5 Weeks Today!

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on how things are going!

First of all, we were OVERWHELMED by the response to our good news last Friday! We literally could not believe all the enormous out-pouring of love from all of our sweet friends and family. Last Friday's blog was viewed over 500 times...I can't even believe that! I cannot tell you how much it means that our precious children are already so loved and prayed for before they even take their first breath! We are SO BLESSED! Thank you all for your incredible response to this blog and for walking beside us every step of this journey. This journey is far from over so I hope that you will continue to pray for us as we move forward. I am still planning on blogging...but it will definitely be fewer and farther between! Our appointments are now a little farther apart, but I will be updating this with every bit of good news and excitement as we get closer to our dream of parenthood! So many of you have commented on how much you have enjoyed reading...so I will keep on posting! Thank you for the love and support!

Back to Friday...I blogged before all of my test results came in, but I did want to tell you that my Progesterone level was right on track and my Estradiol level was way up! That was the level that had recently been low. So we were so thankful that both levels were good and that the patches and shots are still doing their jobs! I am still on 3 patches and still taking nightly injections of Progesterone. As far as I know, I will continue doing this until around the 12 week mark. San Antonio is keeping up with all of my progress and monitoring my medications until we make it to 12 weeks. I am so thankful that they are...we love them!

On Friday, my HCG level was at 243, which is what indicates pregnancy. Yesterday I had to go in and have this level checked again. We were THRILLED to hear that it had gone up to 1144! HCG levels vary a lot from woman to woman, but the big thing the look for is that it should be doubling every 48-72 hours. Since my level MORE than doubled twice in 4 days...that is a GOOD sign! Means this baby or babies is in there and holding on!

We are so blessed with every positive report and cannot stop praising God for his awesome power! Derek still looks at me all the time and says "Baby...you're pregnant!"  Just saying the words outloud is AMAZING! Precious Derek has been waiting a LONG five and a half years to say it and hearing those words just don't get old!!! We have all been up in the clouds since Friday and I don't know if we are coming down anytime soon...HA! I will say that I am already feeling some sickness...possibly because of all the hormones along with the pregnancy. But every feeling is just a reminder of how faithful our Father is so we are embracing it all! God is so good!

What is next? San Antonio has scheduled my first sonogram for August 6th which will be done here in San Angelo. On the sonogram, they will be checking to make sure the pregnancy has occured in my uterus and that the embryos did not travel somewhere else to attach. They should also be able to see whether it is one baby or two babies...which I know everyone is anxious to know! Honestly, we have prayed from the very beginning that God be in control of this whole situation. We told God that we were open to whatever children He had planned...whether that be one or two. We know that God's plans FAR EXCEED our own and that He has been planning this WAY before we ever began. We will welcome whatever children He has in store for us and will praise Him all the way! We are anxious to know, but we are at peace with whatever it will be! We have so much JOY during this time that every single step is SO much fun! Hopefully, they will be able to find the heartbeat(s) at the sonogram too which we are really looking forward to!

We ask that you continue to pray, right along with us as we continue on! We have been constantly thanking God since Friday, as I know so many of you have too! Please pray that my body continues to respond to the medicine and that I am able to provide a good home for these sweet bab(ies) until March! We are so blessed by your friendship! We love you all!

 "May he give you the DESIRE of your HEART and make all your plans SUCCEED. May we SHOUT for JOY over your VICTORY and LIFT up our banners in the name of our God."  Psalm 20:4-5

God answers...

PRAYERS!!! God has heard our cries and answered our prayers and blessed us with the most amazing news this morning...

WE ARE PREGNANT!!!

It's so hard to even describe the feelings I have right now! I am still slightly in shock. God is SO GOOD! He has been faithful through this entire process and truly granted us the desires of our heart. We will spend forever blessing His name and thanking Him for this precious gift! To God be the Glory! AMEN!

This morning was surreal! We went in early for our bloodwork and then began the waiting game! I have to admit I was more nervous this morning than I have been this entire journey. It took a lot of prayer to get me out of the car at the doctor...ha! Our sweet nurse called us around 10:00 with such exciting news! My HCG level was good and we are definitely pregnant! PRAISE GOD!

Waiting for bloodwork...maybe a little sleepy?

Waiting to go in...a little nervous!

What's next??? This journey is far from over...really this is a new beginning point for us! (And yes...I will continue blogging!) San Antonio will continue to monitor us until I reach the 12-week point. Currently I am at 4-weeks. They will monitor my progesterone and estradiol level so that they can adjust my patches and shots until we get to 12-weeks. I will probably be going in next week for more bloodwork to make sure my HCG level is rising appropriately. Now that these bab(ies) are in there...we want to make sure they stay! We have no way of knowing whether there is one baby or two yet, but they should be checking that in about 2-3 weeks! We are praying right now for whatever God has planned for us....and that our children are healthy...whether that be 1 or 2!

Waiting for the phone to ring!

Post-blood work breakfast!

Thank you thank you thank you to our sweet friends and family who have been through this journey with us! We are so blessed by the outpouring of prayers and love! We could not have made it through without you by our sides! Thank you for your patience with us this morning! I really could not wait to get on here and let everyone know! Give God the GLORY because He has truly answered our prayers! And please don't stop praying yet! This is a beginning...we are now praying for a healthy pregnancy that will end sometime in March with us getting to hold our precious bab(ies)!

We love you all!

PARENTS TO BE! Finally a POSITIVE test!
(Derek insisted on buying an at-home test afterwards that would finally be positive!!!)

  "I will give THANKS to you, LORD with all my HEART; I will TELL of all your WONDERFUL deeds. I will be GLAD and REJOICE in you; I will SING the PRAISES of your name, O Most High."
                                                                                                                                Psalm 9:1-2

Thank you God for your FAITHFULNESS!

One More Day!

I absolutely CANNOT believe that TOMORROW is the day that we finally find out YES or no!!! The past two weeks have crawled along nice and slowly...but overall it hasn't been too terribly bad. We've found things to do around the house, been out to lunch with some friends, enjoyed visits from family, and had some time just to spend the two of us! I am SO EXCITED about tomorrow, but really and truly I can't believe that it's actually here. This whole process has been WAY different than I ever thought. I'll never forget a friend of mine telling me before we started that she couldn't wait for us to experience this because it was "a neat experience." I literally thought she was crazy! I found myself thinking how in the world is in-vitro going to be neat? It's going to be painful and hard and this is NOT at all the way I had planned to have children. How could this ever be neat???

I have to admit...I was completely wrong! This experience has been AMAZING! It has been completely different than anything I ever thought it would be. I really had this idea of IVF in my head being only about having babies. And ultimately...that is the goal...BUT in-vitro has definitely been an avenue for God to do AMAZING things in our lives. He has been working on our hearts this entire time and this journey has truly been a BLESSING to us through everything.

We have been blessed:

By people praying for us throughout every step
By family and friends who encourage us and love on us daily
By my group of "prayer ladies" who would stop during the day and pray for my daily needs
By people who blessed us financially
By people who have been through this before and were willing to share their hearts w/us
By an amazing staff of doctors and nurses who have cared for us and treated our needs
By people who brought us dinner and visited
By a God who has never once left our side or forsaken us
By an incredible sense of peace and calmness through this ENTIRE journey
By family who have felt my every pain and cried every tear with us
By a renewing of our FAITH in our amazing God!

God has used this struggle of infertility to work on my heart and I can honestly say I would not give that up for anything in this world. It has been a HARD five and a half years and there have been so many times where I was beaten and low. There were times where I thought I couldn't go on....that I would simply never be able to have children on my own. But God has truly lifted me up through this process and I am so thankful that He has not given up on us yet! And I am so thankful for all of you who have been a part of these blessings! We could not be where we are today without the love and support of our sweet friends and family!

This in-vitro cycle started for us on June 22nd. Since I love numbers...I thought I would look back on the past 4 weeks...simply by numbers! Since June 22nd we have been through...

4 trips back and forth to San Antonio
5 nights in the hotel
26 shots in my stomach
7 rounds of bloodwork
5 ultrasounds
10 eggs retrieved
5 fertilized embryos
16 pills after the retrieval
2 amazing 8A embryos transfered
15 shots in my backside
9 hormones patches
2 precious frozen embryos
an INFINITE # of prayers

All of this has led us to this point in which we hope is the beginning of our precious family! God is good! And He is faithful! We pray that this is the time He has decided to bless our lives with children! We ask that you pray for us one more time as we anxiously await the testing tomorrow. I am suprisingly calm...as I have been this entire time...which I attribute solely to the prayers of so many for peace. Of course I am ready to know, but I can wait one more day!

A couple of people have asked if I was going to take home pregnancy tests to see if I was already pregnant. My personal experience with home tests has always been so negative! I would take those tests with so much eagerness and hopefulness in the beginning and then be so disappointed. Derek began to hate having to buy them b/c I would just cry and cry. Knowing that they are testing me on Friday, regardless of my at-home results...I decided I would much rather have to take one test instead of several. That way I have no false hope or feel no uneccessary pain before the actual test! For me...it's better this way! Sorry for any of you who were hoping for an early result!

As far as tomorrow goes, I will have my blood test done early in the morning. We have no way of knowing what time the results will be in. I PROMISE that I will update the blog at SOME point tomorrow, but I will not promise what time that will be. I am asking for a little bit of patience during this process tomorrow on your part because I know so many of you have been through this journey with us and are dying to know the result! We are dying for you to know as well, but need some time to process the information and share with our families before we announce it here! We are so blessed to have this many people care about us and for us and our precious babies! Thank you for your support and love and please pray for us over the next two days!

"When we trust our lives to the hand and pen of an unseen but ever-present God, He will write our lives into His story and every last one of them will turn out to be a great read. With a grand ending."
                                                                                        -Beth Moore-

One Week Down...

We are officially one week closer to pregnancy test time and as I predicted...it's been a LONG week! I have stayed at home (for the most part) and tried to rest and relax as much as possible. Being at home is great...but it also allows a lot of time to THINK! And sometimes thinking gets me in trouble! I would much rather be out and about and BUSY so that I do not sit here and play out every scenario possible. Have I mentioned before that PATIENCE is not really my thing??? HA!

One thing that I will say is that I NEVER in a million years would have imagined how many people would follow us on this blog! It is CRAZY! I have heard from so many people that they are following us, praying for us, and how much they love reading the blog! It is such a humbling experience and also quite an intimidating one! I wanted to create this blog in order to share our journey with those around us who I thought would be interested in following along. I also wanted to reach out to those now, or in the future, who may be struggling with infertility. This blog has been a good way to write out my thoughts and fears and allow so many around us to pray during each step. You have been AMAZING to us during this journey! We have been SHOWERED with LOVE and AFFECTION throughout this process...far more than we ever thought possible! The blessings continue to pour out daily!

But I will admit...sometimes blogging is SCARY! I feel like I have poured out my heart and soul in this blog, not knowing if people would even read it! I know that when good things are happening in the kingdom, Satan always tries to attack and I feel that he is very skilled at the way that he does it. Right now I feel that he is attacking me by causing doubt and fear to creep into my mind...to make me feel insecure about my self worth and exposing my pain to others. It seems that the more I hear people are reading the blog, the more my insecurities set in. In the past, I held everything inside because I didn't want to disappoint those around me. I tried to put a wall up to protect myself from feeling shame and guilt about not being able to have a baby. Once again, Satan is trying to use these feelings of letting others down to break me and I really have to fight to not let those doubts come in. I WILL NOT let him steal my JOY during this time. Our prayer from the very beginning of this process was for God to be glorified throughout this journey, which I really feel is happening! I know this is the main reason for Satan's attack! No matter what we face, I know that our God is BIGGER than anything he can throw at us and that we must continually CALL on His name to help us make it through! Blessed be the NAME of the LORD!

Sorry for the ramble...I just felt the need to share my heart!

I do have an UPDATE today! We went and had some bloodwork done at Shannon to check my Progesterone and Estradiol levels. Since the retrieval, I have been wearing an Estradiol (Estrogen) patch and doing daily injections of Progesterone. This is basically to boost up my hormone level so that WHEN there is a positive pregancy test, my hormones will already be ready to help the pregnancy. My progesterone level was good, which I'm thankful for because it means we do not have to increase the amount of liquid in my nightly shot! Praise God! However, my Estradiol level was lower than they would like for it to be. My nurse assured me that this has NO INDICATION on whether or not I'm pregnant. They simply have a level that they would like for me to be at before the pregnancy test. To help this out, I am now wearing THREE patches instead of one until they check me again (next Friday). Hopefully this will help the levels rise to where they should be! I'm sure Derek is a little worried about the EXTRA dose of hormones but hopefully it won't make me TOO crazy...ha!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep up the prayers! As I said earlier, we have been SO BLESSED in SO MANY ways during this process and we really do FEEL your prayers! We thank God for each of you every night and are so honored to be prayed for during this time. We have one LONG week ahead of us...but we know that we can make it through with God's help!

Here are some things you can be praying for:

1) PEACE! Pray that God continues to remove our fears and anxieties about the upcoming pregnancy test and that we are able to have JOY during this time!

2) That our precious little embryos are attaching and growing! We are praying specifically that God knit these precious babies in my womb and that He is placing them exactly where they need to be to attach and develop!

3) Derek and all the things that he has to go through during this process. I know how hard it is for him to have to give me injections every night and watch the pain that I feel the next day. He has been an AMAZING caretaker...cooking and cleaning and taking care of me! I'm so BLESSED!

4) That the Estradiol patches will do their job and help my level to GO UP to where it needs to be to help sustain a pregnancy.

5) Pray a prayer of THANKSGIVING to the AWESOME God that we serve who has blessed us SO RICHLY throughout this journey. He has been PRESENT and WORKING at every step during this process and we know that He is FAITHFUL!

We love you all and are so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family!

"I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope." Psalm 130:5

Frozen Embryos!

Just wanted to send out a quick update! Things have been going really well...just really boring...ha! I have mostly been resting and hanging out at home. We have watched several movies, (I have) read several books, and taken some really great naps! We are enjoying the time together just the two of us because our time just the two of us may be soon coming to a close! We have been very blessed by people checking in on us, bringing us some sweet dinner, and some beautiful flowers! Our hearts have been blessed!

We got some great news today from San Antonio! Two of our embryos made it to blastocyst level! This means that they developed enough to be frozen for us to use and transfer in the future! We are thrilled that we had two freeze because it means that we will not have to go through the whole stimulation/egg retrieval process next time. Transfering frozen embryos is much less invasive and expensive than what we had to do this time, with a lot less injections! God has blessed us with these two precious frozen embryos, as well as the two that we hope are implanting right now! We specifically prayed that God allow the right number of embryos to develop and freeze to create the children that He had planned for us. We believe that God has continued to answer prayer after prayer and we see these embryos as hope for the future that HE has in store for us! We are excited about the possibilities!

I am feeling pretty good overall...the only thing that I am having trouble with is my nightly progesterone shot! The shot itself has not been hurting at all, but the next day I am SO SORE I can hardly walk!!! It is NO FUN! But overall, I am trying to keep a good attitude because if a sore booty is what it takes for these babies to develop then I will just live with a sore booty! At this point, we will do WHATEVER is necessary to help these embryos develop and grow! God is good...He will take care of us through it all...shots included!

Thank you for continued prayers! I am the first to admit that WAITING has NEVER been my strong point! But God is faithful...he is providing comfort and peace during this time of wait and we know that He will grant the desires of our heart. Keep the prayers coming! We know that God is hearing them and we FEEL them!

"STRENGTH will RISE as we WAIT upon the Lord, WAIT upon the Lord, We will WAIT upon the Lord!"

Transfer Day!

There are some moments in life when you know that after that point, your life will never ever be the same. Today's transfer was definitely one of those moments! From this point, we can't go back!

We spent the night last night in San Antonio because we had to be up early to do some medicine. I can definitely say we know the way from San Angelo to San Antonio! Mom and Dad came with us to keep us company during the transfer and our hours of bed-rest afterwards...ha! We woke up early to get ready for the transfer. Once again, it was so nice to have the transfer on a Saturday! The doctor's office was so nice and quiet and no parking fees...ha! We took some pictures before the transfer to mark the occasion...plus it gave us something to do while we were waiting.

One last picture of just me...now I'm sharing my body with others!

Before the transfer! Excited to see our embryos!

Waiting patiently!

Our cheerleaders/support team/ entertainment during bedrest

We first met with the lab technician who brought in our embryo results. We were THRILLED to learn that two of our embryos were graded as 8A's...which is the absolute best they can be. The technician even said their over-lapping circles were perfect...that our embryos look TEXTBOOK!!! I'm so PROUD! Our little babies are already over-achievers!!! Our other three embryos graded at a 4, 5, and 6. They will continue to watch them the next 2-3 days and see if they can make it to the freezing level.

Our Baby's 1st Picture! This is one of the two embryos they implanted!

The transfer was completely different than the retrival. First of all, I didn't have to go under...which was nice...but I almost wish I had!!! I was so uncomfortable because they make you drink a TON of water in order to have a full bladder for the procedure! My need to pee was WAY worse than any other discomfort they could put me in...ha! Even though I was dying, I will have to say the transfer was SO NEAT to watch! We literally got to watch on the ultrasound machine as Dr. Neal placed our embryos in the uterine lining. It was SO COOL! It by far made all of the pain, shots, uncomfortableness, driving, money, EVERYTHING worth it. God is SO GOOD! We were in AWE that they have the skills and technology to help women like me who so desperately want a child and can't do it on their own. We are so thankful for everything FCSA has been able to do for us!

On the upper left-hand side there are two white marks and an arrow pointing at one of them. This is where the embryos are.

  After the transfer, I got to lay on the table for 30 minutes and then come back to the hotel for 24-48 hours of BEDREST! So far, I have watched a movie, eaten some lunch, and taken an AMAZING nap! My mom and I are currently in bed waiting for the boys to bring us some dinner while we watch HGTV!!! Not too shabby! We are planning to head home tomorrow and I will continue to take it easy for the next two weeks.

Texting people while I lay down for thirty minutes.

Derek found a comfortable position to relax in...ha!

Bed rest in the hotel!

So what does this mean??? Where do we go from here??? Our precious little embryos are inside my body...now we are just praying that they implant and attach. The next two weeks are completely in God's hands! We are praying that he will knit these babies in my womb and allow them to implant and begin to grow and develop. Our work is done, now we are trusting in God to continue this process and help our sweet babies develop! They have put me on a couple of hormones to help my levels stay up so that hopefully we can have the very best environment for these babies to grow in. Next week, they will check my levels to make sure my hormones are ok and then we will be doing a pregnancy test the week after to see if these babies took!

So...ONCE AGAIN...we are asking for your PRAYERS! The next two weeks will more than likely be the LONGEST two weeks of our lives as we wait to test. But we know that God is FAITHFUL! He has been there every step of the way and made this whole process run so smoothly. He has granted me with a sense of peace in every single appointment, bloodraw, shot, and procedure. God has truly blessed this process and we are ASKING Him to fulfill our desires and allow these embryos to attach. We pray that these two embryos are the precious children that he has planned for us and that they will grow and develop into healthy babies. We ask that you JOIN us in prayer and pray for us in the next two weeks to have PEACE, COMFORT, JOY, and PATIENCE! And pray for those little babies to GRAB ON AND HOLD ON...ha!

I will try and update sometime in the next week and definitely after the hormone check next week. We appreciate all the love and prayers that we have FELT the last two weeks. Keep it coming!

"Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than all we ASK or IMAGINE, according to his POWER that is at work within us, to him be the GLORY in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!" Ephesians 3:20-21

5 Little Monkeys

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on our status...

We officially have FIVE fertilized embryos growing away in the lab! PRAISE GOD! They called around lunchtime today and said that five of our eggs had fertilized...YEA! We were anxiously awaiting the phone call all morning...so much so that I watched all 4 parts of the Saved by the Bell wedding...ha! I'm so thankful that God has been so faithful at yet another important hurdle in this process! We are so proud of our five little embryos! It has been a LONG journey to get to this point! Yea!

Next step: TRANSFER! We will be heading back to San Antonio tomorrow for our transfer on Saturday. We are scheduled for a 9:30 transfer. They will be putting in the best two embryos at this point and we will be PRAYING every minute until we hear that our embryos attach! I will be resting for the next couple of days and then we will be anxiously waiting until we have a pregnancy test to see if they embryos took. We know that God has been with us up to this point and we have no reason to believe that he will not carry us through!

Several of you have asked how I'm feeling and the truth is I feel GREAT! Way better than I thought I would feel after the retrieval! I have little to no soreness and most of my nausea has gone away! Praise God! Today though, I started my hormone patch, another medication, and am beginning my progesterone injections. Basically they are pumping me full of hormones to hopefully help me achieve and sustain a pregnancy! I have heard the progesterone shots are NO FUN but honestly at this point it doesn't matter. We will do WHATEVER we have to hold our sweet babies in our arms...even if it means daily shots for three months! Our God is BIGGER than anything they can throw at us...BRING IT ON!

Thank you for your love and support! We appreciate the prayers and love daily! Please continue to pray for the transfer and that our sweet little embryos grow and develop in the next two days. God is FAITHFUL! We love you!

"And my God will supply your every need according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. May glory be given to God our Father forever and ever." Phillipians 4:19-20

Retrieval Day!

Happy Fourth of July! I actually forgot that it was the Fourth until we pulled into the parking garage of the doctor's office and nobody was there! HA! It was actually really nice and calm to have the retrieval on a holiday. The doctor's office was really quiet and they were only doing retrievals today, so it was really nice! I was definitely ready to get the procedure done because I was not able to eat or drink after midnight.

Derek feeling super cool with his "Doctor" booties!

I am constantly amazed at the sense of peace that God has given us throughout this process because I was not nervous at all before the procedure. Derek got to go back with me while they got me set up and started my IV. I still hate IV's but it went much more smoothly than any of my other ones. I guess I have just gotten used to needles by now. I did tear up a little when Derek left the room, but they quickly gave me some medicine and I drifted off to sleep! I was so thankful that as soon as I woke up they went and got Derek and he helped me come to. When I woke up, I was in quite a bit of pain and really sore, but once I sat up and got to drink some water I started feeling better. They got me up pretty quickly and I was pretty amazed at how good I felt. Definitely a little sore and tired...but not near what I thought I would be feeling after. Praise God for his HEALING hands!

Happy to see my Hubby and happy that the retrieval was done!

Also, PRAISE GOD that the retrieval was SUCCESSFUL! Our doctor was able to remove 10 eggs during the retrieval. Afterwards, the eggs were sent to the lab to be fertilized and hopefully starting the growing process. Now, we are waiting to see if fertilization has occured. They are suppose to call us in the morning with a fertilization report. Yea! We left the doctor's office after I had recovered and got something to eat. Then we headed back to San Angelo. I slept the entire trip home and am SO THANKFUL to be back in my house! I am feeling SORE and a little nauseous, but overall I'm doing well. God is SO GOOD!

Thank you so much for your prayers! We are now in the fertilization and growing stage! It is nice to not have to depend on my body any more because God is completely handling this process...I can't do anything to mess it up now...ha! We are praying for healthy embryos to come from this fertilization process so that we can look forward to the next step...the TRANSFER! We cannot PRAISE GOD enough for everything He is doing in our lives! Thank you also for all the kind words, prayers, and support we have felt! We are SO BLESSED!

I will update tomorrow with hopefully some POSITIVE fertilization news! Keep the prayers coming! We are so thankful to be one step closer! Love to all!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles" 2 Corinthians 1:3

Tomorrow's the Day!

Well it is hard to believe that we are actually at this point! The past ten days have been CRAZY! 27 shots, 6 rounds of bloodwork, 5 ultra-sounds, three trips to San Antonio, and three nights in a hotel! The past ten days have been very humbling...we have both had tears, JOY, experienced tremendous LOVE and battled fears and anxiety. Through it all, we have really felt God's presence by the overwhelming sense of peace through every step. We are also in awe of how many people have reached out to us to let us know how much they love us and how much they are praying. God is GOOD! Whatever the result of this entire process, I know that God has been present, working, and is being glorified through this struggle. Blessed be the Name of the LORD!

Tomorrow is a BIG day for us! We go in at 11:00 for our retrieval at 11:30. I will be put to sleep, which I have to say is actually going to be kinda nice! I can't say I'm going to miss the feeling of super-large ovaries! It is kinda crazy to think that our little babies will be "created" tomorrow afternoon. This whole process is a little surreal! We are so thankful for the technology that has allowed the doctors to even be able to do in-vitro. We definitely feel that this process is a blessing! How many people get to know exactly the minute that their children are formed??? It is also very comforting to know that God will be controlling the next few days...everything will literally be out of our hands. We are praying very specifically for fertilization to occur tomorrow and for our embryos the next three days to develop and grow the way they are suppose to. We are praying for healthy eggs that will make healthy embryos that will be implanted to form healthy babies! We know that God is in control and we will be in prayer constantly until we hold those sweet babies...and then from that point on!

I will try and update the blog tomorrow and let you know how the retrieval goes. It will probably not be until later in the evening. Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow for a smooth retrieval and fertlization!

Dinner tonight w/my LOVE! So thankful God gave me you!

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the GLORY that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectations for the CHILDREN of God to be revealed." Romans 8:18-19

They grew and Grew and GREW!!!

We got a nice little surprise this morning at our doctor's appointment...my follicles are READY! We were mildly shocked to say the least because we really did not think they would be ready until tomorrow. But they did some very good growing this weekend and are nice and BIG!!! We were pumped at the progress!


Big, BEAUTIFUL follicles!

Excited about the sonogram!

God is SO GOOD!!! We know that many of you have been lifting us up the past two days in prayer and we are so blessed by this good news. We know this is not the end...there are still several procedures and steps that have to take place to achieve our goal. But we are so thankful to all of you for taking the time to pray for us. God is present and evident in this process and is WORKING all things out for HIS glory. BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!

Our doctor came in after the sonogram to help us prepare for the next step. It seems that once we get over one hurdle, the next one appears! The next step in this process is the retrieval. We are scheduled to retrieve on Wednesday, but do not know a specific time as of yet. It will for sure be in the morning. Wednesday will be a BIG day for this process. I will be put to sleep and our doctor will go in and drain each follicle to hopefully find a nice, healthy egg. The eggs will then be fertilized in the lab and sent off to grow. They have told me to expect some soreness and discomfort after the retrieval.

So...once again we are asking you to join us in prayer! Here are some things that we will be praying for in the next couple of days:

1) Prayers for the doctors and nurses as they work on me on Wednesday during the retrieval process.

2) Prayers for the doctors and technicians who work in the labratory and will be handling our eggs and embryos.

3) Prayers for healthy, viable eggs that will be fertilized on Wednesday and sent to grow. We want these precious embryos to GROW and develop properly to be able to be transferred or frozen!

4) Prayers for Derek and my parents as they have to deal with me...ha! I know it is nerve-wracking for them when I am put under and I know that they hate seeing me in pain. Pray for their strength and comfort while they care for me.

5) Prayers for my body and my health. That I will be able to handle the retrieval with minimal discomfort and prepare for the transfer.

6) Prayers of PRAISE and THANKSGIVING to our Father who is blessing us so richly through this process. We have felt His LOVE and His PRESCENCE throughout this process and through the outreach of each of you.


We love you and covet your prayers daily! Our precious babies will be the most prayed for children even before they open their eyes!


"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28