Wow, it's been a long time. Since the last post so much has happened and we have been so busy. I cannot promise our posts are going to get any more regular, but we will try. You might want to get comfortable because this is going to be a long one.
Pike Market Place on a December evening
The parents came to town and we took them through a quick sight seeing trip to downtown Seattle.
Downtown Seattle
Seattle is beautiful during the holidays, we recommend that you all come up for a visit to feel the festive mood in Seattle next holiday season.
Here is where our newest adventure begins. I think all of you who come to our blog know what Warren and I have been through since we started our journey to expand our family. For those of you who know bare with me while I share our story. After 7 1/2 years of marriage Warren and I decided we were finally ready to start a family. Very long story short we became pregnant immediately but 31 weeks into our pregnancy our little Sierra became an angel on October 2, 2008. After our loss we were very eager to try try again and continue our journey to expand our family. It was such a difficult time and I thought if I could just get pregnant again all would be right in the world.
Fast forward 1 year and 7 months later and still we had not become pregnant. I had become a charting mad woman. I took my temperature everyday, tracked cycle days, used ovulation sticks, you name it I did it and put my wonderful husband through it too. I cannot even begin to describe how emotionally draining and painful it is to want a child so much and month after month nothing. Going through this on top of grieving for the loss of our daughter was at times overwhelming. Warren was very good at dealing with my emotional breakdowns. Our move to Washington was a good distraction and it was nice to have a change of scenery and new surroundings to keep me distracted from my baby making craziness.
In May of 2010 Warren and I had finally had enough and we had our first appointment with a fertility doctor. We were determined to be on the fast track so we started testing right away to figure out what in the world was going on. My biggest fear was to not be able to have children after everything we had been through. After a series of tests I found out due to complications from our loss I could no longer conceive on my own. When I heard this I was completely and utterly devastated.
The doctor who delivered the news was very honest but compassionate letting me know that my uterus looked good as well as my ovaries and egg count, the only problem was there was no way for everything to connect since there was major damage to my fallopian tubes.
After further discussion we were told that the only way we could conceive would be through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF). Unfortunately before we could even begin IVF I would need surgery to remove my damaged tubes. In July I had surgery, all went well and I was on the road to recovery. Finally in September I started the IVF process. The above picture shows all the medications needed to start IVF, and I was one of the lucky ones that was on the low dose of medications.
If you know anyone who is struggling with infertility especially after a prenatal loss, give them a hug. They are probably still struggling emotionally but trying to put on a smiling face so no one knows how difficult it really is.
Hanging out with Wesley the day before embryo transfer
The following day which was the day that we went to the Charger vs. Seahawks football game was the big day of embryo transfer. We were able to watch the first quarter of the game then we had to head out to the doctors office. We did make it back just in time to catch the end of the game, but we stayed in the car and waited for Wesley to meet up with us.
A day of sightseeing and remembrance on the our daughter's Angel day. This is also a few short days before we got the exciting news that we were pregnant.
Below you will find pictures as the belly grows. Please don't look too close. I work from home and don't always do my hair and make-up. Which means I never do my hair and make-up unless I have to.
1 Week shy of 2 months (Week 7)
Unfortunately I have no idea when this was taken :(
Somewhere around 4 months (16 Weeks)
1 week shy of 4 months (19 Weeks)
I know you are all waiting for baby updates...they are coming. I started this blog post before our surprise arrival of our boys so I thought I would get caught up on our pregnancy photos before jumping into baby photos.
Stay tuned...
