I didn't realize it had been such a long time since I had posted on the blog....wow! I have a lot to update!
In May 2016, we began praying and seeking God's guidance for our adoption journey. The embryos we had adopted had not ended in pregnancy so it was time to make some decisions. We looked into several options, including adopting more embryos, fostering to adopt, and domestic adoption. After lots of prayers and attending orientations we decided we were being led to adopt domestically. Once we realized this direction, God showed us exactly which agency we should be using. It is SO cool to watch God work! We were led to Special Delivery Infant Adoptions in Amarillo, TX.
In June 2016, we made our first phone call to the agency. In July, we went to orientation and knew we were doing exactly what God wanted us to do. We began working on all of the paperwork. In September, we had our health and fire inspections done. In October, we went to training in Amarillo with the agency. We had our home study update done in December. Right now we are waiting for our home study to be written up and the agency to officially approve us. Once that happens, we will be on the waiting list for a birthmom to choose us!!
Finding out that our last embryo transfer didn't result in pregnancy was definitely a "tough pill to swallow", God has showed up in a big way once again! The ball is rolling and we can't wait to hold that perfect baby in our arms!
Please join us in finding the perfect baby we have been praying for!
Saturday, January 21, 2017
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Interview with 4word Women
Before our last transfer, I was asked to do an interview with 4word women, a Christian women blog. I would be the third part of a three-part series with Becky, the genetic mom of the embryos we adopted, and Kelli, the mom that adopted the embryos before we did. I was excited to share my story for others that might be in the same situation.
Here are the links to the three parts. I would love for you to read it to know more about me!
My interview:
https://4wordwomen.org/waiting-on-a-miracle/
Kelli's interview:
https://4wordwomen.org/a-unique-journey-to-motherhood/
Becky's interview
https://4wordwomen.org/giving-the-gift-of-motherhood/
Here are the links to the three parts. I would love for you to read it to know more about me!
My interview:
https://4wordwomen.org/waiting-on-a-miracle/
Kelli's interview:
https://4wordwomen.org/a-unique-journey-to-motherhood/
Becky's interview
https://4wordwomen.org/giving-the-gift-of-motherhood/
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Here's how YOU can help!!
We would LOVE to have your help! We have two ways for you to help at this time.....
1. PRAY FOR US! We know that SO many of you have been very faithful in lifting us up. Please keep that up!
2. SHARE OUR STORY! You never know who might see this that is thinking about adoption instead of abortion OR know someone who is having to make some tough decisions.
Thank you again for all of your love and support!!!!
1. PRAY FOR US! We know that SO many of you have been very faithful in lifting us up. Please keep that up!
2. SHARE OUR STORY! You never know who might see this that is thinking about adoption instead of abortion OR know someone who is having to make some tough decisions.
Thank you again for all of your love and support!!!!
It's been awhile......so here is the update!
It has been awhile since I have updated our blog and LOTS of things have happened!! So....here it goes...
As mentioned in the last post, a sweet family chose us to adopt their five remaining embryos. I made it through surgery recovery, we signed all of the contracts, and the embryos officially became our adopted babies! :) Due to unforeseen circumstances, we ended up traveling to the embryos instead of having them shipped to our clinic. But....God definitely had His hand in all of these unforeseen circumstances.
We made our first trip in November to Virginia Beach to the New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine with Dr. Robin and our favorite nurse, Martina! We thawed one of the straws that contained three embryos. We transferred the two strong embryos and "extended" one that was having a hard time. After a few days of observation, we found out that this little guy grew back strong so we were able to refreeze him.
On Black Friday we found out some super exciting news!! The labs showed that I was pregnant!! I continued blood tests and my levels continued to rise!! Then, several weeks later we went to our first ultrasound appointment and got some news that wasn't quite as exciting. The doctor couldn't find the baby on the ultrasound. They told us things didn't look great, but all hope shouldn't be gone. The next week was one of the longest weeks of our lives. When we went back a week later, we got the news that we had dreaded. There was a gestational sac, but still no baby. It was determined at that time I had experienced a blighted ovum. My body did what it was supposed to do but there was a problem with the embryo that had attached. The next month was difficult as I struggled to get my hCg level to go all the way down.
We finally got the level to a lower level so we were able to travel back to Virginia Beach for the next transfer in February. We got there on Friday for the last ultrasound before the scheduled transfer on Saturday. At this time, we found out there was still tissue from the earlier pregnancy that my doctor in Texas didn't see. Instead of a transfer, I ended up having a hysteroscopy and D&C on Monday before flying out on Tuesday. We also received some sad news during this time, that we had lost two of our embryos that had been thawed for the planned transfer. Although this seemed like a wasted trip, we knew that God had brought us here for a reason. Once we had arrived, we found out that Chris, the genetic father of the embryos, was in the area for a training. How exciting!! We got a chance to meet him for lunch and spend the afternoon talking and getting to know him. We also got to Skype Becky, the genetic mother, and their girls. This was such a divine appointment!
After recovering from the procedure and fighting of an infection caused from the remaining tissue, I was able to begin the cryo cycle again and prepare my body for the transfer of our last little embryo snowflake baby. We headed to Virginia Beach for the last time in April to transfer our little figher embryo that we were able to refreeze. Everything went as planned and we transferred our last snowflake. Two weeks later, we got the results back from the labs that the transfer was not successful. This was absolutely heart breaking, but I am so thankful that I have a God that is bigger than our human emotions.
This leads us up to the point we are now. We know without a shadow of a doubt that God lead us to and through embryo adoption for a reason. Even though God has not revealed that specific reason to us, we fully trust in Him. Right now, we are looking at all of our options and spending a lot of time talking with God about what HE has for us next.
We want to thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers through this journey. Please continue to pray for us as we seek out to what God has in store for us in the next step of our journey!
As mentioned in the last post, a sweet family chose us to adopt their five remaining embryos. I made it through surgery recovery, we signed all of the contracts, and the embryos officially became our adopted babies! :) Due to unforeseen circumstances, we ended up traveling to the embryos instead of having them shipped to our clinic. But....God definitely had His hand in all of these unforeseen circumstances.
We made our first trip in November to Virginia Beach to the New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine with Dr. Robin and our favorite nurse, Martina! We thawed one of the straws that contained three embryos. We transferred the two strong embryos and "extended" one that was having a hard time. After a few days of observation, we found out that this little guy grew back strong so we were able to refreeze him.
On Black Friday we found out some super exciting news!! The labs showed that I was pregnant!! I continued blood tests and my levels continued to rise!! Then, several weeks later we went to our first ultrasound appointment and got some news that wasn't quite as exciting. The doctor couldn't find the baby on the ultrasound. They told us things didn't look great, but all hope shouldn't be gone. The next week was one of the longest weeks of our lives. When we went back a week later, we got the news that we had dreaded. There was a gestational sac, but still no baby. It was determined at that time I had experienced a blighted ovum. My body did what it was supposed to do but there was a problem with the embryo that had attached. The next month was difficult as I struggled to get my hCg level to go all the way down.
We finally got the level to a lower level so we were able to travel back to Virginia Beach for the next transfer in February. We got there on Friday for the last ultrasound before the scheduled transfer on Saturday. At this time, we found out there was still tissue from the earlier pregnancy that my doctor in Texas didn't see. Instead of a transfer, I ended up having a hysteroscopy and D&C on Monday before flying out on Tuesday. We also received some sad news during this time, that we had lost two of our embryos that had been thawed for the planned transfer. Although this seemed like a wasted trip, we knew that God had brought us here for a reason. Once we had arrived, we found out that Chris, the genetic father of the embryos, was in the area for a training. How exciting!! We got a chance to meet him for lunch and spend the afternoon talking and getting to know him. We also got to Skype Becky, the genetic mother, and their girls. This was such a divine appointment!
After recovering from the procedure and fighting of an infection caused from the remaining tissue, I was able to begin the cryo cycle again and prepare my body for the transfer of our last little embryo snowflake baby. We headed to Virginia Beach for the last time in April to transfer our little figher embryo that we were able to refreeze. Everything went as planned and we transferred our last snowflake. Two weeks later, we got the results back from the labs that the transfer was not successful. This was absolutely heart breaking, but I am so thankful that I have a God that is bigger than our human emotions.
This leads us up to the point we are now. We know without a shadow of a doubt that God lead us to and through embryo adoption for a reason. Even though God has not revealed that specific reason to us, we fully trust in Him. Right now, we are looking at all of our options and spending a lot of time talking with God about what HE has for us next.
We want to thank you for all of your love, support, and prayers through this journey. Please continue to pray for us as we seek out to what God has in store for us in the next step of our journey!
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Quick Update
I wanted to give you an update on the latest on our adoption journey....
We have an embryo match!! We are so excited that a family has chosen us!!
As we found out we had a match, we were excited to begin the process of going through the "contract phase" and getting my body ready to accept an embryo transfer. To move in to these steps, I had a phone conference with the doctor that will be transferring the embryos. She was concerned about a mass that had been detected in recent months. I was referred to an GYN Oncologist and had surgery the next morning! Wow.....what a whirlwind! The doctor was able to remove an ovarian remnant, TWO masses, and clean up some of the Endometriosis and scar tissue. Good news!! It was not cancer and he was able to save my uterus! What a blessing!
So....I am now recovering from surgery and excited that we will be able to move forward with the contract phase to truly adopt the embryos so they will be ours!!
It is incredible to look at our journey and see how God has had His hand in every single detail. It has been in His time and His plan!!
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Embryo Adoption Journey
A little update....We have completed all of the requirements and are currently in the "matching phase" in the Embryo Adoption journey. We are SO excited to be at this point and can't wait to find out which embryos God has chosen for us!!
Friday, December 26, 2014
It's been awhile.....new news!!
It has been a long time since I have posted and wanted to update everyone on our adoption journey!
At the beginning of this year, Jeremy and I were introduced to another adoption option....embryo adoption! This seemed interesting to us so we began praying and researching this idea. We found all kinds of information from PowerPoints to Prezis, and even participated in a webinar from the agency. We decided in April to begin this journey with Nightlight Christian Adoption Agency in the Snowflake Embryo Program. The best part is that they partner with Generations Adoptions! We began filling out the paperwork and one of the items was to be okayed by my doctor. I visited with my doctor (OBGYN) at the first of May and he discovered that I had Endometreomas in my ovaries. After looking further and visiting with a specialist, it was decided that my ovaries and tubes needed to be removed. I had this partial hysterectomy in July. My doctor, who is absolutely wonderful, did a great job of protecting my uterus and leaving it in order to have the option to transfer an embryo/carry a baby. This surgery, although emotionally hard, was such a blessing. My ovaries were the size of baseballs and combined with my Edometriosis, was also causing lots of pain and gastro problems. I felt like a new woman and was able to move forward in the embryo adoption process!!
After the surgery, we began getting all of the other paperwork finished. We completed our homestudy, health inspection, and fire inspection at the first of this month and were very relieved to have this behind us!!
Our next step is making a photo book for the genetic parents while our case worker from the agency finishes our homestudy. She will send off all of our information, homestudy, and application to Nightlight. They will contact us just to get final information from us and then they will match us with embryos based on information we have given and information from genetic parents. This could take anywhere from 3- 12 months.
Please be in prayer for those embryos (babies) that God has waiting for us!!
At the beginning of this year, Jeremy and I were introduced to another adoption option....embryo adoption! This seemed interesting to us so we began praying and researching this idea. We found all kinds of information from PowerPoints to Prezis, and even participated in a webinar from the agency. We decided in April to begin this journey with Nightlight Christian Adoption Agency in the Snowflake Embryo Program. The best part is that they partner with Generations Adoptions! We began filling out the paperwork and one of the items was to be okayed by my doctor. I visited with my doctor (OBGYN) at the first of May and he discovered that I had Endometreomas in my ovaries. After looking further and visiting with a specialist, it was decided that my ovaries and tubes needed to be removed. I had this partial hysterectomy in July. My doctor, who is absolutely wonderful, did a great job of protecting my uterus and leaving it in order to have the option to transfer an embryo/carry a baby. This surgery, although emotionally hard, was such a blessing. My ovaries were the size of baseballs and combined with my Edometriosis, was also causing lots of pain and gastro problems. I felt like a new woman and was able to move forward in the embryo adoption process!!
After the surgery, we began getting all of the other paperwork finished. We completed our homestudy, health inspection, and fire inspection at the first of this month and were very relieved to have this behind us!!
Our next step is making a photo book for the genetic parents while our case worker from the agency finishes our homestudy. She will send off all of our information, homestudy, and application to Nightlight. They will contact us just to get final information from us and then they will match us with embryos based on information we have given and information from genetic parents. This could take anywhere from 3- 12 months.
Please be in prayer for those embryos (babies) that God has waiting for us!!
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