4.10.2009
Follow Up
For those who I don't speak to regularly I thought I'd post a quick update on my health. I had my follow up appt. on Monday. I got my incisions and swelling and everything else looked at. My incisions "looked good" although to me they are hideous. My doctor (the surgeon) was shocked when he saw my swelling and bruising. He hadn't ever seen that happen with this surgery. He came to the conclusions as my other doctors. I bruised so badly and am still bruising and still swollen because I bled internally for a month. They usually catch it after a week or catch it before it even starts happening so mine was pretty bad. I am still really sore and by mid morning I am ready for a nap. I can walk semi-normally but it still takes me like five minutes to make it up or down our 6 stairs. I am also still dealing with pregnancy hormones which he said will continue for about two months after my surgery. Just things like smells making me sick and craving things or not wanting anything because it sounds so gross. I am getting better though and I cannot wait for another week to pass. I gained a ridiculous 15 pounds and can't even come close to squeezing into jeans. In a week I will hopefully be able to go work my butt off and lose my 15-20 lbs. We have Steele family pictures on May 1st so it'll be tough but I am determined. I think that is about it. I have been putting together decor ideas for our next house and have found some fabulous stuff. I will post pictures of some of my ideas later. Thank you all for everything. Love you!!
4.07.2009
♥ One of my biggest blessings
This man is my life. I wouldn't be here without him. He is my everything. I am so grateful I have him and more than anything that he loves me. I love him. ♥
4.04.2009
Tryin to feel good about myself
Well its been a week since my surgery. It has been a very long week and I am glad it is coming to a close. What a better way to end this nightmarish slew of days than with General Conference.
We woke up this morning and came over to Kevin and Whit's (Kevin has drill) and curled up with blankets on the couch and settled in to listen and be edified. Whit cooked up some yummy food, I popped some pain pills and we rather enjoyed ourselves.
Cody unfortunately is missing the second session today, which he is pretty sad about, but there was something he needed to help someone with. He will be attending the priesthood session with uncles and cousins though and is looking forward to that.
On Thursday I was feeling really gross and not pretty at all so I summoned up my courage and went to get my hair cut.
I paid dearly for it that night and on Friday but the pain was worth it. I did make up today and hair so I could have a boost in self confidence. Feeling pretty is helping me. Of course I had to Photobooth after all that work so here they are folks. Love you all.
We woke up this morning and came over to Kevin and Whit's (Kevin has drill) and curled up with blankets on the couch and settled in to listen and be edified. Whit cooked up some yummy food, I popped some pain pills and we rather enjoyed ourselves.
Cody unfortunately is missing the second session today, which he is pretty sad about, but there was something he needed to help someone with. He will be attending the priesthood session with uncles and cousins though and is looking forward to that.
On Thursday I was feeling really gross and not pretty at all so I summoned up my courage and went to get my hair cut.
I paid dearly for it that night and on Friday but the pain was worth it. I did make up today and hair so I could have a boost in self confidence. Feeling pretty is helping me. Of course I had to Photobooth after all that work so here they are folks. Love you all.
4.01.2009
More Yuckiness
I am so completely overwhelmed by the outreach and service we have been receiving. My MIL has been fantastic along with my SIL's who take turns "babysitting" me until Cody gets home. Cody's cousins are going to be bringing dinners along with my Relief Society. It is so humbling. Jeff's mom, Nana, will be visiting later this week and bringing me some books because I am so utterly starved for entertainment. Cody will be calling the Bishop so next weekend I am able to have the sacrament. All of the well wishes and prayers are greatly appreciated.
My doctor had told me that with my complications and residual blood drainage that my pain and swelling would worsen for about a week before I start to see improvement. That has definitely proven true. I wake up every morning, having gone about 14 hours without pain or nausea medicine and I can sure feel it. I was finally able to take a nap today, whereas the past few days I would try and try and would never be able to drop off. I have an appointment on Monday in which he will be looking for signs of the bleeding to have stopped completely and hopefully that the drainage will have started to dissipate. I also have quite a few questions I have. I am so glad Cody will be coming with me.
Here are my bruises and swollen abdomen as of today. Keep the prayers coming. Love you all.
My doctor had told me that with my complications and residual blood drainage that my pain and swelling would worsen for about a week before I start to see improvement. That has definitely proven true. I wake up every morning, having gone about 14 hours without pain or nausea medicine and I can sure feel it. I was finally able to take a nap today, whereas the past few days I would try and try and would never be able to drop off. I have an appointment on Monday in which he will be looking for signs of the bleeding to have stopped completely and hopefully that the drainage will have started to dissipate. I also have quite a few questions I have. I am so glad Cody will be coming with me.
Here are my bruises and swollen abdomen as of today. Keep the prayers coming. Love you all.
3.31.2009
An Update: May Be TMI For Some
Well I figured it was time to post but since this post will be somewhat personal I wanted to make my blog private before it got posted. This way only family and a few friends will be reading it.
Over the last month I have been pretty ill. It kept getting worse and worse but I just thought it was the flu or something so I dealt with it. I was having really bad pains in my stomach and was not able to eat with out throwing up. Last week, on Sunday, it got even worse and the pain was so bad I was not able to stand up or hardly move without crying out. This went on until the Friday the 27th, which is when I gave in and had my MIL Robyn take me into an Urgent Care Center. Leading up to this a series of small events happened that I sincerely believe were miracles.
First off Robyn was supposed to be in Palm Desert, CA that weekend but had decided not to go. Then Friday morning she had had two other things going on in the morning that had postponed the doctor until later. Both of those things got canceled one right after the other and she saw it as a sign that I needed to go in ASAP. As it turns out, it couldn't have been sooner. We really were racing against the clock and didn't even know it.
We got to the Medical Center and they put me right into a room which was good because I was going downhill fast. They took some blood and urine samples (the urine sample couldn't be used because I was so severely dehydrated there wasn't anything to test) and also hooked me up to an IV to start getting me re-hydrated. After I had two liters pumped in me I was still digressing so the doctor sent my info over to the nearest ER and had us rush over there.
They were waiting for me and they wheeled me right into a room. They needed a urine sample before they could do anything but I didn't think I could produce enough. They threatened me with a catheter which did the trick. It scared the pee outta me. Ha Ha. The ER Dr. then came in and was thinking it was severe appendicitis but needed a CT Scan to confirm so they hooked me up to two more IV's and started pushing through more fluids and morphine. The pain continued to get worse, which they couldn't figure out why. I finally got taken back for my CT and they found internal bleeding in my abdomen. My urine test also came back positive for pregnancy.
This was a complete shock. We have been trying to get pregnant since we got married and had already experienced one miscarriage but we weren't having any success. I also had just finished my period so I didn't think there was any chance we could be pregnant at all. With the internal bleeding getting worse, and the positive pregnancy test they called in an OB. He was on call so it took about an hour to get him in there but it turns out I was having an ectopic pregnancy. The baby was in my fallopian tube instead of my uterus so it was feeding off of those blood cells. The baby had outgrown that blood supply so all of my blood vessels were bursting and causing the internal bleeding. If your fallopian tube bursts, it releases toxins but also causes such severe internal bleeding you die really quickly. Mine had not burst yet so they rushed me into surgery. Despite my doctor's attempts, they were not able to save my fallopian tube. He said it was a miracle it hadn't burst and that it was the biggest one he had ever seen in his 35 years of practicing. I was 8 weeks along. He was able to salvage my right ovary but its kind of a bum one now. All of my eggs will just be absorbed into my body.
After surgery I was still in a lot of pain but on the mend. On Saturday mid-morning I noticed some irregular swelling and bleeding not consistent with my incisions or surgery. My right labia was so swollen I couldn't stand and we couldn't find out where the bleeding was coming from. The Doctor on call came and examined me but said to wait over night and if the swelling got worse and if I continued to bleed then I would have to go under again so he could go in and cauterize what he thought was a cervical tear. The swelling did get worse as did the pain and bleeding but another miracle happened. I had yet another doctor come in on Sunday and examine me. He said it is really rare but sometimes when a fallopian tube is removed, the residual blood with trickled down and go sit in the labia. It adds on another week of bad pain and about a week and a half of bed rest but that the labia wasn't something to worry about. He said if my bleeding was from a cervical tear then it was too small to need surgery but that it could just me trauma bleeding in my uterus which will taper off.
I had great doctors and aides and nurses. They were all absolutely phenomenal. All except one but we won't talk about her. Having such a great staff helped a ton.
I was discharged on Sunday and have been living on my couch. I have gotten so many beautiful flowers and phone calls expressing love and concern. I am so grateful for everyone. I am trying to stay upbeat and positive but I am sad. I still have hope though. I know we will have kids we just don't know how we will come about them. Cody is so amazing, the love of my life. I couldn't do this without him. His mom has been great. Feeding us and taking care of me while Cody is gone. I have about 2 1/2 more weeks of recovery but I am getting there. I love you all!!
These are when I had just been sent to the ER. Showing off my IV's.
These are the tulips my MIL got me and the bear that my amazing ER nurse Tiffany brought up after my surgery. He has an IV too.
This is the coolest tape ever. They use it tape the IV's in and use it as anchors but it had a little man on it!!
I got horrible bloody noses in there so I used rubber gloves full of ice to help them clot. Cody thought it was funny.
This is my amazing baby love just hanging out in his recliner.
I am still swelling and bruising like crazy. It gets worse by the hour. Here are some of the good ones :)
The gorgeous flowers Amber, my MIL, and Nana brought me. They make me happy. They are bright spots in this room I am stuck in.
Over the last month I have been pretty ill. It kept getting worse and worse but I just thought it was the flu or something so I dealt with it. I was having really bad pains in my stomach and was not able to eat with out throwing up. Last week, on Sunday, it got even worse and the pain was so bad I was not able to stand up or hardly move without crying out. This went on until the Friday the 27th, which is when I gave in and had my MIL Robyn take me into an Urgent Care Center. Leading up to this a series of small events happened that I sincerely believe were miracles.
First off Robyn was supposed to be in Palm Desert, CA that weekend but had decided not to go. Then Friday morning she had had two other things going on in the morning that had postponed the doctor until later. Both of those things got canceled one right after the other and she saw it as a sign that I needed to go in ASAP. As it turns out, it couldn't have been sooner. We really were racing against the clock and didn't even know it.
We got to the Medical Center and they put me right into a room which was good because I was going downhill fast. They took some blood and urine samples (the urine sample couldn't be used because I was so severely dehydrated there wasn't anything to test) and also hooked me up to an IV to start getting me re-hydrated. After I had two liters pumped in me I was still digressing so the doctor sent my info over to the nearest ER and had us rush over there.
They were waiting for me and they wheeled me right into a room. They needed a urine sample before they could do anything but I didn't think I could produce enough. They threatened me with a catheter which did the trick. It scared the pee outta me. Ha Ha. The ER Dr. then came in and was thinking it was severe appendicitis but needed a CT Scan to confirm so they hooked me up to two more IV's and started pushing through more fluids and morphine. The pain continued to get worse, which they couldn't figure out why. I finally got taken back for my CT and they found internal bleeding in my abdomen. My urine test also came back positive for pregnancy.
This was a complete shock. We have been trying to get pregnant since we got married and had already experienced one miscarriage but we weren't having any success. I also had just finished my period so I didn't think there was any chance we could be pregnant at all. With the internal bleeding getting worse, and the positive pregnancy test they called in an OB. He was on call so it took about an hour to get him in there but it turns out I was having an ectopic pregnancy. The baby was in my fallopian tube instead of my uterus so it was feeding off of those blood cells. The baby had outgrown that blood supply so all of my blood vessels were bursting and causing the internal bleeding. If your fallopian tube bursts, it releases toxins but also causes such severe internal bleeding you die really quickly. Mine had not burst yet so they rushed me into surgery. Despite my doctor's attempts, they were not able to save my fallopian tube. He said it was a miracle it hadn't burst and that it was the biggest one he had ever seen in his 35 years of practicing. I was 8 weeks along. He was able to salvage my right ovary but its kind of a bum one now. All of my eggs will just be absorbed into my body.
After surgery I was still in a lot of pain but on the mend. On Saturday mid-morning I noticed some irregular swelling and bleeding not consistent with my incisions or surgery. My right labia was so swollen I couldn't stand and we couldn't find out where the bleeding was coming from. The Doctor on call came and examined me but said to wait over night and if the swelling got worse and if I continued to bleed then I would have to go under again so he could go in and cauterize what he thought was a cervical tear. The swelling did get worse as did the pain and bleeding but another miracle happened. I had yet another doctor come in on Sunday and examine me. He said it is really rare but sometimes when a fallopian tube is removed, the residual blood with trickled down and go sit in the labia. It adds on another week of bad pain and about a week and a half of bed rest but that the labia wasn't something to worry about. He said if my bleeding was from a cervical tear then it was too small to need surgery but that it could just me trauma bleeding in my uterus which will taper off.
I had great doctors and aides and nurses. They were all absolutely phenomenal. All except one but we won't talk about her. Having such a great staff helped a ton.
I was discharged on Sunday and have been living on my couch. I have gotten so many beautiful flowers and phone calls expressing love and concern. I am so grateful for everyone. I am trying to stay upbeat and positive but I am sad. I still have hope though. I know we will have kids we just don't know how we will come about them. Cody is so amazing, the love of my life. I couldn't do this without him. His mom has been great. Feeding us and taking care of me while Cody is gone. I have about 2 1/2 more weeks of recovery but I am getting there. I love you all!!
These are when I had just been sent to the ER. Showing off my IV's.
These are the tulips my MIL got me and the bear that my amazing ER nurse Tiffany brought up after my surgery. He has an IV too.
This is the coolest tape ever. They use it tape the IV's in and use it as anchors but it had a little man on it!!
I got horrible bloody noses in there so I used rubber gloves full of ice to help them clot. Cody thought it was funny.
This is my amazing baby love just hanging out in his recliner.
I am still swelling and bruising like crazy. It gets worse by the hour. Here are some of the good ones :)
The gorgeous flowers Amber, my MIL, and Nana brought me. They make me happy. They are bright spots in this room I am stuck in.
3.22.2009
banquete mexicano!!!
Oh my goodness Friday's dinner was absolutely delicious!! For the last three weeks I have been experiencing the most insatiable hankerings for Mexican food. Sooo when I had extra beef from my pot roast, I was unbelievably excited to make tacos!
We had fresh corn tortillas, Mexican rice, guacamole, pinto beans, shredded beef, corn & black bean salsa for Cody, spicy salsa for me, chips... The list goes on. I also discovered something fantastic at the store a few days before. Amazing Cherry Limeade completed it and helped us to wash it all down. We barely squeezed it all onto our little table.
Cody's cousin Whitney had just gotten home from her vaca on St. Thomas so we had her join us. Even with us three stuffing our faces there was so much left over so I sent it all home with her to share with her hubby when he got back that night. It was so good!!
We had fresh corn tortillas, Mexican rice, guacamole, pinto beans, shredded beef, corn & black bean salsa for Cody, spicy salsa for me, chips... The list goes on. I also discovered something fantastic at the store a few days before. Amazing Cherry Limeade completed it and helped us to wash it all down. We barely squeezed it all onto our little table.
Cody's cousin Whitney had just gotten home from her vaca on St. Thomas so we had her join us. Even with us three stuffing our faces there was so much left over so I sent it all home with her to share with her hubby when he got back that night. It was so good!!
3.20.2009
A few things that made me smile
I love Photobucket. It is AWESOME.
I enjoy Facebook and its following apps: Bumper Sticker & Flair.
Let me show you why.
Cody sent this to me as a Bumper Sticker on good ol' FB. It is sad, but true. I need to work on how I treat others.
This made me literally laugh out loud. What can I say? I am easily amused.
This right here, speaks for itself.
/>
This is what I am trying to convince society of. Ha, I am failing miserably so I have resorted to trying to just get myself convinced of this.
This describes how I felt so often when Cody & I were dating & then engaged. Not because I was on the prowl, but because I felt like I needed to claim him all I could before he realized I am just a crazy white girl.
I do I do I do I do!! I love him oh so much :)
I enjoy Facebook and its following apps: Bumper Sticker & Flair.
Let me show you why.
Cody sent this to me as a Bumper Sticker on good ol' FB. It is sad, but true. I need to work on how I treat others.
This made me literally laugh out loud. What can I say? I am easily amused.
This right here, speaks for itself.
/>This is what I am trying to convince society of. Ha, I am failing miserably so I have resorted to trying to just get myself convinced of this.
This describes how I felt so often when Cody & I were dating & then engaged. Not because I was on the prowl, but because I felt like I needed to claim him all I could before he realized I am just a crazy white girl.
I do I do I do I do!! I love him oh so much :)
Attempting to keep busy
Alright so lately I have been going nearly crazy because I sit inside all day every day with nothing to do. I have read and read and read. I love reading but it is difficult to do all day every day. I have been trying to watch movies or chat online with friends or just cruise the internet but fate has decided to crush me under her shoe. We do not have cable. We lost our internet. To top that all off, our xbox 360 (aka our dvd player) broke. So that is out of commission for about a month. I have resorted (I really do enjoy it) to cooking and baking.
On Tuesday I made a beef chuck roast with red potatoes, carrots, and gravy in my crock pot. It took all day and 3 phone calls to my mom but I did it and it was soooo worth it. Delicious. I didn't take an after picture like I had planned because we were seriously both so hungry we just dove in.
These are both when I put the veggies in but no the gravy. The colors looked pretty haha I am a dork.
I am so excited because We have enough meat left over that we are doing shredded beef tacos tonight. I am going all out with guacamole, chips, corn and black bean salsa for Cody, and fried Mexican rice. I will try to take pictures to prove it!
All week I have been waiting for my bananas to ripen. Yesterday I saw that three of them were and i had been dying to try a banana muffin recipe I came up with. I was nervous that they would turn out gross but they came out perfect! So moist and yummy. I was extremely proud of myself.
Banana Crumb Muffins
Muffins
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
* 3 bananas
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup melted butter
* 1 over-flowing teaspoon vanilla
Crumb Topping
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon
* 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
* 1 tablespoon butter
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray Pam on 12 muffin cups.
2. For muffin batter, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, vanilla, and melted butter. Mix together banana mixture with the dry ingredients. Spoon batter into muffin tin. Fill almost to top. Makes 12 generous muffins.
3. For crumb topping, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and powdered sugar until well blended. Using a spoon mash in the tablespoon of butter until the entire mixture is moistened and well blended. Takes about 5 minutes. Sprinkle topping over muffins. There may be just a little topping left over. Cover the entire top of each muffin cup so as to fully cover the batter.
4. Bake for 18 minutes. Let cool. Remove muffins by gently twisting them about then lifting.
5. Enjoy!!
My kitchen when I was done. Ha Ha I make a huge mess!
Baking in the oven!!
Yeah I had already eaten one. They are sooo good.
On Tuesday I made a beef chuck roast with red potatoes, carrots, and gravy in my crock pot. It took all day and 3 phone calls to my mom but I did it and it was soooo worth it. Delicious. I didn't take an after picture like I had planned because we were seriously both so hungry we just dove in.
These are both when I put the veggies in but no the gravy. The colors looked pretty haha I am a dork.
I am so excited because We have enough meat left over that we are doing shredded beef tacos tonight. I am going all out with guacamole, chips, corn and black bean salsa for Cody, and fried Mexican rice. I will try to take pictures to prove it!
All week I have been waiting for my bananas to ripen. Yesterday I saw that three of them were and i had been dying to try a banana muffin recipe I came up with. I was nervous that they would turn out gross but they came out perfect! So moist and yummy. I was extremely proud of myself.
Banana Crumb Muffins
Muffins
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
* 3 bananas
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup melted butter
* 1 over-flowing teaspoon vanilla
Crumb Topping
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon
* 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
* 1 tablespoon butter
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray Pam on 12 muffin cups.
2. For muffin batter, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, vanilla, and melted butter. Mix together banana mixture with the dry ingredients. Spoon batter into muffin tin. Fill almost to top. Makes 12 generous muffins.
3. For crumb topping, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and powdered sugar until well blended. Using a spoon mash in the tablespoon of butter until the entire mixture is moistened and well blended. Takes about 5 minutes. Sprinkle topping over muffins. There may be just a little topping left over. Cover the entire top of each muffin cup so as to fully cover the batter.
4. Bake for 18 minutes. Let cool. Remove muffins by gently twisting them about then lifting.
5. Enjoy!!
My kitchen when I was done. Ha Ha I make a huge mess!
Baking in the oven!!
Yeah I had already eaten one. They are sooo good.
3.18.2009
Going Incognito!!
For those of you who received my email and already responded, ignore this. This is for those who I don't have an email address for, and for some reason or another didn't see it on my Twitter or Facebook.
Cody and I are going under the radar. Invisible, incognito... PRIVATE.
We just don't want to deal with some crazies and don't want blogstalkersELITE to get to us so in about two'ish weeks the blog will only be open to those whom we invite. If you want on the list then leave me your email address here as a comment or email me directly.
rachelleorgan@gmail.com
The response has already been seriously overwhelming. I had no idea that some of the people who replied even knew we had a blog. Yae for good friends and family!!
Thank You!!!
Cody and I are going under the radar. Invisible, incognito... PRIVATE.
We just don't want to deal with some crazies and don't want blogstalkersELITE to get to us so in about two'ish weeks the blog will only be open to those whom we invite. If you want on the list then leave me your email address here as a comment or email me directly.
rachelleorgan@gmail.com
The response has already been seriously overwhelming. I had no idea that some of the people who replied even knew we had a blog. Yae for good friends and family!!
Thank You!!!
Playin' Catch Up!!
Okay so I have had pictures on my camera from a couple weeks ago and just now got enough drive to find the cord and put 'em on my computer. For Valentine's Day, my MIL Robyn got us tickets to go see Phantom. AKA Phantom of the Opera. It is not really a spin off as much as it is the same story just tweeked a little. It was great. Cody & I both love theatre (minus the idot couple that showed up after it started and of course had seats in the middle of the row and had to climb over all of us.) It was such a great performance. It was at The Hale Centre Theatre here in UT. The acting was great, the music fun, just enough comedy, and their voices were absolutely phenomenal.
I made these AMAZING oatmeal chocolate chip bars. I found a recipe online for soft oatmeal cookies then changed pretty much the whole thing haha and got these! They were sooo good.
We were running late for the play but needed to eat so we picked up a pizza. It was supposed to be pepperoni but I opened it up and saw THIS monstrosity. We don't like cheese pizza but I didn't have any time to go back. Cody thought it was funny, as you can see in the background, until he had to take the leftovers for lunch the next two days. Ha Ha!!
Us seriously goofing off with Photobooth. We thoroughly enjoy doing this.
On our way to the theatre!!
Quick pic before heading in!!
I made these AMAZING oatmeal chocolate chip bars. I found a recipe online for soft oatmeal cookies then changed pretty much the whole thing haha and got these! They were sooo good.
We were running late for the play but needed to eat so we picked up a pizza. It was supposed to be pepperoni but I opened it up and saw THIS monstrosity. We don't like cheese pizza but I didn't have any time to go back. Cody thought it was funny, as you can see in the background, until he had to take the leftovers for lunch the next two days. Ha Ha!!
Us seriously goofing off with Photobooth. We thoroughly enjoy doing this.
On our way to the theatre!!
Quick pic before heading in!!
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