Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and takes a few moments to remember what they are thankful for this year.

We have so much to be thankful for this year but I just want to thank my savior Jesus Christ for loving me even through my doubt and fears and giving me the strength that I need to get through this past year. He has always remained faithful to us even at times when I became faithless. I am also very thankful for Brad and our family/friends that have been such a great support for us. I feel like Brad and I have so much at such a young age, how could we not be thankful? I still try to count the smaller blessings that we sometimes forget about like our house, cars and all the nice things we have that we don't really need. God has blessed us in so many ways.

Monday is getting closer and closer, I will post my results when I get home from work. We already have a pretty good idea of what news we will be getting.... :)

The Waiting Game

Well we finally made it through everything and are now just waiting for my appointment to get here next Monday. I called the nurse Friday about my blood results and she said that they wouldn't have them until Monday (today) but that the only way the would call me is if they came back abnormal. Finally, one day that I wasn't worried about getting a phone call and I didn't so for now everything is looking pretty normal.

I am going to the store tomorrow night after work to get stuff to make for Thanksgiving and I am going to have to buy a few pregnancy tests while I am there! I only have one right now and thats not nearly enough for how many days I have left before my appointment. :) We are both pretty anxious, I know that they don't like you to take at home tests but how can you not?!

I know I have said it a lot but please keep us in your prayers we are expecting good things to come!

My Hubby is 23 Today!

Today we are celebrating Brad, my favorite person in the world! I couldn't imagine my life without him and feel like we have grown closer than ever with everything we have been through in this past year. We need more people like Brad in this world that's for sure :). I really can't say enough good things about him (he reminds me a lot of my mom), not that I am biased or anything. If you get a chance wish him a happy birthday today! "Every good and perfect gift is from above." James 1:17

He's been dealing with my emotions and boredom for the past two days so today we are getting out of the house and going shopping for him a new cell phone, which he is very excited about. I am going to bake him cookies and tonight we are going to Minsky's to celebrate with my family. Lots of his favorites so it should be a fun day for him!

We did not get a call yesterday from the nurse about any embryos to freeze so we are assuming that means we have none left. Kinda disappointing news for us but we know that God has bigger things in store for us so maybe we won't even need them. This morning I have to go get my blood drawn, not sure what I will find out since the embryos take 2-3 days before they even hatch, it can't say to much. I guess just to make sure that all these new meds they have me on are working like they should be. My arms are finally starting to look normal again without all the bruises, I was wondering how long that would last.

On to Relaxing......

Well, everything went great this morning! My doc was very pleased with my two embryos he said that they were both at the Blastocyst stage which is right where they needed to be for today's transfer. The nurse said that she didn't think the other embryo would make it to freeze but that she will call me tomorrow if that changes.

My doc did a trial run through before he put the embryo's in and he said I was making him work a little harder then he wanted to. :) I have been pretty good at that throughout this process, we have ran into a few mishaps along the way. He was confident that the embryo's made it safely in my uterus, now I just need to do my part and hope they attach. Well, Dr. Starks specifically said, "I am now placing two males into your uterus because I don't work this hard for females." Ha ha funny joke doc! Brad was pretty happy when he heard that one. We thanked Dr. Starks for all this hard work, I will really miss him when all this is over he has been a great doctor!!

On to my day of pampering, my mom bought me lunch and my fav ice cream while Brad has been out running some errands. Two of my favorite people spending the day with me, its been wonderful. :) I love them both to pieces and could not have done this without them. I am taking it easy for the rest of the today and tomorrow and then Friday I will spend pampering my husband on his birthday.

Stay tuned for updates, this Friday I will go take a progesterone blood test and then my first official pregnancy test will be on December 1st. I am going to try my hardest not to take an at home one until after thanksgiving since they recommend that you don't at all I figure I will try to wait for as along as I can.

Happy Birthday to my sissy who is 26 today...she's getting old! Love ya sis.

Transfer Day is Finally Here!!!

We are getting ready to go pick up my mom and head the the hospital for the transfer. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers today!

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

Please join us in believing for great things today!

Down to three and the transfer is tomorrow

The nurse called me this morning and said we were down to three embryos that are right where they should be so she is confident we will have two very healthy embryos for tomorrow's transfer. I'm not gonna lie I was a little disappointed considering that we started with 14 eggs and are now down to only three that are still healthy but I am also very thankful for the three we still have!

The nurse said that we would probably not have any to freeze since there are only three but she could not say for sure yet. I don't know if they would let us just freeze one or not, I'm sure we will find out more on that tomorrow. I have to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at 7:15 to check in and then I think the procedure will start at 8. To bad we can't get instant results that would be nice, instead of me having to sweat out the next week and half. I have held on to many scriptures to get me through this so that's what I will continue to lean on.

Click on this link to learn more about what happens during the embryo transfer: http://www.advancedfertility.com/embryotransfer.htm

Oh ya and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my dad who turned the big 50 today!!! Hope its a good one for ya.

Four good ones still goin strong.

The nurse called me this morning and said that four of our embroys are still continuing to look great and the other few are starting to lag behind. I was hoping for all seven to make it through so we could have some left over to freeze but I know God has everything under control. I am still praying that those few laggers will catch up and we will be able to use them. We only need two good ones for Wednesday but it would be nice to skip stage one of this procedure if we decide to do this again. :)

I am starting to get so anxious, it was so hard to sit at work all day today and think about everything. I should get another call tomorrow to set up the time of the transfer Wednesday. I am assuming it will be in the morning since Dr. Starks likes to do his procedures early in the morning. I took off work Wed-Fri this week so I will have a lot of relaxing time to sit on the couch and let those embies stick! I can't believe we have gotten this far and can't wait to keep giving updates.

No matter what happens at the end of this I know that God will still get the glory and my hands will still be lifted high.

All 7 are dividing

The nurse said this morning that all seven embryos are dividing like they should be! I asked her if some were not looking as good or at different stages and she said no they all are dividing like they should be thus far and they will keep an eye on them overnight and in the morning and she will call me tomorrow morning. She said to plan on a five day transfer and my nurse Tammy would be calling me tomorrow or Tuesday to set everything up. I am thankful that she calls me early in the morning so I don't have to deal with my nerves all day waiting for a call, like I have many other time in this process.

I pasted a copied something from my friend Beth's blog to show you what stages and how they should be looking each day leading up to the transfer day. (Hope you don't mind Beth)


Day 0
Egg retrieval Sperm collection and preparation Insemination
Day 1
Check eggs for fertilization (the presence of two pronuclei or PN's)
Day 2
Embryos at the 4-cell or more stage of development
Day 3
Embryos at the 8-cell or more stage of development
Day 4
Embryos at the compacted morula (16-32 cell) stage
Day 5
Embryos at the blastocyst stage of development

We are at Day 2 today and everything is looking good. Every time the nurse calls the first thing she asks me is how I am doing with my recovery, body ect., which don't get me wrong is very nice but I just want to get to the good stuff tell me about my embies!!

Last night was my first progesterone oil shot and it went a lot better than I expected. I did ice for like 20 minutes this time though so I was counting on being pretty numb and I barely felt a thing! Although, this morning I woke up and my leg felt like lead. Since I cannot seem to sleep in late anymore, Brad got up and brought me our heating pad, all my pills I have to take in the morning, my Bible and devotional, cell phone, crackers and water to take with my meds and the labtop. Aw, what a great hubby I have!! :)

Continuing the Good News...WOOHOO

The nurse called me this morning already and said that they were able to inject 7 out of the 14 eggs and all 7 fertilized!! She said that is a great start and she will call me tomorrow and give me another update. I know 7 out 14 seems like a big cut but yesterday doctor Starks told us to expect that and I am perfectly fine with 7 when all we need is two perfect embies by Wednesday. We may even get lucky and have a couple left over so I don't have to go through all of this again. Hallelujah.

Pics

My mom and Brad keeping me company in the pre-op room.

Yes, they had to take a great pic of me before going into surgery.....looking pretty excited. :)

14 Eggs!!!!

Today went very well, way better than expected. It was pretty painless; the last thing I remember was the nurse telling me I should be feeling sleepy soon, and the next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. Other than some soreness I am doing pretty good. My doctor was able to retrieve fourteen eggs! I was so excited and happy with that number, considering that on Tuesday my nurse only saw three mature follies and acted like I would be lucky to get five from the egg retrieval.

The doctor said that I must have had several eggs that were hiding that they couldn't see from my ultrasounds. Well, my thoughts on that are a little different. My estradiol level never got up in the thousands where they wanted it so I am having to take some extra medicine to keep my blood levels up and make my body think that its pregnant. If I would have had more eggs that were hiding why wouldn't my estradiol level been higher? I believe with all my heart that this was all God's doing, he provided another miracle for us through this and allowed me to have more eggs for this procedure. He is amazing!!

We are very excited but unfortunately this is far from over for us. They will call me tomorrow and let me know how my eggs look and how many are fertilizing etc. I have to go back on Wednesday and they will put the best two back in me. I am taking it easy this weekend and preparing myself for Wednesday, I am so excited. Brad and maybe my mom will both get to be in the room with me to see them attach the embryos so they will get to witness the conception of our precious baby! :)

I am back to taking my shots and pills tonight. The good thing is I only have two shots from now on and one of them is a booster shot that I only have to take three nights so most nights it will only be one. The bad thing is the needle is an inch and a half long and it is the most painful one I have.

Thanks for all your support and prayers it has definitely paid off for stage one of this procedure!

Trigger shot tonight, Egg Retrieval Friday!!

We are so excited to finally be past this part and actually moving on to the next phase. I pretty much sat at work today all day wondering when the nurse would call with my blood levels and what they would be. I was driving myself crazy thinking about it not to mention the few people that kept asking me throughout the day what I found out and I never had any news! :) I had to wait until my appointment at 4:00 to hear anything.

I didn't get the best news at my appointment but I am not letting that get me down. My blood levels didn't quite make it to 1,000 they are at 849. Yesterday they were at 775 so they didn't go up very much. I also only have 3 mature follicles 20, 19 and 18. I have two at 17 and two at 16 and then a lot of other smaller ones. My doctor said that he thinks this is the best I can stim and that if I was ready he was ready. There is a good chance that over the next two days I could have four more follicles that mature and end up with seven which would make me feel a lot better. I had a few at 15 too so anything is possible if my body ever decides to help me out a little more.

Brad has to give me my trigger shot tonight at 10:15 to release my eggs so I will be ready for the Egg Retrieval on Friday. I actually get to go all day tomorrow without taking any shots, then Friday I start back up again. The procedure will be at 8:00am Friday morning and we should have a lot more information after that. We are praying and keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and we have a little baby at the end of this!

Here is a link to read more about what happens during the Egg Retrieval:
http://www.advancedfertility.com/aspiration.htm

Small Setback

After my appointment this morning I was kinda bummed but I still felt pretty good overall , considering last time I didn't even make it to this point. I had my ultrasound and my follicles got a little bigger but didn't quite make the jump I was hoping for. I had two at 17, two at 16 and three at 15. I left feeling pretty confident that tomorrow when I go back they would all mature and I would be good to go for the ER on Friday.

The nurse called me around 1:45 to tell me that my estradiol levels had only gone up to the 700's (I can't remember the exact number) and that I needed to come back by the doctors office on my way home from work to pick up another Reprenox shot because Dr. Starks wanted me to take 150 units instead of 75 units. He thinks by doubling my units I should be able to make it to the thousands tomorrow. My nurse said that my levels have to get up to at least the thousands by tomorrow morning, I didn't ask her what would happen if they didn't. I'm pretty sure I know but I am trying not to think any bad thoughts right now. I feel like we have come so far and I can't bear to think that we did all this for another cancellation.

The nurse told me to think good thoughts tonight so thats what I am doing. Brad gave me my shots tonight so at this point we have done all we can, we are praying that God will take it from here and provide us with yet another miracle. I have to get my blood drawn at 8:30 in the morning tomorrow and then I am suppose to go back again at 4:00 for my ultrasound to see if my follicles matured so any prayer we can get would be greatly appreciated!

We got our miracle!!

Today was definitely the news we wanted to hear!! I really do believe that regardless of what happens throughout the rest of this procedure what we found out today was really God's miracle!! All weekend I was a nervous wreck, I just couldn't function normal, my sleeping pattern was completely off. Even though I was/am undeserving and was still nervous about what would happen today, God gave me confirmation all weekend in different ways that he would provide a miracle for my next appointment. (which was today)

I won't go through all them but I will share one. Brad and I get a daily scripture verse sent to our email account from K love 97.3, a radio station that we listen to all the time. It is just something free you can sign up for and it's called K Love's encouraging word so you can start your day off right and it helps you learn awesome scriptures from the Bible. Anyway, I don't read them everyday but Brad sent me today's scripture to my email at work and it was Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise." I looked at the scripture verse in amazement at my work and I instantly felt an awesome peace come over me. I knew that God was and had been reminding me over and over that he is faithful no matter what!!

Ok now for the good news....first off my estradiol level was at 649. It went from 182 to 649 in a matter of two days. Which seems next too impossible since the previous day it was only 152 and this same thing happened the last time before the egg retrieval and they had to cancel us because it didn't go up. I was thrilled to hear that number since my doctor told me Saturday that it had to at least be in the 500's, let's just say my God delivered. I also had a lot more follicles than I did Friday it went form 4 to 10 or more. (Not sure on the exact number but I think it was between 10-15) They have to be at an 18 before they will extract them for the ER, I know I had two that are 15, two that are 14, one 13 and one 12. All the others have a couple more days to catch up! The nurse said that it's looking like my Egg Retrieval will be this Friday but I have to go back again tomorrow morning and depending on how much bigger my eggs get they will let me know what day it is for sure.

They have to let me know a little in advance what day it will be because two days before the Egg Retrieval I will stop taking my Lupron shot that keeps me from ovulating and Brad will give me a trigger shot that will release all my eggs and prepare me for the ER. We are getting excited!! :)

Blood Levels

Today's call from the doctor was another disappointment. I had to get my blood drawn again this morning so they could check my estradiol levels and see if I needed to continue my shots for tonight and tomorrow. In order to be where my doctor really wants me to be before doing the egg retrieval I need to be in the thousands. Unfortunately, I am sitting at 182 right now. By checking my estradiol levels it tells them how many follicles are growing the higher the number the more I have, the lower the number the less I have.

So I am at 182 the doc said once again I am patterning the same way as last time the only difference is we have more days before the egg retrieval deadline comes so that's more days that I can take the shots and try to get my blood levels up. Yesterday I was at 152 so I didn't jump a lot in one day. Dr. Starks said ideally he wants them to be in the 300's tomorrow and 500's by Monday. He is always so optimistic even when delivering bad news so I never really know how to take the news he gives me. He said that we are heading in the right direction, it's just taking a little longer to get there. He also said that everyones body responds differently to the meds so there isn't really a "normal" example he can give me. All I know is that I am to low right now and it seems I need a miracle to be where he wants me to be by Monday. Glad I serve a big God.

We will continue the meds the next couple nights and let them work there magic and then I will go back on Monday to see how I did. If all goes well Monday, and he doesn't cancel the procedure, then I am guessing that our egg retrieval would be Friday. Please keep us in your prayers this weekend and I will have another report Monday!

Status of Follicle Growth November 7th

Well, today's appointment was kind of disappointing to say the least. My nurse only saw four follicles that were getting big in size, two were at seven and two were at ten in size. They need to be between 18-24 to mature and be good enough for the egg retrieval that we are suppose to have next week. They would like me to have between five and ten follicles so only having four that are getting big in size was not the best news for me to hear. The nurse called me this afternoon and said that I am trailing in the same pattern as I was last time when they had to cancel the procedure. She also told me not to get discouraged because a lot can change between now and Monday, which I know is true since my friend Beth who has already been through all this said the same thing. :)

I am trying to stay positive about everything although it does get hard sometimes. All of my shots have been pretty easy and simple until they through this new shot in called Repronex. It hurts a lot worse then the others and makes me pretty irritable. Brad and I were hoping that I might not have to take it again after last night if everything looked good at my appointment this morning but unfortunately that wasn't the case and I will be taking it again tonight and probably the rest of this weekend. Don't get me wrong if my appointment goes well Monday it will all be worth it but if adding this new shot in ends up not helping like they said it would I am not going to be a very happy camper.

I have to go get my blood drawn again tomorrow morning and the doc is going to call and let me know if I have to take all three of my shots again. I want my eggs to mature so whatever it takes I will do it! My next appointment is Monday morning so we will be doing lots of praying and pleading with God this weekend to help make this medicine work the way it's suppose to in my body. I am not accepting any more bad news, I just have a better feeling about things this time around.

But God please supply all my needs according to your riches and not my own.

Halloween

Just a few pics of Kelsie and Jordan in there Halloween costumes.