2017: A Year in Review

As I reflect on 2017, I have to admit I am feeling pretty split about this past year. The sucky part about this year aside from the political climate was the fact I lost my baby. On the brighter side of things, I’m ending the year with my dream home and about to celebrate with my dearest family and friends. Here’s a look back on my 2017.

January

• Hosted our final New Year’s Eve party at our old house
  
• Sort of did the January Cure 😆
• Started seeing a chiropractor regularly. I go The Joint Chiropractic, and what makes it easy is there are multiple locations both by where I work and where I live.
• Had our last family dinner in town with Joshua’s adopted family. They moved to Washington shortly after.
• Joshua and I had our joint birthday brunch with friends at BJ’s. We both turned 30 this year.
• I went to my first baby shower since my pregnancy loss. It was hard, but I was all smiles and very hopeful.
• Got another Stitch Fix Box
  
• Read the book Love Your Life, Not Theirs: 7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want

February

• Had a joint birthday dinner with mine and Joshua’s family
  
• Dani’s birthday present to me was a facial at Bliss Spa and shopping in San Francisco. We had a very fun #SisterSunday!
  
• On my actual 30th birthday, Joshua and I went to Melting Pot with Dani, Danielle, and Adam.
  
• Saw Fifty Shades Darker. The Fifty Shades series is my guilty pleasure, so I took myself to the movies.
• Went to my very first Galentine’s Day celebration, hosted by Danielle!
  
• I read Outlander! 😍

March

• Won my first ADDY award!
  
• Got my BFP for baby #2! I tell Joshua and Dani right away.
  
• Dani found an apartment to move into and signed her lease.
  
• Morning sickness started at the end of the month and lasted through mid-May.
• Saw Logan, Beauty & the Beast (twice!) and Power Rangers
• Read the book Smart Mom’s Guide to Essential Oils. The author was a podcast guest on PCOS Diva, and I really enjoyed her book!

April

• Me, Joshua, Danielle, and Adam helped Dani move out of our house and into her new apartment! Little did we know that 7 months later we would be moving into a house right down the street from her.
  
• Did intake with the RN and got all my bloodwork done for pregnancy.
• Went to urgent care for bronchitis symptoms
• Started the Spring One Room Challenge and used it to give our master bath a mini facelift.
• Our first ultrasound at 8w4d reveals fetal heartbeat!
  
• The day we got the good news from the ultrasound was my father in-law’s birthday, so we gifted him a grandpa frame with the ultrasound.
• Morfar, my grandpa, passed away at 98 years old.
  
• Easter Sunday we called/FaceTimed Joshua’s adopted parents to tell them I was pregnant. Later in the day we celebrated Easter at my parents house in which I surprised them with a special Easter basket to announce my pregnancy.
• Read Dragonfly in Amber

May

• I had my first trimester screening at 12 weeks. Got to see my baby bouncing around and everything was looking good. Also had my next checkup with my OB and we heard the heartbeat.
• Announced our pregnancy on Mother’s Day.
  
• Saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. I also started watching all the Fast & the Furious movies for the first time as part of a challenge: my coworker would watch all the Star Wars movies if I watched all the FATF movies.

June

• Had my Week 16 prenatal checkup with my OB. We heard the heartbeat just fine, but it was at this point that my baby supposedly stopped growing.
• Met with my new primary care physician (PCP) to figure out why I was still coughing almost two months after having bronchitis. Not much they could do or determine since I was pregnant.
• We scattered my grandparents’ ashes and did what I referred to as a “goodbye tour” in the bay area.
  
• Celebrated 2 years working for Three29!
  
• Took my niece to the county fair
• Saw Wonder Woman twice!
• I read Voyager and The Pregnancy Instruction Manual

July

• I went in for what was supposed to be my 20 week anatomy scan and instead found out I had another missed miscarriage. Later that week I had a D&E officially ending my second pregnancy. By far the absolute worst thing to happen to me all year. Five months later and a TON of testing, I still don’t have answers as to why it happened.
  
• My coworker went to D23 and got me SHAG’s Pirates of the Caribbean prints!
  
• Went to the California State Fair to celebrate their 50th anniversary. My Art Director and colleague, Jason, was commissioned to do the artwork for the occasion.
• My property finally closed, and I was paid the remaining money owed from when I first sold it.
• Finished reading Your Pregnancy and Childbirth: Month to Month, a book that was given to me by OB’s office back when I first got pregnant. It had some good info on dealing with loss as well.

August

• Heard from my doctor who performed my D&E. Pathology report came back normal. No chromosomal abnormalities. Baby was a girl.
• Saw my PCP and got full blood work panel done. Results came back completely normal. Got referral to see new OBGYN.
• Started seeing a nutritionist. Was told that my diet needed to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and (added) sugar-free.
• Went to my very first Creative Mornings.
  
• Finally settled my grandpa’s estate. Because of this we were able to get the funds to officially hire a realtor and start house hunting.
• Read The PCOS Diet Plan.

September

• Met with my new OBGYN. I got tested for clotting disorders, autoimmune, and various hormones to see how my PCOS is doing. Joshua and I also got genetic karyotyping done, and I got the green light to go back on my Metformin.
  
• Started seeing a therapist.
• Got an estimate from our painter for painting the whole exterior of our old house. We ended up firing him in December due to lack of professionalism, dragging out the job, and not wanting to finish. That was a stressful experience!
• We found a house we fell in love with and wanted to put an offer in. Our agent called theirs and it turned out the house was already in escrow. A week later things weren’t going well, so we we put in a backup offer. Unfortunately the buyers lifted their contingencies, and the house was set to close much to our dismay.
• Went on family vacation up in Washington. Got to spend the whole week with Joshua’s adopted family in their new home.
  
• Mr. Big turned 4 years old!
  
• Saw Kingsman: The Golden Circle
• Read The Keto Guidebook

October

• Had follow-up with my OBGYN. All test results came back normal. My AMH levels were a little low, so I got a referral to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE).
• On Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day I got my very first tattoo to honor my angel babies.
  
• I got an HSG exam which was unpleasant but the results came out normal.
• WE BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE! We got the news our offer was accepted on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, and we closed on it 13 days later!
  
• For Halloween I dressed up as Elliot and Mr. Big as E.T.
  

November

• Started NaBloPoMo and ended up blogging 27 out of 30 days.
• Celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We had dinner at The Melting Pot.
  
• I had my consult with the RE. Everything looked good and she had me do one more test. Results from those blood tests showed I’m not immune to rubella, so I had to get the MMR vaccine and wait three months before I can try to get pregnant again. Once I do get pregnant they’ll monitor me more closely and put me on supplemental progesterone and baby aspirin for a time.
• Saw Justice League for my friend Ely’s birthday.
  
• The painters we hired for our new house finished painting the interior of our home right before we left for vacation.
• Acknowledged my would-have-been due date.
• Joshua and I went on vacation in Hawaii during the week of Thanksgiving. This was a means to be out of town during the week of both my due date and anniversary of my miscarriage. We had an amazing time!
  
• The day after we got back from Hawaii we moved into our new home!

December

• Had our annual work holiday party, and this year it was at Centro. We had a very good time if you know what I mean 🍸🥃 which is why there were basically no photos 😆.
• Saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi 👈🏻 click that link if you want to know my opinions (spoilers)
• We fired the painters we hired originally for our old place and hired the ones that did our new place to finish the job and paint the interior. Shortly after that was done we met with our realtor and put our house up on the market!
  
• Celebrated Dani’s 25th birthday seeing her dance performance and then going out to a yummy steak dinner with the family!
  
• We had our first official get-together at the new place. Since we were going out of town for Christmas we celebrated a little early with some family and friends.
  
• We celebrated Christmas in Washington with Joshua’s adopted family. It was nice to getaway for a couple of days!
  
• Had a belated Christmas with my family.
• Ended the year with our annual New Year’s Eve party. This year we turned into a housewarming party as well.
• Read Building a StoryBrand for work. One of the best new books I read this year!