Retrieval and Transfer

Exactly a week ago on the 24th, I had my egg retrieval. This was the easiest part of it all, I had conscious sedation and don't remember a thing. My doctor's office took very good care of me, they have a surgery suite at their office so I was able to avoid the hospital's O.R. The doctor (mine was at a conference at Harvard) retrieved nine eggs, six of which were mature and four of which fertilized normally. I wasn't real thrilled to hear this report the day after. My worst fear was that I would get there Saturday and they would say, "sorry, none of your embryos made it.". Well to my surprise not only did they all four make it, two were high enough quality to freeze. So on Saturday, our two "gorgeous" (to quote the embryologist) embryos were transfered. I won't get into the details b/c most people don't have an idea how it all works but the doctor stressed that it could not have gone better, the "environment" for the embryos was perfect. So now we wait and see. Even with the best embryos and best transfer, it still may not work. We're prepared for that but hoping we won't be in that situation. Any and all prayers are appreciated, thanks to everyone for their love and support!

Cheerleading

My niece, Katie had a cheerleading competition at a high school here last Saturday. Katie did a great job! Olivia and I really enjoyed watching all of the squads compete. It definitely pumped Olivia up about her tumbling class, she wants to be able to do all of those handsprings and back tucks!

My Lazy Right Ovary

During my ultrasound, the tech said I had a "benign right ovary". I call it "a dud". Tuesday there were no dominant follicles on it and they were miserably smaller than the follicles on my other superstar ovary (at least 8 on it). Today, however, there were two follicles that may just be mature enough at the time of retrieval. My lining was great, "couldn't be better" the tech said. I thought there was such a thing as too thick of a lining for IVF, she said no way. I was worried about that, I've never had a problem with my lining, thankfully!! It can cause a lot of women problems when trying to conceive. My estrogen is too low so the doctor has increased my Follistim for tonight. Hopefully I'll have an increase in that tomorrow (Saturday) when I go for another ultrasound and blood-work. More than likely I'll have to go in Sunday morning too, I hate missing church, but this is well worth it. One advantage to going to appointments on the weekends is no TRAFFIC!

Woohoo! Speaking of traffic,it was HORRIBLE this morning. Hudson had called to give me a head's up about it. I was 20 mins late for my appointment, it would have been worse if I didn't have the kids with me however. Due to the fact there was more than 2 people in my car, I was able to cruise down the carpool lane and fly by all of the creeping traffic!! It was interesting to see all of the cars that had only 1 person in them, more people need to carpool!!!!

After my appointment the kids and I swung by The Fresh Market in Buckhead. What a fun store!! I picked Hudson and I up some great looking Hereford Filets for dinner tonight. YUMMY! Can't wait, we have missed that place since moving from Greensboro.

Airshow

Sunday afternoon we took the kids to an airshow in Peachtree City. Lots and lots of people and rather warm but we had a good time. There was an F-16 flying, wow! How fun would that be to ride in one one day? I can't imagine going that fast, but it would be fun!

WWII fighter plane and an F-16

Olivia on the rock wall

IVF...a long road

The last year and a half has been a long, hard road. Hopefully we are nearing the end of it, or at least the beginning of the end. I started my meds for IVF last week (lots and lots of shots) and we have an estimated egg retrieval and embryo transfer for the week of Oct 22nd. We'll be transferring the 2 best embryos of the bunch and then the long 2 week wait to see if it worked. The Emory Clinic in Atlanta has one of the highest success rates in the South. My doctor has been involved in many, many studies and is quite impressive when it comes to answering my questions...she backs everything up with statistics, and that's exactly what Hudson and I like to hear. If all goes well and we get that long awaited positive pregnancy test, I'll be due July 15th.

I've definitely learned a lot over the last year or so. I'm a lot stronger than I ever gave myself credit for and Hudson is the most supportive and compassionate person I know. God has been with us every step of the way, we've both felt his peace and guidance through all of this. We have no idea what God has in store for us, of course we hope it involves another baby, but if not, we have a wonderful family and thank God everyday for the infinite blessings he's been gracious enough to shower us with. We'd absolutely appreciate any and all prayers, specifically praying for God's will for our family!

Three inches gone.

Olivia decided she wanted her hair cut to her shoulders. I think she feels much sassier now!

What A Game!!!

It's amazing Hudson and I (okay mostly me) didn't wake the kids up during the game. I guess they can sleep through just about anything! The only thing sweeter than a victory at the Swamp is one in Tuscaloosa (but we've grown so accustom to that!).

It's amazing a freshman kicker kept his composure under all of that pressure. To be able to kick both of the field goals, back to back, WOW! I particularly loved his Gator chomping at the end!

Toomer's Corner after the win.