Melissa Pope /Jeremy Pope (vr)

Jan 2013

Was just sitting here thinking... I'm still awestruck by the miracles God has blessed us with. Years ago in '04 & '06 Emma and Jazen were born into a toxic marriage and I had my tubes tied. Years ago in '00 Daylan was born into a very unhealthy marriage and Jeremy had a vasectomy. What amazing blessings we were given in our times of distress. Life happened and God brought Jeremy, our kids and I all together to create the Pope Family:). As if that wasn't enough, we were able to have surgeries to reverse our tubal ligation and vasectomy at Rio Bravo Reversals in '09... we were then blessed with our little tornado James '10! And now here we sit, 21+ weeks pregnant with yet another miracle for '13! Thank you Lord for so many wonderful blessings!

Welcome James Bennett

Just wanted to update yall and let you know that our VR/TR baby was born on 9/8/10. 7lbs 14oz 20” long. BFP was 12/25/09 and had a wonderful complication free pregnancy. Also delivered this baby via VBA2C. So he is a little miracle all around!

We are pregnant with a baby boy due the end of August. Got our BFP 12/25/09.

Melissa Tubal reversal  (see Jeremy's below)
Surgery August 3rd, 2009
6cm on both sides
HSG scheduled next week

We left for the 3 1/2 hr drive to the Houston airport at 3am Monday morning. Got to the airport and our flight was delayed for an hour. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of Marcos who relayed to Armin that we'd be late, no problems. We arrived in McAllen Just after 10am, Armin pulled right up, and we were off! It was a very quiet uneventful ride... didn't even get stopped at the border, we just paid the toll and went on our way. Arrived at the hospital close to 11am (just in time to hear a newborn baby!!! AWWW) Armin gave me some paperwork to fill out (in Spanish), and without thinking I just filled it all out. They were happy to know I knew a decent amount of Spanish, it helped. But I think I would've been just fine without it. Anyway, shortly after the nurse came in and started my IV and Dr. Diaz came in and went over some stuff with me... (By the way, I'm still symptom free of my allergic reaction, thank goodness)... So, Dr. Diaz says "well, we will get started about 4pm, sound good?" YES! Great!! I was scheduled for 7, so the anticipation time was cut in half! They brought my hubby some lunch...and we laid down and napped until surgery time. Then the Doctors came in, got my hubby changed into his clothes and off to surgery we went. I was never at any point nervous, and even still at that point was totally calm. It's hard to describe.. and I saw the Cross, and that made me smile so big. I just knew everything would go perfect, and it did. I do not take well to anesthesia, so they had to give me A LOT, and I still never went out... but that was perfectly fine with me. I did not want to be asleep.

Sorry, I am rambling. Got through surgery, 6 cm on each side! yay!!! I asked them to turn of the epidural as soon as the surgery was over, as I am not a fan of not being able to feel what my body is going through. Dr. Levi agreed to turn it off, as long as I agreed to let them leave it in until the morning time in case I had any issues with pain or sleeping. DEAL! I had no issues, I slept a good deal. It was pretty hot, that's the only thing the bothered me.

Dr. Diaz and Dr. Levi both came in a couple of times after the surgery to chat and check on me. Nurses came in throughout the night. At 730am Tuesday morning they came in to take my epidural out, yay!! I had already gotten up out of bed, but now I was not restricted. I got up, walked around as much as possible, showered and such. They brought me my paperwork and medicine, and I was out of there by noon.

I was amazed, my pain was so not what I expected. There was very little of it. Armin drove us back to the McAllen airport, we rented a car and drove out to South Padre and got a hotel room there. We had awesome, amazing food and a wonderful evening on the beach. Woke up yesterday morning, Wednesday, and drove back to McAllen and got on an earlier flight and flew back up to Houston. Then drove the rest of the way home. It was nice to sleep in my own bed last night, very nice. And so happy to be home to see my kiddos.

I have to say, this has been an amazing experience... and fairly pain free. On a 1-10 scale, 10 being the worst.... my pain hasn't gotten above a 3. EXCEPT when I have had to cough and had gas, it got to a 7 for a split second. I have been using the Gas-X tabs, which have rocked... because I am a spicy food freak, and haven't laid off of it at all.

I also have to add... that Jeremy was supposed to have is vasectomy reversal in Rio Bravo as well. But it didn't work out, Dr. Olivares had an emergency and had to cancel. While that was devastating to us, we recognize that God has a plan and things worked out that way for a reason.
So here I sit... I am amazingly whole again... totally elated.

Jeremy's Reversal:

Jeremy:  Vasectomy Reversal
Surgery September 4th, 2009
Successful reconnect on both sides
Sperm Analysis done at 4 weeks post-op showed Sperm count above par and motility almost normal

So......my husband was supposed to have his Vasectomy Reversal in the same trip at the beginning of August. It didn't work out because the doctor had a family emergency. So, we were offered the possibility of coming back at a later date or they'd refer us to another doctor in OK.  We'd decided Oklahoma would be a better option for financial reasons... well, I am sure they are great people otherwise we wouldn't have gotten that referral to them... but our experience (with the OK city doctor) was terrible. They were extremely rude, and didn't care to take the time of day to even call us.

Well, we decided that though it'd be more money, we really felt we needed to go back to Rio Bravo... as the doctors there are amazing and truly care. As soon as we made that decision, everything quickly fell into place. We got an inexpensive flight, they had an opening, I was able to get all my daycare kids parents to find alternate care for them... it all just worked out. So we flew in Friday morning on Sept 4th and he had his surgery at 9pm that night! Let me tell you... these doctors are amazing and highly skilled. I knew so from my own surgery, but got to see it AGAIN for hubby's. So here we are!

We are now able to start TTC!!!

Melissa and Jeremy