Breaking out my honkey tonk ways

Originally posted:  May 7, 2008

The beginning:  Lived in a small honkey tonk farm in Illinois with my parents and three siblings for 21 years, before I took my life elsewhere.  Now, when I say farm I mean acres upon acres of corn and soybean fields surrounding the house, a gravel driveway that my dad would have to plow with a tractor in the winter, and cows that would kindly come just feet away from our front door when they escaped.  Cody and I met when I was 15 and him 17.  We spent 3 years apart with me being 2 hours away for college and then he joined the army in 2003 (this is so not how I planned my life).  After getting married twice, yes you read that right, (first at the JOP March 19, 2004 and then the big Catholic Church Wedding July 9, 2004) I headed to Fort Stewart, GA to begin our married life and what a journey the last 4 years have been. 
Get to GA and I enroll in a college I've never heard of to finish my middle school teaching degree (yes, I know I'm nuts). 
Since we so luckily got stationed at the most rapidly deploying military base, Cody was off to sandland just 10 months after getting married, and only 6 months after I moved down here. 
While Cody was home on R&R we decided to try for a baby, and figured there would be no problems.  July 4th, I awoke him with the news that we were indeed pregnant.  That was easy, or so I thought.  Unfortunately, we lost the baby around 9 weeks. 
December 2005 came and Cody was finally home safely from his 11 month tour to Iraq.  We decided to try again for a baby, but without a period since the miscarriage things were not looking up for us.  After dealing with Tricare (military insurance) and horrible doctors we finally saw a specialist - in which I found out that I do not ovulate.  Just a week after my grandmother passed away, we got our first positive HPT, God truly has a sense of humor.  But, this time we did not immediately celebrate.  We got to see the little baby's heart beating strongly at 6 weeks--- and things were already looking up.  Around 20 weeks I finally graduated AASU with a middle school degree with endorsements in math and literture.  Oh how I loved being pregnant, but my body decided otherwise.  I was put on bedrest due to pre-e around 35 weeks (mind you it took those stupid docs at Winn (army hospital) several visits before someone actually did something.  First, it was "oh you are just swelling, keep your feet elevated and drink lots of water."  Then my bp was sky rocketing and it took my fat pregnant butt several visits to labor and delivery before someone finally took me serious.  Things did not get better, and I was induced at 38 weeks and after a crazy rollercoaster ride of a delivery Addyson Eva arrived April 11 at 4:36 pm (just 25 hours after being induced----boy is that a story to tell).  I am soooo hoping that Addyson does not continue on the same path she entered on. 
Just a few weeks later Cody was sent again to hell, but this time it is expected to be 15 months.  Not only did my husband just leave, but I just became a mom for the first time and now I was all alone.  I did not sign up for being a single mom, but that is what it has become.  After enjoying the summer off watching my daughter grow, it was time to head into my first full year of teaching.  I cannot even begin to explain all the emotions I was feeling as I was leaving Addyson for the first time. 
Press the fastforward button to December of 2007....
Cody is on his way home for R&R, but this time the army was so gracious (note the sarcasm) to allow the soldiers to be home for 20 days instead of the whopping 15 days that they got before.  Read the blog titled Infertility Rollercoaster to see what happened during R&R.  Cody left mid January 2008 to head back to Iraq and it is projected that he will come back from Iraq in June (unless I can find a way to get him home sooner --- wink wink).