5 Beautiful Babies....

Hey peeps! Hope you enjoyed the post from Sweetness last night. I was certainly not feeling up to doing anything. I was in so much pain, it was crazy! But today, the Lord has renewed my mind and body and I am feeling so much better!

So as Sweetness said in the blog post from last night, they were able to retrieve 7 eggs from me yesterday. The embryologist called today and told us that they were able to do ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection) on all 7 eggs, and 5 fertilized!!! That's right, we now have 5 beautiful babies growing and dividing, waiting for their mamma to come get them. Things are still right on track for them to put 2 embryos back into me on Saturday, we will freeze the rest for a chance at becoming pregnant again in a couple of years.

You know, I know God performs miracles, but this was my week to see Him in all His Glory. He has made so many things line up, and I know with out a doubt He, and He alone, has been the one that has gotten us this far in our journey to parenthood. Even me messing up bad and forgetting the Lupron shot, He prevented me from ovulating saving my eggs. Yesterday under anesthesia, I stopped breathing (scary i know) and they had to bag me; but God alone protected me and the eggs. The doctor told us afterwards we were lucky they got any eggs, because I scared them so bad, they almost scrapped the whole procedure! But God had other plans, and He is working them out in His own special way! It is just so neat to see the hand of God at work in your own life!

While I know there is always a possibility of me not getting pregnant this time, I am completely trusting Him and His timing. But I do just feel it! I love this feeling I have today for my 5 precious babies growing right now. Such love and awe.......

Please continue to keep us in your prayers, and these little ones. Pray that they keep dividing, stay healthy and that we get a successful twin pregnancy this time. May the Lord's will be done in our lives. I am calm and peaceful, I trust my Lord for the outcome, good or bad, His Will is where I want to be!!!

Ending with a scripture-

"Don’t worry about anything: instead, pray for everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand."

-Philippians 4:6

Seven Beautiful Eggs

Hey y'all, this is "Sweetness" aka Heather's hubby. The day is over and I gotta tell you, its been a roller coaster. We got to the doctors office and, just like the military, it was hurry up and wait. When we were finally called back, I was directed to the "blue room" and my babe was taken back to see the anesthesiologist. So...I'm sitting there and sent a little prayer up to God. We've had some stressful moments this week and He has always lifted us up through those times, so I knew that He would listen today. It was then that I found out the coffee machine was empty...ummm, not so good. Hey, I had my blackberry and a full battery, so time to surf.

After about two hours, they called me to go back with her in recovery and she was looking...a little frazzled. Turns out that the team had a difficult time putting and keeping her under. So much so that they had to "bag" her twice. Yea, I wasn't digging that too much either. But the good news came next. Seven beautiful eggs all ready for my swimmers. I wont go into that experience only to say that...umm...it was awkward.

So the nurse went over the meds...what to take and what not to take and we were off. A Chic-fil-a stop later we were at the house and my babe was resting for a couple hours. Then...fifteen minutes ago...it was time. Time for me to give my first shot EVAR. Now, I can hold my own with a calculator, but a syringe??? Have you SEEN the needle? You have GOT to be kidding me. But I gotta say, I came through like a champ. 2 cc's of something or other is now coursing through her body thanks to me.

So the remainder of the evening will be relaxing in bed while I keep poking my head in asking if I can get her anything.

Today was the first of many great days to come and I'm looking forward to the months ahead, waiting for the little ones to make their entrance into the world. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm going to be a good dad, but the reaction I get from my babe pushes those doubts away. I'm so far from perfect, but I want to be the best husband and dad that I can be. With my babe, my family and the Lord, I know there's nothing we cant do.

So we want to thank everyone for their prayers. We should hear tomorrow late afternoon how many embryos are fertilized. So stay tuned, same bat channel, same bat time.

Take care,
Sweetness

The Eggs are Ready!

Ok girls, all the blood work has indeed confirmed that I HAVE NOT ovulated despite being 45 minutes late taking Lupron Sunday night! We are so thankful and happy! So tomorrow is the day...I will be going in at 9:15 am to have my eggs harvested under anesthesia. And tomorrow is technically the day that our future babies will be conceived! We are so happy, and trusting the Lord for His Will to be done in all the activities over the next couple of days leading up to Saturday when they put the embryos back into me.

Thanks for your prayers, and I think I will let Sweetness do a guest post tomorrow to update you all! See you tomorrow!

All Clear....almost

I can not thank you enough to all my praying friends who have helped Sweetness and I through this day! We went in for our scan this morning at 645 am, and because I was 45 minutes late on my Lupron shot last night they did blood work to verify if I had ovulated in that 45 minutes. Well after a day of praying and pleading with God, the nurse called and said that the blood work looks good, and it seems as though I did not ovulate!!! God answered our prayers and we are so thankful!!!

Tomorrow morning we go back for our LAST follicle scan and more blood work to be sure I still did not ovulate. If everything is good with tomorrow's blood work, they will retrieve my eggs on Wednesday morning at 9:15am!!!!

Dr. Robin said she is believing with us that all will still be okay, and told us to go ahead and trigger tonight at 11:45pm!!! My sweet friend Joyce, who is a nurse, is coming over that late at night to give me the trigger shot, and show Sweetness how to start giving me the injections in the bum. Woo Hoo!!!!

Still praying everything will work out with the blood work tomorrow, and we are claiming God's promises!!! Thank you for standing with us!!!!

Third follicle scan....

UPDATE: Well while I was busy typing the below blog post, I missed my Lupron shot at 7pm. I remembered 45 minutes later! I am soooo upset. If you miss Lupron, you can ovulate, and then they cancel the cycle. I called the emergency number and the nurse called me back, and she said there is really nothing I can do at this point. Tomorrow morning when I go in for my scan, they will take a progesterone level and see if I ovulated. Can I ask for your prayers tonight? I am devastated, and this is sooo much money, we can not do it again! Lord, please do not let us have to cancel the cycle! Please!

Well today at 7:30am, sweetness and I rolled into the fertility clinic again! We had the follicle scan, and everything is looking great! I still have 26 on the left and 14 on the right. The cyst is maintaining the same size so that is good. My lining is up to 5.5mm, I feel like that is really thin? Does anyone know? The sizes were ranging from 17.5 to 4....lots of 15s and 13s so we are moving right along!

I go back tomorrow morning for my 4th and final scan, and will look for the go ahead from Dr.Robin to trigger tomorrow night. IF that is the case, the egg retrieval will be on Wednesday and embryo transfer will be on Saturday!

It is all getting so real and close now, I am starting to get very nervous. There are so many things that can go wrong. And even worse yet, I am so afraid of a BFN (Big Fat Negative). But I am trying to hold on to God's promises and wait on His perfect timing!!

Please don't stop praying now, we need it now more than ever!!!! See you girls tomorrow!

Playing with Trees

Remember I told you a couple days ago that a big tree fell in our yard with those killer storms last week? Well today some wonderful men from our Sunday School class at church came over to assist in cutting it down and hauling away the debris.

This is what it looked like when we started.......

Sweetness was hard at work, after the chain saws got to work.

This is Frank, our awesome Sunday School teacher, and just plain great guy!

And newlywed Dwayne came over to help, and made fast friends with Maggie.

And this is Jeff, the "leader" of the group today!!

After they got the part that had fallen on the ground all cut up, then they pondered how to get the big tall part down that was jutting out into the neighbors yard. They ended up getting ropes tied around it, and guided it down carefully, not taking out any fences! Good work guys!

Maggie just chillin outside watching all the action!

Here are all the guys, guiding it down.....

There she goes.....

We can't thank you enough guys! Sweetness could have never gotten it all done alone! It took 4 1/2 hours and 5 strong men to get it all done, and after a pizza lunch and good cold water bottles, we were ready for a nap!

So tomorrow (yes on Sunday) we go back for our 3rd follicle scan to determine when the egg harvesting will be. I will update tomorrow and let you know. I should have about 60 eggs maturing in there, as my abdomen is feeling so big and bloated, I will be glad when this stimming is done :)

Ending tonight with a scripture-

"Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve"

-1 Peter 5:2

Follicle scan number 2......

Sweetness and I went for my second US this morning at 7 am to see how my follies are doing. I now have 40 total! My left ovary seems to be doing most of the work......it has 26 follicles on it, ranging in size from 16mm to 5mm. My right only had 12 today. I asked her if I lost a follicle since Wednesday when I had 13 on the right and she said maybe she just couldn't see it if it was real small.

I am soooo miserable girls! I was up most of the night with severe abdominal pain, could not sleep. I was so nervous that I was Hyper Stimulating. But they said my E2 (estrogen) level was 547 last Wednesday, which is good for Day 5, and I have not heard what it was today. But my abdomen feels so bloated and sore, I am just MISERABLE, and they said it was going to get worse before it gets better. Great! Has anyone that has gone through IVF experienced this kind of pain??

On a happier note..... we go back Sunday morning for our 3rd scan. The nurse said today that they will decide when to harvest the eggs, based on the sizes on Sunday. There has to be a certain percentage of the follies at 16mm or higher in order for them to trigger me. I only have one today at 16, but she said you want them to mature slowly not really fast. So I am on track, just really wishing this "stimming" period was over. My stomach is covered in bruises and red welts, I look like an addict of some sort!!!! LOL

Thank you for the prayers, you guys are wonderful! And for all my friends who have left notes on Facebook that they don't know how to leave a comment, scroll your mouse over the "_ sweet comments" line that is just below where it says "Trusting In Him, Heather" at the bottom of this post. Then a window pops up and you type your comment in there and you can click "anonymous" so you don't have to join blogger, and then click post. It is pretty easy once you do it once, you'll be pros!!! :)

Love you guys, and thanks for the prayers for Mom, she is doing really great!

Grow Follies Grow!