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!