Two Years Later

It has been way too long since I've written in this blog. Here is where we are at now. Hopefully since I'm off for the summer I can go back and recap Landon's first year, post partum, and all the other things! 

It has been two years since we went through our second IVF cycle and froze 3 embryos. July will be two years since we transferred one little miracle and became pregnant with Landon. 

So where are we at now? Is there talk of baby #2? Well you may be surprised but our next transfer is in the works right now. We are taking the month of June to repeat labs and some test and then hopefully a transfer in July.  

Wednesday May 29th, we returned to the clinic and had our consultation with our doctor via video call since the main office is in Birmingham.  

I just ask that you keep us in your prayers as we begin this process again. We have two embryos left and at the moment are only planning on transferring one of them. I'm not sure how updated I'll keep the blog for this round, but just keep us in your prayers for the next couple of months.  

Love yall! 

Katey

Landon's Birth Story

Landon's birth did not go as I thought it would.  We went into the hospital on Monday the 10th, expecting to be induced and have my water broken by the doctor early Tuesday morning. Monday night, I am still only dilated 1cm. At 4AM on Tuesday morning, my water broke on its own and I went ahead and got my epidural at 5:30 AM. As Brandon told me, I took it like a champ. It was just another needle, right?! And I had seen plenty throughout this journey. As the day went on, I slowly dilated, and I had to have my epidural boosted twice because I was taking so long. At this point,  I just knew they were going to tell me I had to have a c-section,  but they continued to let me dilate. Around 9:45 PM, the nurse tells me it is time to start pushing. As I start pushing, I start feeling the contractions because my epidural was once again beginning to wear off. The doctor came in to assist with getting him under my pelvis and at 10:56 PM Landon was born and they laid him on my chest. That did not last long, as I began to throw up. The nurses and Brandon took Landon and began to clean him up, etc. I didn't see or hold Landon until 7:30 AM on the 12th. After getting sick, my placenta did not want to come either. The amount of pressure and pushing to get it out was just as painful, and anesthesiology was called to give me meds once again. I remember the doctor (who was not my doctor), saying that I was bleeding so much. I remember being sick, bleeding so much, then after they got it slowed down, I was shaking and freezing. Our moms came in for a brief moment to lay eyes on Landon and see me. I was pretty much out of it from all the meds, etc. All this time, Brandon was loving on our sweet boy and worrying about me. Landon went to stay in the nursery over night. Throughout the night, the nurse came in to check on me. At one point, she asked if I wanted to try to go to the bathroom. I got up slow, was able to walk to the bathroom, use the bathroom, but I didn't make it back. My blood pressure dropped tremendously and I felt like I was going to be sick again and almost passed out. About 4 nurses were in the bathroom with me (and Brandon too). They attached some fluids to my IV to help my pressure come up, then wheeled me in a wheelchair back to the bed. I finally got to see Landon after waking up a few hours later. Then we were waiting to be transferred to post partum. 

From there.. will be another post. Postpartum and NICU story will be next. 

Life is about to change... for the better!

This weekend we turned 39 weeks with Landon! We cannot believe that the time has finally come to meet our baby boy! While, I may still be terrified of the birth process, I am looking forward to being a mom, watch B become a dad, and my sister and brother-in-law become an aunt and uncle! 

We will keep every one posted the best we can! We just ask that you please be in prayer for us as we get ready to head to the hospital today and be induced tomorrow morning! 

Also, our fur-baby turns 8 today! So I will be the only one in our little family without an April birthday! 

As usual we are so thankful for all of the prayers throughout this journey! We can't wait to update y'all with our birth story and pictures of our precious son! 

Love, 

Katey & Brandon

2023: The Year Landon Arrives! Update

 We finally made it to February. It always feels like January has 365 days by itself. I don't know if that because as a teacher our pay days our spread far apart (Dec 16th - Jan 31st) or if it just seems to always go so slow! 

Let me tell you what hasn't gone slow... THIS PREGNANCY! At first, I thought it was, but now we will be turning 32 weeks this weekend! We are in the third trimester, and the third trimester has brought me a gift (just kidding).. a cold. I have never used more tissue in my life than I have over the past two weeks. Luckily, the coughing part has gotten better. I am waiting for my nose to stop running away. 

In January, the ladies from Journaling with Jesus through me a surprise baby shower! It was absolutely wonderful and I cannot wait to use all the gifts that they got for us! This group has truly been such a blessing in my life! 

I am leading another semester with A Blessed Womb! I will have a co-leader this go round, and as of right now I think we have 4 or 5 ladies signed up! If you know someone that is struggling with infertility or miscarriage (or maybe you are), I would like to encourage you to be a part of the group if you are able! We meet on Thursday nights at 6PM via google meet!

We are almost finished with the nursery, and have things organized so when we get items from the shower they will have a place to go! 

2022 in Review

Looking back on our fertility journey, I am always amazed by the way we see God in it! Sometimes when we are going through hard times, it is difficult to recognize that God is there because we are overtaken by emotions, etc. Not long ago, our ABW group reflected on the question that if we knew what we were going to have to go through to get to this point would we have aborted the mission? My first thought was yes, this has been so hard and difficult to handle and process. However, now that we have been through it, I wouldn't change it. God has allowed our story to be used over and over again to show His goodness and glory. It has led to relationships that I would have never had otherwise. It has led me closer in my relationship with the Lord. So here is our fertility journey recap for 2022! 

January

- Embryo transfer, positive pregnancy test, numbers dropped, negative pregnancy test, miscarriage #2

February 

-Joined A Blessed Womb Small Group, made the decision to go through IVF again 

March

-Follow up appointment, baseline appointment

April

-Birth control, blood thinner shots, celebrated Brandon's birthday, saline ultrasound #2

May 

-Shots, all kinds of meds, monitoring appointments, egg retrieval, 3 embryos frozen

June 

-Rest/Recover, Celebrated 7 years of marriage

July

-baseline appointment for transfer, diagnosed with COVID, monitoring appointment, celebrated my 31st birthday, embryo transfer

August

-Positive pregnancy test at 4 days past transfer, beta rising from 55 to 5,000 plus, subchorionic hematoma

September

-Graduated from fertility doctor, had my first regular OB appointment at 10 weeks

October

-Started leading a Blessed Womb group virtually with 4 amazing women

November

-Gender Reveal (Landon Dale Owens), hit the halfway point

December

-Anatomy Scan, Celebrated Christmas with family and friends! 

As always, thank you for the prayers throughout this journey! We will continue to keep you updated on our pregnancy journey in 2023! Only 16 weeks until we meet Landon! 

Halfway Update!

 We have made it to the halfway point!!! Over the weekend, I turned 20 weeks! I am just overwhelming thankful for making it here! We have 20 weeks left to go and I could not be more excited that we are getting closer to meeting Landon Dale! We have finished our registries on Amazon and at Target. I have already been asked about baby showers, and as many of those that I have been to in my life, I am so thankful that some will be hosted to celebrate Landon coming into this world! 

On Friday, we have our anatomy scan. Please be in prayer that everything goes well. Also, my feet have already started swelling, and while they are way worse symptoms or things that I could be going through right now, my feet simply just hurt! I pray that they won't be like this for the next 20 weeks, but people have told me they probably will be. 

Update on my Blessed Womb group: I cannot believe that our semester for this group is almost over. This journey has been long and tough, but it has led me to being able to meet these amazing women and hopefully help them through their journey as they seek the Lord through this hard time. 

Love you all! 

Katey

Wake up Sleeper

As of this past weekend we are at 18 weeks! I am so incredibly thankful that we have made it to this point and I pray that baby Landon continues to grow and be healthy! Our next scheduled appointment is on December 2nd for an anatomy scan. 

We had a scare last week and it really threw me for a loop. I went to bed Thursday night fine, then I woke up in the middle of night just feeling like something wasn't right. I go to the bathroom, and I am bleeding. Not heavily, but enough to make me worry. I couldn't go back to sleep. I decided to let Brandon sleep, and I would just tell him what was going on as soon as his alarm went off at 6:15. As I am in the living room on the couch, cramps start to come too. Of course, I googled and I shouldn't have. So Brandon finally gets up and I tell him what's going on. Then I called the doctor as soon as they opened at 8, and the nurse told me I could come in at 11:00. 

On the ultrasound everything looked good. The sweet lady doing the ultrasound didn't see a bleed or anything that concerned her. It was so good to Landon on the ultrasound and know that everything was ok! And in case you haven't seen the gender reveal video...we are having a boy! 

I think that I needed to be woken up! Woken up, as in Katey what have you been doing? You fought hard in prayer for this gift, but now that it is here..where are you? Well, I have been struggling with my quiet time between leading a group, attending a group, and everything pregnancy related. However, this week so far, I have felt so much better physically and spiritually. I've done my daily studies for the Wednesday night group that I attend, and I've gotten prepared for my group on Thursday. I can only pray that God continues to press on my heart to meet with Him every single day! 

If you are struggling with your quiet times/personal time with the Lord, there is no day better than today to get back at it! Find someone to hold you accountable if that's what you need! Pray for guidance, strength.. God knows what you need! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwijX74r7tk