A GREAT Mail Day!

I was stuck here all day waiting for Fed Ex to bring my bank cards (bank made a mistake and canceled my existing ones). Otherwise I would have been over at BFFs house when the mail came.

I was just laying down for a nap (this week has been really tiring!) when I heard the mail truck. I argued for a minute with myself about whether or not I should get up and check it but I told myself, "no, it's too soon." Well I finally did decide to check and lo and behold, the certification had arrived!

The date on the certification is 7 days after the court would have received the application. The agency received it within 7 more days. The agency notified us today, just 2.5 weeks after the initial mailing date of the application to the court. That's crazy fast! Rather, it's God fast! He's the only explanation for why things have moved so quickly and smoothly, and we give Him all the glory!

The other good news that came in earlier today is that I can go in for my Sono-Mock on day 1 of the next cycle! Once all that's done, we'll be able to do the transfer as soon as the embryos are here!

The next steps take a bit longer than I thought. We wait for our HS to be sent from CFCA to Nightlight. Then, if Nightlight has all of our documents and all of S and Bs documents, then they can issue contracts. If not, we wait for those first. We don't think there will be any delay here because both families have been pretty diligent about submitting everything.

After the contracts are signed, S&B's lab work can be sent to our clinic. Our doctor would then review it and decide if their blood work met our state's standards (every state is different and they're in another state so they would have been processed according to CA standards), as well as the clinic's standards (clinics can be funny about using embryos they didn't "create.") If that all passes muster, then Nightlight can send the Embryology Report to our clinic. Again, the doctor here has to review it all to see if everything meets the right standards, and if they'll accept them for transfer. Once THAT happens, then Nightlight can arrange for Fed Ex to move the Embryos. If there's something "wrong" then something else may need to be done on the GP's end but we won't know that til our doctor reviews everything, nor would they know to expect it either.

So the part with the doctor is what could take longer. Megan (Nightlight) said that more blood work or reports are needed about 50% of the time. She said doctors can take anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks to review the reports and make their determinations. Coordinating with Fed Ex takes a week, too.

The contract stage just takes as long as it takes everyone to sign and have everything notarized and mailed back. The transfer of information between clinics and getting the "all clear" can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months. We don't really know since we barely know this doctor. Megan said the average is 6-8 weeks from start to finish. Fed Ex takes a week (though I can't remember if that's included in the 6-8 or not).

Then we could do a transfer the next cycle after all that is done. So it seems like October-ish might be optimistic, but we also know how quickly God has orchestrated everything else, so we are confident that everything will continue to happen in the perfect time!

Thanks for celebrating with us!

New Blog

I've been really busy this week. I've been at BFFs house every day helping them pack and get organized. So I haven't had much time to blog or even think about what I would write if I did blog.

But, I did start a new project, which has been a good way to take my mind off their departure. It gives me something to do when I wake up in the middle of the night or too early in the morning.

It's my New Blog. I love the hunt of a good deal, so I thought I'd start a blog to track everything and share what I learn with other people. I know there are lots of other blogs like this out there, but I hope this will have a different spin. We'll see!

Let me know what you think and if you think it's even worth continuing!

TTFN!

Brokenhearted

Our best friends ARE moving and now they're leaving in 10 days. Circumstances changed so they've decided to head out now instead of Labor Day and start his new job a month sooner. 10 days....

I hate this.

Gift

We just received such a thoughtful gift from our GP Family.





They're dated 2004 because that's when these little embryos were created.

We have a tradition of giving each other an ornament every year. DH's parents started it with him when he was a baby and we have all of his childhood ornaments. My parents started doing it too when we got married and we intend to pass it on to our kids! These are such a precious addition...though when our kids are 20, not sure if they'll get to have these ones or not ;)

Thank you, S and B! We'll cherish them!

Scrapbooking

I was looking through some old things today and found some scans of some old scrapbook pages I made.

I made this one on July 27, 2006. It amazes me how much things have changed, and yet how much has remained the same.

(Click to enlarge)



Journaling reads:

I’ve wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember. It’s been one my favorite dreams throughout my life. Thus, it’s been incredibly difficult to discover that God’s plan for us in this season of our lives is different than my plan. We’ve longed and tried for a baby for 18 long months of heartache, tears, a little patience, lots of impatience, a PCOS diagnosis, surgery and difficult medications. I was sad for a long time. Every pregnancy announcement from a friend cut me to the core. I thought about all time that elapsed as their grandparents and cousins got older. I thought about those awkward family moments when everyone else is busy with their children and we just look at each other. Slowly, God began to teach me that my identity and purpose are not defined by my goal or ability to be a biological mother. I may never be one and my life is still rich with purpose and potential. How much do I miss if I constantly yearn for what I do not have instead of relishing what I do? I began to not be saddened by the longing of the thoughts of the baby we don’t have, but to take joy in the anticipation of the baby we will, Lord willing, one day meet and in the mystery of God’s greater plan if we don’t. If you ever do come, Baby Someday, know that you are already the most loved baby I know. Know how long we’ve waited for you and loved you. Know that your life will be a celebration of the God who gave it to you. And if you never come, we take heart in the knowledge that, though we don’t understand, as a dear friend says, “When He Who can does not, it must be better so.”

I made this one sometime last summer:



Journaling reads:

"I love this picture of you and Renee. You have such a sweet look of joy on your face. I know one day, God will honor our hearts' desire by giving us a family and when that day finally comes, I know you'll be the most wonderful, loving, doting, selfless father. I can't wait to see that."

I haven't scrapbooked since doing this page actually. It became too difficult because I couldn't get past the thoughts of "why are you doing this? You aren't going to have any children...no one will ever look at or read these!" Then when I overcame that, I just couldn't find the time or desire to do it. But how grateful I am today for these keepsakes of our journey. I can look at them and reflect on all that God has done over these years.

An Announcement

Hi everyone,

Last night, we received the following email from the couple we met last week:

So......without further ado, [Genetic Dad's Name] and I would absolutely love for you and Todd to be the adopting parents of our precious embryos. We think you and Todd are wonderful people and we can't think of a more perfect couple to love, raise and adore any children that hopefully will result from this adoption. We can tell that you are going to make fantastic parents.

We hope you feel this is the right match for you both and we anxiously await your answer.

This was the answer we'd been praying for! So this morning, we called them and happily accepted.

There's so much I want to share about our story...how God knit it together, how He prepared our timing and our desires, how He orchestrated our conversation and how he even matched us with a couple so similar to our own selves in so ways. I'll try to take the time in coming weeks to begin typing everything up!

In the mean time, we are officially happy parents-to-be. There are 12 Embryos, all in the blastocyst stage (day 5 or later--great for implantation potential).

10 of them are frozen in pairs, so that is how we will thaw and transfer them. The other two are each frozen individually and we will either thaw and transfer them together or pair each one with another pair and have two transfers of 3. Assuming at least one embryo from each pair survives the thaw, we'll have 5 or 6 transfers.

The number of live births that will result from these embryos remains to be seen. The first Phoenix Snowflake family had 11 embryos, which resulted in one live birth. Another family we know lost a lot of embryos through 4 or 5 matches, and finally had two children. Our Genetic Family had 5 successful implantations out of 8 embryos, and 3 live births (and 1 miscarriage of twins). So it really can be all over the map. We could end up with 1 child, we could end up with 12. If I recall one of her emails correctly, their embryologist thinks that the most likely number is 3, maybe 4 (though for the life of me I can't find that email so if I'm remembering wrong, S, please forgive me!). It really is anyone's guess and all in God's hands. We're sure He already knows the size family He has for us so we are resting in that.

The next step is to wait for the homestudy comes back. Even though we are matched, we still can't move forward without that piece. When it comes back to our caseworker here, she'll transfer it to Nightlight. Once that is done we can enter the process of signing actual documents. The other family with have 72 hours from date of signing to change their mind. After that, our coordinator at Nightlight will coordinate the shipping of our embryos from their clinic (in the San Francisco area) to our clinic here, which will store the embryos and eventually do the transfers.

We will update when our homestudy is completed and when we sign documents and perhaps when the Embryos safely arrive in Phoenix. But we are not planning to announce in advance (even to family!) about when the first transfer will be so that if it is successful, we can enjoy the process of planning and surprising friends and family with the news, and also so we can protect the information if we find ourselves wanting to wait a little bit longer in to the pregnancy before we share. And, if the transfer is not successful, we can grieve in private and not have the pain of answering "how did it go?" a lot of times over from everyone who'd know to ask 10-14 days after the transfer date (about when a pregnancy test is conducted).

It's still a little while until we get to that point but we're telling folks now so that when the time comes, we can be cryptic without seeming secretive or intentionally hurtful. What we can say is that if things go smoothly, a transfer could happen as early as October-ish. But we won't know more til later.

So, that's our news! We're very excited! We are very eager to share our story with anyone who could benefit from it so please feel free to ask any questions!

Thank you for celebrating with us!

Blood Test Results

Woohoo! Everything for both of us came back normal. We were slightly concerned about DH's cholesterol because our life insurance agent told him their test gave them a high number. But this test said the number was fine!

We were also concerned about my Glucose and Insulin levels. Glucose was normal. Insulin was "slightly" elevated, which is normal with PCOS + Insulin resistance. I'll be calling her after their lunch break to see how high it is.

But everything else is normal! Oh, and now I know my blood-type, which I've never known before.

Woohoo! Another check box cleared!