I know, I know, it's been a while...my friend Becky at work even said "she misses me" (meaning she enjoys reading my blog and is sad I haven't been keeping up with it...) Becky - this one's for you. :)
So - what have Rob and I been up to? Let's see...first of all I must talk about church...have I mentioned how much we LOVE Appleton Alliance Church? If you're looking for a place to help you grow in your faith and spirituality, and to make it an interesting, exciting, informative, captivating part of your week, this is the place to go! Rob and I are SO happy there.
Also on a similar note...if you're looking for a fun way to spend the weekend with your spouse and really connect, check out Green Bay Marriage Encounter: www.gbme.org
Rob and I did this March 16th and 17th and it was THE BEST THING we've ever done. We got so much out of it and had so much fun, and our already strong marriage was propelled into superstardom. We could not be happier. :)
And lastly, the reason you tune in...we heard from Dr. Stassart on Wednesday this week. It was a long conversation that started with him telling us how he's so sorry for our loss...then he went on to explain that further genetic testing is NOT necessary...that our messed up chromosomes was most likely a "fluke" and we still have a good chance of having a healthy pregnancy. He said I may have a slightly higher propensity for fetal chromosome issues...some women just do...but that doesn't mean we'll always have problems. He said he's been doing this since before we were born (1977)...yes, we're old, but we were born after 1977...and he said he isn't worried about our circumstance.
He gave us the go-ahead to move forward with a frozen embryo transfer. However, I must first have another sonohysterogram to make sure my uterine cavity is still OK after the last pregnancy and D&C surgery. If that is good, then we can move forward with scheduling. I have to wait to get my period, which I expect to get next week. I then go on the pill on Day 3, then do the sono. Then I would go on Lupron to suppress my ovaries (small shots in my belly), and estrogen pills taken orally to thicken my uterine lining. They check my lining a few times and when it's ready to go, we start progesterone. He hinted that this time around I'll be on PIO (Progesterone In Oil) shots - which are intramuscular with a long needle...about as long as my pinky finger...and the shots are given in the butt. I'm not really looking forward to that but I'll be fine. Rob will help. Then we just have to travel to MN once for transfer! Not too bad!
Dr. Stassart gave us an option of transferring both of our frozen embryos or just one. If we did two, we could end up with just a singleton pregnancy, or, we could end up with twins. There would be about a 30% chance of twins. He said at this point we might be ready to just move things along so they would understand if we chose to do 2, even though they are high grade blasts and transferring just 1 has a good chance of ending up in pregnancy.
Rob and I had a long talk about it and have decided on transferring just one. We thought it would be healthier for both me and baby. And, if it works, we can still have 1 frozen left to maybe create baby sister/brother in a few years. Of course, if it doesn't work, we have to go through it again with the 2nd frozen, but FET (frozen embryo transfers) are much easier than fresh, so I'd be fine. We talked about how twins would be "fun" but not too fun when it comes time for 2 late night feedings, and 2 dirty diapers, and 2 orthodontia bills, and 2 college tuitions...we'll be very happy with one healthy baby. We have agreed that with our next fresh cycle (if these frozen don't work and our 3rd cycle is our last attempt) that we will get more aggressive then.
Dr. Stassart was very confident. He even told us "I'm sure that next time you will have what you've been hoping for."
We really feel like with God's help, our future looks bright here. Looking forward to what these FET's bring.
In the meantime...we're trying to refinance both our duplexes (almost done with that process), they're urbanizing our road all summer long putting in curb and gutter, sidewalk, bike lane, and parking lane, we've recently met with an attorney to draft our Will, we just revamped our financial profile by doing some new investments, and we just paid a FORTUNE to the tax man. I've started running again and lost about 10 pounds...I have a long way to go, but I'm happy to get some control before starting IVF again. So, to say we have a lot going on would be an understatement. One exciting thing we learned today is that my appeal went through and all those medical bills that weren't paid ($8500 worth) are now being covered by insurance. Whew! It was a lot of work to get that to go through, but we're so glad it did!
I'll try to do a better job of keeping things updated now that things are starting up again. Wish us luck that our little Frozens have all the correct happy little chromosomes so we can have the baby we've always dreamed of!
One last thing...Rob and I are now reading the Bible regularly. We read the story of Sarah and Abraham...how Sarah couldn't have children even though God promised them a child. As she got older, she got very impatient and she took matters into her own hands. She had her maidservant lay with Abraham and they conceived a child. Then Sarah became jealous. God finally said "why didn't you wait, I promised you a child...." and He blessed them with Isaac. So...God really does have a plan for us...and us trying to manipulate and control His plan isn't going to work. We are hoping His plan is to bless us with a child soon...and if it's a boy we've thought of naming him Isaac. :)
Goodnight!
