Transfer date update... sort of!

Hello blog followers!

I know I kind of left it hanging last time and said I would post the transfer date as soon I got the phone call.  I did receive that phone call and we were ready to set that date up... except some other exciting news happened too.  We sold our house. 

A few weeks ago I went to church and I sat there and it was about things we all need to let go of to have the most wonderful year ever.  Toxic relationships.  Doubt.  Anxiety and worry.  Yes.  We need to let go of anxiety and worry!  I had been so stressed about the move.  Sick to my stomach.  Awake every night wondering what I could do differently or how I could improve my chances to sell.  But the pastor stood up there and told me, Let go and Let God.  He will figure this out for me.  Release my burdens to Him and he will walk me down the path I need to go.  I sat there, with that spot light on me.  I swear there was a neon arrow pointing at me that said "He is talking about THIS girl right here!!!"  I listened.  I vowed to walk out of that church that night and just give it all to Him to help me through this walk.

I have been cleaning my house and staging it and making it ready for the market.  I was posting photos of my progress, mostly for motivation to continue to do it and hearing others cheering my progress.  Well, I sat in church that Saturday night. The next day a FB friend posted that she wanted to come over and look at my house.  She had been scouting this neighborhood for a while.  She is part of my beloved Stroller Warriors and we have known each other basically since I started with the running club.  She broke her leg last year and stopped the search for the house as she needed to recover from the surgery.  Just a few weeks ago, she was again in our neighborhood just driving through dreaming.  When I posted that we were actually selling, she decided to come look.  The best part?  She said "Don't worry about cleaning your house spotless, I want to know what this house will look like with all of my kids stuff everywhere!"

Her and her husband came over and immediately felt like they could start placing furniture and figuring out which rooms would belong to which kids.  So there it was-- let go and let God came through for all of us!  The timing was perfect for everyone and it just worked out.  We are doing this without a realtor and it really has been seamless. We are able to negotiate and talk money without too many uncomfortable moments.  So we are in contract and closing in April before her husband deploys.

Anyhow, with all of this excitement comes the information about the transfer date.  Due to the closing being earlier than our orders to move to Northern Virginia, we need to move into an apartment for a couple of months.  Then we will need to move all of our stuff in June as well when we actually move.  So we have postponed the transfer by a couple of weeks.  I am going to see if I can transfer the week of March 30-April 3 but it really comes down to availability.  This will allow me to help my husband move the first time at least and to clean the house and get it ready for the sale without having to worry about having too much physically on my body while trying to snuggle that little precious embryo in. 

So as soon as I do have an actual transfer date-- I will be sure to post it but for now, I am hoping the very end of March, beginning of April!

Snowflake Baby!!

L & E managed to create one beautiful, unique, little frozen embryo that in the genetic world -- is PERFECT!! 

I just stand in awe of how amazing all of this is.  There really aren't adequate words that can describe how I feel about this one little embryo having a chance in my uterus.  The words just escape me.

After I got the news, I couldn't help to be elated for this chance for them.  I received this email from E (Intended Father) that left me wondering why I got teary, I mean I am not even on those fertility meds yet!!!

Just reading your blog, and talking to a few friends in the last few hours, I am reminded again how complicated and amazing what we are doing actually is. As things stand, L and I have managed to create one normal embryo. It's our best team performance to date and we are super happy, but without you that is all it will ever be. Going forward what  you are about to do for us is possibly the most amazing thing that anybody could do for anybody. Whatever happens next I just wanted to say thank you. E

*THIS* is why I do this.  It is not for the 'quick' paycheck,  It is knowing that I am able to participate in something that is so much bigger than me.  A concept that is so much larger than I can even grasp! I just hope my uterus is enough and that somehow we are blessed with 10 months of a completely healthy relationship that in the end, results in making them PARENTS for the first time.  For everyone reading wondering how I do this-- just read that email-- we are a team.  This was my calling to help this family and we are about to grow a baby together! 

What is next?  (Of course this is the next logical question!)

• Intended Parents completely fund Escrow
• They have already signed contracts and now I am waiting to get contracts
• Continue active birth control
• Wait for call from Clinic to set up Frozen Embryo Transfer (also known as a FET)
• Receive box of medication and start injections
• Monitoring Ultrasounds often 
• Transfer little PERFECT embryo
• Gestate said embryo until it becomes a full grown healthy baby in 10 months!
• Hand baby over to parents, pump gallons of milk and feel blessed that I don't have to rock baby to sleep 15 times a night

It is almost here-- the injections, the hormones, the transfer-- all of it.  And I am excited and a bit nervous.  I have dealt with let downs in the past but this time I am forever optimistic that this embryo has the chance to make L&E parents and we are all going to do this together!

And when that baby grows up, s/he can remind friends how much s/he was loved before even created! (Because leave it to me to lighten up a mood!)

Angel of Light

Sometimes my blog is specifically about surrogacy and sometimes it has absolutely nothing to do with surrogacy and sometimes, surrogacy is so woven into my day to day life that even in simple tasks or words, I find a meaning about surrogacy even when it was not specifically meant to be about surrogacy. 

This past weekend, I hosted a monthly bunco game night at my house.  As always, it is a wonderful opportunity for socializing with fun ladies and it is a way for us to have some girls only time where our only duty is to be good company for others.  This time we had a little different element added into our bunco night.  One of my closest local friends, Misha, celebrated her birthday earlier in the week.  Also, the 15th was the birthday of her best friend and I guess you could call her a soul sister, Amber. 

I never met Amber, but most days I feel like I know her.  Amber received her angel wings far to early in life and she passed away from Cancer.  So much was robbed from Amber and Amber's family and friends.  A spirit and light was lost on the day she lost her battle. Children lost their mother, Misha lost her best friend... I am certain Amber would have fit right into our Bunco group!

So on Sunday night when we had our Bunco, we celebrated the light in our lives and those who still live but more importantly we celebrated the lives of those we have lost.  We don't usually have 'down' moments of Bunco but it was therapeutic to go around the room to 18 different women and say a 'cheers' to those who passed before us and hopefully they heard from above that they were not forgotten!  We had some tears, some laughs but it was really a night of celebrating relationships!

Prior to Bunco, Misha brought me some special gifts and a card.  It was an emotional weekend for her knowing that it was Amber's birthday and Amber should have been here to celebrate with us and yet she was bringing me gifts!  Misha brought me a beautiful German star ornament that was really a symbol of the advent and was usually the first decoration put up during the Christmas season to celebrate Jesus. (Misha is German so that makes this gift that much more special!)  Though it should hang, I really wanted it somewhere I looked often so I chose to put it on my mantle for now until I can find a really wonderful well lit place where the glass will refract the sunlight so that it appears to be dancing around the room. 

She also gave me a Willow Tree Angel, hence the title of this blog post-- the Angel of Light. 

This is sort of where I can tie surrogacy into my life.  I see this figurine and the words that go with it "Shining a Light of Happiness" I think of surrogacy.  I think of the amazing women in my life that I have met through surrogacy.  I think how each of these ladies are a shining light of happiness into their Intended Parents life.  Surrogates are often called Angels because of what we are doing but when you have that giving and compassionate heart, you really do forget how amazing this gesture is.  How BIG and GRAND it is for helping a couple become a family or adding that special baby into an already existing family to help them complete it.  When you are so familiar with surrogacy and it is woven into the fibers of your being, you forget how special it really is.  When people tell me how amazing it is that I am willing to carry a baby for a 'stranger', I often don't know how to respond because it just doesn't feel that 'BIG' when it is already a part of me! 

She also gave me a card that she told me not to read until she left... The words say it all about how she feels about me... And these words are how I feel about all of you special surrogates and also the Intended Mothers and other Intended Parents I have met along the way.  Each of you gives so much of yourself to make a family.  You each make a difference in other peoples lives and you are AMAZING!!!

If I am half of what this card says, then I feel really good about who I am.  I care so deeply for others and that is a fault of my own.  I treat other people's hearts as I would want my own treated.  I forgive easily for things I often shouldn't. I give the benefit of the doubt to every single person no matter what.  I see the good in others and probably inflate it often then get hurt painfully. 

Misha-- I know you are reading this (She is one of our BIGGEST followers and is even trying to make it work so that she can go to my transfer so I don't have to go alone!  She is the first to reach out and ask how I feel or what is going on!).  Take out a tissue, wipe that tear from your eyes, wipe the snot off of your face and pour yourself a glass of wine!  You are a wonderful friend who is often too hard on yourself!  You need to let go of that grief you have, let go of bitterness and embrace the fact that you and Amber will be laughing in heaven together one day.  Until then, I hope that one day I can be half the woman and friend she was to you and I can hope to somehow lessen that pain you feel in your heart!!  Love you my friend!! 

Of course I have to brag about this awesome group of gals too-- Here are my Bunco Beauties!  They are pretty amazing huh?! 

Freeze report!!

This one might be a little long and maybe kind of confusing but I think the best way to do it is to post the emails of updates from L. 

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Valentine's Day 11:55am

Hi Melanie,

 

HAPPY VALENTINES! 

 

So just had another update from Gail...

 

Hello, I just wanted to let  you know the lab has not frozen any of the embryo's yet.

The 5 embryo's are :

1. still 5 cell fragment 30 %

2 , 3, 4, 5 are early stages of blasts.

So, good news is we still have 4 growing, and great that they've got to early blast stage. No news on the quality of these. I've asked Gail to send over more info on the number of cells and level of frag. But she's said in her email that she doesn't check emails over the weekend, so we may have to wait for more news tomorrow.

Keeping everything crossed still!

L

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February 15, 2015 10:12 am

Morning!

 

So here's the latest update from Gail below. We're not quite sure what this means, so we're hoping to speak to a doctor tomorrow.

It sounds as if 4 are still growing....

 

Today’s  evaluation is:

# 1 5 cell fragment 30 %

# 2  EABL= expanding blast  ( this usually means 8 cell or greater)

# 3 CAV= cavitating= which means the embryo is growing to the next stage.

# 4 EXBLICMLCT     = expanding blast with inter cellular mass. This usually means it is close to blast.

# 5 CAV-VACS=  Sorry I do not know what the VACS

L

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February 15, 2015  12:31pm

HI Melanie,

 

So we've just had a call from Dr L, with some more news. Good news is that they have now frozen two embryo's and sent the cells off for testing. We should hear back in about a week. The other three have stopped growing, but I'm pleased that we made it to two blasts. Yay!

 

L

 

 *************************************

 

February 16, 2015  1:21pm

hi there,

 

Just another update from today. Both embryos are expanded blasts, quality AB. So that's good i think.

 

Cheers,

L

 

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SO there it is ... our embryo update.  We have two embryos of decent quality.  I have taken screenshots from a clinic other than our own because they have wonderful images of what the grades mean of our embryos before freeze.   Check out what it means to be a grade AB and also look at what a expanding AB blast looks like!  

 

This is from http://www.advancedfertility.com/blastocystimages.htm

 

Now we wait for about a week.  The Nurse Coordinator Gail called me.  She said we should have the biopsy report in about a week and then we will schedule our Frozen Embryo Transfer from then but to continue on active birth control pills so we can go right into using the injectible hormones.  But saying that we would be scheduling the frozen transfer sounds very positive to me!  It means that she has hope for these beautiful little embryos!!    So cheers snowbabies! I can't wait to see your genetic reports!!!

A MUST READ-- Embryo Growing Update!

This morning I received an update on the embryos growing from L.  I am copying and pasting it with her permission to give the stats on the embies.

********************

Hi Melanie,

 

Just heard from Gail and also got a call from Dr L. They have been able to give us a lot more detail on the embryos and their development potential.

 

Today all five are still going, but they are considered 'decent quality' rather than top quality.

 

They are growing more slowly than they would have hoped, and there is some level of fragmentation:

1. Yesterday 5 cell frag 15, today the same
2. Yesterday 3 cell frag 15, today 5 cell and frag 20
3. Yesterday 3 cell frag 15, today 5 cell and frag 20
4. Yesterday 2 cell frag 15, today 4 cell frag 10
5. Yesterday 2 cell frag 15, today 6 cell frag 10

They've said it's still way to early to tell where we'll get to on Sat, but Dr L has said that he has some concerns, and this might be due to egg quality. 

 

There is no update tomorrow, so we'll hear more on Sat. If they are still growing then, but not at Blastacyst stage then they've said that they will keep growing them to Sunday.

 

I've asked Gail about her experience of success rates based on the above. She said that it's too early to tell, and that we should all regroup on Monday once we know what we actually have.

 

Fingers, toes, everything else crossed over the next few days.

  

-L

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What does this mean?  Well nothing right now.  Except that we need every single reader around the world to cross what ever it is that you have to cross and think positive thoughts.  We have 5 embryos still growing which is a great thing but they do have fragmentation and they are growing slower than they would like for them to.  But as the saying goes in the surrogacy world "An ugly embie can make a beautiful baby!"  Right now we have 5 potential babies hanging in there and trying to grow.  Let's just pray that they make it to the genetic testing.  This is all out of our hands now and we have to just keep thinking positively!  I know all of  our readers are wishing us the best of luck so please, just think happy thoughts for us!!  I will update more as soon as we have another report! 

How many embies do we have growing??!!

L did fantastic at the retrieval.  They were able to retrieve lucky 13 eggs from her ovaries.
From those 13 eggs, 7 of those were mature.
Out of those 7 eggs, 5 of them are growing embryos!!

That means as of right now, all 5 are continuing to grow and have not arrested.  That is great news.  Tomorrow we will get a cell count but as of right now, it is looking very promising :)

And as the saying goes-- it only takes ONE embryo to make a beautiful baby!  Hopefully these five continue to grow and have a clean bill of health with the genetic testing!


I am just happy that it wasn't too physically stressful on L and that she is doing well. 

Still waiting to get those contract signed to add another check to the box and my husband is going to get his FDA blood work done.  We have been waiting to get it done closer to the transfer because even though we are married and in a monogamous relationship, the FDA requires the surrogate and husband to have their blood work done every 6 months during cycling.  Mine was done in October or November and it was $2,000!!!  Hopefully we get to transfer before mine needs to be updated!

Gotta call the monitoring U/S clinic so that I can find out protocol for what I need (my doctor to order or a written order from the RE) and what times of days I can go to get these lining scans.
_____________________

I wanted to add a few little things that I forgot to do earlier this week. 

Here are some photos of the scans of L's ovaries during cycling.  One ovary had 10 follicles on it and the other had 8 follicles. 

The following is the medication that L had to take in preparation for her Egg Retrieval.  Seeing the amounts of medication really makes me appreciate and respect the amount of time and money and just pure desire that IPs go through to become parents.  I just have the utmost respect for anyone who has set out on this journey to become parents! 

Lupron Trigger Protocol

Medications: MDR Pharmacy will be contacting you to arrange shipment of your medications.

  Birth Control Pills – 14  days

  Ganirelix pre-filled syringes - only start when directed

Gonadotropins-injectable hormones

      Follistim pen and cartridges (cartridges to be kept in the refrigerator)

      Menopur

Lupron Trigger- 1ml LuerLock syringe c 22 g ½ “needle - To be kept in the refrigerator

Zithromax 500mg #2 (to be taken the night prior to egg retrieval)

Date	Instructions
Dec 7	Current  period
Jan 4	Next period- call when cycle starts. Then will be told when to start birth control  pills.
Jan 10	Birth control pills
Jan 25	Take last Birth Control Pill. This is 16 pills
Day after last birth control pill Jan 26	Schedule a “Pre-IVF Evaluation” (blood work and ultrasound) for this day.  You will be called in the afternoon with your results. **  No unprotected intercourse during the cycle.
Jan 28	If blood work & ultrasound are within normal limits, medications will be started .  Your nurse will give you the date to start along with dosing instructions and a date to return for follow-up monitoring. Your starting dose for the first 3 days   will be:  Gonal-f  = _____300 IU in AM  and 150 in PM____________________ Menopur = ______150 IU in PM______________________   Your dosing may change based upon your response to the medications
Jan 30	Blood work & ultrasound appointment
Feb 2	Blood work & ultrasound appointment- Ganirelix will start once follicle sizes are 12-14 mm
Feb 4	Plan to be in Maryland for morning monitoring and FDA panel.
Feb 7	Potential Date of Trigger with Lupron (DO NOT take until directed) Contiue Ganirelix
Feb 8	Office appt for Blood work- to confirm absorption of Lupron; to be completed 1 day after trigger shot. Continue Ganirelix
Feb 9	Egg retrieval (approximate date). You will need a responsible adult to drive you to and from the Egg Retrieval (located at our _Rockville _________office). That person will also need to remain with you during the procedure. You will not be permitted to drive or take a cab home. Continue Ganirelix PGS and embryo freeze
	Continue Ganirelix x 3 more days

Helpful hints regarding your treatment cycle:

♦Medications:

            ♦ Storage of Medications: some of your medications will need to be kept in the refrigerator. The Follistim cartridges and Lupron Trigger should be kept in the fridge as soon as you receive them.

♦ Monitoring (blood work and transvaginal ultrasound)

♦ “Monitoring” appointments will be needed every couple of days once you begin injections of Follistim and Menopur, and then daily towards the end of the donation cycle. The monitoring appointments are scheduled in the morning so that your hormone results are back the same afternoon. It is imperative that you be available for frequent monitoring appointments and that you arrive on time for your appointments and do not miss appointments. We also request that children not be brought to the office, as this tends to upset patients seeking fertility care.

♦ Egg Retrieval

            ♦ The egg retrieval will be completed once your follicles have reached the appropriate stage of development in our ambulatory surgery center. You will be given IV sedation and therefore must have a responsible adult bring you to the procedure, remain at the facility during the procedure, and drive you home once you have been released. We cannot release you home unless a designated driver is present.

                                                                                                               

                                                                                                               

Fabulous news! And more info about what was discussed in the last blog

L had her scan this morning and there are 9 large follicles on each ovary and some other smaller follicles as well!  They have delayed the retrieval slightly-- now the retrieval will likely be on Tuesday or Wednesday.  From there this is what the time line looks like:

• Retrieval around February 10
• Embryos created on that date
• Embryos tested and frozen on day 5 (February 15)
• Embryo report comes back about 2 weeks later regarding the embryos and whether they are genetically normal or abnormal (March 1)
• I will then start medication at that time.  Today I received a call from the Nurse Coordinator stating I would need to stay on the active birth control pills and would not have another period before our transfer.  
• Transfer would likely be around 2-3 weeks later so approximately March 16-21.  These are all guesstimates as they have not given me a tentative transfer/medication schedule.  

So there is our fabulous cycle update!  We are hitting the ground running.  I will update more as I know more next week but we are very hopeful and L has been doing so much to increase her odds to make good and plentiful eggs!  I just know that her vitamins, yoga, and lack of things like alcohol is really increasing the amount of follicles that are maturing in her ovaries.  Also, with the dragging of feet on my attorney's behalf, I think we finally have a contract to sign.  It has been several months in the making and I will be happy to finally get this legality out of the way since we have been in agreement for months!


So with my happy update, I wanted to post about the passing of my Stepmother, Karen and my Aunt Sandy.  Obviously the tone of this section of the blog is not as positive and upbeat as the last but it is something that I just want to get out and talk about. 

On Saturday, January 24 my dad called me first thing in the morning and told me he had bad news.  My Aunt had been sick and I thought she had passed the night before as I had received another call from another aunt (my dad's sister) saying that Aunt Sandy was doing really bad.  I was flabbergasted when he told me that my stepmother had passed away.  It was a very sudden and unexpected death and no autopsy was done as there was nothing suspicious about the passing.  She had been suffering from seizures for a while and I guess that is what they assumed it was.  I quickly packed mine, the kids and husband's bags to head to Virginia (4 hours away) and my husband and I drove separately so that he could return to work when he needed to.  The next few days were very hard on my father as he and Karen were very introverted and did not have house guests often nor did they leave the house often except for my father going to work and the very minimal errands they needed to run.  Essentially, all they had was each other and also us kids. 

The funeral was on Wednesday and it was a very somber affair.  There were only 12 people present for the service and it was just heartbreaking to see how far they had pushed the people they loved out of their lives.  My dad had 3 of his siblings come in from out of town (Maryland, Florida and Michigan).  The funeral home did put together a nice slide show. 

Karen and I didn't always see eye to eye.  We had to learn each other's place in the pecking order of the family but when we did, we settled into the family roles nicely.  She would come to my house when I worked at the jail on shift work and watch Leah for the two twelve hour shifts I worked on one week so that I did not have to take Leah to a babysitter for those extended hours.  I would come home to a clean house and hot food and a child that had baked cookies with her Mamie or planted flowers in the flower garden.  When I had Weston, Mamie was in the delivery room and witnessed Weston emerge into the world and loved and snuggled on him and stayed with me to help me through those first few days postpartum.  I have many fond memories of Karen and I am very sad that my dad has had to bury his second wife.  God knows I have prayed for her safe passage into heaven so that one day she could see her grandchildren again that she had loved so much while she was alive.  Rest in peace Karen-- May you feel surrounded in love!

Terrible photo of me, it was when I weighed about 40 lbs more, but a great photo of Karen and this is about her so I chose the better photo.  This is a photo of when my husband graduated with his Masters.  It is Karen, myself, our daughter Leah, my husband and my dad.

On Monday or Tuesday of the same week (two days after Karen passed), we received news that my Aunt Sandy had passed as well.  She had Leukemia in the past as well as some other health issues going on.  Ten years ago, her twin sister donated stem cells and lengthened Aunt Sandy's life.  My Aunt Jill was supposed to travel to Colorado while Aunt Sandy was in the hospital (both of these are my dad's sister-- he is one of 9 children!) but when she called my dad to tell him how sick Aunt Sandy was, dad told her Karen had passed and she canceled her plane ticket and went straight to my dad's house. 

We were getting updates from family about Aunt Sandy while helping my dad get through one of the worst weeks of his life.  Some sounded positive and upbeat but ultimately, Aunt Sandy's lungs were just not functioning and the vent she was on from the viral pneumonia was completely supporting her life.  With a very tough decision to make, with her family surrounding her and telling her how much they loved her, the vent was removed and Aunt Sandy passed peacefully.  When we received this news, we knew that we needed to be there for our family.

Let me tell you a little about Aunt Sandy.  She had 3 daughters, Amy, Jenna, Katie and one son, Dan.  She had a wonderful husband, Don, who worshiped the ground she walked on.  Aunt Sandy touched the life of every person she met.  She was an educator and loved teaching.  She had many teacher friends who respected her.  She was a doting mother who was the matriarch of her family!  She was present at every baptism, wedding, birth of the family and there were A LOT of us.  And if she wasn't there, she always sent the most thoughtful gift. 

My Aunt Jill and I shared a little girls trip with a lovely song list as an ode to Aunt Sandy that her children had made.  It included songs like Margaritaville and Bridge Over Troubled Waters and others like You've Got A Friend in Me.  When we got to Chicago (a 14 hour drive from Virginia) we started in doing what we do best-- cooking and planning!  We got to Chicago on Friday, shopped Saturday and had a family Super Bowl party on Sunday.  Monday was the visitation at the funeral home. 

The environment of Aunt Sandy's visitation couldn't have been more different than the one I had been to the previous week.  This was a celebration of a life.  A life that was full, beautiful and loved.  Aunt Sandy traveled so much. She has 9 grandchildren and one on the way.  She has 4 children who are happy, successful and have wonderful spouses that balance them perfectly.  She is leaving a legacy that is so beautiful in a world that can be grim.  Her family found beauty in a situation that was very sad.  They handled everything with grace and helped their father as he grieved for his wife that was taken far too early.  They had a wonderful life, traveled so much, saw so many things and had just wonderful memories that they will continue to share with one another!  There were more than 150 people who came to pay their respects to a huge loss to this earth!

The funeral was a full Catholic mass and the readings were perfect.  It was just all so bittersweet.  Aunt Sandy was very loved and when I felt like crying, I would cry while I smiled.  Heaven gained another angel.

This photo I nabbed from my cousin's FB with her permission, I hope to get the one from their Montana trip this summer.  This photo is missing Dan and his family and two other grand children that were not yet born so I hope to get a newer picture to share Aunt Sandy and her favorite people.

 My cousin spoke of tragedy showing beauty.  She spoke of all of the bad moments and how Aunt Sandy would find a beautiful outcome even when seemingly impossible.  The best outcome of this unscheduled 'reunion' was that I was able to see so many cousins that I had not seen in decades.  My dad's family is across the country!  We reconnected and I am so excited that we are planning a cousin round up in Denver in the summer of 2016 with our families.  Our generation has done so well and we all get along so well.  I am very excited that we will get together for a week and just reconnect during a happy time rather than a time of grief! 

So there are my updates and why I have been missing in action for a few weeks.  This cycle has been very important to me and I have been emailing them throughout this, I just haven't had a time to sit and write very many blog posts in between my traveling and support for family members!  Stay tuned and keep thinking good thoughts for our cycles!

A Very Brief Update!

Hi there!  E & L are currently in Washington DC and L is up to her neck in needles and meds!  She is handling it like a champ. At last scan, L had 10 eggies growing on one ovary and 11 eggies growing on the other.  Not all of these may make it to retrieval but nonetheless as L put it, its a great 'harvest'!  L has another scan tomorrow morning and I plan to update more over the weekend. 

Delayed updates due to two deaths in the family and extensive traveling.  I just got home after being away for almost 2 weeks and I am just exhausted.  I will go more into detail about the losses in my next post. 

Pray for continued egg growth and comfort for L during this uncomfortable time!