Philly Days 1 & 2

So far our trip to Philly has had its ups & downs. We arrived in town late Monday night. By the time we got to our hotel after picking up our rental car it was well after mid-night.

Tuesday morning we had our first visit to Cooper Center. Not at all what we had expected but the people were great and we felt at ease. After a round of blood work we made our way into the city to check out the sites.

We first went to South Street which is lined with shops... not really our scene. We then got back in the car and went over to find a place one of the ladies from the center recommended for lunch. Sabrinas. Again, not at all what we were expecting but the food was good!

Realizing the section of town we were in wasn't exactly where we "should" be, we headed to down town where we went to see the Liberty Bell and walked through the parks. Like Boston, Philly has a good amount of green space. However, unlike Boston the city wasn't nearly as clean and we weren't really impressed.

Heading back to the hotel for some much needed sleep we got a call from Cooper Center that we were not going to be able to have the retrieval on Wednesday as planned. The HCG injection I took the night before had only been saline - I had mixed up the bottles when preparing it. :(

Jonathan had to get up at mid-night to mix up another round and give it to me so that we could go back for another round of bloods the next day. We also found that my estrodile levels where very high: 4500+. Anything over 5000 would cause us to have to freeze. The hope was that with the day off from meds the level would drop before the actual HCG took effect which can cause the levels to spike.

Today we went in for another round of blood then decided to take it easy while we waited for the results and headed to Amish Country. The country side was beautiful! Corn fields as far as you could see. The surprises: They have a Wal-Mart! As we got further in it began to look like Pigeon Forge or Myrtle Beach - Tourist Traps EVERYWHERE! Hotels shaped like ships "Ship Shape Rooms"; an amusement park "Dutch Wonderland; and a dozen shops selling T-Shirts & Quilts.

Then the call came in. The levels had not gone down - actually went up over 5900 so transferring was not an option. We will still have the retrieval done tomorrow however afterward they will be frozen until we can come back during another cycle. The good thing is we do not have to do all the meds like we did preparing for this trip. I guess you could say the hard part will be over.

We managed to get our flights moved with some help so now we are heading back on Saturday. Having to come back up again later means we need to save as much as possible. A new date is up in the air. We'll keep everyone posted when more info is available.

On Our Way

Three months ago we thought this day would never come. Then Friday night we got the call and tonight we are sitting in the airport waiting to make our way to New Jersey.
Its been a busy weekend of planning and packing. Both of us beaming withe excitment.
Tomorrow we both have some test to go through then the removal will take place on Wednesday.
We got a little discouraged today when we found that my estrodile level was already 4500. Tonight I have another injection which spikes it even more but if it gets over 5000 they can not do the transfer. Instead, we would have to freeze everything to have it done at later time. No word on how late that would be.
So, please keep us in your prayers. Pray that the levels stay down and the proceedure goes well. That we return safely and stay calm through this week. We are trying our best to focus on having a vacation instead of the clinic.

round 2

For the last two days I've been up by 5am to volunteer at the Governors Confrence on Tourism. Yesterday I sat and waiting only to find out my schedule was wrong.
Today I was here at 6 again and no one else showed up till after 6:30... And they were volunteers too so no one was here to tell us what to do!
Sometimes you wonder if it wasn't for bad luck would we have any at all?
Hummm...

Facing Fears

So we've all been told the best way to get over our fears is to face them head on. Not really something I would say any of us are fans of. However, with this whole IVF process I've realized there isn't much I won't do if I want something bad enough.

Case in point: Part of the program includes a number of injections and I'm TERRIFIED of needles!

For the last two weeks however I'VE been giving MYSELF these injections. The first set were small insulin type suringes. The two additional ones I started this week... Let's just say they aren't so small.

When I starting preparing the first ones on Sunday I ended up having Jonathan give them to me because I was shaking so bad! Yesterday I did the morning set by myself which took some encouragement but last night and this morning I ran next door and had Heather do it.

...Ok so I'm backing off. But - the moral of the story is I DID face my fear and I did pretty good. I still don't want to do it everyday... But at least I know I can if I have to.

Its a big confidence booster. I wouldn't say I'm ready to face a snake yet. ...I'm happy with one small victory at a time! : )

Its been almost 7 months since our last post. If any of you are still following us... thanks for hanging around and sorry we are so far behind.

So, what have we been up to the last 7 months??? Here's what you've missed:

Its been wedding central this summer. Over the last 5 months we've had 7 weddings. Thats right. SEVEN. Between the showers, parties, and ceremonies we've been on the road quite a bit which explains why we are so far behind on this blogging thing.

On top of the Months-O-Weddings, Project Baby Parris has had some major developments. I don't think its much of a secret that we've been hoping for a child or the troubles we've had along the way but the process is one we've been asked a lot of questions about. Its not your "conventual" way by far so even the local doctors & nurses are intrigued.

Here are the basics: the only chance Jonathan & I have to conceive through Invitro Fertilization (IVF) however the cost aspect is about $20K and is not guaranteed to work. We have elected to move forward with IVF with a clinic in New Jersey who offers a unique "financial assistance program". Through the program, we will donate 1/2 of our eggs to another hopeful mother who can not produce her own. In return, she pays for a majority of our costs.

IVF is a process where they remove the eggs and fertilize them in a lab where they can be cultivated. The then embryos are then implanted. Only 1-2 embryos are implanted at one time. Any remaining embryos that we have will be frozen for future use incase the first pregnancy doesn't take or we could use them to have a second child later on.

Now this is where the questions always start. The child we carry will be completely genetically ours. I will provide the eggs and Jonathan will fertilize them it will just happen outside the body. We will not know anything about the other mother - we are waiving all rights to the eggs and will never know what happens with them.

Success rates are a couple years behind but also depend on the carrier, age, etc. The chances of multiples do increase slightly but not dramatically.

I started on meds last week to prepare my body and have regular blood work and ultrasounds to make sure my body is reacting correctly. I started additional injections today but haven't noticed any major side effects thus far. Although the clinic is in NJ, I'm able to go to my regular doctor for monitoring throughout the cycle and will only go up there for the week of retrieval. As of right now, we are expected to go up there the last week of this month - but that can change based on how I react to the meds.

Even if everything goes as planned and we complete the IVF the risks of any normal pregnancy still apply. We will NOT be able to select the sex before the implantation - or would we want to.

I think that's most of the answers to the questions we usually get but if you have others feel free to ask.

Jonathan and I ask that you keep us in your prayers throughout this process. Although we are very hopeful for its success, we do not consider this our only option to have a child. Adoption is something we have strongly considered and still may elect to do later on.



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