Half-way Update!

We are half way (well, hopefully over half way) done with this pregnancy!  By the calendar today I am 21 weeks pregnant with our embryo adopted twins.  Time seems to have flown by since the first trimester unpleasantness lifted, I'm sure the holiday season helped with that.  The photos that follow reflect the typical half way point of 20 weeks, but twins can be early so I may have as little as 15 weeks left!!  And I do believe some growing has happened since then!

20 Bump!!  Babies are growing!

We had our 20 ultrasound last Monday on exactly 20 weeks.  It was a LONG appointment with over 180 pictures taken.  Babies are both individually within the "healthy" range.  Heart beats were strong (141 and 136), and all organ and brain pictures looked normal.  Praise the Lord!!

Here is twin 'A" looking for its hand.

And twin "B" full profile (you can even make out a leg bone curled up!)

While everything individually looked great, there was a significant amount of size difference between the 2 babies.  Normal growth range is anywhere between 5% and 95% - with 50% being perfect by the calendar growth (which is pretty rare).  Baby "A" measurement averages put it at the 84% range (20 weeks), while the average measurements for baby "B" were in the 18% range (19 weeks).  At the 20 week point, it is common to be perfectly healthy with baby measuring 18-22 weeks in size.  Sooo long story there to say we are waiting for a call from a specialty maternity ultrasound clinic in Eugene to make sure that "Big baby"isn't stealing nutrition from "Little baby" and to make sure "Little baby" keeps growing.  We have been waiting for the referral call for a week now - so there must not be too much concern.  With the amount of movement felt and with all other scans looking perfect we really aren't concerned.  They are after all different people and have permission to grow at different rates.

Tomorrow I meet with the OB again to check everything out and hopefully she will have more of an update for me.  A heart beat ultrasound will once again be done as well as water level check.

While we do have A LOT of good news...we have had a recent loss, sigh:

"Youngest daughter" can no longer reach all the way around to give a hug.  She had been "measuring" daily and it seemed to disappear overnight.

And because we were in the mood, here are a couple of funnies to leave you with:

Lastly because we know you are asking - we DON'T know what we are having :).

Many thanks for following our adventure.  Please note the e-mail, t-shirt, and funding information in the side bar to the right.

Thankful Reflection

17 weeks and 2 days pregnant with our twins!  God is good.

Odessa's embryo adoption pregnancy update for week 17:  Things are going great...most days.  About once a week there is still a bad day, but this is usually following a day where I may have over done it.  Babies are moving and felt almost everyday internally, the rest of the family is still patiently waiting for stronger kicks.  This last week we had another ultrasound and both babies looked great, had a great view of one of them trying to suck its thumb (so cute!).  I recently started on some natural, gentle body cleansers and stabilizers in hopes of having normal hormones after so much hormone therapy to prepare for transfer and carry the first trimester safely.  They seem to be working, and most likely aided in the last bout of feeling nasty!  But afterwards it was worth it to feel and look so much better.  I can't believe we are already almost half way done with this pregnancy!  This time last year I never would have dreamed this is where I would be today, but I am so glad we took the huge step of faith to start this adventure.

On the first day of 2015 we wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on the roller coaster of a year that we have had.  After all, it was only in January of 2014 that we found out about embryo adoption even existing.  Outside of the adoption we also had a quite eventful year.  We have much to be thankful for.

Top 10 highlights of the year:

1.  Oldest Daughter competed in her first organized sport!  She finished her cross country season strong by breaking the personal goals she had set for herself.

2.  Youngest Daughter graduated from Kindergarten and we are now in full elementary school mode!

3.  Odessa's brother got married .

4.  Jeff's brother and his wife had their first baby.

5.  Oldest Daughter participated in a regional level spelling bee, math olympics, and speech meet.  

6.  Jeff survived totaling a car and a deer.

7.  Our tax information AND credit card information were both stolen, but no major results happened.

8.  The current family car rolled 300,000 miles and keeps on going!

9.  We had an 'advanced gardening' first and are now eating a small amount of meat raised on our property!

10.  Jeff coached the first ever MVCA Lego Robotics team.

Bonus: We feel very blessed to be ending our year with ALL adoption, with related travel and medical, expenses  100% covered and paid off!!!  What a great way to start 2015.  

Our next area of focus will be locating and purchasing a minivan for the family, hopefully in early spring.  This is needed not only because of the high miles on the current family car, but also because it doesn't have enough seat belts for our family after the babies arrive.  We are humbled in asking for assistance on this, but we do still have our gofundme account set up, and the sole purpose will be to purchase a vehicle.  Thank you for reading and your continued support of our family.  We have truly been blessed by the support we have received during our embryo adoption adventure.

A Little Math and An Invitation

This week we reached 13 weeks pregnant with our embryo adoption!

"YAY!" for being done with the first trimester - but symptoms still persist.  The nausea isn't nearly as bad, but the fatigue is still very much present.  Keeping up with the house seems to be a daunting task most days, but luckily I have a very capable and understanding family when it comes to cooking, cleaning, and housework.  They have all taken on extra tasks, or graciously looked the other way from undone tasks, and for this I am very grateful.  

While the side effects of a healthy first trimester are not quite behind us, the joys of the second are starting to arrive.  I feel the babies several times a day already (remember they are running out of room in there twice as fast) and both Jeff and Heidi have gotten to feel them as well.  Clara is very patiently waiting her turn!

It has been 10 days since our last shot and a week since all other supplemental meds have stopped. Yay!  Our mornings and evenings are much more relaxed around here.  

Just to give you an idea of what we did:

200ml = .84 cups = 130 needles over 2.5 months

Looks about like this!!

We had another ultrasound and the girls got their first chance to see the babies.  Babies appear to be healthy and growing at the same rate - which is very good.  Their heart beats have slowed to 150, but are still really healthy.  The girls crowded around a tiny screen to get a peak at their siblings with great enthusiasm, it was so good to see them excited.  We are very blessed parents.

And we would now like to extend to you an invitation:

This Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, at 4;00pm, we will be sharing our full embryo adoption journey at Evangelical Bible Church in Dallas (please e-mail address in side bar for address).  We would love to see our followers there in support of our journey.  Many thanks, Jeff and Odessa

Quick and Belated

Today we are 11 weeks pregnant with our adopted embryos!  Sorry for being silent so long, I (Odessa) have not had a 'no-kiddo' day since Oct. 28 and blogging with them home doesn’t seem to happen. 

Things seem to be going well.  We had our 7 week confirmation ultrasound on October 29 and a twin pregnancy was confirmed (pictured in previous post).  At that time we were instructed to make a full intake appointment for 9 weeks.  The appointment on November 4 involved a full lab work up (including 8 tubes of blood taken), health history for every one of my relatives, several questions about any visits to West Africa,  and another ultrasound.

 Green circles are heads and red circles are baby "B"'s arm buds, baby "B" gave us a little wiggle during the ultrasound.

The ultrasound confirmed that we are still having twins!  They are both growing at the same rate and right on target.  Both had a heartbeat of 176 (girls???).  With all things confirmed as looking good we were given the all clear to not visit again until 13 weeks. 

We had written before the 7 week checkup that we were really looking forward to the pregnancy confirmation ultrasound because it would mean we could change forms of medications and no longer have to do shots.  We were so looking forward to giving up this morning and evening routine – but it was not to be.  When we called to order the new meds we found out it would be $1,200 for a 28 day supply and insurance wouldn't cover it.  Financially it wasn't going to work, so we placed the order for 8 more vials of progesterone and 60 more needles and pushed through.  This has been one of the bigger challenges of this whole adventure, not only because it involves needles, but because of the time demand.  We wake up every day extra early to prep a shot, give a shot, clean up, and massage it in; then repeat again at bed time.  We are so excited that this will be done in 6 more days.

Other than the shots, this pregnancy has been fairly similar to the ones I had with the girls.  Nausea, stress headaches, cravings, and other pregnancy symptoms are present but usually manageable.  I do seem to be more tired – but I don’t know if this is because I am carrying twins, I’m 10 years older than the first time I did this, I’m working still part-time, I’m keeping up with my school age kids routines, or all of the above. 

I feel very blessed to be able to carry children again and thank God for all the life He has given my family.

Now to answer some common questions:

“Do you know what you are having?”  No, hopefully babies and not puppies.  It is too early (confirmation through ultrasound is usually at 20 weeks), AND WE ARE NOT SURE WE ARE EVEN GOING TO.

“Do you have names picked out?”  No, nothing is settled.  We don’t feel the need to settle early and may not even settle until they are here.  We have been discussing and are open to suggestions OR for a $10,000 donation to our GoFundMe account you can choose a middle name!  Feel free to post name suggestions in the comments below (if nothing else it will give us a laugh).  We prefer names from literature (Radagast), scripture (Tychicus), or classics (Helen).  Special bonus if you include 'the', 'of', or 'a.'

Here’s to keeping you all guessing!  Thank you so much for following our story of embryo adoption!

First Look at our Babies

Below is a picture of our first ultrasound after the embryo adoption.  I tried to do a video, but couldn't get one that would let me make the cuts I wanted.   So that you can stop holding your breath here is the still shot.

The circles are heartbeats.  If I ever figure out the video, you can watch them.






We have not had time yet to fully process the emotions about what we found, so in a few days we will do a follow up regarding what we think or feel.  Thank you for looking.

A Dad's View

Since there are two sides to all stories (at least) this post is going to be on a guy/husband/father’s view of embryo adoption. 

If there was one thing I learned from my parent’s example it is that if you are able to help someone you do it. I remember several times when we would stop to get gas and someone would have their car hood up.  My dad would walk over, talk for a few minutes get a few magic wands out of the trunk, he called them wrenches, and do something to the car to get the person home or we would drive them home if the car was beyond the tools he had on hand.  I remember one time a pickup hauling a horse trailer was broken down, my dad found out the guy was more interested in getting the horses home than in keeping his truck in great shape.  So dad took a hammer and spike underneath the truck and hit some stuff, then the guy was able to drive off.  All my dad said when I asked him what he did was say ‘I broke the right part.’  When I was much younger my parents would foster several kids at a time.  We were always one of the first families that was called when a neighbors field caught on fire, or when there was hay down and the forecast said that rain was coming.

That being said, I have always had a heart for children who need a home.  Due to Crohn’s disease I am limited in what I can do.  We looked into international adoption, but the stress and food from being overseas for several weeks would be terrible on my system.  Plus many countries have rather stringent financial requirements that we did not meet.  Odessa and I have looked into fostering and adopting from the state, but for some reason those avenues never worked out.  I became frustrated with God.  I remember asking, rather rudely, why he would give me a desire for the better part of my life and then make it impossible for me to fill that desire. 

Then we heard about this crazy embryo adoption thing.  It seemed that a path was opening.  After talking with the doctors everything seemed possible.  But slowly the fatherly worries started to creep in.  Would there be any way we could have enough money to pay for this whole procedure, about ten thousand, out of pocket?  If all three take, will our house be big enough?  What are going to do about a car, none of ours can hold three car seats.  It has been a decade since Odessa was first pregnant, can she hold up to being pregnant again?  What about me, can I handle months of few hours of sleep a night? 

I am very glad that my wife is brilliant and kind.  She reassured me that it is never a good time to have children.  But now, we have many more friends who have kids and will get much more support than our first time around.  As far as finances go, there is never a really good time to have children, just some less bad times.  This time in our lives is a ‘less bad’ time.  As far as being physically up to the challenge, both Odessa and I are in pretty good shape and have learned a lot more about what our bodies need and can care for ourselves much better.

I hope this post has shed some light, and helped everybody to stop thinking that we are in some way brave.  We are just as worried and nervous as you would be if you were doing an embryo adoption.  If you are considering embryo adoption feel free to contact us at the email at right or use the comments below.  

Coming Home - with photos

It has been 2 weeks since we came home from Seattle.  What a 2 weeks it has been.  It took about a week for everything to really sink in.  There is nothing to describe the ride home on Sunday the 21 of September other then surreal.  As Jeff put it on the drive up on Friday we were "engaged" to this project, on the drive home Sunday we were "married".  There was no going back.

First baby picture

All 3 embryos survived the thawing process with some cell loss in each, but not enough to be of concern.  The doctors had been hesitant to put in all three embryos, but we felt very clearly called to close the whole bank of embryos from the family we had chosen.  Coming back to do this again wasn't really an option for us.  We were asked to sign a waiver that we were going against the doctor's recommendations.  All 3 embryos were inserted.

Getting ready to come home (no they aren't that big)

 The red circle has a small, white, comma shape in it which is a small amount of liquid containing all 3 embryos being placed near the uterus lining (the thick dark area).

Then came the waiting phase.  It is really hard to wait.  You know the babies have gone in, but you don't know if they will implant and you will become pregnant.  It can take several days for the embryos to actually attach to the uterus wall and start growing a placenta.   We knew we had a pretty good chance of success because Odessa was healthy, all hormone levels were in the perfect range, and the uterus wall was really thick.  But still you wait - usually 2 weeks to confirm with a blood test. 

In anxious anticipation most women will take several pregnancy tests at home during this time.  Some research online recommended a 9 day wait after day of embryos being put in (which puts you at the first day of a missed cycle in normal terms) to do a home test.  We wanted to wait until we would have a sure positive.  But tests come in boxes of 2 so of course Odessa decided to take one early...just to see:

Positive!! Just 7 days after the embryos were put in. BTW this mean NOTHING with trying to guess how many babies took.

Because we had a positive test so early, the RN moved the 2 week wait day up by 4 days to check for the pregnancy hormone hCG.  First check was a excellent level of 579 and a second check 49 hours later showed a 63% raise - a very good sign.  And we are done with blood draws!!!

The second week signs of being pregnant definitely started showing up.  Light morning sickness, fatigue, an already growing belly, and one crippling migraine have all joined us.

5 Weeks!!

Yes we are already 5 weeks along!  This is because of the age of the embryos and how pregnancy is counted from the first day of a woman's last menstrual cycle.  Our due date is June 8 if Odessa is able to carry full term (often pregnancies with multiples come early, but give Odessa's track record we will probably be just fine).

What are we doing now?  Most medications have stopped except vitamins, vitamins, vitamins!  A small amount of estrogen.  Oh, and progesterone shots - now twice a day.  Apparently with everything that is done to receive IVF embryos, a woman's system is completely shut down and won't make progesterone for itself once pregnant.  This is the hormone that keeps the body from immediately miscarrying.  It is very important. 

Odessa had had a small amount of cramping early on (felt very much like her earlier pregnancies) and the RN was concerned.  The RN wanted no uterus cramping at all and changed our protocol from 1 shot of 2cc once a day to 1.5cc twice a day.  For those who haven't seen how much that is before - it is alot of liquid for a shot.  This task has taken it's toll on Jeff as well as he has to administer the shots.  He hates needles and he has to massage in the oil for about a half hour after each shot.  His fourarms are getting quite buff!  But his hands are often numb.

What is next?  We have an ultrasound scheduled with a local OBGYN for October 21.  We should be able to see how many babies took and if we have good strong heart beats - we get to quit the shots.  We will have to continue supplementing progesterone until we are 13 weeks, but we can change to a different type.  

We feel as if leaps and bounds have been taken in our adoption journey, but there are still many unknowns, just as with any pregnancy.  We pray for strength to parent the children God has given us and for their safety.  They are truly in His hands.