Shots and puppies

We are headed in the right direction and all arrows point to an August 21/22 transfer. Whoa... is that like less than two weeks from now?!? Yep, it really really is. We are close. So close we can almost feel it. I feel like maybe I should knock on wood for saying everything is going great. A little like I'm being overconfident and getting a little too big for my britches, but I think this is going to happen as scheduled. My lining is getting its "fluff" on and the egg donor, from what I understand, is right on track.

Last Thursday I was given the go ahead to start Delestrogen. If you remember, this is one of the honkin' big shots. And by honkin' big, I mean a needle almost as long as my pinkie finger. This mother has to be injected all the way into my thigh or upper tush. Currently I'm taking it in my thigh.

I swear this photo doesn't capture the true intimidation rolling off this needle. It's much bigger/longer than it appears.

So far I have been able to give myself the shots. I only gave myself Lupron shots during my first journey and had Jeremy give me the two long needle shots. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for getting over the anxiety of it. I'm giving myself pep talks and listening to "We are the champions" while I ice the area I'm about to inject. Okay not really but it sounds fun so maybe I'll start.

I had my third monitoring appointment today and am waiting to hear if everything looks great. I could see on the screen that my uterus is cooperating, but I'll hear from IVF soon to verify it looks as good as it should. Fingers crossed!



In other news... IT'S A BOY!

Bernard the pup

I know many of you have already heard Bernie's story but I thought I would share it again here on my blog. Bernie is a 3 month old rescue pup. About a month ago my daughter went to South Dakota on a church mission trip. She called me a few days into the trip to tell me about the crazy number of stray dogs. Now, I'm sure there were quite a few stray dogs but you know the mind of a teenager... she made it seem there were thousands. One pup in particular caught her eye and stole her heart. This pup was living around the house the youth group was restoring. He was staying there with his mama and two siblings. The mama had an owner but they weren't interested in keeping the pups. Another youth group member's mom operates a no-kill rescue organization in our city and agreed to find a foster home for the pups until they could be adopted.

We weren't sure we were really ready for another dog, especially a puppy. We already have a chocolate lab and 4 kids running around our chaotic house. But I knew Kaelyn's love for this puppy was strong and she's at an age where she can really take care of a pup. Without Kaelyn's acknowledge, I began the adoption process. On the night we went to pick him up the kids were all fired up about the "secret family mission" I had been talking about for two days. The kids had tons of ideas as to what we would be doing on the mission, but my favorite was one of the last ideas they came up with. "Are we getting shots?!?!" I laugh at this because in order to get a few of them their flu shots we need to trick them into the car. I told them I would never hype up the mission this much if it were shots. I'm not that cruel.

We walked into PetSmart, where the adoption was taking place, and Kaelyn found out very quickly what was happening. Not surprisingly, there were tears and giggles. Bernie and Kaelyn were reunited and it was such a happy moment.

A girl and her pup

*Who has two thumbs and an...

Estimated transfer date?? ME!


*My apologies... my lameness comes out when I 'm excited!

Dr. S. (the man with a plan in San Diego) called me this morning with an estimated egg retrieval and transfer date. Egg retrieval is expected to be August 15/16 and transfer will be around August 21/22.

I was told to start birth control and baby aspirin today. Which I did immediately after hanging up the phone and messaging Guy and Dror. The rest of the medication will arrive soon.

Eekkk!! There are so many people excited about this news!

If you need me, I'll be doing this........................................

Just drifting....

Summer is slowly sliding by and we are waiting oh so patiently to hear news of an estimated transfer date. A new egg donor was found quickly, but the paperwork and bloodwork take time. We are aiming for an August transfer, but I'm not sure we'll make it. I haven't received word to start birth control pills and baby aspirin. I'll take those meds for a few weeks before starting Lupron and then a few weeks after starting Lupron, the hardcore meds start. I estimate a good 5 or 6 weeks of meds before transfer even happens.

Moving transfer back another month or more makes me nervous for a couple of reasons:

A) school starts in September and I don't want to miss my kids' first few days of school. Also, with school starting, childcare will get a little tricky while Jeremy and I go to CA for transfer. No doubt we'll have help, but it will be a little different than we hoped.

B) this reason is huge... literally. I do not want to be pregnant during the summer. Being just-pregnant during the summer months is one thing, but being 8/9 months pregnant (with twins, fingers crossed) is something completely different. No thank you! Call me a poor sport, a wimp or whatever. Summer is busy for us. Kids need to be on the go or they lose their minds and start crashing through walls and dancing on the ceiling. Chasing my kids and daycare kids outside in 90F temps while being the size of a beluga whale isn't my idea of a good time. And let's not even get into the swelling of ankles topic.

C) lastly, I'm just ready already! I am excited to get this show on the road. I like schedules and structure. Just to know an estimated transfer date will calm me.

I talked to Guy and Dror this morning. They are thinking we will hear more from IVF by Wednesday. I'm hoping so! We have a Skype date tomorrow, very much looking forward to that.


In other news, Ella and Ely are doing amazing! They have this ability of making their daddies fall in love with them over and over again. They get cuter and cuter everyday. I get pictures through iCloud quite often and every single picture brings a smile to my face and causes my heart to skip a beat or two. Out of respect I am no longer sharing their pictures here on my blog (insert big sad face). Honestly, I was lucky to have shared the pictures I did. Neither Roy or Avner have shared the kids' pictures on a social media/public site. Ever. They share only in private albums. They are doing what they can to protect their kids and I understand that.