Life Abundant Blog

living life abundantly in spite of PCOS

I Had Another Miscarriage

By: Jessi4 Comments

Everyone says it: “as soon as you start adoption, you’ll get pregnant!”

Little did I know just how much truth was to that statement for me. When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t want to believe it. I felt so disconnected, so confused, so unsure that I’d get to bring that baby home. I had already poured hours into adoption, between talking to agencies, working on our profile book, and reading about grants.

Then it happened.

Two pink lines.

Then two more pink lines the next day. The test line was light, but the hCG has to start somewhere, right? “A line is a line”, thats what they always say. Two means positive!

Our 3rd positive test, taken the day we miscarried.
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Adoption Update: Our Process of Choosing an Agency

By: Jessicomment

Here’s the deal: I’m going to try to share what I can, when I can, while also keeping a certain level of privacy. The journey of adoption includes unlimited options and combinations of options. No journey is really wrong, it’s just different for everyone. What works for some may not for others and vice versa. Each step includes a very personal decision, and for us, those decisions are carefully prayed over. We will make mistakes along the way, and things that we thought would work probably won’t. That said, I don’t intend to share the names of agencies, home study case workers, etc. on here right now. I’m going to share some of the things I’ve been looking for and have come across. If you want to talk further, DM me on Instagram!

Our Process of Choosing an Adoption Agency

Step 1: Licensed Agencies

The first thing we did was get the list of licensed agencies for our state from our attorney, and then the list of licensed home study caseworkers with whom she has successfully worked. Going through the list, it was quite clear that our state has more home study agencies than adoption agencies. In my research, I learned that the reason is that we are a state where private adoptions are allowed, so there are a lot more of them than agency placements. I thought this was quite interesting. I don’t think this is the case for all states that allow private adoptions, but for us, this seems to be the case.

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Disney World 2019 Vacation Recap

By: Jessicomment

We have been back from our 3rd Disney World vacation for a few weeks now and I’m seriously experiencing the Disney blues lately. Of all the trips we’ve done, this one was the most action-packed! Our first two trips included four-and-a-half park days and this one had EIGHT! Yes, eight. The difference? We flew down this time instead of drove, so we didn’t lose an entire day (or two) driving down and back. Instead, our travel days were also park days. I’ll explain how that worked in this post! Another difference in this trip compared to our last two: park hopper tickets. This was our first time park hopping! I’ll also explain how that went for us.

Also, we got a LOT of Fast Passes on this trip. I’ll show which ones we reserved at 60 days out but I won’t list every single one we got because I honestly forgot already. But we rarely stood in lines.

Before I get into the day to day schedule and how everything went, I want to review the hotel we stayed in on property. In 2015, we stayed off-site (read about that here). In 2017, we stayed at Art of Animation in the Little Mermaid rooms (read about that here). This year, we stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter. Several of my friends have been waiting to see what I think of it compared to the last resort, so here we go!

Port Orleans French Quarter

This resort… oh, this resort. We absolutely fell in love! Everything about it was wonderful. The grounds are quiet and it has a romantic feel to it, even with kids running around. The pool area is surrounded by trees and it almost adds a layer of soundproofing, so even though we were close to the pool, we rarely heard the parties that lasted late into the night.

We stayed in building 5, which was the perfect spot! It was central to everything: the food, the buses, the pool, the front desk. Nothing was too far of a walk. This was critical at the end of the night when we were exhausted and dragging ourselves from the bus stop to the room. We were on the 3rd floor so we did have stairs to take, but regardless, it was wonderful.

Somehow we ended up with an accessible room, which means we had access to a larger bathroom. I assume we were put in there because the resort was sold out over Memorial Day weekend and not enough accessibility requests came in, otherwise we would have gladly given it up for someone who needed it. But since we were never asked, we were happy to take the blessing of the extra space.

Disney World Day-to-Day

The Night Before We Left: Because this was a Disney vacation, we kicked off our trip by seeing the movie Aladdin in the theater and spending the night in a hotel across from our home airport. This was our key to success and I am so glad we did this! I won’t give a movie review, but I am excited that the release timed so perfectly with our trip.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Our Greatest Adventure is About to Begin!

By: Jessi4 Comments

Who remembers this post on Instagram that I made on the last day of 2018?

Follow me on Instagram

Notice how it says “God has to move some mountains… and until he does, we’ll wait.” I’m excited to say that God has definitely moved mountains, and while it’s not the mountain I’ve been praying for since 2012, it’s the mountain that I’ve been praying for release to pursue. Every time I prayed about this in the last 7+ years, I’ve been met with “just wait”. I’ve never felt called to it even though I’ve prayed to be called. It’s been very frustrating, to say the least. Waiting is a badge I’ve been wearing for a long time.

The secret is ready to be revealed:

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NIAW Guest Post: “Life Lessons From My Journey With Infertility & Miscarriage” by Shawna Beucler {Lunchbox Babies}

By: Jessi1 Comment

Today in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW), please welcome Shawna from Lunchbox Babies! Shawna is no stranger to infertility and has a beautiful story. Today, she’s sharing some life lessons that she’s learned on her journey. I hope that today’s post encourages and inspires you.

-Jessi

Life Lessons From My Journey With Infertility & Miscarriage

Since launching my blog, I have chatted with several women about infertility and loss. The one theme that runs through these conversations is how hard being in the middle of it all feels. How isolating. How alone. 

I am so thankful that my crazy road of infertility and loss is over. However, the lovely “what if” can still rear its ugly head, and I must make a conscious effort to move on from those thoughts. 

I have learned so many things about life and myself throughout this crazy journey of mine. As I walk forward, looking back has been a strangely rewarding experience.  I have gotten to see the lessons that I have learned, and I want to pass them onto you.

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To My Daughter on Her 9th Birthday

By: Jessi1 Comment

Check out the letters from her 6th, 7th, and 8th birthdays.

Dearest Daughter,

Today, you’re officially nine years old. As I’m sitting here reflecting on the last year, I’m completely blown away. It’s such an honor and privilege to be your mother, and I don’t even know if I have the correct words to express how much you mean to me. Motherhood isn’t easy, but it’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was your age. It’s something I always knew I wanted and prayed for. But you? I couldn’t have dreamed up you… you’re above and beyond. You’re incredible. You’re smart. Talented. Giving. Loving. You’re everything.

Your eighth year with us came with so many fun experiences:

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PCOS, Hypothyroidism, and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

By: Jessi2 Comments

Since the beginning of this blog, I’ve always been honest when it comes to my medical journey so that women know they aren’t alone. I realize this much transparency isn’t for everyone, and it can make some people feel uncomfortable. In fact, it makes me feel uncomfortable sometimes. But the truth is when we’re experiencing symptoms or newly diagnosed with something, what’s the first thing we do? We Google it. We seek out others who have come before us. Some people are just very quiet about it, while others are more public. I’ve decided to be more public. So today, I’m going to recap my journey that brings me to today. I’m not sharing all of this for sympathy. I’m sharing it to help others, perhaps you.

In 2008, my diagnosis of PCOS began. I was anovulatory, rapidly gaining weight in my midsection, experiencing extremely painful cystic acne, feeling lethargic and low on energy quite often, and wound up having polycystic ovaries on ultrasounds. I learned to navigate it over the years, managed to conceive my daughter while on treatment, and each year since she was born I’ve continued to learn how to manage symptoms and live my life to the fullest.

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Getting Hormone Levels Checked with Modern Fertility {The Process & My Results}

By: Jessicomment

Disclaimer: I received the Modern Fertility kits free to try out in exchange for a review. However, like all of my reviews, all comments and opinions are my own, are honest, and not swayed in any way, shape, or form. Read my full disclosure policy.

When Modern Fertility reached out to me in October 2018, I didn’t have any plans to check my hormone levels or pursue additional fertility treatment of any kind. However, when I saw all of the levels they could check with a finger prick in my own home, I decided to just go for it. At this point, I had nothing to lose, but only hope to gain.

The Modern Fertility test checks these hormones, as long as you’re not on any kind of hormonal birth control:

  • AMH (anti-mullerian hormone [egg reserve])
  • FSH (follicle stimulating hormone)
  • E2 (estradiol)
  • TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone)
  • FT4 (thyroxine [thyroid])
  • LH (luteinizing hormone)
  • PRL (prolactin)
  • T (testosterone)

Here’s how the process went:

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Meal Planning: 15 Days of Meals {Paycheck-to-Paycheck Meal Planning}

By: Jessicomment

Photo by David Nicolai on Unsplash

I promised this was coming! Earlier this month, I shared how I try to meal plan for an entire pay period as frequently as possible. It commits us to the food we have at home, makes us eat out less, and saves us money. We’re less likely to waste ingredients because we roll them over into subsequent recipes as frequently as possible. Today, I’m going to share my current meal plan that will last from January 16-30 (15 days!). It is also PCOS-friendly and Keto approved.

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