The Carpenters: June 2012

You Guessed it! We're having a baby!! We're expecting our little bundle of Joy on December 2, 2012. We are more than thrilled and can't wait to cuddle our sweet baby. We tried for a year before we were blessed with our little miracle. I'll try to be brief but here's the story...
I had several issues with my cycles growing up and was put on birth control to regulate them and to prevent cysts. I still had problems with cysts while on the pill and almost had to have one surgically removed before we got married. After we got married, I got an IUD and we loved it. Then we started feeling like something was missing and since I was done with school and working and Josh was into his clinicals and finished with the hardest parts of graduate school we decided it was time to start trying. I had my IUD removed in March of 2011. 6 months went by and I feared that there was something wrong especially given my medical history. I went to an OBGYN and had some blood work done and an ultrasound. The blood work was fine but there were 2 cysts on one ovary and I hadn't ovulated. I had been keeping track and though my cycles were now regular, I didn't ovulate every month. The Dr diagnosed me with a slight case of PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). He ordered more tests and it was a nightmare going through everything. One test, the HSG test, requires you to have a catheter inserted into your uterus and a radiopaque die is injected so that they can look for blockages. However, the radiologist was unable to perform this test and my Dr said that he would need to do it in the OR under general anes. I decided that this was too much to deal with right away so we waited. Josh had a semen analysis and it came back that he had a very low sperm count. We were told that we would most likely never be able to conceive on our own.
Of course we were devastated but one of my very best friends from middle school was going through the same thing and she was such a support through everything. I started realizing that there were women all around me who had dealt with similar situations and had beautiful children anyway. I still went through the stages of jealousy, frustration, anger, depression and so on. The most difficult thing to deal with was watching people get pregnant that didn't want it or who were unmarried and unprepared or people who had children but abused them. I didn't understand why we couldn't have a baby when we had a stable, loving relationship, a good home, I had a good job and Josh is almost done with school and will have an amazing career. Once I finally realized that God has a plan and that there is a reason that these other people were blessed with children and I had not. I knew that I would be able to have children some day and I just needed to have faith in the lord that it would happen.
I went to a different OBGYN and had more extensive blood work done that cost us over $1200 because my insurance doesn't cover infertility. Again, everything was normal and the Dr said that she wouldn't mind giving me clomid, a drug to help me ovulate. She wanted to wait 1 more month before she prescribed it and wanted to have Josh tested one more time. During that month I decided to try acupuncture and herbs to see if that would help. I did it twice a week for 1 month and then decided it was too expensive and time consuming. Josh that I was crazy but I figured it was worth a shot! Josh and I planned a trip for his spring break to go to Bishop, Reno, and Yosemite. We were gone 10 days and I was supposed to have started my cycle while we were camping. I waited for it to come and felt some of the normal symptoms that I would start but never did. While we were hiking I would have strange pains in my side and my body felt different.
The Monday we got back I was planning to go get the stuff for Josh to do the semen analysis since my dr's appointment was that Friday to get fertility drugs. I still hadn't started so I decided to take a pregnancy test. I ate breakfast and went back to check and to my surprise it said PREGNANT! I was overwhelmed with emotions. I laughed and cried and jumped for joy. I celebrated with GV and then I got on my knees and thanked heavenly father for this tremendous blessing. Josh wasn't going to be home for another couple of hours so I tried to keep myself together while I waited. I decided that I was going to make him lunch and I put a leftover hot dog bun in the oven to announce it to him. When he got home I showed him that I had made him lunch and then i showed him the bun in the oven. He just looked confused and said "Thanks babe!, what is it?" I said "it's a bun...in the oven..." He just said "thanks" again and I laughed and handed him the pregnancy test and the semen analysis request and told him " You don't have to do this anymore!" His eyes got huge and he couldn't believe it. He swept me up in his arms and we both cried and held each other. We spun and danced around the kitchen and laughed and cried together both feeling a thousand emotions at once.
We sat down to eat and couldn't focus. We were both so nervous and excited and happy and scared. He burst into tears and cried "what if I'm a bad dad" I hugged him and assured him that he was going to be the best dad in the whole world!
We announced it to our parents on Easter by playing an Egame. We put together a phrase that said "you are going to be grandparents, yippee!!" We broke it up into 5 parts so that our parents and my grandma could all have one egg to open with a word or 2 in it. They were all supposed to read it together. My dad read his word "going" and blurted out "JOSH AND SARA ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!" We shushed him and they read it. everyone was so excited and we tried to get it on camera but josh forgot to hit record. It was hard keeping it a secret from people while we waited for the first ultrasound and for the first trimester to pass. Our families had an even harder time not announcing it to the world because they were so excited. We've had a couple ultrasound and heard the heartbeat a few times and are getting so excited. I've already bought a bedroom set for a boy and a girl just in case and several other items that I found good deals on. Josh thinks I'm crazy but I want to be a little prepared! We will find out what it is on Monday so stay posted!

Boo! Ahh!

Profile. SO cute already!

Earlier this year Josh was asked to help with screenings at a Kindergarten in Mennifee by a Pediatric Dentist that He's been working with. He made arrangements with the offsite clinical director and Got all the paperwork he needed to go. However, When it came time to go, the head clinical director did not want Josh to go and wouldn't sign the form. He had told Josh that another student could go but since Josh had an assignment in the Radiology department he couldn't miss. So Josh found a replacement student to take his place during both clinic sessions but still didn't get approval from the dean. So, He decided that he could learn the most and do the most good for the most people if he went to do the screenings. I helped him and it went quickly. The kids were so cute and we had a great time.

Then the drama came... When he got back, his clinical instructor asked how it went and he said it was great and told her all about it. She was so proud of him she boasted about it to the other faculty and it came out that Josh had gone without proper permission. He received a letter saying he needed to meet with the dean of student affairs. She is not a very nice person and cares only about her own power and ego. She accused Josh of stealing the form that he needed to go and told him that he was unethical and unprofessional and that he would need to go before the student performance committee. The off site clinical Dean Martinez urged the other 2 deans not to go forward but they ignored his plea and Josh had to go anyway. He then decided to do a survey to show the administration that the students were unhappy and that there was a problem with the authority. This didn't go over very well and Josh was thrown under the bus by his fellow student government and the survey was thrown out and people were told not to participate. 1/3 of the college had already filled it out and expressed concerns however but no one that mattered would do anything about it.

He and my dad put together a letter stating all the facts of how other students had been allowed to do similar things, the school policy (including the mission statement and promise that all students would be treated as professionals from day 1) and specific times and dates. Apparently the letter wasn't apologetic enough and Josh was given 1 year of professional probation. This meant that he would lose his CDA leadership position and student government position. BUT, If he were to write a letter of apology to everyone on the committee and the 2 deans that he disobeyed, he would be allowed to keep his positions during the probation.

Meanwhile, the whole thing has pretty much blown over and they just tried to make an example out of Josh. Nothing has really changed, besides the fact that they are inspecting his every move to make sure he doesn't slip up. All of the faculty who actually know and work with Josh on a daily basis adore him, respect him, and feel that he is an excellent student and clinician. Josh is very well respected in the CDA dental community and all who know him are impressed with his talents, skills, abilities and personality.

So even though Josh was living up to the school's mission statement and trying to reach out to the community and make a good name for himself and the school and helped over 100 kindergartners, He was punished for being "unethical and unprofessional". A couple of months later there was an honors and awards ceremony and Josh received notification that he would be honored there. So we got dressed up and went to the banquet. He was given the Excellence in Leadership award for exemplary leadership and professionalism which included $250. Then he was sponsored by the tri-county Dental Society to be their representative at a national new dentist conference in Washington D.C.

What a Joke!!

Josh has handled it all with grace and dignity and has upheld his integrity and upbeat, positive spirit. He continues to thrive in his leadership positions and is improving tremendously as a clinician. He is an amazing example of humility and respect and I'm so proud of him and all his accomplishments. He never lets anything get him down and never treats others poorly or holds grudges even when he has been wronged. He does so much for others and I'm so impressed with the man that he is. I'm grateful to be his wife and to know that we are sealed for time and all eternity. I hope that our children will take after him and learn from his incredible example.