Overcoming PCOS: A Photo Session with Jennifer Adams

Last weekend, a photographer I go to church with offered to do a unique maternity photo session centered around the PCOS awareness jewelry I blogged about earlier this year. Jennifer did a wonderful job and was so much fun to work with. You can follow her photography journey here: Jennifer Adams Reflections.

This is the intro posted on her blog:

It was such an honor to be apart of this growing families life, and to be there through some of their times of going through these obstacles. Mom to be was so excited to start adding to her beautiful family, but soon found out that it was going to be a little longer and harder than she thought. She soon found out that she had a condition called, PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). After finding an amazing doctor and having a wonderful support system from her family, friends and church family, she stayed strong and embraced this full force.

Well fast forward to now, she has over come PCOS and is now happily expecting her first miracle, expecting a girl in spring of 2010. So this session was a special session to celebrate the bravery and faith in overcoming this and being able to move forward with this beautiful miracle showing that all things are indeed possible!

Thank you mom and dad to be for allowing me to document these moments in your life, here is a little sneak peak and I will talk to you soon…

My Kitties, My Loves

So, I just realized that I never have really blogged about my cats. I know that may not be very important to some people, but my cats (mostly Vesta) have been around before the dogs and before this onion growing in my uterus. My cats are full of character and are very much like children to me. Not that my dogs aren't, but my kitties hold a different place in my heart. Especially Vesta.

Countess Vesta: Munchkin Tabby, 5 years old

Vesta was a stray I picked up, not knowing if it was even going to work out. I remember the moment I stepped out of my car at the church office and she ran up to me with her stumpy little legs and round face, meowing and purring, just begging to be brought inside... I went in and asked who this adorable being belonged to. Turned out, she had been dumped off and the church was just feeding her for now. She needed a home. My heart was broken... she had obviously been abused... her head was partially shaved, kind of like a mohawk, and she didn't look healthy at all. My heart ached... but I knew I had to take her to the vet right away to make sure she didn't have feline leukemia or HIV... she didn't have either, but she did have really bad dysentery, was knocked up (which the vet didn't tell me), and was missing a lot of teeth from her life on the street.

$200 later I knew I had to keep her... she was too precious. She was 1 year old. I took her to a low-cost cat clinic to be spayed and told them to call me if she is pregnant because I want to keep the kittens and find them homes. I went home, got a large box ready just in case, and anticipated the call. Later that afternoon they called to tell me they aborted the kittens. WHAT?! They also made me pay extra for that process. I was ticked. Needless to say, I never used them for anything again, even if they were cheaper than most places... $11 for vaccines and $30 for spaying... but in the end I paid a good $20 extra for their abortion. Yes I was in college and no I didn't really need to deal with kittens, but so what? They deserved to live... either way, Vesta healed well and ended up being healthy after a few months and is the sweetest cat in the world. To this day, she is my little side kick! Everyone praises her adorable facial expressions and her sweetness.

Yumiko (Yumi): Maine Coon, 3 years old

After having just Vesta for a while, I decided she needed a friend, but I wasn't exactly sure when to get her one. She was so perfect, it was going to be difficult to find another well-behaved cat such as herself. That is when someone asked my pastor if he knew of anyone that would be interested in adopting this cat. Yumi was 1 year old and unnamed at the time. I decided I'd give her a try for a week and see how things panned out. Yumi came home very sweet. Vesta showed her jealous side and wasn't too excited about this new friend coming into her home. She acted out for a few days and I anticipated coming home to a blood bath every day after work... but luckily, that never happened. They learned to keep their space for a few days and before we knew it, they were best friends.

Today, Vesta is Yumi's momma... she bathes her regularly and is great at helping us keep the mats out of her hair. Vesta always comes running when Yumi is getting reprimanded for peeing in the bathtub. Yumi is a loving cat, who enjoys a good cuddle, but she is also one that suffers from night terrors... and thus, wakes up in the middle of the night from a dead sleep and jumps sky high, claws out, trying to run away. Once she realizes everything is okay, her little heart is racing and she needs extra loving to calm down. Poor baby can't help it, but I do get highly annoyed when I wake up looking like I've been scalped because of the blood coming from my hair line.

I love my kitties... unfortunately they are in for a rude awakening when the baby comes... I know they will want to climb into the crib or pack & play. But they were here first and are family as much as anyone else, so they will still get spoiled like usual. They don't seem to comprehend that babies are people and not animals, so they do act jealous when babies come around, but they have gotten better than they used to be... they used to act almost afraid of babies... but now they just watch from a distance and sometimes sneak up for a quick sniff. I hope that the transition with the baby is a good one... I love my kitties, but I have a feeling I'll have to lay down the law big time in the beginning. Guess we'll see!

Giving Thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Even though it has been one of the most trying years of my life, it has been one full of many blessings. I've learned to always look at the light at the end of the tunnel, even if the light is as small as a laser pointer. There is always a light, and things could always be worse. These are some things I'm incredibly thankful for...

My husband.

I am thankful to have Glenn as a husband. He strives every day to be the man God has called him to be. He is most definitely the head of my household and I am so thankful to be blessed with a man like him. I respect him and it's easy to respect a man of God. I'm just so thankful he has chosen that path and works so hard to be the man he is meant to be.

My pets.

My pets have been my loving children and filled a void I had in my heart most of this year. We got Falkor in the spring when the PCOS diagnosis was getting worse and I didn't see much hope for me. Having a puppy helped put more joy in my heart than I could have asked for. My other pets have been wonderful, too. Yumi is the only problem child I have, but even she is one of the most loving cats I've ever seen. My pets humble me and love me unconditionally... I'm thankful to have them and to be taught the value of love through them. (Note: Falkor is now much bigger than the above photo... I'm talkin' 102 lbs at 9 months old, but he's my big baby!)

Our house.

Glenn and I worked very hard on the house all year... back in January, we didn't even have a floor! Since then we have renovated the entire upstairs and only have a few minor things left, plus the nursery. Eventually I'd like to redo the floors in the bedrooms, but that will come in time. I'm thankful that we got such an incredible deal on this house and that we can stay here for many years to come. There is room to expand and for our family to grow. We are very blessed with this house.

My Pregnancy.

It really is a miracle. I didn't exactly expect it to happen this year... the way things were looking, we were going to have to stop in October for the rest of the year, save some money, and pick up with more aggressive fertility treatment in January. Now I'm so thankful that I can say I will be 6 months pregnant in early January. Sometimes it still doesn't seem real, but now I am starting to feel a little more movement.

I'm thankful for a lot in my life, but this year these are the things that come to mind the most. I've been looking forward to being pregnant for Thanksgiving because I will get to devour more food than ever. What makes it even better is that baby will be size of a sweet potato the week of Thanksgiving. Is it morbid if I inhale 3x my body weight in sweet potatoes next week?