Birth Story

I finally blogged our little lady's birth story! Head on over to our family blog to read it!!

Garvin Family Blog

Can't wait for you all to see our new addition!!

Reflections of The Past

2012 was such a year of trials and miracles for our family. For the first 4 months of the year we didn't know what was wrong with Bry. It was so frustrating to have a husband who was physically so sick he couldn't get out of bed-- and no tests seem to provide answers. Then we saw a miracle happen with the amazing hospitalist that pointed us in the right direction to find out what was wrong and how to solve the problem. In April Bry had his neuro surgery and we had our Daddy and Hubby back. Life felt good.


 One night in June Bry and I were on a date and we were talking about getting a new car {this is something we don't do, buy new cars unless we pay cash} and like a brand new car. We were talking back and forth about the fact that we needed new vehicles but we didn't really want car payments. We decided to go and walk around the car lot and just see what was out there that could fit our family if we were to get pregnant when we did the fertility treatment at the end of the month. We left the car dealer that night driving a brand new car. Neither of us were too sold on the car. It was new and it smelled good but I was so worried about the kids being smooshed and if we got pregnant the trunk didn't seem big enough for a stroller. But we got the car. The VERY NEXT DAY I was at work and Bry called me, his department had been eliminated and he had been laid off. I called the car dealer and told them what happened and asked if there was a way to bring the car back. In AZ there is no 3 day grace period, so I knew this was a long shot. The guy told me to bring the car back before the end of the day, and not to worry. What a huge blessing!!! Quickly after Bry lost his job he had an opportunity fall in his lap that would be better than his old job. This opportunity lead Bry to start his own {extremely successful} marketing agency.


 June 28 we went in for our first Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) treatment. Because of my severe endometriosis we felt this was the best course of action to go. It was our first big step. Bry's insurance was paying for 100% for up to 6 treatments. As we went in I was so nervous. We were literally losing Bry's insurance 2 days later. What if this didn't work? What if we had to COBRA for the next 5 months seeing if this would work? Doubts were filling my mind as tears ran down my face and the procedure took place. It was about a 5 minute procedure but I had to stay there for an additional 30 min. Bry held my hand and talked so positively to me about how amazing it was that we were going to have a baby. I kept thinking that he must not have heard me when I told him the odds of this working. About 2 weeks after the procedure I got a funny little cramp while I was at work and figured it was just cramps because I was going to start so I went to reach in my drawer for some medicine when the thought came to mind not to take that in case I was pregnant. That was the first time I had thought anything of the sort, and it took me by surprise. But I listened and didn't. The next night was garbage night and I went to take the trash out, Bry quickly stopped me telling me that I shouldn't do that if I was pregnant. The next morning at 3 am I tested and saw the most beautiful two pink lines I'd ever seen. It worked and we were having a baby!!!


 We have grown and become so much stronger because of these trials the Lord knew we needed to go through. It was amazing how at the time of the trial we could almost immediately see the Lord's hand guiding us toward our next step. Our testimonies have grown, and our family has become so much closer in 2012.


 We can't wait for 2013. In 10 weeks we will be welcoming our baby girl into our family. Everyone of us anticipates her arrival and talks about it almost daily. Bry and I have become closer than we have ever been in the past 6 years. My relationship with the Lord is the closest it's ever been. I truly can see His hand and blessings in my life. I don't know where I would be without the Gospel and my Savior.


 In typical fashion for the New Year I have a few resolutions to leave off with 1. To have the baby by the end of March ;) 2. To focus on my personal scripture study and prayers 3. To get completely out of debt {we LOVE Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University!} 4. To have regular Temple attendance


 2012 was amazing for our family. We look forward to 2013 and the changes we are already anticipating. May your New Year be happy and blessed!! And for documenting sake, here's a pic of my ever growing belly! This was taken 2 weeks ago!

8 is GREAT!!!!

On October 13 Giovanni was able to be baptized! He had waited a LONG time for this! He was supposed to get baptized in September but his two aunties had babies so he asked if he could wait until October so that his Grammy and Papa and Bamba could be there for his special day! It was such a special day for Giovanni. He was so excited to become "an official member of the church!" and for his Daddy to baptize him!

Giovanni was so excited to have his best buddy be able to come to his baptism, too! This pic cracks me up... they are so funny together yet so serious in this pic!

After the baptism and confirmation we watched a slide show of Giovanni's life. I cried putting it together and cried watching it. I love seeing how this little man has grown spiritually. He amazes me.

We were blessed to have so many of our friends and family come be a part of Giovanni's special day! It was a room full of people we love and love us, too!!

After the baptism we had everyone over to eat Giovanni's 8 Is Great Sub from our great friend's who own Crazy Sub! I didn't tell Giovanni I was ordering it, so he was so surprised when he saw it!!

I love this pic of Giovanni and Papa... they thought they should be able to eat the entire sub themselves! ;)

I am so thankful for the Gospel. I'm so thankful for the atonement. I'm thankful for the happiness and joy that the Gospel has brought in our lives. I'm so proud of Giovanni and for his true desire to be baptised and to choose the right. I love seeing him write in his journal and read his scriptures. He LOVES having his very own set of scriptures! I can't believe the next time that we will have a child getting baptized Giovanni will be 16... and Andy will be home from his mission! I love you, Giovanni and I am so proud of you and the amazing little man you are!!!

Gender Reveal!

We were able to find out what Little Baby Garvin was on Monday! Check out our family blog to find out if Nati and I are being out numbered, or if we are being balanced out! :) www.growingthegang.com

Dream Come True

I know I don't update on here often anymore... but the news needed to be documented! After 5 1/2 long and trying years we are expecting! Baby Garvin is set to arrive around March 20, 2013! We don't know how to contain our excitement! The kids can't stop asking questions and kissing my belly. This journey has been a long one. After countless prayers and blessings we can not stop thanking our Father in Heaven for this amazing gift. We know it was true inspiration to see the dr I see, to have the treatments I've had, and to have this precious little one join our family.

We have started a blog where Bry and I both can journal our thoughts through this amazing time. Feel free to visit us at growingthegang.com

Growing Up is Hard to do!

We've had some major growing up going on around here. It's really been hard on me! My babies are not babies any more! I need to be so much better about documenting things, but life has been crazy. So... a quick little snip-it...

Andy is 12 1/2. He love Scouts and loves the monthly camp outs he gets to go on. I love his enthusiasm for going on said trips. Except when I get a call at 10pm from the 1st counselor in the Bishopric that my adorable son brought some pills to help him sleep because he was so excited. And the next afternoon my lap was covered by "illegal camp out paraphernalia" that my son brought with in hopes that he could create a larger fire. It really is a good thing he is so cute! This almost teenager knows how to push my buttons and melt my heart. He's totally going to be a heart breaker when he grows up!

Natali is 9 1/2. She loves Activity Days and bossing her brothers. She is my little mother hen and tends to need the reminder that I'm the parent, not her. She is currently growing her hair out to donate it to Locks For Love. All her idea. She loves fashion and is on Pinterest more than I am (I didn't think that was possible! ;) ) She is in advanced classes this year and I'm pretty sure has passed me in her knowledge of Math. She has a strong testimony of the Gospel and has been bringing her bestie with her to Activity Days and has informed me she invited her to be baptised. Such a sweetie!

Giovanni is 71/2. He is on count down to getting baptised and loves being in Sr. Primary. Giovanni loves playing the Kinect and is super good at it. He reads like a champ, and loves to read chapter books. He no longer will let me kiss him good-bye if his friends are there and will only hold my hand until we get across the street. I hate this age :( He loves to play Angry Birds on my Touch Pad and though he says he wants to play it together, his turn somehow never ends! ;) He still is my little tender hearted love though!

It amazes me how quickly my kids are growing up. Giovanni came in my room at 3:40 this morning because he had a "night bear" so I let him hop in bed with me. As uncomfortable as it was having his knees in my sides and his elbow in my face, I laid there awake treasuring the moments... I realize they are few and far between... I needed to hold on as long as I could.

Lights At The End Of The Tunnel

I think I speak for my entire family when I say that these past 7 months have been long. It has been very hard having a sick Daddy with no rhyme or reason to his illness. We have learned to work around it and have learned to help each other, but we miss having Daddy healthy.
After going to every dr known to man kind {PCP, neurologist, endocrinologist, cardiologist, pulmonary} we finally were pooped and had no answers. Finally one day Bry had an appointment with his endocrinologist and I went with him. He was going over his MRI report with him, so I wanted to be there. We went in and the dr kinda shrugged it off and said it was a normal MRI and set it down next to me. So I picked it up and said, "wait, what does it mean thyroid nodule?" and that question led us to a blank stare. I didn't like that. I came to work the next day with the report and showed it to all of my dr's. They all agreed a new endocrinologist was in order, but also that this needed to be looked at by someone new {mind you, these were the same people who told us Bry had bone marrow cancer and sent us to the Cancer Center within a day of test results}. That afternoon my bestie called me and gave me the number to the Edocrin department of the Mayo Clinic. I made the call and told them about the nodule and was told that because of that he didn't have to go through the approval process. We were given an appointment 3 weeks out. That day was horrifying. We got to the parking garage and I lost it. Now, I've been extra emotional for a lot of his appointments {I may have left one crying in the middle of the dr talking...oops} but I just suddenly felt overwhelmed. We had put all of our eggs in the last basket and it was do or die time. The appointment left us less than impressed with the ever so prestigious "Mayo". I was discouraged. Bry was discouraged. We just didn't know what to do next. The next day I went to work and Bry went to work. That night after we put the little's to bed I was playing with Scotty and Sophie and Bry came around the corner to scare us and started laughing hysterically, then he passed out. It was so scary. It didn't last long, but it was long enough. The next day he called his PCP and went in for a visit. They did an EKG and it showed some abnormalities and his blood pressure was CRAZY high {this was a new symptom} so they told us to see our cardiologist. I called and we were put in for the next week. We went to the cardiologist and he did another EKG and confirmed that Bry had had a heart attack. WHAT?! He's 32! How could this be?? As was our luck, with every question we had no answer. That night I prayed harder than I think I ever have prayed in my life. I was having a Daddy/Daughter talk with my Heavenly Father. I needed Him and I needed help. I needed direction and guidance. I was praying and crying for a good 10 min. {I think it's safe to say that not a word I said was understandable to a human ear} I fell asleep crying that night. The next morning I was laying in bed awake, waiting for my alarm to go off when Bry came back from the restroom and said, "honey, I'm having chest pains bad. You need to take me to the hospital" he was short of breath and grabbing his chest. I got out of bed and walked over to help him get his shoes on when he passed out. I called 911 and the ambulance came. SCARY! My kids were all home and so worried. The took us to the hospital where Bry was poked, prodded, and tested for 4 days. The hospitalist that was assigned to him knew the docs I work for and listened to all of what Bry had been going through since August. She pulled out her cell phone and said, "I want you to go see this dr and have him check you for intracranial hypertension". I called the Dr and they got us in the next business day. And then things really started moving. This dr {neuro ophthalmologist} called a neurologist who got Bry in the next day and between the 2 of them they confirmed that Bry indeed did have intracranial hypertension, which was causing his migraines and all sorts of other problems. As we've gone to more appointments we have found that this has been the problem all along. Bry was also diagnosed with empty sella syndrome, which all the dr's had been blaming everything on, though they believed that it was something that happened at birth. Finally some answers, all the additional fluid that was coming from the intracranial hypertension was pushing down even more on his pituitary and his body was going in overdrive. This caused his high blood pressure, which caused his heart attack, it's the cause of his migraines. What a mess! This Monday Bry will be going to get a spinal tap and then we will discuss surgery to get a shunt placed. Finally we have answers.
It is truly amazing to see the Lord's hand in this whole process. Had Bry not had the chest pains that morning we would have never met the dr who referred us to the dr who diagnosed him. Amazing. Simply amazing. I feel my Savior's love has never been a truer statement!