Happy Adoption Day (to Us)!

One year ago today, Todd and I adopted 15 2PN stage embryos from Colorado. God decided that one those embryos would become our sweet baby boy - We love you, Landon!

Though not when he was a 2PN stage embryo, one of these embryos is Landon!
Photo taken: May 25, 2010

Landon today :)

Our Christmas Card this Year Courtesy of Shutterfly.com!

Thanks to an awesome promo from Shutterfly.com, we will be sending out fancy pants Christmas cards this year! While we have yet to pick out the exact design (there are so many to choose from), we are excited that we will be able to send a personalized card including pictures to family and friends along with our annual Christmas Letter all in one folded 5x7 card - no trying to find a card we like AND separate stationery that matches this year. While a lot of our family and friends have been able to follow our Embryo Adoption Journey through pictures and my blog, we are excited that we will now be able to share our journey with those who do not have access to the Internet.

In addition to greeting cards for birthdays, weddings and now Christmas, I have used Shutterfly in the past to create photo books (which make excellent Christmas gifts!). To check out some of my other favorite Shutterfly items, please click on the following to learn more:
Holiday Photo Cards
Christmas Photo Cards
Christmas Cards

*Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly...learn more by clicking here:
http://bit.ly/sfly2010

I Heart Bedpans

Yes, you read right, I do indeed heart bedpans. Read on to find out why, but before that, read about our embryo transfer #2....

Woke up bright and early (7:15), got dressed, got my progesterone injection and headed down for a free breakfast in the hotel. With breakfast I had to take my drug cocktail: Valium, Albuterol, 3 Advil, and Estrace. Next, the drive to the National Embryo Donation Center.

Since we were one of their first appointments, we were taken back right away to the recovery room where I got my bed, gown and shower cap type thing. I changed, got in bed and we waited to see Dr. Keenan and the embryologist, Carol, to tell us about our embryos.

Our embryos: This time around the embryos we chose were frozen at the 2PN stage (PN=Pro-nuclear) and were frozen in straws of 5. This meant all 5 had to be thawed which meant if all survived (and could not be re-frozen) we could have had 5 embryos transferred! Bittersweet moment - while all 5 embryos were viable, only 4 of them divided. Of those 4, 3 divided they way they should have after two days of being un-thawed. After two days, the embryos should have divided into 6-8 cells. The embryos were graded the following: 8c/G1, 7c/G1, and 6c/G1. The c stands for cells. The G is the grade, 1 being the best up to 5 being the worse. Needless to say, we had 3 excellent embryos! This means we have a great chance for a pregnancy with a 10% of triplets :) The other 2 embryos will be observed in culture for 14 days. After 14 days they will know whether or not they can be refrozen or if they need to be discarded.

*Warning: Some may find this part containing TMI!
After talking with Dr. Keenan and Carol, I walked back to the operating room. Unfortunately, the transfer was not without complications. First, they checked my bladder to see whether or not it is full enough so they can distinguish it between my uterus. They could not. They then begin to prep me for a catheter so they can fill my bladder and for the transfer. Next, a speculum is inserted followed by the catheter which is followed by a pinch. A saline-water solution is added by the bottle full until they put approximately 64 ounces of liquid into my bladder. I feel like I am going to pee all over Dr. Keenan and that my bladder is going to burst - luckily neither happened! My bladder and uterus can now clearly be detected by ultrasound. A new catheter is inserted into my cervix or rather it is attempted. It is too big. A second, smaller catheter is opened. Attempt #2 is successful in that it goes into my cervix, but due to my tilted uterus, it cannot be positioned corrected and gets destroyed during the process. It is removed, Dr. Keenan puts on his 3rd pair of gloves, the 3rd catheter is opened and attempt number 3 is attempted. Apparently, for me, the 3rd time is a charm. With the catheter in the correct position, the embryos are loaded into a syringe and deposited into my uterus. An amazing sight on the ultrasound! Catheter and speculum are removed, I am transferred to a bed and taken back to the recovery room more than twenty minutes after I should have been.

Here is where my love of bedpans comes into place. I am on bed rest for the next hour. I also have a bladder that is fuller than full. Hello bedpan!! No need to say anymore about this :) Todd sits next to me and we talk, he reads, I rest and the next thing we know the hour is up. I change, we get my discharge instructions and are off. *No extra charges this time around - huge blessing as last time the 3 sets of embryos we chose had over $1200 of fees associated with them. Fees can be for storage, shipping charges (the embryos come from all over the U.S.) and for any of the tests required for them to donate the embryos that are not covered by their insurance.

I am to rest for 24 hours so we stopped for a quick lunch and ate it in the car. Got back to the hotel around 1 and slept until 630! We just got back from an excellent dinner at Puleo's, went to Target for some snacks and are now back in the hotel for the rest of the night (unless I can get Todd to go out for a strawberry milkshake from McDonald's in a bit!). While I do have restrictions for the next two weeks, I can pretty much got back to my regular routine.

So, like last time, according to some I am pregnant with triplets, and to others I won't be pregnant until a positive pregnancy test. Either way, GOD is good! After the complications, we ended up having a successful transfer with 3 excellent embryos!

We will continue with the progesterone injections 2x daily until we are told to stop. If the pregnancy test is negative, we will stop that day. If positive, we will continue the shots through the first trimester.

The two week wait begins....Thanks for being on this journey with us!

Embryo Adoption - How we came to it and what it entails (to just get on the waiting list)

Let's go back to May 2009 - After an unsuccessful IUI with donor sperm in February 2009 and then a consultation with our fertility specialist, we no longer had peace about pursuing another one. We had been trying for a baby since July 2006. Almost three years later, our arms were still empty, and our hearts were broken. We so badly had wanted to experience a pregnancy. Everything from the ultrasounds to the first movements to the birth, but not feeling we had God's blessing to move forward with the assisted reproductive technologies (ART) that we knew of, we thought that dream was gone. I had started to look into local adoption agencies, but wasn't feeling 'it'. I knew we wanted to children, but if we didn't have God's blessing do another ART or adoption, how were we going to get a child? Discouraged, I continued to research adoption, but didn't make any contacts.

A trip to the mailbox in late May 2009 changed everything. We received a pamphlet from Bethany Christian Services about something called Embryo Adoption. Embryo Adoption = A Baby? Sounded good to me, so I read it. Hope that I had lost resurfaced a bit. I had Todd read the pamphlet. Curious we signed up for the next orientation (which happened to be in just a couple of days). We looked Embryo Adoption up online, but still weren't sure really what it was. Excited and growing more hopeful, we went to the required orientation. After the first part of the orientation, we both knew. THIS, Embryo Adoption, was God's plan for our family. We stayed through the rest of the orientation learning everything we could about what it was.

That next day I began to research agencies that would do an embryo adoption home study because just as with a regular adoption, we had to had one. A week later, and after many emails and phone calls we choose Adoption Assistance, Inc. We found out what we needed to do and did it. Application in a week. Paperwork and more paperwork in two weeks. One meeting in a neutral place done. Meeting and inspection of our house soon after. In about six weeks we had completed the entire process. In the meantime, we were also needing to complete an application and paperwork (and more paperwork) for the National Embryo Adoption Center (NEDC) in Knoxville. After our part was done for both, no longer than two months, we waited.

During the middle of August we got a phone call from Adoption Assistance. We were 'approved', and our home study was complete. We got a copy and sent it off to NEDC for their approval. More waiting.

Early September we found out that we were officially on the waiting list. We had satisfactorily met all of the requirements! Well, up until that point. The next step was a medical clearance from NEDC. An appointment would be scheduled in January or March. So we did what we did best, and waited until we heard back from NEDC.

A phone call in the beginning of November reminded us that God was there. He knew we were trying to wait patiently, but that it was getting hard. A couple had canceled their initial appointment, did we want it? Yes, please! We needed to be in Knoxville on Monday, November 23. That gave us about three weeks instead of another two to four months. We both arranged for a sub and called my mom to see if she could come and watch Grace. She could. We were set for November 23. God is good!

GOD is good

If you are just now joining us in our journey: Our May transfer was pushed to July because our 1st, 2nd and 3rd embryo choices were no longer available leaving us with only 2. A minimum of 6 embryos are required. Not comfortable with the embryos still available for a May transfer we made the hard decision, and pushed our transfer back two months. This was very emotional for us. I could feel Satan attacking, but kept reminding myself that GOD does not make mistakes....

Present: God continues to shows us He is here - that He has not forgotten about our desire for children. I got an email from NEDC today letting us know that another profile became available today. This particular adoption would lead us to adopt 15 2PN embryos! *A 2PN embryo is the earliest stage when the sperm has penetrated the egg. Not only is this a huge money saver (unfortunately something we have to take into consideration after 2 failed attempts), but it would allow our children to be blood-related. Many times with embryo adoption the number of embryos available from one couple do not allow this so it is a huge blessing in many ways. Not to mention, out of all of the profiles we have had to choose from (over 100 between the 2 transfers!) this one matches us almost perfectly. Male donor is Dutch, Todd's height, (desired :)) weight, eye color, hair color/texture and skin tone. Female donor is German, my height, weight, hair texture and skin tone. Hair color is blond (which could be from my mom - she is a natural blond after all :)) and blue eyes (which must run on one side of the family!). Needless to say we are extremely excited about this opportunity!

Prayers needed: We are still trying to work out the details of when the transfer can take place. Being teachers with the last day of school for teachers being May 24, May is a difficult time to take two days off. Not to mention that we just confirmed that we could attend Travis and Amy's wedding on May 29. We were offered May 23 or 24, but have asked for May 25. May 25 would give us enough time to be in Knoxville for 3 days before having to head over to Michigan for the wedding. Anytime before this date would interfere with school and anytime after this date would interfere with the wedding. Todd and I have already decided should it interfere with the wedding that we would hold off on the transfer. We should hear something on Monday....