we will get pregnant by doing an IUI(inter uterine insemenation). Basically they are going to take the best sperm from Matt and place it in my uterus to help it along. I will not be taking an drugs because we think I am producing an egg and we don't wont multiples if we can help it! We will try it without the drugs a couple of times then move on to some fertility Meds to help.
October 19, 2012- IUI#1 All went well. Two Week Wait(TWW) begins.
November 7, 2012- Period Starts, IUI Failed
November 20, 2012-IUI#2 All went well, TWW begins
December 4, 2012- Period Starts, IUI Failed, I was 3 days late (never been late in my LIFE!!!)
After the 2nd Natural IUI failed, we decided to move on the medication. On Day 3 of my cycle, I had a ultrasound to check everything out. Clomid 50mg on Day 3-7 then on Day 11 went for ultrasound to determine size of follicles (3-9,11, and 14). Go back on Day 14 to remeasure (2-19 and 20). HCG Trigger Shot @ 9pm on December 17 (this is to make me release the eggs that are mature and by using this my doctor can control everything).
Decemebr 19, 2012- Medicated IUI (#3), TWW begins
December 29, 2012- first positive test! I freaked out but didn't get too excited b/c the trigger shot can give you a false positive. Decide to test everyday until I can get to the doctor.
December 31, 2012- call nurse setup blood work for January 2, 2013!
January 2, 2013- blood work comes back in the 400's. We suspect twins but won't know until an ultrasound confirms.
January 4, 2013- 2nd round of blood work comes back in the 800's. Schedule an ultrasound for January 16!
January 16- first ultrasound! The baby was exactly the right size and we even got to hear/see the heartbeat! It was in the 120s.
January 24- second ultrasound! Baby had doubled in size to the size of a kidney bean! Heard/saw the heartbeat in the 160s! Our REI doctor released is to my regular OBGYN!
January 30- first OB appointment with Dr. Greer! No ultrasound but she does an exam an everything checked out perfect. Go back on March 4th for 13 week appointment.
February 13- Ultrasound! Baby is measuring 5 days early, but everything is perfect! HB in the 170s!
February 14- Told the world! Everyone was super excited!

2013

Since I was such a slacker in 2012 I am not going to make any promises about blogging in 2013! I am going to try to take a picture/remember something fun for every day and blog! It might just be a bunch I pictures of Waylon, or I will actually mark off a bunch of our "list" for our house! I am not sad to see 2012 go, it brought a lot of craziness to us. There were a number of awesome times had by both of us and we are extremely blessed beyond measure. I am hoping your family is feeling as blessed in the New Year!

Alabama Game

This weekend Matt an I went to the Alabama vs. Western Carolina game. We went with our good friends April and Nathan! We had so much fun and it was the perfect weather! We started off our morning at Rama Jama's(where i may or may not have had a chocolate milkshake with my breakfast!) and then ended our long day at Dreamland! I also got to see 2 very special people Paige, one of my Pledge Sisters and really close friends! As well as Lauren, a girl I lived with in the Yellow House, sophomore year! We also ran into one o our campers, Hank, who was being escorted onto the field with Brody Croyle. did we take a picture with Brody, nope! only with Hank! While we were in Tuscaloosa I realized how much I missed the town and all the fun things to do. I told Matt that we have got to be better about going to Tuscaloosa to do things! After being in Bryant Denny he decided that we have to buy season tickets/ go to every home game next year! We shall see! All in all it was a great weekend spent with awesome friends! And I can't forget those two huge losses that Oregon and Kansas State produced to help us regain control of our own destiny! Roll Everyone is what I say to Baylor and Stanfod!!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I saw this recipe on a friend's blog the other day and since I LOVE all things pumpkin I made them! They were so awesome I have made these twice already!

Pumpkin Pancakes
Prep Time: 8 minutes
Yields: 12 (4 inch) pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour(I used self-rising the second time around and try we're much fluffier!)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice(I just shake the container 3-4 times)
2 large eggs(originally you have to separate the eggs but mine were plenty fluffy w/o beating the egg whites.)
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.
Combine eggs, milk, pumpkin and butter; add to flour mixture, stirring until incorporated.(If you separated the eggs fold the egg whites in here)
Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot, lightly greased griddle. Cool pancakes until tips are covered in bubbles and edges look cooked; turn an cook other side.

I will tell you that these are not sweet! There is only 1 tbsp of sugar. I was skeptical of the taste at first but once I added syrup I was in LOVE! If you love pumpkin you will love these pancakes! This is the 3rd recipe in the month of October that I made with pumpkin: pancakes, muffins, and oatmeal!

A Star Wars Halloween!

Matt and I decide to carve pumpkins this year and by the time I got around to going and getting a carving kit there were 3 options: Angry Birds, Star Wars, or Sesame Street! So what did I do? I bought the Star Wars kit! I figured Matt would be ok with it since we just purchased glasses and coffee cups that were Star Wars! We set out to carve pumpkins today, the coldest day ever! I am glad that we could do something fun for Halloween! I love everything pumpkin. I have made pumpkin coffee, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin muffins in the past week alone! Matt does not share my love for pumpkin as I do, but he is willing to try all my concoctions! I love Fall, but I will be getting Christmas out this weekend! Side Note: we will be in North Carolina for Thanksgiving and who knows where we will be for Christmas so I like to be able to enjoy it!!