Showing posts with label New Blog Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Blog Friday. Show all posts

Friday, December 2, 2011

New Blog Friday- Shannon


This week I am featuring Shannon from Solo Pronto 

Here is a message from Shannon:

I'm sure at this point, you've read a blogger's personal information a hundred times on other blogs and are sick to death of reading a lot of the same old thing, so I'll put mine in purple italics and see if that spices it up for you a little bit!  After all, I'm here for you!  Here are my slanty, colorful tidbits of personal info for your reading pleasure:

Hello!  I am Shannon from Solo Pronto!  I am married to a wonderful man (rolling your eyes yet?) whom I met at work 8 years ago and who actually trained me for two different jobs before running off with my heart.  We moved to Colorado for a while, then back to Tennessee before settling down in Georgia.  We have three dogs, 9 nieces and nephews and god-children and love making memories and taking new adventures.  Our biggest adventure thus far in our five year relationship/three year marriage has been trying to start a family.  So far, we've had one miscarriage and are currently in the midst of our fifth cycle of fertility treatments and fourth IUI.  It's been a ride, let me tell you.  I've found emotions in me I didn't know existed these past few years and they aren't due to the medication!  Well, not all of them anyway....

I named my blog Solo Pronto! because it means "I am ready!".  I honestly thought I was!  I started this blog at a point in my life when I thought I was ready for anything.  I was strong, healthy, happy, everything was going so well - which is probably why I thought I was so ready for anything - life was good.  Then a lot of unexpected things happened.  Things I couldn't control.  I had a miscarriage, lost my job, couldn't get pregnant again, etc.  Life happened.  I took a break from blogging and worked on getting my life back together and somehow, blogging ended up finding its way back into that plan a few months ago.  It has become a kind of therapy and as I am sure you know from experience, it has been much-needed (and welcomed) support and has honestly helped me more these last few months than anything else has in this whole crazy journey.  Up until about two months ago, I had 5 followers and mainly used Solo Pronto! as a way to document what I was going through and use it as an online diary, albeit a very public one.  It's helped me open up to people I know in real life about our situation and because of that, I have found close and personal friends who have been experiencing the same pain and frustration I have with no one to talk to.  Blogging has given me back some of the confidence and courage that I had lost in the past two years.  I've met some really crazy, amazing, sarcastic and supportive people these past few months and I couldn't be more thankful.  I'm hoping to meet more and possibly be that extra bit of support for others as well.

As for my writing style, I try not to be too serious and usually have no problems with self-deprecation.  I'm an easy target, what can I say?  My funny bone extends from my shoulders to my ankles so I tend to think almost everything can be made into something funny - I laugh a lot. 

I hope you'll stop by and say hello.  Check out a post or two.  I'd love it if you did.  I can't promise you I'll always be positive or funny or even coherent, but I promise I'll keep in interesting.  With every day, I'm learning more and more and preparing for what life has to offer.  Hopefully, at the end of all this, whatever this is, I'll be able to say "SOLO PRONTO!" and mean it.  I hope you'll join me!

Until next time,

Go show Shannon some love by commenting or following her blog. 

Also if you would like to be featured on New Blog Friday, click on the new blog Friday tab at the top of my blog to find out how. Don't worry if you don't fit all of the criteria, very few of the blogs that I feature fit it exactly. It can't hurt to try :)


Friday, November 25, 2011

New Blog Friday-Hope


This week I am featuring Hope from Invisible Mother

Here is a message from Hope:


Hi, I'm Hope and my blog is  Invisible Mother . First, I am tickled to be featured on New Blog Friday, although I feel like a bit of an impostor, since my blog's not quite so new anymore. It was still fairly new back in April when I e-mailed Aly, asking to be featured, but even though I passed my one year blogoversary while New Blog Friday was on hiatus, Aly said it was still okay for me to be featured here. What a generous lady!
 
Anyway, about me. I'm in my late 20's and happily married. About 6 months after our wedding, my DH and I started TTC. I immediately went on to have 2 very early miscarriages. I started this blog a few months later as a place to document my grieving process and finding my way through grief. Over the past year, it has become a place where I document everything about Recurrent Pregnancy Loss, from grief to hope, from testing through treatment, from one specialist to the next. 
 
In November of last year, I had just seen my first fertility doctor, gotten a diagnosis or three, and was hopeful that our next pregnancy would result in a baby. Instead, I continued to miscarry. I've now had a total of five very early miscarriages. Further testing over the past 6 months has revealed more problems. All of them are treatable, but that doesn't meant there aren't more issues still to be discovered . . . For a rundown of what these issues are, and what's being done about them, check out my  Tests and Treatments  page.

Outside of IF/RPL I'm a volunteer with my church as a Sunday School Teacher and the Children's Choir Director. That sounds like a lot more work than it is. I'm one of a team of 5 Sunday School Teachers for the 3rd-5th grade class, which can have up to about 12 kids, but often has less. The team rotates, so I teach and/or assist a couple times each month. The Children's Choir consists of 6 kids who like to sing. I'm also a volunteer music teacher at a local public school. This year I'm teaching two Kindergarten classes, and it's lots of fun.

The other thing I keep busy with is cooking. I've discovered that I feel much healthier on a low glycemic index (GI), gluten- and dairy-free (GF and DF) diet, so that's what I'm following right now. Which means I pretty much cook all my meals at home. From scratch. Yeah. It's a 20 hour/week job. I've just discovered breakfast beans (yummy and filling). I've also just whipped up a batch of high-protein, low GI biscuits. I'll be putting up a couple more recipe posts soon. For past recipes, check out  Hope's Kitchen .
 
I hope you'll take some time to stop by my blot and say hi. I'm looking forward to meeting some new bloggers. :-)
Hope


Go show Hope some blog love by commenting and/or following. 

Friday, November 11, 2011

New Blog Friday- Sunny

IT'S BACK!!  

After a brief hiatus during IVF and pregnancy, I have decided to bring back New Blog Friday!

So if you have a blog you would like me to feature, click on the "New Blog Friday" tab at the top right to find out more. 


This week I am featuring Sunny from Sunny Side Up
Here is a message from Sunny:

Hi, my name is Sunny and I own and write at  Sunny Side Up .
I originally began my blog in April, when my husband and I first found out I have Poly-Cystic Ovarian syndrome, and that baby making could get a little complicated.
As a nurse by trade, I had heard about all the common causes of infertility, including PCOS.  We have friends who have struggled on their own paths to have babies; some successful and some not.  So when we were told that we were infertile because I didn’t make eggs, our whole life changed.
We have been told by many (many) people how lucky we are that we found out early, because Hubby and I are still under 30.  We have been married for just over two years, and together for six.  We had always talked about starting our family early, and were hoping to be married a few years before we started ‘trying’.  However, in October last year, we were blessed with a surprise pregnancy which, unfortunately, was taken from us not long after. 
It is amazing how much love you can place in something so quickly.  How little time it takes to become so attached to the idea of something.  We had always wanted children, but after our loss, that feeling was multiplied and kept multiplying, until it was all we could think about!
Sunny Side Up  is a space to talk candidly about marriage, infertility, sex, and life in general.  I wanted to create a place I could talk about it without making people uncomfortable.  And I have been genuinely surprised by the number of people who have come out and told me their own stories of infertility and baby dreams.  It seems the more I talk about it, the more couples join in.  What a sad, and yet somewhat comforting thought!
Now I feel like my blog has a purpose.  It has given me a goal, and though it may take time to achieve, it is high on my list of priorities.  I would love to be able to establish a not-for-profit ‘ Sunny Side Up Foundation ’ that would aide infertile couples with financial support, information on available fertility, adoption and foster care options, and counselling in Australia.  Because I know that without the support of those around us, our lives would be incredibly hard.
In the meantime,  Sunny Side Up {creative}  was recently debuted on the blog and Facebook page.  There you can find click-and-print inspirational posters; all free of charge, and designed by me!



So please stop by  Sunny Side Up  sometime.  We don’t yet know what God has in store for us, but you can be sure you’ll hear an honest, comical, sometimes emotional, and true account of our adventures.

Go check out Sunny and show her some love by commenting and/or following her blog

Friday, April 8, 2011

New Blog Friday- Brittany



This week I am featuring Brittany from over at Bohemian Transplant. 


Here is a message from Brittany: 




Hello all! My name is Brittany, and very quickly I just want to say a big THANK YOU to Aly for featuring me! I love meeting new bloggers & am looking forward to what's to come!
I blog [semi]regularly over at Bohemian Transplant. I am a 30 year old Army Wife, currently battling infertility. These seem to be my two main identifiers these days.
I have been with my husband for a little over six years, & we have been stationed here at Fort Bragg for a little over five of those years. While Fort Bragg is not the greatest place in the world, it is where I have learned everything I know about life with the military. Just two short months after I moved out here, my husband deployed to Iraq for 15 months. As I chose not to go home during the deployment [hey, I had just moved 3,000 miles across the country from Seattle! I wasn't about to make that trip again!] I was quickly thrown into life as an Army Spouse. Exactly one year after he was home, he deployed again for another 12 months. It's safe to say that I a seasoned Army Spouse and I love meeting & talking with new spouses in any branch of the military!
About three years ago, my husband & I decided to jump on the baby band wagon. What we thought would be an easy process turned out to be rather difficult. That first year started off exciting & fun, but quickly turned to obnoxious & frustrating. Two days after my husband left for his second deployment, & one year after we started trying, I found out I was pregnant only to miscarry at 10 weeks. We have not gotten lucky again & have recently started the official infertility route. My days are full of ovulator predictor kits, pregnancy tests, drugs to make me ovulate more, temperature taking & a lot of wishing & hoping that our turn will come. In the mean time, we have three adorable fur pups that we spoil rotton & love like our crazy kids!
Because I am so new to the infertility battle, it has become the majority of what I write about. I have loved meeting [in real life or not] other women with this disease, and the support group I have found online has saved me on more than one occasion.
Aside from the Army & the infertility, I do enjoy other things! I work full time in the communications/marketing field and love it. I love to cook. I own my own side photography business. All of these things you will hear about on my blog as well. I'm a born & raised hippy from Seattle & my flare for the creative & beautiful definitely comes through on my blog. I also love to travel & will take any excuse for my husband & I to jet away for a quick weekend vacation.
I look forward to meeting new people & I encourage you to come say hello!


Go show Brittany some blog love by commenting and/or becoming a follower. 

Friday, March 25, 2011

New Blog Friday- Bridget




This week on New Blog Friday I am featuring Bridget from over at The Lost Stork. Here is a message from Bridget. 

Hi everyone!  I'm Bridget from The Lost Stork.  I want to start by thanking the lovely Aly for featuring me on New Blog Friday! Aly may not know this, but she was a huge inspiration to me as I began going through IVF.
A little about me....I'm 32, I live in the Midwest and I have unexplained infertility. My husband and I had been trying to conceive for a little over a year when I started my blog in December of 2010.  I started The Lost Stork right before we began our first IVF cycle.  I was scared to death and I wanted a place to vent, explain, and keep our family up to date with what was going on.  If I only knew the support and wonderful people I would "meet" because of my blog- I would have started it much sooner!!  This is such a wonderful community to be a part of and I am thankful everyday for your support and encouragement.

Steve and I got married in November of 2009 and immediately started TTC.  I knew it might take some time, and I was prepared for that.  What I wasn't prepared for was failure after failure.  2010 started with an ectopic pregnancy (that included 3 surgeries, 2 blood transfusions and the removal of my right fallopian tube), followed in May by a chemical pregnancy, then 3 months of Clomid, and two failed IUI's.  This was a dark time for me and I am thankful every day for my supportive and understanding husband and our awesome families. In November 2010 we began to talk about IVF. We both wanted to be parents so badly and we couldn't see going through life without our own family.  In January 2011 we took the plunge and began IVF injections.  I can tell you IVF is hard.  The needles, hormones, blood tests, crazy side effects and feeling like a science experiment is definitely not pleasant.  But it has gotten us to where we are today... 10 weeks pregnant!
I hope you will stop by my blog and say hi.  I love meeting new bloggers and I truly hope my story can help anyone who is dealing with infertility.
xoxo,
Bridget


Go show Bridget some blog love by stopping by and leaving a comment and/or becoming a follower. 

Friday, March 18, 2011

New Blog Friday - Athena

Now that my IVF cycle is over, New Blog Friday is back!!



This week I am featuring Athena from over at A Field Of Dreams:




Here is a message from Athena:

G'day from the Land Down Under!

My name is Athena. I was born, raised and live in Sydney Australia with my loving husband of 17 years and my 18 month old little man named Callum. He is my true miracle after 6 long years of infertility and numerous unsuccessful attempts at fertility assistance. He came the day I let go of all inhibitions and finally "relaxed". Yes, those old biddy's were right, well at least for my situation. I started my blog back in July 2010. At first it was just an introductory post of my IF Journey. I had it written after my son was born as a record of my IF experience. The post was featured on a friends blog as a success story. After following her blog for a few months, the blogger bug bit me and I decided to start blogging. My IF Journey post finally allowed me to come out of the cobweb closet and tell the world that I was a survivor of infertility and in the hope of sharing my experiences, someone out there in the whole wide world may be inspired by my story. My posts reflect my experiences of parenting and how IF still lingers in my heart and life. I also blog about my fat bum and how I'm trying to lose weight after a diagnosis of pre-diabetes and acid reflux. I'm in no hurry to have any more children. Callum in  tacky terms " completes me".

I'm too embarrassed to put up a current photo of myself. My self-esteem has been captured by calorie counting, exercise and medication. These days it's all about trackie dacks, arse cracks and Ugg boots. I'd rather not torch your eyes with the double chin and tuck shop arms. So my prettiest moment was on my wedding day. That's how I want you to meet me and how I will someday in the near future look again. 

My Callum was born the day before my 9th wedding anniversary. The best gift of all time. He was a big bubba, weighing in at 4.16kgs and 52cm long. He wouldn't fit through my pelvis and so was born via emergency C-section. Fast forward to present day and all he does all day every day is make us laugh. He is the epitome of a typical boy. Plays rough with Daddy, cuddles and kisses for Mum, loves his grandparents who spoil him rotten and is the biggest charmer to his Aunty. He really is a gift as he filled our life with humour, sweetness and everlasting love.

Thank you to Aly for featuring me in this weeks New Blog Friday, and to you for reading it. Please feel free to stop by my blog and introduce yourself.  I look forward to meeting you.
P.S My blog was also designed by the beautiful Aly herself!
Cheers Athena xox

Go show Athena some blog love by leaving a comment and/or becoming a follower. 

Friday, January 28, 2011

New Blog Friday- Kerri

This week on New Blog Friday I am featuring Kerri from over at Uncommon Nonsense 

Here is a message from Kerri:

Hi out there in the IF universe.  My name is Kerri and DH and I have been TTC baby #1 for 14 months, 12 cycles, and somewhere over 100 pee sticks.  The DX so far: Me = PCOS, hypothyroidism , and one very uncooperative, Arcuate/Septate uterus.  DH = close to perfect.  
 
A little about us and my blog...
I grew up in a small Long Island town, while DH is from   New Delhi, India . We met as roommates, while both living in   Boston , and bonded pretty quickly over our shared affection for Indian curry and my wonderful, fluff-ball of a fur baby, M (that’s us exchanging rings during our second of two wedding ceremonies – we had one Hindu and one Jewish one).  Life was joyous; all was well in the world.  
 

Then, in the winter of 2009, we gleefully tossed out the BCPs, received our clean bills of health from the doc, and started “working” towards the good old “baby makes three”.   Little did we know the journey it would become - the tears, the tests, the docs, the medical bills, and of course the steamy, timed BDing.  
 
I started this blog as a way to organize my thoughts, and of course as a way to vent my endless frustration with our ongoing inability to conceive.  I never thought it would become my therapy, my gateway to an amazing online community of   incredible  women, my solace, and my passion.  I am so happy to have found this community, and I am so thankful.  
 
Thanks to Aly for putting this page together, and to you for reading it, and please feel free to stop by my blog and introduce yourself.  I look forward to meeting you!
 
- Kerri 




Go show Kerri some love by commenting and/or following her blog

Friday, January 21, 2011

New Blog Friday- Julia



This week on New Blog Friday I am featuring Julia from over at "Just Relax!"

Here is a message from Julia:



Hi everyone!  First of all, a huge thank you to Aly who graciously let me be featured on New Blog Friday! 

                
My name is Julia, and I love long walks on the beach, unexpected flowers, and Peeing on Sticks.  Not just any sticks though, THE sticks  I'm married to my wonderful husband Jon, whom I met in 2007 when I was his supervisor at a local Non-Profit for youth. We dated, and quickly got engaged in late 2007.  After quite a few months of "accidentally showing up in the same place around dinner time,"  Jon quit his job and we started dating officially (he stood me up on our first date... he blames it on me not being clear, psssh, whatever!!).  6 months later, we were engaged.
  
We married in August of 2008.    It was a lovely ceremony and very casual reception that we got raves reviews about later on. They honeymooned that following winter in Mexico by taking a cruise.  It was the best time I ever had for sure, except for open sea kayaking.  I may have cried through the whole thing.  Jon proceeded to try to get out of the marriage commitment on this honeymoon, where he "accidentally" almost lost his wedding ring on the bottom of the ocean.  He rescued it  from 30 feet down. 
Wearing a life jacket. 
With very little air. 
My Hero.

Jon and I started actively trying to start our human family in March of 2009.  We've almost reached the 2 year mark, who knew that after so many years of being careful, it would be so hard to get pregnant?  I think my 6th grade health teacher has a bit to learn about the process.

I'm rather quirky. Milk can't be over a couple of days old, regardless of the expiration date, for me to have to throw it out. I'm addicted to sleeping. I can't walk away from my car if the window wipers are across the windshield.  I will restart the car and fix it.  Every. Time.  I also have deep anxiety and fear about driving into car washes.  I have a deal going right now with a co-worker saying that she will drive my car to the car wash if I don't swear for an entire week.  So, I guess my car isn't getting washed. 
                                 

I continue to hope for a new member to my family, and I know that we both will be great parents.  I know many of you are on a similar journey, and I continue to wish the best for you along the way. Thank you to my friends who aren't even experiencing the challenges that this blog surround, but surround me with love by reading my ramblings anyway.
Welcome!!






Go show Julia some love by commenting/following her at "Just Relax!"

Friday, January 14, 2011

New Blog Friday- AP

NewFirst off....I want to say a HUGE apology to AP for not posting this last week. I had a bit of a issue with the auto post feature. Apparently you have to set it to auto post on the correct day. Shocker, I know!

This week on New Blog Friday is AP from over at My Dusty Uterus.

Here is a message from AP:

Hi Everyone!  I’m thrilled to be Aly’s featured New Blog Friday!  Thank you, Aly for helping the newbies out.  You are my personal Carlisle, guiding me through the newborn blogging phase.  You rock!
My blog name is AP.  I keep my true identity hidden lest someone random from my real life, like Creepy Produce Guy or Saturday Morning Spin Instructor stumble upon this and blow my cover.  AP is short for “Annie Pie” which is my husband’s sickeningly sweet nickname for me.  Not wanting readers to gag upon reading my name, I made the executive decision to go with AP .  

This is me with big sunglasses, still masking my identity.

My husband and I dated for four years before getting married in 2006.  We were married in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York on a gorgeous September day. 

  With a Golden Retriever added to the mix, we settled into married life. 
Our monster, Teak

Kids were the last thing on my mind.  During my teenage years I decided I could live without them and never looked back.  On my 30 th birthday I snuck a glance in the rearview mirror and reconsidered.  Just before my 31 st birthday I told my husband my position had changed.  After a little convincing that my “zero-child” clause was non-binding, he was all in.
A basket of nerves forsaking my old self, I threw away my pills in June.  YIKES!  And of course, I was late.  Then later, and finally late enough to share my fear with my husband: I was pregnant.  With the stick shaking in my hand, I took the test and calculated my due date as sometime in April.  
Furies be damned!  It was negative!  I grabbed another Michelob Ultra and assumed my body just needed time to get over 10 years on the pill.  129 days later, when a progesterone-induced period finally arrived, I knew the ugly truth:  my ovaries are in lockdown mode.  No egg can escape.  
“PCOS?” you ask.  Nope, even better.  My doctor told me I exercise too much.  I laughed out loud when she told me that, but she didn’t think it was funny.  I’ve indulged her theory and slowed down.  I used to be a crazy marathon runner but since a back injury left me on the sidelines, I’ve been biding my time at the gym.  Maybe too much time. 

The painful end of my last marathon
I started blogging to keep my sanity and find humor in my padlocked ovaries.  I don’t know about you, but over-exercise tops my list of comical diagnoses.  To get a sense of how I write and what I’m all about, I recommend my first post , my favorite post , and the post that reserves my spot in hell .
My blog is organic and austere (read: bland). I am open to tips and suggestions on jazzing it up.  Heck, if I could get a picture in the header, I’d pop open the champagne!
Today is a big day for me, not only because of New Blog Friday, but also because  I’m going to make my virginal foray to Twitter.  I have no idea what kind of attack birds are waiting for me, or what I’m even doing out there, but it’s time to give it a go!
Thanks for reading! I look forward to getting to know everyone.
AP

Go show AP some love by commenting or even becoming a follower!!