Thursday, February 17, 2011

Thankful Thursday - Welcome to the Hole!

Know what time it is? It's thankful Thursday time! We just checked into the Hole and it's time to celebrate a little thankful Thursday! We all have so much to be thankful for and we love to take this opportunity just to write down each and everything that comes to mind. as I mentioned last week, I no longer have the "linky tools" but I invite you to share your thankful blog in the comments section. Without further ado, here's what we're thankful for:

Mandi's List:

I'm thankful that I'm feeling a little better. I still walk with a limp (thanks to the continued shots in the butt, twice a day, and the bloated belly), but I am thrilled to be back to my old self. My stomach is no longer super upset and I'm able to sleep through the night with fewer disruptions. I'm a big baby when I don't feel good - so I'm sure Ronnie's even more thankful than I am that I'm feeling better :)

I am incredibly thankful that we have been blessed enough to go through this much of the IVF process. We have been so fortunate by how smooth everything has gone. Having a few more embryos, so we'd have a few to freeze, would have been what we thought was "ideal"...however, I'm so thankful that my God knows what's best for us.

I'm thankful for caffeine free tea and hot chocolate. I have cut out all caffeine since starting this IVF cycle (December 24th), and for a coffee drinker it seemed like a HUGE task. However, I have actually enjoyed trying new teas and having an excuse to drink endless cups of hot chocolate. I am thankful that there are hot beverages to drink in the winter sans caffeine - or I would have felt lame-o not having something warm to drink in the morning.

I'm thankful for my mother-in-law (yup...you read that right!). Ronnie's mom is great at a lot of things, but one of her strongest contributions to our lives is her love and support while Ronnie's in the hospital. Since we go in for our tune-ups 2 hours away from home, but right in Ronnie's family's back yard, we rely on them A LOT. His mom makes dinner most nights, spends time with us, and is always looking for ways to spice up the stay. I'm looking forward to being taken care of for the next 3 weeks, and I'm so thankful that she wastes no time to help. Knowing that we were going in today (last minute) she packed up all the coffee making supplies, a little table, table cloth, silverware, paper plates, coffee mugs, etc etc. I'm so thankful to have such a great role model of how to take care of someone while they're in the hole!

Ronnie's List:

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm so very thankful that I checked into the hospital without being too sick. I had to push my stay off a little bit, but according to my PFTs it hasn't done too much damage. I still haven't been able to exercise at my regular pace but I'm hoping that changes after about a week in here. I'll start to push myself pretty soon to make sure that it doesn't cause anymore bleeding. Really I'm just thankful that I'm so close to the opportunity to exercise again!

I'm very thankful that Mandi is feeling a little bit better each day. Her back is tense and the muscles around her spine are cramped, but it's nothing a massage from her hubby can't fix. We are now enduring the waiting game of finding out if we are pregnant or not, but we're thankful that we at least have the opportunity to be in that game!

I'm thankful that my wife has the ability to make the hospital feel like home even more than I do. By the time I got the car unloaded she had already made my bed with new pillows and new sheets that she brought from home. The coffee station was set up, the toiletries were out, the room was rearranged and the boxes to transport stuff were neatly stacked in the closet. It's not easy to make the Hole feel like home, but she manages to do it every time.

And finally, I'm thankful for the birthday present that Mandi gave me. I haven't been able to use it all week as my computer's been in the shop, but I was finally able to set it up yesterday. It's called Dragon Dictate and it gives me the ability to speak my blogs instead of type them. I'm a very slow typer, I do the chicken peck, and I spent half the time rechecking my work. Now this program isn't 100% perfect but it does but it definitely saves me time (You'll probably see some silly grammar or words on these blogs from time to time because of it). Thank you wifey!