This Post Brought to You by the Number: 4...

Our fertilization report just came in and we have four wonderful embryos growing! Dr. G thinks that my progesterone level had something to do with us only having half of my eggs fertilize. I was a little surprised at first, that the number was so low. Then, I was reminded that all along I have said that four would be perfect. We will transfer two on Wednesday and freeze two for another go. Now, I am just praying that those four continue to thrive and get their shot at life. I had no idea I would feel the way I do right now. It's hard to even put into words. God has worked everything out so beautifully and I have faith that He will not let us down. Now, just to keep my sanity...

A Momentous Day...

Well, everything went great. The worst part of the entire thing was my nerves. I was making myself crazy waiting for them to take me to the OR. I guess what you really want to know is how many, right?! We got 8 eggs! I'm really happy with that number and had to laugh about it. Everyone I know has been picking on me saying "You're the next Octomom!", then we get 8 eggs...how perfect :) NOTE: We will only be using two, this time and freezing any we have over that number!

One thing interesting...Dr. Gill came in before they took me back and explained to me why he decided to do it today. The nurse had said, Friday afternoon, that my progesterone had taken a big jump and he didn't want me to ovulate. Well, Dr. Gill said that the reason my progesterone took that jump was because one or two of my follicles had already ovulated! The ovulated follicles release the progesterone and tell your uterus (if you have one :) that it's time to head into another phase of the process. He was concerned that the rest of the follicles would ovulate, so they triggered me immediately. He also said that if we had been putting the embryos back in me, we would have had to cancel the entire cycle because of the change to the uterus from this happening! I am so glad that the nurse left all that out on Friday. I would have been nervous about ovulating all weekend!

So, thanks everyone for the well wishes! I'm good and so relieved that part is done! We'll know tomorrow how many fertilized and whether we are transferring on Tuesday or Thursday. I'll update then!

It's Time...

Well, I just got the call...I will trigger tonight at 7:30 (1 1/2 hours away!!!). We have to be at the hospital for 6:00am Sunday morning and the procedure is at 7:00am! We didn't expect to have a Sunday retrieval, at all. My progesterone is on the higher side and Dr. Gill is concerned that if we wait any longer, it will go up and compromise the entire cycle. Brandon is the worship leader at our church so, service should be interesting :) And I'm sure I will be incredibly sleep deprived since we are going to the Rockets game tomorrow night and won't be home until around midnight, so by the time I get to bed, I'll probably get 4 hours of sleep.

An exciting weekend ahead...

Appointment #2 This Week...

I went back in this morning for an ultrasound and bloodwork. I'm stimming well. I have several follicles on each ovary (the right is better than the left). The biggest is measuring almost 17mm and the rest range from 13-16mm. My estrogen was 1850 (I think) so, I'm holding steady with the meds. I go back on Friday (as does Dawn, but her lining was already 11.1 with a triple stripe on Monday!) and should get a trigger time then. It looks like Monday for egg retrieval and then either Wednesday or Friday for transfer. The nurse today said if she had to guess, she would guess we get 10 eggs. Sounds good to me! She was surprised when I said that was a good number and I didn't need more than that. Apparently in the world of IVF, the more the better. But, in my world, God can make big things happen with nothing, so I'm good with anything ;)

Oh, and the picture above is my feet wearing the socks I wore today. Yep ladies, I wore these to the "female doctor" today. You know the nurse loved that!

Much Needed Update...

The above pictures are of the medications I am taking to get the job on my ovaries done :) It's an overwhelming thing to look at all of that and figure it out, but I'm doing it. I started my "big" shots last Thursday. They are not one of the better things I've ever done, but it's all worth it. Brandon has been great about giving them to me. He enjoys it, which makes me a little uncomfortable. Dawn and I both went in for our "checks" today. My body is reacting well to the stimulation. I have 10 great follicles on the right ovary and 8 on the left. The nurse is guessing I should be ready for retrieval on Monday-two days ahead of schedule!!! Dawn looks great too. Her lining is nice and fluffy :) and ready to make a perfect home for our babies, once again ahead of schedule! We make a GREAT team! I am so excited and in complete awe at how God is putting all of this together. It's really mind blowing.

In other news, my fantastic Aubrey got a perfect score on the Reading/English portion of her TAKS test!!! For those of you not in TX, TAKS is the standardized test they give to students here, the equivalent of LEAP in LA. Her teacher called to give me the news this afternoon. I seriously could not be more proud of her. She'll take the next portion, Math, next month. My girl rocks!

What Great Days Are Made Of...

Just wanted to let everyone know that we finally got the state of Texas to clear us for surrogacy! Brandon and I went to court with our attorney this morning and officially "adopted" our soon-to-be embryos! The judge gave us the validation and we are on.

Dawn and I started our Lupron yesterday (I figured one day wouldn't make that big of a difference) and we're still looking at ER around April 1st. We're on the way!

Plus today, immediately after court, I went to my orthopedic surgeon- I had a lumbar fusion done six months and one week ago (counting every day :) He said I am not totally healed so I did not get full clearance (still can't bend, twist, or lift-bungee jumping is out too); however, he freed me from the prosthetic back brace I've been in for six months and one week!!! I cannot tell you how wonderful that is...that thing is big, bulky, incredibly uncomfortable and hot. Six months has been a long time!

It's been a GREAT day!

Aub's Spelling Words for 3/12...

• perspiration
• similar
• opposition
• metallic
• combination
• similarity
• prohibition
• familiar
• familiarity
• invitation
• mobility
• fragility

And appropriately...

• legality

Yep, we just got the call!!! We go to court tomorrow morning at 8:30!!! I could not be happier, at least until tomorrow when we get the "a-ok" from the judge and I get my back brace off in the same day! Now, let's just pray that is actually what happens and I don't get held up in court so I can make it to my 10:45 surgeon's appointment on time!

What I Learned This Morning...

It's been a hard week. It started out with a time change (which I am convinced is a government conspiracy to make people sleepy) and Brandon being out of town. Those two things directly contributed to me being a walking zombie from Sunday to Tuesday. Then, our home study report was supposed to be filed by Wednesday. Exciting, right? There's a concrete date that it *has* to be done by. We held out hope for 45 days that it would be done sooner, but at least there was March 11, if all else fails. Yesterday, March 11-finally here!!! Whoo!!! Nothing. I waited all day to hear the news only to get a "It's not done yet." when I checked on it. So much for "court orders" right? Apparently "court orders" mean zilch when you are the state. Our home visit was done on February 12. No one can explain to me why the report on said visit would take a month much less more. I was incredibly (and understandably, I think) upset and frustrated yesterday afternoon-one more day down the drain. Plus, we're running out of pills and will have to refill if this is not done by Monday- $65 more than I should be spending and our attorney is going out of town tomorrow afternoon and won't be back until Wednesday. So, if we don't get to court tomorrow, it won't be before Wednesday.

This morning, I took the kids to school and was listening to the local Christian station on the way home. The DJ said that she has recently learned that waiting is always made easier when you wait on the Lord rather than waiting on "the thing". Wow! I so needed to hear that. I have decided not to stroke out and instead wait on the Lord. If we hear something, I'm sure you'll hear me scream from NE Houston around the world.

In other news, I have my big back appointment with my surgeon tomorrow. I am praying to be able to trash this gigantic back brace and move on with my life post back surgery. Six months is a looooonnnnnnng time in a back brace.

To answer a few questions:

• No, we do not live near a pig farm (hilarious Jenn!). We live in a pretty urban area- the middle of a subdivision. However the pig got here, it's pretty incredible that it wound up in my yard of all yards.
• As far as the ridiculous debt collector, apparently the debt he's wanting to collect is with Columbia House- you know the DVD, music order thingy. Well, they're a scam in and of themselves and there is no way to reach an actual person there. That's part of the problem. When the charge was originally and fraudulently made, I could not contact them to let them know that, neither could my bank. I googled the "debt collector's" number and they have a TON of fraud claims against them. I put a fraud alert on my credit and am keeping an eye on it. If something appears, I'll file a dispute. Hopefully, they are going to leave me alone.

More Random Thoughts...

Today has been way overwhelming. I started out the day being upset at how our social worker drags her feet and is in no hurry whatsoever to help us. I ended it by screaming on the phone with a debt collection agency who is threatening my credit score over a charge made in my name when my identity was stolen in September 2007. So, I'm bringing back the random thoughts for today...

1. I think I'm going to join Kelly in the "I can never eat pork again" camp.
2. Why is it that people only get in a hurry for themselves? Why do they think they're doing good when they squeak in at the deadline, instead of having it done days earlier instead of playing solitaire online (at least that's what I imagine her, uh, I mean them doing.)?
3. I am so eager and excited to get moving with this surrogacy, but at the same time I am scared stupid that something will go wrong or the baby won't like me or something like that.
4. I was so angry on the phone with that jerk of a debt collector that I not only began to cry, I was shaking and felt like I was having a stroke! Seriously, I filed a police report and handled this back in October of 2007 and now they want to come after me!? And would you believe that when I began to question them about how they think they can do that when all they have is my name and phone number correct (everything else is the "real" person's information), said jerk hung up on me!!! I called the number back and he picked up and hung up the phone again!
5. In October of 2007 when the identity theft occurred, I filed a police report and gave them all the information I could gather on the impostor me from the creditors they'd taken out debts with. I handed them the person's birthdate, social security number, address (they were paying their phone service, internet, and blockbuster delivery with my account-smart crooks!), email address, and even their first pet's name. The good ol' detective did nothing! Zilch! Nada! My bank refunded me my money and and changed my account number. I guess that was supposed to satisfy my lust for their head. Since then, the people have tried several times to get car loans in my name and now, a year and a half later, here I am with debt collectors threatening to ruin my credit! Oy!!! I want these people in jail! They disgust me. I know where they live (about a mile down the road) and I want to go confront them myself, but Brandon says I can't.
6. I ordered our meds today for the IVF cycle! They should be here tomorrow!!!
7. I will attend my first ever school board meeting tomorrow night. I'm nervous. It's about a school boundaries proposal and I have a feeling it's going to get ugly.
8. Dieting is hard work.
9. My house is once again a wreck. It's an endless cycle: clean, dirty, clean, dirty... you get my point.
10. I'm going to lunch with Rachel tomorrow. I love Rachel.

The Most Bizarre, Disgusting Experience...

So, this morning I was minding my own business, doing what I do. I took the kids to school and then came home to get on with my day of hanging with Jennifer and David, who are in visiting! Well, I pulled up in the driveway, talking to Brandon on my cell phone. There is this little, junky looking rat terrier that lives across the street. The "owners" (for lack of a better word) leave their garage open a foot or so during the day and let the dog run loose. So, I pull up this morning and he is digging in my flowerbed, right near my front door! I tell Brandon "That punk rat terrier is digging in my flowerbed! I'm going to get that dog!!!" I love my flowerbeds and don't like people who let their animals trash other people's things! Anyway, I ran after him and shooed him away. That's when I see that there is something there that he is digging at. It was rust colored and I initially thought it was some sort of giant mushroom. I thought out loud, "How on Earth have I not seen a mushroom of this size growing here!?" It was half covered in mulch so I took my foot (thankfully shoe-ed!) and dug it up and stuck my foot in it to turn it over. That's when the story becomes H-O-R-R-I-F-I-C. I tried to be nice to those of you with weaker stomachs than others and post the pictures after a jump, but the code just won't work. So, I'm sorry, but they'll have to be posted here. Scroll down to see...





























In case you can't tell...It's the head, and only the head, of a hog!!! Yes, I am serious. I screamed my face off, ran away (returning later for pictures), and nearly vomited! I have no clue how it got there and hope to never see it again (the ratty terrier eventually took off with it- despite my efforts to keep him from it). I don't think I'll ever wear those shoes again and I really think that someone has it out for me. It still makes me nauseous to think about it. Everyday truly is an adventure around here. Keep in mind it was actually about 18 inches from snout to neck and I stuck my foot in its head. Top that!