One year later, Labor Day weekend

After the appointment Saturday the 31^stwe got our timeline from Sarah, we would report to Little Rock Monday September 2^nd, Labor Day. They don’t take holidays down there, to me that is dedication. We stayed Sunday night in Little Rock because we had to be at the clinic Monday morning at 8:30 am. There was a whole lot of extra praying that went on those 2 days. Monday morning for sure, it was only the second time in my life that I’d been put under anesthesia, the first time was when I had my wisdom teeth out when I was 18, needless to say I was nervous. Everything went well they were able to retrieve 16 eggs and 11 of them were mature enough to be fertilized. Out of the 11 only 3 actually fertilized, 2 divided normally and one did not, it never divided and thus they had to discard it. To this day, and I don’t know if I’ve ever told anyone this before, but I still wonder if we should have transferred all 3… that’s something that I’ll wonder forever. We did the transfer Thursday of that week it was the 5^th. Everything went well and we left Little Rock with 2 growing embryos inside me. It would be a week and a half before we’d have the pregnancy test and we’d know if everything we had been through worked or not.

 

This weekend Chance and I have been taking it easy, we're visiting my memaw and pawpaw, the boys went to the farm and Memaw and I are getting pedicures! That's where I'm blogging from... The pedicure chair!! Tomorrow will be church and the leaders dedication, then Sunday afternoon we'll probably have lunch with Chances parents and Monday we have NO plans! That's just the way I like it! Have a great long weekend friends! 

 

Ashley

One year later, the first shot

This day last year was a roller coaster of emotions, the day started out with me calling the mail order pharmacy used to send us our IVF prescriptions. You see I had gotten an email the night before that my prescriptions had shipped and their ETA was Monday… I was supposed to start the injections that night, so Monday was NOT going to work. So I called the pharmacy and explained the situation the guy on the phone was super nice and helpful and told me that the email was not a mistake that someone had shipped it incorrectly and that it would not arrive until Monday. He then transferred me to the concierge department who started a search to find the medication at a local pharmacy, no luck… then they asked me to contact my clinic and see if they had it… 3 hours away. She explained that there was another option but she was not authorized to do this unless she spoke to a manager… she took my number and called me back. They ended up sending me the prescriptions same day with no charge to me since it was their mistake. In the mean time I had emailed Sarah to let her know what was going on and she began searching for a 2 day supply of the medication, she had some at the clinic in Johnson and we were instructed to drive there and Chance would administer the shot on site. So we did! We drove to Fayetteville and got the meds, went to Walgreens (because I forgot to get alcohol wipes) and Chance shot me in the parking lot! Haha!! It was a little funny! We made it back home started a movie and the full prescription of meds arrived about 11:00. Over the next week I drove to Johnson on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We found out my body is excellent at making estrogen and that my eggs grow very well when stimulated! After the Saturday appointment we would find out when we’d go to Little Rock for the retrieval... I’ll pick up there next week!

 

As for present time, yesterday Chance and I went to Branson and shopped for the rest of the decor for Sawyer's room, we got curtains, rugs, and baskets! I'll post pictures as soon as the room is complete! 

Have a blessed day friends! 

 

Ashley

One year later...

With everything that is going on in our lives these days; the joy of feeling this life grow inside of me, planning the showers to celebrate him, gearing up for our Wednesday night classes that start in a couple of weeks, and of course cheering on the TOC team at church league softball; I almost forgot the journey we were on this time last year. We were preparing for our IVF cycle. Even now, a year later, I’m still emotional just thinking about the journey that has brought us to this moment. The heartbreaking journey with wounds so fresh and deep even the smallest of bumps can open them back up. We are healing and we are continuing to move forward, it’s not easy but it’s doable. Even with the miracle moving inside me right now there is still, and always will be, a special place in my heart for my angel babies that we never got to meet.

 

So just to keep things in perspective and prevent me from ever taking this miracle pregnancy for granted I decided to share over the next few weeks a memory of the journey that led us here. I’ll start by the post that started it all, last July I posted about our infertility diagnosis and the decision that we had made to start the IVF process. That was a very emotional post, for one I was sharing the intimate details of the diagnosis we’d received and I was doing it publicly, for the entire world to see if they chose to! It was nerve wracking to say the least. After that initial post we went through more testing and waiting and more waiting to start the IVF cycle. This week marks the week we started, August 24^th2013. I’ll wait until then for the next post but I just wanted to say I hope you all follow with me as we journey down memory lane. These memories are heartbreaking but I now know that we were meant to take that journey, not only to make us stronger but make us appreciate what we have and certainly believe even more in the God we serve. Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers, phone calls, and messages over the last year, they mean more to me than you all will ever know.

 

Love,

Ashley

Counting my blessings!

Tonight as I lay here on the couch feeling Sawyer kick and roll around I can't help but to feel full! Full of blessings, full of Gods mercies and grace, and full of baby! We are 27 & 1/2 weeks and we are so excited to meet our miracle baby, only 3 more months! Every time I feel a kick or movement I sill can't believe that I'm pregnant, after being told we'd never conceive naturally and losing our 3 embryos through IVF the day I took the pregnancy test was the most mind blowing day of my life! Our God is truly amazing and ALL things are possible through Him! 

Not much has been going on lately, we finished our registry at target yesterday and learned that Walmart no longer offers in store registries it's all online, kind of irritated me a bit but whatever! Tomorrow we have a doctors appointment and the 3D ultrasound, we're pretty excited to see baby Sawyer's face! I'll post pics sometime later this week! Right now though I'm tired so I'm headed to bed! Good night all! 

Ashley