January!

We started off the new year by getting a new desktop computer. It was about time. Our old one was about 8 years old and very slow! We had had enough of clicking and waiting....and waiting....and waiting....and waiting. This new computer is much faster. Things actually happen when you click, what a concept! It is also our first computer with a flat screen monitor, so we feel like we are finally up to date.

Shaun went pee pee in the potty for the first time!!!!! We are only starting preliminary potty training, but sometimes he wants to take his pants off and sit on his potty. The preliminary things we are doing include talking about it a lot, giving a lot of praise for anything related, having potty chairs in each of the bathrooms to practice sitting on clothed, and even sometimes taking his clothes off when he requests to. He has most of the physical signs of being ready for training. The only one he doesn't quite have yet is being able to tell us when he needs to go. But, the last few days he has requested to go potty a little bit before bed time and he actually sits on the potty and goes a little bit! He needs to get most of the mental signs before he will be totally ready to start. On average, boys are ready at about 2.5, so it seems he is right on track since he hasn't even had his second birthday quite yet.

Shaun also got another hair cut. It seems we are taking him about every 2-3 months to get cut. This time it ended up getting cut the shortest yet. I'm not sure I quite like it this short, but it is only hair, and on a boy, so it won't take long to grow back out!

Bill worked 2 weekends this month. He did his normal weekend in Bremerton the weekend after the New Year's holiday weekend. Then the weekend of the 22nd he traveled to Helena, MT with a couple of the officers from his unit. A unit had requested legal help, so they went. A bunch of units have requested their help this winter, which is unusual because they usually only get requests in the summer. Bill happily volunteered to go back to his old stomping grounds and see some snow! Helena had about 3 inches on the ground and it was snowing while he was there. He spend Saturday evening with some friends. March he gets to go to Boise as long as it doesn't get cancelled. He has learned in the past to not count on the trips happening before they do, which is why he worked twice this month. He is taking February off since he worked twice in January.

Shaun also went to his first kiddie birthday party. It was at Gymboree and he had a blast. He acted like he had been there a bunch of times before (he hadn't). He was so confident on all the play things to climb, slide and bounce on!

Kirin, the birthday boy is sitting behind Shaun on this bouncy "roll".

February will be a big month with a 2nd birthday and doing IVF! Stay tuned for step by step postings! Got the meds all ordered and delivered on Friday. The next step in the process is stopping the pills on 2/9, and going in for the suppression check ultrasound on 2/11. I'll post an update then!

Hold Us Together - Matt Maher Live

My current favorite song! (Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to stop the playlist if you wish to play this video.)

In Vitro Fertilization Intro (IVF)

Welcome to my first real post about our latest in vitro fertilization (IVF) journey. I have mentioned it during my last few monthly posts, but there really wasn’t too much to say back then. Some of you reading this may have followed our journey the previous times, others not. Whatever the case, I am going to brief you (or maybe not so briefly) about the whole process of in vitro fertilization. I will provide the details of where we are at in the coming months or so, because I know a lot of you want to pray specific prayers for us, and it is also kind of therapeutic for me to share. So keep checking back! Needless to say, our heart’s desire is to have another child, but as we have been praying about the direction to go over the last few months, we hopefully have our hearts okay with the end result of this attempt even if it is unsuccessful. We know God is in control!

IVF is “performed” over 2 cycles. In a woman, each month one egg (sometimes 2) starts maturing at or even before the start of her period. With IVF, the whole purpose is to get a bunch of eggs to mature at once. So, in order to do that successfully, there needs to be a “suppression” cycle to not have one egg already maturing, and thus ahead of the others. Birth control pills are used to suppress. So, at the start of a cycle, active birth control pills are taken for about 3 weeks or so to suppress.

Then, with the start of the next period (2nd cycle), the stimulation cycle begins. The woman gives herself injections of hormones a couple of times a day for an average of 12 days. This is done with small needles in the abdomen. This isn’t as scary as it sounds. I was nervous about doing it before I got started the first time, but then found out it wasn’t bad at all. The needle is just like an epee pen, if you are familiar with those. Ultrasounds and blood draws are done every other day starting about a week after the birth control pills have ended to watch the growth of the follicles and determine when the eggs are ready for retrieval. An egg matures inside a follicle. The follicle is visible on ultrasound. The size of the follicle determines the maturity of the egg inside. One to two dozen or so eggs are hopefully matured with this process. In a woman, every month a “batch” of eggs comes up and one matures. The rest are discarded by the body, so this process doesn’t have any effect on the number of future eggs because they all are coming out of the current “batch”. Didn’t know you would be learning so much about a woman’s reproductive system, did you?

Then after the ultrasound that says the eggs are almost ready, the egg retrieval is scheduled for the day after next. The egg retrieval is done under “conscious sedation” (basically out and don’t remember). The doc goes in through the vagina and pokes through to the ovaries to retrieve all the eggs. The eggs are handed over to the lab. The eggs are analyzed and determined if they are of good quality. The good ones are then fertilized. Then the embryos are watched as they hopefully grow for 3-5 days.

Then on either day 3 or 5 the best 2 embryos are transferred via catheter into the uterus. That is a simple procedure that basically is like getting a pap with a full bladder (for ultrasound guidance of placement). The number that are growing and the quality is what determines if the transfer is done on day 3 or 5. About 9 good embryos are needed in or to wait until day 5 (we didn’t have that many on either of the first 2 times). Any other good embryos on day 5 can then be frozen for future transfers. Progesterone shots are also started on the day of the transfer. These are a little bit harder because the needle is bigger and it goes in the backside. But I have done it myself for 3 periods of time, one being for about 10 weeks! If a pregnancy happens, then the progesterone shots are continued until about 9-10 weeks gestation to make sure the body has "caught on" to the pregnancy.

Then the waiting game begins. About 2 weeks later is the first blood test. HCG levels are measured. 5+ is considered positive, but they like to see 25+. If positive, then there are 2 more blood tests, 2 days apart each. The HCG levels need to at least double to continue to be positive. If all three tests are positive, then a pregnancy has occurred. A few follow up ultrasounds are then done at the clinic to ensure that a viable pregnancy is occurring, and also to determine how many babies are in there! After that, it is on to the regular OB doc at about 9-10 weeks gestation. Got all that? Feel free to leave questions/comments on blog posts or send me an email at swhunter84@verizon.net. This is how our precious Shaun started life, so here’s to another little miracle baby!

Our tentative timeline is as follows:

January 15 suppression cycle began
February 11 stimulation cycle to start
February 15 Frequent ultrasounds and blood draws begin
February 22 estimated egg retrieval
February 25 estimated embryo transfer
March 9 first blood test

I Can Only Imagine...

....is the top Christian song of the decade. The top 20 of the 2000 decade are playing and listed below!

1 MercyMe - I Can Only Imagine
2 Tree63 - Blessed Be Your Name
3 Newsboys - He Reigns
4 MercyMe - Word Of God Speak
5 Shust, Aaron - My Savior My God
6 Nordeman, Nichole - Holy
7 Casting Crowns - Voice Of Truth
8 Mullen, C. Nicole - Call On Jesus
9 Casting Crowns - Who Am I
10 Third Day & Caedmons Call - God Of Wonders
11 Tomlin, Chris - Holy Is The Lord
12 Tomlin, Chris - Indescribable
13 West, Matthew - More
14 Tomlin, Chris - How Great Is Our God
15 Camp, Jeremy - Walk By Faith
16 Building 429 - Glory Defined
17 Casting Crowns - Praise You In This Storm
18 Newsboys - You Are My King
19 Third Day - You Are So Good To Me
20 Camp, Jeremy - Take You Back