It's all about plumbing...

Well, I am finally returning to post in our blog. I cannot believe I slacked for so long. Things have been moving at such a fast pace the last couple of weeks. I thought I had freed up my summer quite a bit, but I have found myself busy, busy, busy!

It is a mess around here. We had a major leak again in the house. I got up early one morning to let Hannah out and went to use the bathroom downstairs to find the carpet all wet. We have already had plumbers out twice to try to fix this. So, the next day Richard just tore into the walls himself to find the problem. The caulk in the tub was not sufficient and allowing water into the walls and then down into the carpet. So now we have two bathrooms torn up and have decided we are going to have to get the remodel on these done now. As you can see in the picture, we were living with old 70's wallpaper and decor anyway so a remodel is desperately needed. This picture is from December, the first time Richard had to tear up the bathroom for plumbing issues.

It is somewhat ironic that the same week we have dealt with plumbing issues at home, I also had my "plumbing" checked out at the hospital. I went in Thursday morning for what is called a Hysterosalpingogram. Ok, say that one ten times fast! It is a basic test they do to make sure the fallopian tubes are not blocked. They inject a contrast dye through a catheter into the uterus while being x-rayed. You can then see the uterus and tubes on the x-ray as it is happening. My plumbing looks good according to the doc. The dye went through fine. Statistics show an increase in pregnancy rates after this type of procedure because a lot of the time the dye helps to clear out any blockages or debris that may be cluttering the tubes. Knowing that my pipes have been cleaned out now helps us prepare for the next go around of tying to get pregnant. Maybe this will do the trick!

We did a follow up with Dr. Jabara about the failed insemination. He still does not recommend trying another IVF because he does not think I will be able to produce enough follicles. He wants us to try on our own again for a month then we could try another insemination. We have an appointment with another fertility specialist as well on Thursday to get a second opinion. I have heard she is really good. I think it will be nice to get a fresh perspective on things as well. I have a feeling that we will be doing an insemination again just from the financial standpoint...all of this is soooooooo expensive and money is getting really tight especially now that we have been forced into our bathroom remodel sooner than expected.

Meanwhile, we continue to pray and be patient for the Lord's timing. Although life is a bit tough for us right now, we know that God is faithful and watching out for us!

Shock, anger, sadness...

Picking one or two emotions to describe what we have been feeling this weekend is next to impossible. Friday night we went to bed laughing and dreaming of our future children. (If you have not heard our silly teasing, we have named them Orel Carl and Christmas Carol which is a story I will have to tell another day). We laughed and teased with each other and were talking about my possible "pregnancy" symptoms after Richard noticed my boobs had gotten bigger. I remember going to bed hopeful and believing I really was pregnant.

Saturday morning I woke up to discover I was starting my period. On many of the message boards we refer to it as AF (which I think stands for "Aunt Flo")...hope I am not embarrassing any of the men reading our blog here...sorry! Anyway, even though I have heard of implantation bleeding (small amount of bleeding that can occur when the embryo attaches to the uterus), I knew that this was my regular AF...it has been further confirmed through the weekend.

I am devasted...I could not even get the words out to tell Richard. He knew something was wrong, I just crawled back into bed and into his arms and cried. Wailing is probably a better term, it just seem to come out of nowhere. I really believed that this insemination was going to bring us our children but now, I was getting a very clear indication that this was not the case. Despite all the medicines, treatment, and prayers, we find out we are not pregnant. We did not even get to take the pregnancy test.

I have walked through this weekend in a state of disbelief, anger, frustration, and feeling lost. Richard and I have both cried and held each other, but we have also found some moments of normalcy and even a bit of laughter here and there. I feel so blessed to have Richard by my side through all of this. He has been wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

We have also prayed and talked to God a lot this weekend. I have actually yelled at Him a bit, I was reminded in a book that I could yell and be angry at Him, his shoulders are big enough to handle it. Having the permission to feel all of these things and know that God will still hold me tight has made it easier to think about starting to heal from this disappointment. I suppose this is what has given me the energy and readiness to think about going through all of this again.

So what next? We are certainly not giving up...I armed myself with three new books this weekend, talked to God a lot, cried a lot, and got up this morning ready to start a new cycle. It's crazy isn't it???? I went in to get bloodwork done to check my FSH level. I am praying it has not gone up any since the last measure. Remember, higher numbers is bad...means the ovarian reserve is low. We have made an appointment with a new doctor to get a second opinion. Her name is Dr. Jennifer Phy and I have been told she is wonderful. We have an appointment with her next week. So I spent the morning running around and getting paperwork filled out for getting my records sent over before our appointment.

We again ask for your prayers. Richard and I both are hurting from this disappointment. Please pray for God's hand in our healing and the restoration of our hope. It is getting harder and harder to have faith that we will have children one day. In addition, please pray for the new start with the new doctor and the preparation of my body for another cycle. As usual, we will update with more details as we know them.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support...we feel them and appreciate them a great deal.

Sextuplets

Well, they say that things tend to happen in threes...for two families this weekend, it happened in sixes. Six babies that is! The Masche family in Arizona and the Morrison Family in Minnesota both delivered 6 babies each within 10 hours of each other. The Morrison 6 are in critical condition (this is typical for this situation) but hanging on in Minnesota while the Masche 6 are doing well and off ventilators in Arizona. I cannot imagine having 6 babies at one time. I have been reading the websites and blogs for these mothers and for two other mothers who are expecting 6 later this year. It is amazing what they have had to go through to deliver these kiddos, but they count it as blessing even though it may be a tough road. All of their stories are inspiring on their own. They take on a new meaning when you are anxiously awaiting to find out if you are pregnant...

Me? Nervous???

We already know that we will be beating the odds to get pregnant in the first place. Well, we have even joked about how "funny" it would be after all this worrying to end up with twins or triplets. Late Sunday night, Richard just had to put it out there...he held up his hand with all five fingers up and said "quints!" My jaw dropped and I looked at him with disbelief..."where did that come from?" He told me it had just popped into his mind today, he did not know why. Monday rolls around and we here the news of not only one set of sextuplets born, but two! Needless to say it has been the topic of conversation with just about everyone who knows me.

"Nancy, I was thinking about you all day yesterday after I heard about the sextuplets!"

After reading more about their stories, the Morrison 6 blog really captured my attention. They got married in 2005, were trying to get pregnant for a year with no success, then sought help from a fertility specialist. With the help of fertility medications they used artificial insemination to try to get pregnant. Right before the insemination, they had two mature eggs and two immature that were probably not viable. In Ryan Morrison's words from the site "There was a 25% chance of us having twins, a 3 % chance of us having triplets and anything else was laughable. " I call those FAMOUS LAST WORDS!

So of course, before I find these stories I am thinking to myself, "well, there is just no way we could have 6...I only had two really mature eggs, two that could be mature and two that were immature and probably would not fertilize at all. I'm thinking 4 at the most"...funny how your perspective of a situation changes when you see the potential outcomes...

As we have always done, we are praying for the PERFECT number of children for us...Richard stated it beautifully in an email repsonse to my mom today...

"Let's hope and pray that God delivers the exact perfect number for all of us to handle (and not all of us handling one each at the same time, either!)."

If that happens to be 6 babies, then we know that God has a plan and we will be very blessed (and calling on the Morrison's and Masche's in hopes to benefit from their experience!)

Until the news of the sextuplets hit, I had planned on posting about one of our favorite pastimes here at the Schunke household...Bad movie Sunday. I will save it for another day...

Prayer focus for the week...

Patience, patience, and more patience and help through the hormonal changes that are still occuring on the back half of this cycle...the progesterone cream is having surprising effects including big mood swings along with a few other things I won't mention here...happy happy joy joy...

Rest

This weekend has been about some rest and relaxtion for Richard and me. We slept in until almost 11 am on Saturday morning which was wonderful. The emotional rollercoaster of the past two weeks along with the physical ups and downs warranted a nice long rest for both of us this weekend. We got to be lazy around the house, watched television, took a swim in the pool, and had a fun evening with friends from church.

Last night our young adult group met (yes, we still consider ourselves young adults!) and had an evening of fellowship. Originally, we had planned on playing in the park, however, the weather did not cooperate. Thunderstorms forced us inside, but we still had fun! We ended up at Rosa's for dinner and then over to the Ivie's for a little XBOX...Guitar Hero II! If you have not heard of this, it is a video game that simulates playing the guitar, particularly rock tunes.

Today, Richard is being a kid again playing out at the go kart track with some of his buddies while I have been knitting, watching the birds and butterflies that are now coming to our yard and doing a little surfing on the computer. A real weekend! I cannot even remember the last time we had a weekend when we could just relax...life has always been so busy!

Still anxiously awaiting the time for a pregnancy test. In my devotions lately, the Lord has been feeding me verses on trust and patience...so I am trying to take those lessons to heart!

Happy Day!

Today was our big day! God is truly working in our lives. What an amazing God He is!

Last night, Richard took me out for a date. We had dinner at Skyviews (yes, the same place we had our wedding reception). It was french night and there was a very unigue menu including duck crepes, herbed chicken in a soft pastry and and en glace dessert...it was soooo good! We had a really nice evening. A nice romantic touch the night before an unromantic medical procedure.

The insemination procedure went very smoothly today. It went so quickly! The doctor said everything looked great. Now we wait for two weeks until we can take a pregnancy test.

I guess I will need to find other things to write about until then...it will be hard to wait that long! It seems strange after spending the last two weeks in the doctor's office every other day to have to wait two weeks!

Thank you for all your prayers...we know they are being heard!

No more shots! YIPEE!

I got fabulous news today...no more shots! I did the bloated happy dance around the kitchen when I told Richard this evening! So here's the scoop:

Went in for the ultrasound and blood work today. In the left corner...we have two great follicles! The third one has disappeared unfortunately. :( In the right corner...we have FOUR follicles! A fourth one appeared on the ultrasound today! It is not quite up to snuff as far as size, but there could be a good egg in there...there are two good follicles on the right, and two that are really close and have some potential to release a mature egg. After seeing my estrogen level (which sky rocketed to 1500), Dr. Jabara said today was the day to send them out into the world, or at least my uterus. So we took the ovidrel injection tonight at 9 pm. This induces ovulation. 36 hours from the time of the shot, my eggs are ready to be fertilized.

The insemination procedure will take place on Wednesday morning so keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

With this update, came the news that we now have no more shots. Since we changed to the insemination, I can use a progesterone cream instead of the injections. I AM SO HAPPY! I have heard the progesterone shots are rough...I am so glad that we don't have to do them now...I really feel for those women who have had to undergo them!

I feel like I am in the home stretch of the big race. I am so relieved that ovulation is on its way now...I have been so bloated and sore from the pressure in my ovaries. It is shockingly uncomfortable to have so many follicles growing in your ovaries. I cannot imagine what things would have been like if we had more develop. My stomach feels swollen, it is tough to walk and bend over without pain. Thankfully I have loose clothing to wear (wearing alot of my clothes from 20-40 pounds ago!) so that there is no additional pressure on my abdomen than absolutely necessary.

Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers...we are really feeling God's presence in this whole process and believing it will work. The only thing we are worried about now is how many babies we will have!!!

Prayer focus for Wednesday:
-A beautiful "meeting" on Wednesday morning
-the perfect number of embryos formed in my womb
-that those embryos attach in the coming week and hang on for the ride!

Renewed Hope

It is a new month and a new day and with it comes renewed hope in our journey to become parents. I am resolved to trust in God's plan for us. It is in times like these, when hope seems to have faded that he comes in and shows what he truly can do. The odds are against us...a perfect opportunity to show that HE is still in control and HE can do this...knowing our children before they are ever conceived and waiting for the right time to bring us into His plan.

So, I went in today for another ultrasound and bloodwork. Yes, every two days like clockwork, even on the weekend. I have not heard back on the blood work yet, but the follicles are looking good, almost ready. One of the smaller ones on the left has caught up to her big sisters and so it appears I will have three good follicles on the left and two on the right. There is still a smaller one that could catch up on the right, but it is lagging behind right now. So, it looks like we will have five potentially great eggs for the insemination. The uterine lining also looks good...in the doctor's own words..."beautiful lining!"

I go in Monday for yet another ultrasound and bloodwork. If things look good and ready, as we expect them to be, I will finally get to quit all these injections except one. I am soooooo ready. I have become the human pin cushion. I have so many bruises and needle marks on my stomach!I get one more injection of a new drug called ovidrel if the follicles look ready on Monday. This one tells my body to release the eggs! Then on Wednesday morning we will most likely have the insemination. With all of Richard's best sperm and multiple eggs on my end, we are believing that God will bring one pair together!!!

We cannot tell you how much we appreciate all of your prayers, love, and support. Keep them coming! They have truly been felt and were much needed in a very low point of this journey. I don't know where we would be without all of your love. Thank you!