Waiting for the test results (and all that happened in the meantime)

The day after my appointment was spent working in my classroom (I had the day off from work, but the Bee was at work all day), going to yoga class and cleaning the kitchen in preparation for the food I'd be making the next morning. The Bee made risotto for dinner (he is an excellent cook!) and we snuggled on the couch and watched Star Trek: TNG.

The next day was Thanksgiving. I made butternut squash soup, apple crisp (the easiest yet most delicious recipe ever that I got from my best friend) and rolls.  The Bee and I went to my Grandma's for lunch. Not much was out of the ordinary there, except that my crazy uncle brought a gun. Yes, a giant handgun that he had in a holster on a belt with bullets all along it. No one asked about it because we didn't want to draw attention to his weirdness. My theory is that the gun is his new "power piece." He got a bluetooth years ago before anyone else had them and wore it to every family function (holidays, birthday parties, funerals). Now that those are common, he decided to wear a gun instead. No one got shot and it was a pretty mellow Thanksgiving celebration.

From there, we drove to The Bee's parents' place for dinner. My Mom came with (my parents got divorced 2 years ago and my siblings celebrate with my Dad's family after my Mom's family, leaving my Mom alone on a lot of holidays) and brought a pomegranate for the Bee's parents. For some reason she didn't want to give it to them, so I carried it in and handed it to the Bee saying, "Here, can you give this to your Mom and tell her it's from my Mom?" My sister-in-law (the pregnant one with the 2-year-old twins) saw our awkward exchange and asked excitedly, "Oh! Are you trying to announce something?!" My eyes got wide and I quickly replied, "No. Nooooo!" and excused myself from the kitchen because the tears started welling up in my eyes. That was the first of about 20 million questions and comments about babies (Your babies will be so well rounded, good at math, science and art. When you have babies someday you'll understand. When will you join the baby club? You're the last ones who need to have a baby!) from several of our relatives. I only almost cried about 5 times but held my composure until we were on the way home.  The Bee called his Mom the following Saturday and told her what we've been going through for over a year and that we are starting testing and that she can let the rest of the family know. He didn't know I was listening in on some of the conversation and told his Mom, "All of the comments and questions are just becoming too much for The Bird to handle."

The Friday after Thanksgiving we slugged around in our pj's and drank coffee together. We don't do the whole "Black Friday" thing. That evening I went to Breaking Dawn: Part I with one of my girlfriends (um, if an undead vampire guy and human chick can get pregnant from having sex, like, one time, what the heck is wrong with us?!), ate good Indian food, and helped her set up her Christmas tree. We had some great conversations about what we've been struggling with. The Bee and I with our desire to start a family and her recent break-up with her boyfriend of almost 5 years. It made me realize that most people are struggling with SOMETHING. I am very blessed to have a wonderful man who loves me and who I get to spend the rest of my life with! Oh, also, I GOT MY PERIOD. WHICH WASN'T SUPPOSED TO COME FOR 6-7 MORE DAYS. So much for the cycles that I thought were so regular. I am hoping it was just major stress induced.

Saturday we celebrated our youngest nephew's first birthday. He is such a great little guy. I am a lucky aunt because I get to hang out with the little dude for an hour or two each Monday between when my sister leaves for her bell choir practice and my brother-in-law gets home from work. We pretty much have a special bond already, which is fun:)

Sunday was uneventful. I skipped my yoga class because my period was so heavy that I didn't think I'd be able to do half of the poses anyway. (Sorry if that is tmi, it really sucked and I need to vent a little). We finally got our  Christmas tree up and decorated (usually we do that the Friday after Thanksgiving but it just didn't happen this year).

Monday I was back to work making art with my students. I was feeling pretty low but my spirit was lifted by the funny things my school kids say and do. I am lucky to have a job where I get to laugh a lot (not that it is without stress...painting with 50+ kids a day in an art room with no sink [not even one close by!] can be a challenge and I get exhausted by classroom management sometimes [why can't every kid just be nice to everyone and love art as much as me all of the time?!]). I didn't get a call from my doctor's office but decided not to call them until Tuesday.

With Tuesday came more art at school. I called my doctor on my lunch break and was routed to her voicemail. She called me back while I was teaching 6th grade and I picked up the message right after school ended. I called and left another voicemail. I decided to call again after getting home from work (I wanted to see if I could actually talk to her because she was only in the office until 7 and I had to leave at 6:45 for my yoga class). Finally, she was available to talk. She said all of my hormone levels were great except for one, which was a little high. If The Bee and I weren't having trouble in the baby department, the increased level wouldn't be of any concern, but they wanted to completely rule it out as the cause. My high level was prolactin, which is the hormone responsible for preventing ovulation in women who are nursing (and also is responsible for breast milk production). Normal levels for non-pregnant, non-nursing women is between 5 and 23. My level was 30. They wanted me to get and MRI to check for a tumor on my pituitary gland (which is responsible for the production and regulation of prolactin, among other things) but she said that my level of 30 made it very unlikely that I had a tumor and even very unlikely that it would prevent normal ovulation. The MRI is just the next step in the laundry list of infertility tests based on my blood levels. The hospital called me and set up my MRI for the next evening.