Here we go IN VITRO: Week 7

I am feeling very content.

On Thursday, we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parent's house.  We are so blessed to have such an amazing family to be thankful for, and our day was filled with laughter and the company of some of the most precious people in our life.  I ended the day with a full belly and an equally full heart.  Family is such a tremendous blessing. 

Although my mom did the major cooking, I did do my part.  This was my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner:

Yumm.  That is a pumpkin chocolate cake with a brown sugar/butter drizzle frosting topped with toffee crumbles.  And around the bottom, I made dessert "acorns" (donut holes, frosted and then rolled in toffee crumbles with a pretzel for the stem) just to make it look pretty.  And no, the leaves are not edible.  It was a delicious, but after dinner I dumped what was left of it.  No way I'm taking that thing home to munch on over the next few weeks...!

Yesterday, I did not do any Black Friday shopping.  I didn't go to a single store.  This is a first for me.  Instead, Adam and I were up in Portland having some blood work and another ultrasound done to check on my progress with the stimulation medications.  More about that later.

After that appointment, we encountered a little bit of traffic on the freeway trying to get back to Salem.  Why?  Because the Ducks were playing Arizona at Autzen at 4PM....which we were profoundly aware of because we had TICKETS!  My parents surprised us and my brother with tickets to the game, and we were stoked.  Adam jumped around like a little kid on Christmas morning (...don't tell him I said that!)

Ready to roll!  They were trying to do a "stripe out" at the game, so depending on the section you sat in, you were either supposed to wear black or yellow.  We were in a black section, but because it rained, it totally didn't work at all.  I ended up wearing a yellow poncho. The game was a blast, but we ended up having to leave early.  More on that later.

Today, after breakfast with my parents (a Saturday morning tradition that is very, very precious to me) I headed home to begin working on my latest master bedroom remodel project: sewing a duvet cover!!  This is big for me, considering I don't sew.  At all.  But after searching in vain for the exact color of duvet that I wanted, I finally decided that I could bite the bullet and make the darn thing myself.   I looked up a couple "how-to" guides online, and then headed out to find my fabric.  Because I'm cheap (and lazy) I didn't want to buy 15 yards of fabric, and instead decided to just buy a king sheet set in the color I wanted and then use the flat sheet as the top for my duvet.  This worked perfectly, as I found the exact color I wanted at Fred Meyers on super clearance.  I sang a little bit of the hallelujah chorus in the aisle when I found it.  Then, for the back, my mom graciously donated an old king flat sheet that she no longer uses.  And I was in business. 

Once I had the makings of my cover, I dusted off the sewing machine (that my mom gave me as a shower gift over 3 1/2 years ago..and has never once seen the light of day) and set up shop in my living room.  It took me over an hour to figure out how to thread the bobbin (and that included that combined brain power of both Adam and I...and the assistance of several YouTube video tutorials) and another hour or so to figure out how to get everything set up so that I could actually reach the foot pedal.  Not a great start.

However, today went quite well and I am proud to present to you our newest addition to the master bedroom:

I love it!  Do you like our headboard?  Those are closet doors, that we bought off craigslist for $20.  I painted and distressed them, and Adam hung them on the wall.  You may recall my original color scheme was peacock blue, gold and yellow.  Well, that's changed a bit.  I was so in love with the peacock blue, I decided I might as well include the rest of the bird.  So I added in apple green and various shades of blue/teal.    This is my new inspiration:

The bed isn't quite done yet--it needs more pillows to pick up a few more colors--but I love it so far.  I also have big plans for our end table next to the bed....

I'm also over my head in art projects for the walls.  Here's a little sneak peak of my latest project:

It's not done yet, but so far I'm excited about it.  Stay tuned

(click the link below for my in vitro update....it's exciting!!!)


This was a VERY EXCITING week for us in the in vitro process.  I have now been on stimulation medications for 7 days, and we are anticipating that by the time I write this update next week, I will have already had my egg retrieval and we will be only days away from the embryo transfer!!

Wow.  Did that ever come fast!

We were at OHSU on Friday morning, and we're going back up tomorrow.  I'm being monitored rather closely, because my doctor doesn't want me to overstimulate (too many eggs growing to maturity with no more room in the inn.) That causes a very painful condition called Ovarian Hyperstimulation, and generally lands you in the hospital for a couple days.  It's pretty rare, but because my ovaries are polycystic, at the moment I have about 50 eggs in between my two ovaries that are all vying for a prime spot in the retrieval this week.   So, we're just being careful.

Other than that, everything seems to be going really well!  Adam and I have gotten really good at finding creative places to do my injections.  Sometimes I feel a little like Cinderella....no matter where we are or what we're doing, I turn into a pumpkin at 6:30PM and we have to go.  So far, some of my favorite places we've done injections include:

• A rest stop off I5 on our way back from Albany
• My office at school during my 12-8 conference day
• The bathroom at Autzen stadium during the Duck game (which was followed by a frantic jog back to the car after I realized we forgot part of one of the needles....)
• The Bean parking lot on the campus of UO
• My parent's bathroom after Thanksgiving dinner

It's made for some great stories, and what I've seen more clearly than ever is that my husband is a saint.  An absolute gem.  He is so gentle and so careful with me.  I think it hurts him more than it hurts me to have to give injections that might cause me pain.

I just love that man so much. 

It's pretty exciting to think that by this time next week, we could be only two weeks away from finding out whether or not we were successful in this in vitro cycle.  In less than a week, we'll be making babies together.  I can't wait to have those precious little lives inside me.  I pray that I'll get to keep them inside for a full 9 months.  The only thing that could possibly top that would be getting to hold them in my arms. 

For now, we are looking forward to what will likely be a retrieval date of Wednesday or Thursday.  What that means is a three days off work for me--one for pre-retrieval preparations, one for the procedure (during which I will be in a "twilight" state...I kinda wish I could just be completely under, because that term creeps me out) and then one day to recover.

Please keep us in your prayers.  We are SO close...!!!