What is PCOS?

PCOS is my recent diagnosis from my Doctor. This is the first doctor out of four that has given me a diagnosis other then "you need to lose weight". Which don't get me wrong, I do need to lose weight, but having a proper diagnosis as to why things happen to me is nice. It's what I suspected, and the upside is it is still possible to have a baby, even tho it will be more difficult for me to become pregnant.
I've gathered the following information from http://www.womenshealth.gov/.
What causes polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?
The cause of PCOS is unknown. Most researchers think that more than one factor could play a role in developing PCOS. Genes are thought to be one factor. Women with PCOS tend to have a mother or sister with PCOS. Researchers also think insulin could be linked to PCOS. Insulin is a hormone that controls the change of sugar, starches, and other food into energy for the body to use or store. For many women with PCOS, their bodies have problems using insulin so that too much insulin is in the body. Excess insulin appears to increase production of androgen. This hormone is made in fat cells, the ovaries, and the adrenal gland. Levels of androgen that are higher than normal can lead to acne, excessive hair growth, weight gain, and problems with ovulation.

What are the symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)?
Not all women with PCOS share the same symptoms. These are some of the symptoms of PCOS: I've marked if I have the symptoms in orange :)

• infrequent menstrual periods, no menstrual periods, and/or irregular bleeding (this is a major problem for me)
• infertility (not able to get pregnant) because of not ovulating (maybe)
• increased hair growth on the face, chest, stomach, back, thumbs, or toes—a condition called hirsutism (HER-suh-tiz-um) (no)
• ovarian cysts (most likely)
• acne, oily skin, or dandruff (no)
• weight gain or obesity, usually carrying extra weight around the waist
  insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes (big yes, i can look at food and gain weight)
• high cholesterol (no)
• high blood pressure (no)
• male-pattern baldness or thinning hair (no)
• skin tags, or tiny excess flaps of skin in the armpits or neck area pelvic (i get small skin tags, but always thought it was hereditary)
• painpatches of thickened and dark brown or black skin on the neck, arms, breasts, or thighs
• anxiety or depression due to appearance and/or infertility (well yea, the hormones are all outta whack and I want a baby)
• sleep apnea—excessive snoring and times when breathing stops while asleep (i don't notice any problems here and hubby says I don't really snore)

Why do women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have trouble with their menstrual cycle?


The ovaries are two small organs, one on each side of a woman's uterus. A woman's ovaries have follicles, which are tiny sacs filled with liquid that hold the eggs. These sacs also are called cysts. Each month about 20 eggs start to mature, but usually only one matures fully. As this one egg grows, the follicle accumulates fluid in it. When that egg matures, the follicle breaks open to release it. The egg then travels through the fallopian tube for fertilization. When the single egg leaves the follicle, ovulation takes place.
In women with PCOS, the ovary doesn't make all of the hormones it needs for any of the eggs to fully mature. Follicles may start to grow and build up fluid. But no one follicle becomes large enough. Instead, some follicles may remain as cysts. Since no follicle becomes large enough and no egg matures or is released, ovulation does not occur and the hormone progesterone is not made. Without progesterone, a woman's menstrual cycle is irregular or absent. Plus, the cysts make male hormones, which also prevent ovulation.

Does polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) put women at risk for other health problems?
Women with PCOS have greater chances of developing several serious, life-threatening diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer. Recent studies found that:

• More than 50 percent of women with PCOS will have diabetes or pre-diabetes (impaired glucose tolerance) before the age of 40.
• Women with PCOS have a four to seven times higher risk of heart attack than women of the same age without PCOS.
• Women with PCOS are at greater risk of having high blood pressure.
• Women with PCOS have high levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol and low levels of HDL (good) cholesterol.
• The chance of getting endometrial cancer is another concern for women with PCOS. Irregular menstrual periods and the absence of ovulation cause women to produce the hormone estrogen, but not the hormone progesterone. Progesterone causes the endometrium to shed its lining each month as a menstrual period. Without progesterone, the endometrium becomes thick, which can cause heavy bleeding or irregular bleeding. Over time, this can lead to endometrial hyperplasia, when the lining grows too much, and cancer.

I have more tests ran on Friday. Yippee! lol. Hopefully I can start treatment for PCOS, lose weight, and have a baby!

$2,000

I can think of a lot of things I could do with $2,000. Pay bills, a new wardrobe, buy a few presents, or take that much needed vacation!

As you all know, my husband and I have been trying to get a hold of his adoption records and the only bit of sunshine we've had lately was the fact we found and was able to contact his adoption attorney. But a big black rain cloud quickly came and covered our ray of sunshine. Mrs. Attorney wants $2,000 just to start our case. I understand they are expensive, but I've done all the research and investigation, all she would have to do is show up for us (since we can't just hop on over to Houston) and request the records be opened. I don't see where that would cost $2,000! I'm a poor newlywed with a scrapbook and shopping addiction, we don't have $2,000 just laying around... back to the drawing board.

OMG she Baked!

Well what else is there to do when you're under a winter storm advisory with rain, sleet, and snow? I love the snow, however I am very thankful that we didn't receive the 28 inches of snow like some parts of Kansas did! The first picture was taken about 2 hours after the snow started falling and you can see the ice was starting to take it's toll on the trees. And the second pic is midway through the evening. It snowed for about 6-7 hours and rained pretty much the whole day.


So what did I bake? I showed my husband a picture of Heather Drives Oreo Cupcakes and he just had to have them. So my goal was to not burn anything, set anything on fire and to have them ready for him when he got off work. 2 of my goals were accomplished, my husband came home from work early and I wasn't finished! I'm typically not a good cook or baker, but i do get the job done... usually with the help of Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines. But this was my first attempt at making everything from scratch. I even used my stand up mixer for the first time! Heather Drives blog gave good detailed directions. Be sure to follow her advise about cutting the oreos first! I didn't realize how hard it would be to cut an oreo in half! I did come across a few hang ups in my approach. 1- i don't have a food processor, so i had to mash the oreos and use a food chopper. For the most part, it did the job, but ... 2 - My icing tip wasn't big enough, or not having processed oreos , the small chunks kept getting stuck in the icing tip. So the outcome, I just blobbed some frosting on and "wallah!" My husband approves!

New Scrappy Pages

I'm so excited to hurry home and have the snow hit. Yes, I said SNOW! We are suppose to get 8-10 inches! We'll see if Mr. Weatherman is right this time. He's always lying to me! I miss the days when they said snow, and you were guaranteed 8-10 inches and no school the next day! I just worry about my poor husband having to drive to work on Saturday. Be careful honey!!

Here are my new scrapbook pages. Nothing to fancy. I've been trying to get my wedding album finished. I wanted to scrap all of our wedding events into one big scrap book. It will be fantastic when it's finished! I think my Hollywood ones need something else... any ideas?

I hate people

"i hate people" that is the most common phrase out of my mouth. (i dont hate everyone, just the ones that piss me off)


This blog is posted out of pure anger! I just don't get people! First, I hate people that can't drive. Second, this is my second car in 2 freaking months to be hit by someone! The first was by far much more dangerous and I did sub stain injuries. . . This one... a hit and run. Someone simply hit my car while they were trying to park and took off! OMG.


While I was in Michael's purchasing some new scrap book stuff and a few baking items, someone hit my NEW JEEP!!! My hormones have been outta whack lately and you can imagine how pissed I was when I saw it. I cried for a good 2 hours. I know it's just scraped to the hard metal of the bumper, no major damage, but someone still hit my car and took off! Anymore people are just so rude and inconsiderate for others. I work hard so I can have nice things and it pisses me off when others take it for granted.

Website Wednesday!

Good Day!

Since I had Dogster last week... why not post a site for the cat lovers this week.
http://www.catster.com/

(Max )
It has all the same information as Dogster (adoption, cat manuals, breed info, tips etc.) and the layout is identical to Dogster.

(spike )

Enjoy!

Blog Candy

Look at all that cute stuff! Olde Country Creations is Celebrating March! Her deadline is 3/31!

Frog CupCakes

This post is for Marie (she loves frogs)! I thought it'd would bring a smile! I found these cupcakes online and haven't tried these cute little guys yet, but they sure look YUM! It appears to be a basic box cake and frosting. Even I can't mess that up!





PREP TIME : 25 Min
COOK TIME : 20 Min
READY IN : 45 Min
Original recipe yield 24 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
1 (16 ounce) can prepared vanilla frosting
6 drops green food coloring, or as needed
1/4 cup green decorator sugar
12 large marshmallows
48 semisweet chocolate chips
1 drop red food coloring

DIRECTIONS
Bake cupcakes according to the directions on the package.
Allow them to cool completely.
Scoop 2/3 of the frosting into a small bowl and mix with green food coloring.
Frost the cupcakes.
Sprinkle some of the green sugar over the tops.
Cut the marshmallows in half to make two circles.
Dip half of each marshmallow piece into water and dip into the green sugar to make the eyelids.
The remaining white will be the eyes.
Place on the cupcakes.
Use a little bit of white icing to glue a chocolate chip into the center of each eye for the pupil.
Mix the remaining frosting with red food coloring to make pink. Use the pink icing to draw smiling mouths and nostrils or even tongues on the frogs

Underpants 101

Hello And Welcome to Underpants 101.

Does anyone else have underpants problems?!

Lately I have been having a hard time with my underpants showing. lol. I'm not talking about how some people think it is cute/sexy to have a little bit of your thong above your jeans show.. (side note: i don't think that's cute) I'm a big girl and the selection gets tough when you reach a certain size of underpants.

Big Girls come in all different shapes and sizes, so the below statements are only true for the "Tonya" Shaped Girl.

First up: Thongs. Yes, they still make thongs and g-strings, but 90% of thongs/g-strings don't cover the lower-bellies. Why would anyone want a thong in the back and the front! That thong would do nothing by make my lower belly look like a butt! Plus having something up your butt all day wouldn't be my first pick. If you fart... does the air blow it out of your crack?

Next: Bikini, Hi-Cuts & Hipsters. Bikini and Hipsters just don't have the side support I need to be comfortable. I'm not sure how the rest fits because if they aren't working in the front... they wont work anywhere else. Hipsters would be a good fix to my underpants showing problem... however, hipsters don't cover the lower belly! They stop just above the hooey (va-jay-jay). I like that extra support over my belly. And not to mention the butt in those underpants is little too!

Finally: Granny Panties or Briefs. Oh these are my favorite! (Teal and Blue and White strips today!) Full seat coverage, full belly coverage, no skimpy areas at all! However, they don't work with today's fashion! I usually have anywhere between 1-4 inches of underpants showing.. above my pants! I do my best to keep my shirts pulled down in the back and am always constantly checking the underpants to make sure they aren't showing. I was in the bathroom tucking in my undershirt and was like "what the...?" And i had a good 3 inches of underpants above my slacks. Thank goodness the undershirt is hiding it today!

Remember Class: Crack Kills! LOL

Adoption

I am a strong supporter of adoptions. I've adopted all of my animals and yes, even my husband. :) My friend recently was able to make a family's dreams come true by having them adopt her newborn. One of my long time friends is adopted and was able to meet his biological mother on a talk show. He simply registered on a website and the two were connected.

I wish it were that easy for my husband. It seems like we are fighting an up hill battle against 100 mph winds. For most "adoption search" websites to work, both parties have to be looking for each other and register on the site. We've registered on numerous sites and paid their monthly fee's and have came up empty each time. What makes our search even more painful for us... my husband's aunt worked with his biological grandma, and doesn't remember very much information... again this was 32 years ago. Over the years, cousins, aunts and uncles slowly forget that valuable information.

My husband has tried once on his own, just to have a judge tell him no. :(

So...my husband and I knew this wouldn't be an easy journey for us... but i like challenges. I've spent many hours researching adoption search firms and websites. I've looked into hiring a search firm, just to have them quote us $5,000. $5,000!!! I'm not ready to give up that easy! Like I said earlier, the websites have not worked out in our favor.. yet! I still have my fingers crossed. I've made countless phone calls and emails to the Judicial System of Norman Oklahoma (the birth city) and Houston Texas (the adoption city). Oklahoma says Texas has the adoption records... Texas tells us Oklahoma has the records... We've paid money to have records and case numbers researched for us, just to have the records come back confidential. We've made a trip to Oklahoma and was simply told they don't have the records and to try "this place". So we try "this place" just to have them tell us to try "that place". It was just the run around. It was starting to seem like no one knows the answer, no one cares enough to try and find the answers and the easiest answer of them all was to keep passing us around and giving us the run around. When we got back from Oklahoma, I've called every place they told us to call and I FINALLY found one woman nice enough to try and help us out! She didn't tell us to try "this place" or "that place", she simply made a suggestion on how to find the attorney's that handled the cases. With her information we were able to track down my husband's adoption attorney from 1978! And it gets better... she is still practicing law! Danny put a call into her and we followed some tips that she gave us (we already looked into the Houston courts and were declined) but now we have a sliver of hope and can take a giant leap forward in this process!

I've left a message for the attorney this morning asking for further advice and to see if we can hire her to get those records. I'm so anxious to see where this takes us! It would answer so many questions for my husband. He thinks it would be cool to meet his biological mother, however he said he understands if she doesn't want too. His main purpose of this search is to obtain medical history and family background information. My husband is native american and he is very into his heritage, however there is this big piece missing, and I hope that we get that piece solved for him. :)