The Day Before!

Well this is the day before our Embryo Transfer. We are trying to keep ourselves busy so we don't just sit around wondering what's going to happen in the morning. Last night we went over to my parent's to watch both the Auburn and Alabama game. For those of you that don't know we are a house divided. Oh and I'm the smart one (WAR EAGLE)! Today we are getting ready to head up to Birmingham to stay with Jonathan's parents.

Our transfer is scheduled for 9:45 in the morning. We have to be at ART at 9:15. I will try and post tomorrow evening or at least get Jonathan to post.

Time to get ready to leave! I'm going to post some pictures from last night. Enjoy!

My friend Whitney sent me this verse the other day after our Egg Retrieval. Thanks Whit!

"My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Their Still Fighting!

We just got our 3rd and final update. All 3 embryo's are still fighting. PRAISE THE LORD!!!! I was really worried about what today would bring. The embryologist called this morning. Usually I speak with one of the IVF nurses, but since it's Saturday they are not usually in. I did ask her about the grading system that the nurse went over with me the day before. She does not like to grade them a lot at this point because so much can change. She has been at ART for 20 years and she said anything can happen. The main thing is that keep dividing and that is what they are suppose to be doing. They do have a little fragmentation. Whether or not that plays a role in the final day or not we just don't know.

Please continue to pray for these 3 to continue dividing and to be healthy and strong.
Please continue to pray for Jonathan and I to have Strength and Peace during this time.

Embies Day 2

Our report this morning was ok. We still have all 3 embryo's. 2 of them are doing better than the third one. The embryologist rates them on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 being the best. We have a 2, 3, and a 4. We will receive our last and final report in the morning. We should get the report around 7:30 since it is the weekend. Again, on Sunday they will not take the embryo's out of the incubator because they will be at a in between stage.

I was a little disappointed this morning, but I am happy that all 3 are still fighting. This is just a huge roller coaster of emotions right now. They did say that the 3 could be completely different tomorrow. Let's PRAY they only get better!

I am not feeling so great today. I am more bloated than I have been the last couple of days. I hope this gets better soon instead of getting worse. I will post the update tomorrow.

I do want to thank all of our wonderful friends, family, and people we have never met that have been praying for us and our 3 little embryo's.

Prayer Request:
Please pray that our 3 embryo's continue to grow and get healthier for a good report in the morning.
Please pray that my body starts to get better instead of worse.
Please pray for the Lord's strength and peace for both Jonathan and I.

Oh and a big WAR EAGLE!!!

Egg Retrieval!

Yesterday was our Egg Retrieval as many of you may know it did not end up the way we were expecting. They only retrieved 4 eggs and only 3 of the 4 were mature. We were shocked as were the doctors. We did get word this morning from our daily report that all 3 mature eggs did fertilize with Jonathan's sperm last night. This is GREAT news for us. It made me feel so much better. Now all we can do is pray that the embryos continue to grow and become healthier each day.

We were both having a hard time, but now we are just trying to focus on these 3. Please keep us in your prayers during the next several days.

My Embryo Transfer is scheduled for Monday at 9:45. We will get a daily report everyday except for Sunday. They will be left in the incubator all day Sunday. I will try and update everyone everyday as I get our daily report. Now it's time to PRAY!

Egg Retrieval Date is Set!!!

I had my 3rd and final stim check this morning. Everything looked good and I'm ready to have my eggs retrieved. My estrogen came back today as 2,319 and my progesterone was 1.7.

I have to be at ART in Birmingham at 9:00 Wednesday morning and my Egg Retrieval will be at 10:00. My doctor, Dr. Houserman will get to do my ER. I'm excited about that. We will head up to Birmingham tomorrow.

Please continue to pray that we have several mature eggs on Wednesday morning. Please also pray that I do not get to anxious. I want to be as relaxed as possible during this time (is that even possible??).

I will have an update for everyone soon!

"May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way."
2 Thessalonians 3:16

Stim Check #2

My appointment in Birmingham went very well. I had more blood work and ultrasound done. My estrogen level today was 1,423.5 and my progesterone was 1.2. During my ultrasound they only counted the largest follicles. There were 14 follicles already over 1.0cm and several more behind them.

They let me skip a day of coming in. I will be back in the Montgomery office on Monday morning at 9:30. There is a VERY good chance I will be taking my trigger injection tomorrow night. A trigger injection is medication made up from a pregnant woman's urine. It has the pregnancy hormone in it and for some reason it gets the body ready for ovulation. If I give it tomorrow night. I will not do any injections on Tuesday and have no appointments that day. I will just return to the clinic in Birmingham 36 hours later (Wednesday) for my Egg Retrieval. I will let you all know what happens at our appt in the morning. We're almost in the home stretch!

Prayer Request:
Please pray that my body continues to respond the way it should to the medication.
Please pray that I do NOT ovulate on my own before I take my trigger injection.
Please pray for my health. I have been very sick over the last week. I have not been able to eat much at all.
Please pray for the Lord's strength and peace during this time.

They are Growing!

Well my first stim appointment was a good one! They counted 14 growing follicles on my right ovary and 7 (possible a couple more) on my left ovary. Last week I had 8 on my left and 12 on my right so they have changed a little, but at least we are up one more! I got my estrogen level this afternoon and it was 567.7 and my progesterone was 0.8. I know these numbers probably mean nothing to y'all, but to show you how things have changed last week my estrogen was only 69 a week ago.

We will have an appointment a day earlier than we expected. It will be Saturday morning. We will find out then if we have to go back Sunday for another appointment or if it will be Monday. Jonathan and I are planning on going to Birmingham after work tomorrow. His parent's are going to Memphis for the weekend, but at least we have somewhere to stay. I can find things to keep us busy=)

Please continue to pray that my body responds to the medication the way it should.
Please pray that I have several MATURE follicles that will be retrieved next week.
Please continue to pray for the Lord's strength and Peace to get us through this.

One More Day!

Tomorrow will be our first stim check! I go at 8:30 for my ultrasound and blood work. I'm anxious to see how my follies have been growing. I'm ready to get my schedule at least one through the weekend. My guess is we will have an appt on Sunday morning. Which means we get to eat at the Cheesecake Factory Saturday night or Sunday for lunch! Yum!

I will keep everyone posted sometime tomorrow on how my appt goes. Please pray that we have a bunch of strong little follicles tomorrow and my estrogen level comes back within a good range that goes along with the growth of my follicles I have so far.

Oh and just a reminder. My Egg Retrieval should be next week sometime. My calender says tentative ER will be Wed the 27th -30th. That means it could be less than a week away!

Starting Over!

I really hate that I had to start all over again. Blogger changed some things on their end and when I tried to add some stuff it messed everything up. It was not allowing me to add pictures, videos, or anything extra. I knew along the way I would want to add more pictures and other things so I decided to start over.

I am going to post a link to our old blog just in case anyone missed anything or ever wants to go back and read from the beginning. I will have a section on the side bar that says Favorite Links. I will add it under there. All you have to do is click on the link and our old blog will pull up. I'm sorry about this. I hope you all enjoy!