Day 5

**Another Snow Day!!**

We all got to stay home today! We spent most of the morning at Mom & Dad's where Elly got to run free in the snow. We found out that our electricity got turned back on so we headed back home. Here's some of the things we did today:


We did alot of this


Posing pretty in the snow


Playing with a friend


Just the girls!

We got our bill in the mail from the clinic today. We have to pay it before I take the first round of shots which is in 12 days. There's no turning back after the bill is paid! The good news is that so far all the totals have been in line with what we first discussed. The medication prices vary so it's hard for them to tell us exactly what they will be when we put our order in. It seems that they turned out to be on the lower end of the spectrum so we are grateful for that.

Well I guess it's back to the office tomorrow. I enjoyed my snow days but it's back to reality. Thank goodness the weekend is right around the corner...

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow,
Sara

Day 4

**Snow Day...again**

Me & Elly had another snow day today. Steve had to go to work:( We were having a nice relaxing day until our electricity went out around 1:00 pm. Fortunately, Mom & Dad were out by my house so they came to rescue me and Elly. Steve got to leave work 30 minutes early because his electricity went out so we don't know about work tomorrow either. My brother & sister in law also don't have electricity so we're having a sleepover tonight!

Elly absolutely loves the snow so I had a blast photographing her today. Here are some of my favorite shots:





I pray for everybody to be safe on the roads these next few days!

Sara

Day 3

***Snow Day!***

Steve and I both got to work from home today. That worked out good because I got a call from the mail order pharmacy on the home phone today that I would have missed if I was in the office. They verified my shipping information and ran my insurance card. They told me that some of my medications were cheaper if I didn't run it through the insurance company. Does that make sense to anybody? Since I don't need the medicine for a couple weeks, they told me to wait to get it shipped until closer to time in case any of my dosages changed. So now I'm all set up with them.

We finally braved out onto the roads around 2:30 to go get my blood work done. This was the first time ever that I didn't have to wait in a doctor's office. I imagine it was a slow day today. The girl who drew my blood was so sweet. She recognized the Cincinnati clinic on the work order and knew that I was going through in vitro. She shared some stories with me and told me that neither her nor her husband could have kids so her cousin volunteered to carry a child for her and they are 25 weeks pregnant today. She was so excited to tell me her story and I was so excited for her. It's always great to hear success stories from others.

Well that was all of my excitement today. I don't anticipate any new news for tomorrow but we'll see....

Happy snow day!
Sara

Day 2

I might have used the phrase "anxiously awaiting" a little out of context yesterday. I was hoping the clinic was "anxious" to call me first thing this morning but turns out not so much. Now where did I put the doctor on call number...?

Around 3:00 I couldn't take it anymore. I finally had to call and make sure someone got my message. I am happy to say that I was transferred directly to an IVF nurse instead of having to leave a message and wait for a call back(which I always have to do). She went through my first series of instructions and gave me the start and end dates for the medication I had filled today. I appreciated that she was patient with me and allowed time for me to write down EVERY SINGLE WORD that she said and then let me repeat it back to her. She also was so sweet as she listened to my questions which I'm sure were redundent to her. When we went for our "Education Day" back in October, the IVF nurse we were assigned to asked if I was a school teacher. She asked this because I had an extensive list of questions and my handy dandy notebook and pen which I used to write down EVERY SINGLE WORD she said. Is there any other way of doing things? I can't understand why everyone in the world doesn't think just like me....(my mom will love that I plugged that in here:)

The good news is that I don't have to start my shots until Day 17. That gives me at least 2 weeks to fret over that. I do have an idea of a way to make the shots a little more fun for me but I'll save that tidbit for later. For now it is birth control pills once a day and antibiotics twice a day. I go for bloodwork tomorrow and then wait for the pharmacy to mail me my other medications. The nurse gave me a tentative date of March 9th for egg retrieval. That is pending that all my meds go smoothly.

My sweet friend Julie posted a wonderful scripture in yesterdays comments and I have decided to make it the official scripture of this blog. Coincidentally, this is the same scripture that my sweet friend Paula gave to me when I had the ectopic pregnancy. That verse has stuck with me through various circumstances in my life, not just infertility. I hope that it will also stick with you in whatever circumstances you may have.

I have to add in a special "Happy Birthday" to Tasha........I Love You!!!

Sara

Day 1 !!!!!

The day has finally arrived!

Of course it arrived on a Sunday. At 7:00 in the morning. While I was in Tennessee. On the only day the clinic is closed.

No worries. I called the clinic on Friday in anticipation that this would happen and they are anxiously awaiting for my message on Monday morning so they can call me and get us scheduled for all our upcoming 'adventures'. I had to call the clinic this morning to give the official "This is my Day One" message. I find it funny that on the recording it said "The office is closed today, if this is your Day One DO NOT page the doctor on call". It made me laugh to think how many excited women consider it an emergency to tell the doctor on call that this is their Day One. Of course, I heard that part of the message after I began writing the doctor's phone number down, but I digress...

We actually had a lovely day today. We traveled to Tennessee for the weekend with my in-laws to check out Fall Creek Falls State Park, which is the location for the Hardman Family Reunion in July. We got to see the villas on the lake that we will be staying in as well as the recreational areas, the waterfall, walking trails, etc... It is a beautiful park and everyone there was so nice and helpful. Here is a picture of us on the deck of the villa overlooking the lake:




We had a five hour drive home and I was so anxious to get to sit down and post this exciting news to share with all of you. Please keep the prayers coming for Steve and I. Specifically right now we need prayers for our marriage. This is the "for better or for worse" part for us so pray that we will bonded by this in a way that we never imagined. This could also be considered the "for richer or for poorer" part for us as well but I am glad to say that God has blessed us for this moment. His ways are not necessarily our ways and we can see that now. Thank you Lord for your many blessings you have already shown us.

I already have two prescriptions that were sent home with me that I have to get filled tomorrow. One is the antibiotics for me and Steve and the other is birth control pills. I also have a written order to get blood drawn on Tuesday to get the appropriate levels for my shot dosages.

I will probably be posting everyday now as we will undoubtly have stories to tell along the way. Keep checking back!


Here we go........
Sara

Too many blessings to count

WOW!

We are absolutely overwhelmed by the immediate response we received from this blog. You all have no idea how encouraging your words are to us! All of your prayers and kind words and support have only validated our decision that this is the right time for us to move forward.

I appreciate everyone who left messages on the comment board as well as those who sent emails. I encourage you to leave comments as it's easier for Steve to read them that way but always feel free to email me directly if you feel more comfortable with that.

I know that there will be good times and difficult times (as well as hormonal times) throughout this process and we are so grateful to have each and every one of you there with us along the way. I hope that you will keep checking back here for new entries. I am going to try to post at least once a week.

As of right now we are still waiting for a new cycle. Mother nature likes to mess with me on this one so who knows. How often is a woman in anticipation of something like that! Or, maybe we finally did something right? Only time will tell.....

Since I have asked for all of you to pray for us, I want to leave you with my prayer for you:

Dear Lord, please watch over our precious friends this week and bless them as much as they have blessed us. I thank you for every one of them and for bringing them into our lives. Amen

Wishing you a wonderful week:),
Sara

In the Beginning....

I just want to start out by saying thank you all for being here. We decided to start this blog as a line of communication for our family and friends as we begin a new chapter in our lives. It is finally official that Steve and I are going to proceed with the in vitro process and I anticipate that we will need a lot of support from everyone!

When we decided to try to start a family over 4 years ago, we never knew what we were signing up for. Infertility is a sneaky creature and something that I was not familiar with. I have since done so much research and talked with so many doctors that I realize how unfortunate and common it is. What is even more difficult in our case is that no one can tell us why we are having so much trouble. The question that laid before us is "How long do we tackle this on our own?". When I make this statement I only mean how long before we get professional help. I believe wholeheartedly that God has walked with us on this path from the beginning and that we are never on our own. Without his grace, I never would have pulled through the tragedy of our ectopic pregnancy and lived to tell about it. I also wouldn't have been able to stand here 3 years later and have peace about in vitro fertilization.

The older I get, the more the statistics change for in vitro. That is why we have decided this is our time. We have chosen a fertility clinic in Cincinatti called Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH). We visited some clincs here locally but decided that was a better fit for us. IRH is nationally known and I also hear that is where Courteney Cox went to conceive her baby!

Right now we are in a waiting game. I have to wait until my next cycle and then we contact the fertility clinic and tell them it's our "Day One" (we anticipate that will be before the end of this month). After that I have to fill some prescriptions and also have some mailed to me. I will be taking some antibiotics (as will Steve) and some birth control pills to regulate my ovulation. Then comes the shots. In case you didn't already know, I'm a bit of a baby when it comes to needles and blood. I'm also not a big fan of pain. I think I'm in for a rude awakening huh? One more reason why I need God's grace.... There will be three different shots I have to take all of which make the follicles develop at the same time and make them be the best they can be. In between the rounds of shots, I will have to go to the clinic (sometimes I can go to a Labcorp here) and get blood tests to make sure my ovaries aren't overstimulated. If that occurs, you may have to stop the process and start all over again on another cycle. We need to pray this never happens! The medication will last about 30 days and then it will be time for egg retrieval. Usually between 8-15 eggs can be retrieved. They will then fertilize them and I would return 3-6 days later for implantation. Probably only 2-3 will be implanted. The rest can be frozen for later use. Then comes the 2 week wait to take a pregnancy test. I'm sure those won't be the longest two weeks of our lives but in case it is we might welcome any distractions you could come up with!

Throughout this process, I ask of all of you to please keep us as well as our parents in your prayers. I know it will not be easy for them to always be the pillars of strength for us and they would never choose to see their children go down this road. They will probably need shoulders to lean on too!

I have faith that this is only the beginning of a happy ending for us. I hope one day our children will be able to read this and know how much their Mommy & Daddy wanted them here and how all their family and friends got to be a part of it.

With much love and anticipation,
Sara