Chiropractic Infertility Treatment

I LOVE this graphic.  I found it on pinterest and can’t find the source.  But I just thought it was so perfect.

  Still waiting on my period to start.  I’ve had a little spotting off and on, but nothing more yet.  Of course.  If it starts today, or even tomorrow, we still have a shot at an IUI this month.  BUT, I finally made another appointment with Dr. B.  We haven’t seen him since the end of our monitoring cycle in August and I just really need to know where we’re at and what he thinks.

I want to pick his brain about a diagnosis.  Will he want to do a lap?  I’m just not content with his wait and see/ conservative approach and I want to know why my cycles continue to be so wonky despite the huge amounts of extra hormones we’re pumping into my body.  So we go see him again two weeks from yesterday.

I also made an appointment with a local chiropractor to get my uterus, my hips, and my lower back checked.  My cousin and her husband are chiropractors and really advocate using adjustments to keep the whole body healthy.  I chatted with her last night about it and she said there are a lot of connections between your hips, lower back, and uterus.  I wish I could go see them, but they live in Grand Rapids. 😦 I’m going to see this guy on Saturday morning.  I’ve always had a lot of hip and lower back pain, so maybe there’s something to this.   Any tips or personal experiences about chiropractic infertility treatments?

In other news, I’m pushing through final projects.  One week from tonight and I’ll be done for the semester!  I’m drinking too much coffee and not getting nearly enough sleep.  And I’m definitely not eating well.  Prenatal vitamins?  Oopsies…  Thank goodness we took this cycle off.

On Tuesday, Snow White had her first vet appointment.  It went well.  Afterwards, we met my sister and her goldendoodle, Mr. Smith, at the dog park so the cousins could play together.  Snow White never stops running. 😉

It’s finally cooling down here (again).  The greyhounds are back in their jackets when we go outside.  And they’ve both fallen in love with our wood burning fireplace. 😉

 

 

Anger and Insanity

I had another acupuncture appointment yesterday.  I had a much less painful period this month, so I’m going to guess it’s doing something since it’s the only change I’ve made.  She added a few extra needles to my neck and ears to help with anger.  I’ve had a lot of anger lately.  Part of it is stemming from normal pms, but honestly, I feel like I’m angry at the world lately.  I’m angry that we’re going through this, I’m angry that other people are having babies, I’m angry about having that HSG test next week, and I think most of all I’m angry that I’m so angry.  If that makes sense…

It seems like the crying out of grief has subsisted and this horribly intense anger has taken its place.  I think I would prefer the crying though.  My anger is causing arguments and that’s never good.  Poor Jeremy has to live with me… 😉
We had an argument last night (that turned out to be a misunderstanding on both of our parts: fail) and through the arguing, I started to realize that I’m not as ok with that HSG test as I was wanting to be.  It bothers me that something foreign will be in my body.  It makes me uncomfortable that so many people we be looking at these parts of my body.

Will this theoretical baby ever know how much we want it?  What we’re willing to do to have it?  How hard we’re trying to fight for it?  I think that makes me angry too (and I know it shouldn’t).  My parents didn’t have a hard time getting pregnant with my sister or I.  We were planned, but they didn’t have to try very hard.  While we were growing up, I don’t think we stopped and thought about how much we were wanted; that two people decided to bring us into the world.  I appreciate it now.  I appreciate the emotions that went into those decisions.  Would I ever have thought about it without being in this situation?

Another thing on my mind today is the dreams I’ve been having.  Tell me if this is normal…  I dream about a baby, our baby.  Over the course of the dream, the baby is either taken away from us or dies.  The details are usually completely obscure, but last night things got hauntingly  detailed.  Our baby was born.  It was a girl.  We knew her birthday.  She had a name.  I remember being irritated that my family forgot to throw a baby shower ;).  All of a sudden, our baby is a year or two old and she’s dying.  She’s had some kind of illness that couldn’t be cured.  My mom and sisters were there and they just didn’t understand why I was so upset.  Then she got taken away from me.  Then I woke up.

I hate these dreams.  They happen a couple times a week.  They’re getting bad enough that I don’t want to sleep any more.  I  understand why I’m having them.  I understand what they’re supposed to represent.  I would just really like them to stop.

And for the very last bit of news, I got admitted to graduate school over the weekend.  It feels like a ounce of sanity in the middle of complete insanity. 😉

Yay, me!

 

 

Couch Monkey

I hate being sick.  I know, who doesn’t?  But it’s not the actually feeling sick that I hate, although that’s a bummer too.  I hate not being able to do anything.  I came down with a cold 3 weeks ago and ‘lo and behold, it’s officially turned into bronchial pneumonia… and a sinus infection…  Therefore, both Jeremy and my doctor have pretty much forbidden me from leaving the couch or bed for the next 5 days…  No school, no Stitch and Bitch, no working out, no errands, no cleaning (oh darn 😉 )…  I. am. a. Couch Monkey.

I hate sitting still.  I’ve been a knitting maniac already and I’m sure before my 5 days are up I’ll have lots of pictures for you.  My Flying Saucer socks are almost done and they’re AWESOME!

Other than my current 5 days of vacation, school is going well so far.  I’m really enjoying my classes and professors.  I’ve recently decided to apply to Roosevelt’s Sociology graduate program.  Yikes, eh? 🙂 I never thought I’d be going to grad school so soon.  Crossing my fingers that 2 years from now I’ll have 2 degrees and a job. 😉

Meanwhile, I’m exhausted and am going to take a nap.  More later.

The Beginning of the End…

Je suis très bien!

Most people complain that 3 weeks of winter break are too short after usually having 5.  I argue that it was just about right.  I had a nice vacation full of sleep, knitting, getting old, and young adult adventure novels (my vice, you know 😉 ).

I just started my last semester as a degree-less student! 😉  It was a good day.  I loved my forensic anthropology class, but then again, I never really doubted I wouldn’t. (Suck on THAT double negative.  Or something).  I’m not going to lie, that was by far the most interesting class of the day.
My Native American Lit class and my American Lit courses went well, but they’re just the same old English class.  I don’t think I can sit through being taught how to write a literary question one more time..  Thankfully, I won’t have to.

I’ve officially decided that I won’t be going to graduate school for English or an MFA.  I don’t think either would do anything for me.  Don’t get me wrong, I in no way regret getting an English degree.  In fact, I think it was one of the most perfect subjects to usher me into adulthood.  It helped me learn how to think critically, to analyze things in front of me, and, most importantly, how to write.  That being said, I think I’ve gone as far as I’m able.  I can’t do much more reading a story, analyzing, and trying to come up with a unique paper topic.  That does nothing for me and does nothing to better the world.
I have a few ideas as to what comes next, but I’ll let you know next week when I have things a bit more figured out.

Tomorrow: African American Literature.  Wednesday: Criminology!

15 1/2 weeks until graduation, you know.

🙂

In other news, Jeremy and I are moving in with his parents at the end of February.  Our lease on our apartment is up and it makes more sense for us to move back to the suburbs, save a ton of money on rent, pay off some student loans, and, eventually, buy a house.
They bought a neat, old two-unit house a year or so again and have been doing a TON of work on it.  The rooms that are finished look WONDERFUL!!! 🙂  We plan on spending our weekends for the next several weeks helping them get it ready for four people and three cats to live in comfortably.  I knocked out a wall over the weekend.  It’s true, I’m a badass… 😉

I really am looking forward to being back in suburbia again.  I’ll miss the city, but I think it’s time, for now.  My friends are all graduating and moving (or have moved– CHRISTINE!) away.  I miss our family.  Being with them more often is worth the little bit of extra time it will take me to commute to the city.  It will also be nice to be living with my in-laws.  I don’t think we’ve spent nearly enough time with them since we’ve been married, and even before that.  Now they’ll get nice and sick of seeing us every day… 😉

tootles until tomorrows update. 🙂

ps. did you know that Whole Foods sells bath salts?  Yum.

Karl and a Documentary

It’s a chilly morning in Chicago and Starbucks has their Christmas decoration up. 🙂  They’re very pretty and festive.  My favorite!  I opted to wear my old winter coat today because it matched my outfit better and to my pleasant surprise, it was much needed on my way to class this morning.

I’m taking a quick break from my newest short story.  Maybe I’ll see this one through to the end?  I don’t even care if I send it out for publication, I just feel like I never get around to finishing my stories.  This one is different though.  I usually write from the point of view of a younger woman (who knew?) and this story centers around Karl Swanson who is an older man in his 50’s or so.  It’s kind of fun being someone completely different.
Lukasik has us writing short fiction scenes right now and last week’s completely blew.  It’s also up for critique today.  The last thing I had critiqued was my creative nonfiction and it was very well received.  But this one… I’m dreading class…
This week, however, I’m using her strict guidelines to expand Karl Swanson’s story.  It should be interesting.

We’ve been watching a documentary in sociology about the United States, wars, defense spending, capitalism, and the like called Why We Fight.  Google Video features the entire thing if you have 99 minutes.  It really is interesting.  The whole thing was a little heart-breaking as it really showed me that I can, quite obviously, no longer live in my positive and trusting world.  How does someone handle this?  It’s not a change necessarily as I have always opposed war and the privatization of war and government spending, but the fact that soon I’m slowly becoming more against the government I’ve grown up watching.  Even more difficult is the fact that my sister and dad both served in the military and I in no way want to do them any disservice by my desire to protest all that is militant and government.
We debated in political science last week the U.S.’s refusal to join to International Criminal Court and whether that was a wise idea.  I very much believe the U.S. puts enough into global affairs and global domination that they need to be held accountable for the acts they carry out.
As often as I feel like my school goes against the government to a fault, sometimes I appreciate their presentation of information that I probably wouldn’t get elsewhere.
But who am I, right?  Just another liberal college student. 😉

Meanwhile, Alice and Bella are celebrating their 2nd birthday today. =)  My babies are growing up.

Karl Swanson beckons.  ❤

So THAT’S Why I Majored in English….

I had my first English class of the semester tonight and I feel completely relieved. 🙂

When last semester ended, I was seriously questioning why I had majored in English.  I was burned out, and fed up with school.  So I opted to take a philosophy class over the summer and opted to use up 2 gen ed classes on non English credits this fall semester.  I had those two classes yesterday and I was completely ready to just drop out of school by the end of them.

My sociology class is dealing with urban issues and social constructs, while my political science class is an introduction to international relations.  I thought they would both be useful for whenever Jeremy and I move abroad.
But….
They. Are. So. Dry.
I assumed it was me and I was still feeling like I was feeling at the end of spring semester.  Until I got to my Modern American Literature class tonight.  I had to drive out to Schaumburg — a 45 minute drive on a good day– so I was already in a bad mood about it.  But once class began and we started to discuss the wonderful world of literature, I was reminded why I chose this major: I Love Books.  Its not even just the reading of them (although that obviously plays a big part).  Its the way they fit into history, the way they are history.  Its the feel of a book in your hand.  Its the act of interpreting what an author could mean.  Its debating the pros and cons of certain authors.  The act of immersing yourself into a story the way you might immerse yourself into a pool of water (or a bathtub 😉 ).  The act of understanding characters and letting them become a part of you briefly.   The reasons I love what I do are endless and ongoing.  As books will always continue to be written and the way you can interpret them are limitless,  my eduction is also limitless.

Does this have any practicality in the real world you might ask?  I’m still working on that one… 😉

Tomorrow: Creative Writing.  Delicious.

Alsoooooooo, I started my first sweater today.  NO FROGGING THIS ONE!  I used my Eco Wool that I bought during the Chicago Yarn Crawl with Christine.   I think its going to be super comfy.  Or rather, I hope its going to be super comfy. 😉