We're Waiting....

Okay, so this 11 days of waiting until we find out if we are pregnant is creeping by. The first few days went quickly, but there are still 5 days left until HCG levels are checked. Check back on February 2 for the answer!

While we are waiting, I thought it might be interesting to write down some things we know about these embryos and the biological donors:

22 embryos were created in October 2000- a little over 9 years ago!

4 were transferred to the biological mother and 9 were frozen. I am assuming that means the rest didn’t survive.

They had twins-a boy and a girl on the first round of IVF!

In 2008, they felt they had completed their family.

They did not destroy the remaining 9 embryos! Life begins at conception.

They donated the 9 remaining embryos to a family which resulted in a single birth of a little girl in 2008.

This family felt they had completed their family and donated the remaining 4 to us in 2009!

On January 21, 2010, three of the four survived the thaw.

We transferred the three embryos in California and here we wait and wait and wait.

Facts about the biological mother and father:

Mom: 5’2”, dark blond hair and hazel eyes. She enjoys cross stitching, scrapbooking, and crafting.

Dad: 5’11”, brown hair and blue eyes. He enjoys hunting.

Something I found interesting: The biological mom’s name is Cheryl and the first adoptive mom’s name is Rebecca. They share my mom’s (Cheryle) and my names! Is that correct grammar???

The biological mom and dad wanted a closed adoption, so this is probably all we will ever know of them. They want to know from us if a pregnancy resulted, how many children and if they are boys or girls.

Thank you to everyone who have been praying for us. May God continue to be glorified through every step of this amazing journey!

Some Miscellaneous Pictures

Top: Me and my nurse Dawn from our clinic in California. I felt like I knew her because we have talked so many times on the phone, but today was the first day, we were able to put faces with names.

Middle: Getting ready to go into the procedure room for the transfer.

Bottom: Ken preparing one of the daily shots I get to take for the next 12 weeks.

Introducing our Little Snowflakes

Aren't they Precious?

"Wilbur" is the Bottom Embie.


We made it to Los Angeles without incident and we have learned that the traffic is really as bad as they say. It makes me thankful for living in Minnesota even if we do have to endure long cold winters.
Ken and I have spent the last couple days guessing how many embryos would survive. Being numbers and analytical people, we went with statistics and guessed two would survive. I thought that would be great, but I was hoping for three. Normal protocol at this clinic is to transfer two, but they will transfer three on occasion if additional paperwork is signed.
The embryologist came into the room and as she was getting settled, I saw a paper with a picture of 3 embryos. I quickly asked, "Do we have three embryos?" She looked a little apologetic and said yes and held her breath. I was so excited, started clapping and said, "Yeah, that is what I was hoping for!" She was visibly relieved that we were happy about this. I am not sure why, perhaps because it wasn't their typical protocol?
So, the answer is they successfully transferred 3 embryos! The smallest one has only 4 cells or so, so we are calling him Wilbur after the runt piglet in Charlotte's Web.
Next steps? I am currently on 48 hours strict bedrest and Ken is treating me like a princess. I don't think I have ever laid still this long, but I brought 10 books and a computer, so I think I will enjoy this mandatory respite.
Next big mile marker? Blood test on February 2 to see if any "stuck". We won't know how many there are until a later ultrasound, but they should have an indication if there is more than one that survived depending on the HCG levels. It is going to be a long 11 day wait.
God is sovereign and we are trusting in His plan for these little babies no matter the outcome.

What I learned today

This is what I learned today:

1. Progesterone shots don't hurt...that much.
2. Ken is really good at giving shots.

:-)

The Transfer Date is Almost Here!

We are getting so close to the actual transfer date! We fly out to California on Wednesday, January 20 and have the transfer done the next day. I have been talking almost daily with the nurse in preparation for this. On Tuesday, they are actually thawing the embryos and we will find out how many survived the thaw and that of course will determine how many will be transferred. Assuming they survive, we will have a maximum of three embryos transferred. We haven't actually decided if we are going to keep that a secret or let everyone know right away how many are transferred. This is how it is going to work. The embryos are in two straws, two in each straw. The lab is going to thaw one straw. If they both survive, then those two will be transferred and the other two will remain frozen for right now. If none survive or one survives, they will thaw the other straw. So that makes it a maximum of three embryos transferred which is the maximum they will transfer. Once they are thawed, they will grow them in the lab until Thursday to let them get a little bit older. Weird, huh?

Statistics say that 50% of embryos will survive the thaw and of those maybe 30%-40% will result in pregnancy. Being a number person, I ran the numbers on this batch of embryos (22 were created at the same time around 2000). Three pregancies have resulted which is a 21% success rate. So in looking at these numbers, I shouldn't hold my breath about being pregnant. But of one thing I am 100% positive: God's sovereign will will be done. If this results in no pregnancy, God will be glorified. If this results in a singlet birth or twins or yes, even triplets, God will be glorified.

On a practical note, if you are praying for us, here are some specifics:

1. Protection of our family while we are gone and grace to Gary and Kyla as they take care of everyone here.
2. Traveling protection for us.
3. Of course, the transfer.
4. My health. I have been struggling with hives and swelling and we can't figure out where it is coming from.

Soli Deo Gloria!

God is Sovereign!

As I write this, I am sitting here in my Elmo pajamas which I had to buy because Gracie absolutely adores Elmo. I slept in until 8:15am and then got up to a quiet house and sat down at the computer. No, Ken did not get up with the girls so I could sleep in and then write. They are just getting older and more independent and are perfectly happy to watch TV, a great electronic babysitter, until I tell them that they can come upstairs. Ahh, life is good and much easier than those by gone baby and toddler days when the girls depended on us for EVERYTHING. We have a good dynamic going here and we are hoping that that will change in 2010? That question has gone through my head several times, but the answer is yes!

So the last month has been a bit crazy with my health. About a month ago, I woke up and my jaw was swollen, a type of swelling called angioedema. Throughout the course of the day, it continued to swell and spread through my mouth. By the end of the day, it looked like I had stuffed a golf ball in my cheek. Apparently, it was some kind of allergic reaction. I was put on some steroids to calm everything down and didn’t think anything more of it. The next week we were in Puerto Vallarta (beautiful!) and I finished the steroid pack I was on. I woke up the next morning to a swollen lip and a swollen eye. What was going on? Taking some ibuprofen brought it down a bit and I didn’t think anything of it. The next morning I woke up to huge welts on my stomach. This is no joke. They were about a foot in diameter and puffed out at least a half inch. I also had smaller welts up and down my legs. I wish I had taken pictures of them. So to get them under control we went into town and got another steroid pack. That brought the swelling down over the course of the next few days. As I was tapering the steroids but not completely off them, the other side of my face started swelling! So after talking with the clinic, we ramped the steroids back up plus started Benadryl and a couple other antihistimines. This brought the swelling down, but now we really started to rack our brains of what may be causing this allergic reaction. I have never had ANY sort of allergy in my life. There have been no changes in diet, lotion, detergents, or anything. After researching the internet, I discovered a medicine I had been taking a few years now can cause angioedema in very rare cases. I felt great relief at finally finding the “cause”. I immediately stopped taking that medicine and finished the taper of steroids. Because I was so sure that this was it, I also stopped taking the antihistamines and Benadryl. The next day after finishing the steroids, I got a tingling in my lip and it always starts with a tingling. Oh great! Through the course of three hours, my cheeks and lips swelled. My lips looked like sausages and the bottom one actually cracked open in a few places! What was going on???? So I went to the doctor, they did a couple blood tests. An autoimmune disease was ruled out. I am back on the Benadryl and antihistamines for 6 weeks or so. Another blood test was drawn for food allergies and I am waiting for the results of that. I will be seeing an allergist next week. We still have no answers.

So this was the dilemma. I was supposed to start the medication in preparation for the embryo transfer, but do we wait until we figure out what is going on with my body of go ahead with it and see what happens. It would not be a big deal to wait a couple months. But the other factor for us is insurance. Because our deductible is so high, we would like to have everything done in 2010-transfer, pregnancy, birth-we really don’t want to spread this out over 2 years of deductibles. This leaves us with only the first couple months of the year to do the transfer. After weighing the costs, doing more research on angioedema, talking with the doctors, and prayer, we decided to go ahead with it at this point. It is not ideal conditions, but we feel comfortable with proceeding. So, I had a baseline ultrasound done (looked good) and started the medication yesterday. Assuming everything continues as planned, we are set for a January 21 transfer date! Over the course of the next 3 weeks, I will have a blood test and ultrasound to determine if my body is responding appropriately. Then, we will be going out to California for the transfer of hopefully 2 or 3 embryos. Then, we wait two very long weeks to see if any of them survive. Thankfully, we have a sovereign God that He has already ordained whatever is going to happen. We are resting and find peace in that!

A Link to the Sermon Ken Preached

Ken preached a sermon at our church on November 1 on adoption. He originally wrote the sermon earlier in the year as a tool for himself as he was studying the theology of adoption and what God had to say in His inerrant Word. Well, he ended up sharing it with our congregation and hopefully it affected others' hearts as it did ours in our understanding of God's adoption of us as sons and daughters. Okay, so I couldn't figure out how to link it to his sermon, but you can go to http://www.oasispeople.org/ and looks under the audio sermons for November 1, 2009. Soli Deo Gloria!