We got the news this morning that the babies have arrived at our clinic here in Phoenix! The Embryologist said that so far as she can tell while they're still frozen, they're no worse for the wear from the travel--I don't think I can say the same for DH and I! I could hardly sleep last night. I dreamed about them while I was sleeping and then I was up at 3:00 thinking about them and woke up at 6:00 again for good. My stomach was doing cartwheels and I've been a wreck for 3 days! But by God's grace they're here and safe and now we're ready to rest easily. My BFF said we experienced our first worried-parent episode! Man, that's a powerful force!
Thank you so much for joining us in prayer and thanksgiving!
Todd and Jen + 12
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Weekend Respite
Update on the babies: Still no update :( My cycle is still out of whack, though all the testing says there is no medical reason for it. The doctor's best guess is stress. We can't move forward with anything until this corrects itself. So these last couple weeks I haven't been hiding--just haven't had anything new to share-literally. So we're just in a waiting game. We can't even start talking dates until that happens.
But we did get away this weekend. We drove down to a U-Pick orchard in Southern Arizona. We got a little carried away and ended up with 60-75 pounds of Asian Pears and Apples. Guess we'll have plenty for cobblers, sauces, jams and breads! We also have plenty to share. Then we went to a U-Pick farm and we picked much more conservative amounts of fresh green beans (my favorite!), bell peppers, tomatoes, chilis, cucumbers, zucchinis and squash! I'm looking forward to putting it to good use. It was a long exhausting day though--the drive is just over 6 hours round trip, plus the time actually picking out in the sunshine. I was in bed by 9:00 last night! Today I made my first batch of apple sauce and I'll be making apple bread tomorrow.
Here are a few pictures from our day. I'd love to go down earlier in the season when there are more varieties of fruit left to pick. I'd also love to go in the spring when everything is blossoming and just walk the fragrant orchards!
Hope you all had a nice weekend!
My handsome hubby picking green beans
More green beans in front of us. Squash and eggplant behind us and maybe other things too?
Look at all those apple trees!
And big beautiful Asian pear trees behind us here
But we did get away this weekend. We drove down to a U-Pick orchard in Southern Arizona. We got a little carried away and ended up with 60-75 pounds of Asian Pears and Apples. Guess we'll have plenty for cobblers, sauces, jams and breads! We also have plenty to share. Then we went to a U-Pick farm and we picked much more conservative amounts of fresh green beans (my favorite!), bell peppers, tomatoes, chilis, cucumbers, zucchinis and squash! I'm looking forward to putting it to good use. It was a long exhausting day though--the drive is just over 6 hours round trip, plus the time actually picking out in the sunshine. I was in bed by 9:00 last night! Today I made my first batch of apple sauce and I'll be making apple bread tomorrow.
Here are a few pictures from our day. I'd love to go down earlier in the season when there are more varieties of fruit left to pick. I'd also love to go in the spring when everything is blossoming and just walk the fragrant orchards!
Hope you all had a nice weekend!
My handsome hubby picking green beans
More green beans in front of us. Squash and eggplant behind us and maybe other things too?
Look at all those apple trees!
And big beautiful Asian pear trees behind us here
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Babies are Coming, the Babies are Coming!
Hi friends,
We weren't originally going to announce this, but I'm terrible at keeping my own secrets, so here it goes.
The babies are coming!
Our 12 Precious Embryos will be shipping here next week via Fed Ex (more efficient than the stork ;) ). They will ship Monday-Tuesday or Tuesday-Wednesday, depending on when a cryogenic transport tank is available. We'd love your prayers that the airplanes and trucks involved would be protected from breakdowns, accidents, detours, paperwork mishaps, weather elements, logistical errors and other failures or delays that could place these precious little ones in jeopardy. The tank they are shipped in has a limited amount of Nitrogen which is ample if things go smoothly but in the event of a significant delay, there would be a risk of the nitrogen running out and of the embryos thawing. The process typically DOES go smoothly so we don't think there's an abnormal rate of risk. We know that these precious babies are in the capable hands of our Great and Loving God--we pray for His guidance and protection as He uses FedEx to bring them to us.
Still no news on a transfer date (and hopefully, I will be able to keep THAT a secret. My body is being wiggy. I've been in a few times for some diagnostic tests and we think we've got to the bottom of things but we'd appreciate your prayers that everything goes back to functioning normal so we can move on to start thinking and talking about an actual schedule for the transfer and all of the preparatory steps involved. Thanks!
Update: The babies' confirmed arrival date is Wednesday, September 24, so they'll be in transit Tuesday-Wednesday. Thanks for your prayers!
We weren't originally going to announce this, but I'm terrible at keeping my own secrets, so here it goes.
The babies are coming!
Our 12 Precious Embryos will be shipping here next week via Fed Ex (more efficient than the stork ;) ). They will ship Monday-Tuesday or Tuesday-Wednesday, depending on when a cryogenic transport tank is available. We'd love your prayers that the airplanes and trucks involved would be protected from breakdowns, accidents, detours, paperwork mishaps, weather elements, logistical errors and other failures or delays that could place these precious little ones in jeopardy. The tank they are shipped in has a limited amount of Nitrogen which is ample if things go smoothly but in the event of a significant delay, there would be a risk of the nitrogen running out and of the embryos thawing. The process typically DOES go smoothly so we don't think there's an abnormal rate of risk. We know that these precious babies are in the capable hands of our Great and Loving God--we pray for His guidance and protection as He uses FedEx to bring them to us.
Still no news on a transfer date (and hopefully, I will be able to keep THAT a secret. My body is being wiggy. I've been in a few times for some diagnostic tests and we think we've got to the bottom of things but we'd appreciate your prayers that everything goes back to functioning normal so we can move on to start thinking and talking about an actual schedule for the transfer and all of the preparatory steps involved. Thanks!
Update: The babies' confirmed arrival date is Wednesday, September 24, so they'll be in transit Tuesday-Wednesday. Thanks for your prayers!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Howdy!
Hi everyone,
I hope this finds you well! We had a really busy week and weekend. We've been working on home remodels and found some awesome clearance bargains at Lowes and Costco for our bathroom and kitchen. We also gave DH's office at work a makeover so we did a lot of painting and furniture assembly, too. It looks really good and I'm glad that he now has a peaceful, organized office--that always makes work so much more bearable.
Not much else is new on our end. We're just really busy! Hope you all are well!
I hope this finds you well! We had a really busy week and weekend. We've been working on home remodels and found some awesome clearance bargains at Lowes and Costco for our bathroom and kitchen. We also gave DH's office at work a makeover so we did a lot of painting and furniture assembly, too. It looks really good and I'm glad that he now has a peaceful, organized office--that always makes work so much more bearable.
Not much else is new on our end. We're just really busy! Hope you all are well!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Signed!
Our contract has been signed, notarized and returned along with all of our remaining money. There's nothing left to do from our end except wait for the babies to get here!
Our GPs emailed to tell us that they had signed and returned their contracts, too! As soon as Nightlight receives them all (hopefully Tuesday!) they can send paperwork to our doctors for review and then ship the embryos!
We're at the end of what we'll share about the process until we have a confirmed pregnancy. Diana sent me a note that said:
Your EA timeline is really racing along!! October (target date, right?) is coming up quickly!! You know what that means, don’t you? Everyone who reads your blog is going to be giving you “the look” come October 1st and saying, “Well???? Well??? Well????” LOL
That's precisely why mum (or hopefully, MOM) is the word from here on out. =) We lost a lot in infertility, and one of the things we're trying to hold on to is the joy of planning how we want to tell family and friends that we're expecting and then getting to share the news with them in celebration. It won't be a total surprise in any event, but at least this way we can hang on to a little bit of the surprise element, and then also have the freedom to tell people when we're ready. Also, if for some reason God wills that the first transfer won't take, we'll have the opportunity to grieve privately without unwitting "look" and "Well?????" spoken in anticipation of good news.
Thanks for your understanding! We've been so public about our journey and we do want to publicly celebrate if and when the time comes, but all in due time!
At this point we don't know how long it will take the doctor to review everything and give his approval for our clinic to receive the embryos, and we have no idea where I'll be at in a cycle when that finally happens, so the time line at this point is still a mystery to us, too! But we're praying that it's soon! And we'd love your prayers that it's soon, too. We'd love your prayers that the Embryos arrive here safely, that they thaw successfully and that the transfer will be successful!
I'll still be blogging, I just won't have specific updates about the process.
Thank you!
In other news, check out this crazy lightning storm we got the other night. I felt like I was in an 80s discotheque! This was through our front window. (Unlike DH, I wasn't crazy enough to go out and stand in it!) At this point in the storm there was no thunder, no rain, and very little wind. It was very eerie!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Small Update
Our contract arrived today. Woohoo! We'll get it notarized and then send it back! The GPs have their contracts too. Once those are sent back, they have 3 days to change their minds and then we can move forward.
I talked to our Embryologist today. He's very nice. We've never met him but our RE was pressing us to talk to him. I was resistant because of language our RE had used about "selecting" and "grading" embryos and the "best ones to use" and I was afraid there would be a lot of pressure to make decisions about discarding or reducing embryos. But to my surprise, Megan told me yesterday that she's talked to this Embryologist many times and that he's very supportive of EA and Nightlight so she encouraged us to contact him. The conversation went very well and he sounded very enthusiastic. I read him the information our GM gave us and he said that everything sounded wonderful! He also said their process of reviewing everything will go quickly. Yay! Still no concrete ideas on a timeline, though.
I posted the rest of our vacation pictures. The link is the same as before but it contains additional images now.
Hope you all are well!
I talked to our Embryologist today. He's very nice. We've never met him but our RE was pressing us to talk to him. I was resistant because of language our RE had used about "selecting" and "grading" embryos and the "best ones to use" and I was afraid there would be a lot of pressure to make decisions about discarding or reducing embryos. But to my surprise, Megan told me yesterday that she's talked to this Embryologist many times and that he's very supportive of EA and Nightlight so she encouraged us to contact him. The conversation went very well and he sounded very enthusiastic. I read him the information our GM gave us and he said that everything sounded wonderful! He also said their process of reviewing everything will go quickly. Yay! Still no concrete ideas on a timeline, though.
I posted the rest of our vacation pictures. The link is the same as before but it contains additional images now.
Hope you all are well!
Monday, August 25, 2008
We're Home!
We're home, safe and sound. We're still sick, but we're home. I was able to squeeze in to the doctor this afternoon and they're fitting DH in before he goes to work tomorrow so hopefully we'll be on the upswing soon.
No contracts yet. Things got stalled a bit on the agency's end but I was told they went in the mail this morning.
I'm too pooped to do an update. Jet lag, to-do lists, illness and husband's snoring kept me up until 9:00 this morning. I slept a few hours and then did the grocery shopping and that was about all I could muster. Fortunately, our host was a doll and insisted that we do our laundry before we leave her house (government's paying, why not!?) so all I have to do is unpack things.
But in the mean time, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I have a lot of scenic ones but I haven't had time to sort through them yet.
Aloha!
Link to pictures
No contracts yet. Things got stalled a bit on the agency's end but I was told they went in the mail this morning.
I'm too pooped to do an update. Jet lag, to-do lists, illness and husband's snoring kept me up until 9:00 this morning. I slept a few hours and then did the grocery shopping and that was about all I could muster. Fortunately, our host was a doll and insisted that we do our laundry before we leave her house (government's paying, why not!?) so all I have to do is unpack things.
But in the mean time, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I have a lot of scenic ones but I haven't had time to sort through them yet.
Aloha!
Link to pictures
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