Brylie is here!!!

Yipee!!! Natalie's baby was born tonight at approx. 10 pm. She is beautiful and... are you ready for this?... She's a redhead. That's right, she has strawberry blonde hair. How funny. She is perfect. Everyone was thrilled to meet her. Mom is fine. She had a wonderful labor and delivery. Big sister was a delight as well. I love them to death. :)

EMBRYOS!!!

Well, we officially have..................6 definite embryos!!!! I say definite because we have 2 maybe babies. Two of them look like they may divide, but they haven't yet. So the number is between 6 and 8. Isn't that just the way Phillip and I do things? We always have something waiting in the wings. However, what a great number!! Our prayers have truly been answered. We were both very concerned that we would have 18 or something. Then we would have the chance of having 18 children...doesn't sound very appealing. Six children would not be the end of the world. We are so fortunate. Thank you for your support and prayers.

Update

The egg retrieval was today. Everything went very smoothly (I guess). I was under anesthesia for the entire procedure. The dr. and embryologist retrieved 12 eggs. A very good number...one dozen! :) Once again, we are blessed! They will call tomorrow to tell us how many eggs fertilized. We will also be told when our transfer day is. It will either be Sat. or Mon. We hope for Mon. That means the embryos are stronger and more developed. I will update more when I am not on the verge of passing out. Love to all of you.

My Rock and My Building... ;)

I don't know what I would do without the best mom in the whole world. My mom has taken me to most of my dr.'s appointments. She has been my rock. When I feel crummy...I call her. When I am nervous... I call her. I love this woman and hope to be an amazing mommy just like her!!!

This is my Dr.'s office. He is located in one of the buildings at Centennial hospital. Isn't this a pretty building? I am so shallow. Heehee!

Best Friends

This is Natalie. She is my BFF. She has really been there for me the past 2 years. She will soon be welcoming daughter number 2, and I can't wait to share the experience with her. I also can't wait to give little Brylie some friends to play with. :)

GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!

God is good! He continues to bless us with each dr.'s visit. My nurse called last night and said: "no more Lupron or Repronex injections." I was elated. This meant that my egg retrieval would be TOMORROW!!!!! She said that everything looks perfect and we are ready for our trigger shot ( this tells my ovaries to release the eggs in 40 hours). We are so excited. I could barely write her instructions, because my hand was shaking. We did our trigger shot last night at precisely 9 pm. The doctor goes in exactly 36 hours after the trigger shot to retrieve an egg from each follicle (29 in my case). He said that he would probably get 20 eggs from me. Not all of them will fertilize. Anyway...at 9 am tomorrow morning, Dr. Vasqueze will do my egg retrieval. Not long after that, the eggs will be fertilized and Phillip and I will have teeny-tiny embryos. I pray that God breathes the breath of life into those little guys. I told Phillip this morning...tomorrow the decision will be made of what color hair and eyes our children will have. So amazing. We truly are living a miracle. Your prayers are appreciated and WORKING. We love all of you and could not do this alone.


I want to give a special thanks to two amazing families. The Giles family and the Bryan family. Forrest and Gracie were students in my classroom this past year. Their families each gave me a care package this week. I got lots of goodies to keep me busy and make me feel loved during my bed rest (June 30th - July 4th). Thank you Gracie and Forrest (and parents). I love all of you dearly.

YUCK!!!!!!

I am sitting in my house on this beautiful summer day and I feel YUCKEEEE!! These hormones are brutal! I have been very nauseous, soar, and TIRED! Went to the dr. yesterday and he says all is going well. My follicles continue to grow. However, my estrogen level was a bit elevated. Thus, they had me reduce the amount of Repronex Phillip injects (into me...of course) at night. I am so thankful for your prayers and support. We are overwhelmed with the love we feel around us. Keep those prayers coming. After all, life is a God creation (the dr. is just helping out). :)


Thanks Jessica for your comment. It was so loving and sweet.

Another GREAT report!!!!

Went back to dr. today. My bestest friend Natalie took me. He did the ultrasound and said I am doing "GREAT"! Oh man, I am really getting excited now. The nurse called this afternoon and said that my estrogen levels are "excellent." Every report just gets better and better. I told Dr. V that I was worried about some stuff and he said the best thing to do is just "Give it to God." At that moment, I knew I was in great hands. I love God and know that my Dr. does, as well. I am so blessed. I can't stop saying that, but I am. Phillip and I both are. I have another appt. on Friday. I will update more then. Oh yeah, Dr. says I will know for sure on Monday if we are doing the egg retrieval on Wed. Pray, pray, pray. Our love and thanks...P and A
P.S. I love the comments that some of you are leaving. Please drop me a line if you have time. :)

Yesterday, I went for my long-awaited appointment to Dr. Vasquez. This appointment was to reveal how many follicles I have growing and how I am responding to the stimulation meds. My mom and I watched the ultrasonographer measure one follicle after another. I was sooooo anxious to know how many!?!?!?! After she silently measured the follicles, she said: "o.k. your nurse will call you this afternoon." That is when I said PLEASE give me some kind of idea how many. She then looked at the screen and said "ummm I think about .... 30." I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted. Phillip and I could now rest assured that he is doing those stinking injections right at night...and I am mixing the meds correctly. I was soooo excited. Mom and I just couldn't stop beaming. I went home and looked straight at my IVF books. We now have a 68% chance of success, as apposed to 50%. More follicles = better chances. The nurse did call and the official count was 29 follicles and my hormone levels are looking good. I have another apt. in the morning to check the progress of the follicles. If these side effects are any indication, this medicine is surely doing its job!!!!!!!! Good night & keep the prayers coming...THEY ARE WORKING!!

I went to dinner with my 3 best friends from high school on Friday night. It was so nice to see them and play catch-up. They are lovely women, and it is amazing how we have all grown up and gone in different directions. Yet, we remain close and pick right up where we left off. They are very supportive of our choice to start a family through the use of IVF. They all say they are praying for us. I am so blessed with loving friends and family.

Well, I must say that A LOT has happened in our fertility world this week. I had great plans of posting on Tuesday, but things did not go as planned.
We went for our visit on Tues. and were told that everything is still on track. However, Wednesday (yesterday) I would have to return to have a cyst aspirated on my ovary. I was so afraid that this might jeopardize our chances of success. I spent most of Tues. night praying and crying. My wonderful loving Mom spent the night and took me to the dr.'s office yesterday morning. After some Meprigan, Toroidal, and Valium...I couldn't feel a thing. The procedure took all of 8 minutes. Then I went home to sleep the day away (we are talking over 24 hrs.)
The IVF coordinator called this morning and said that the cyst would not interfere at all with our cycle, and we should continue with our cycle as scheduled. RELIEF!!!!! I felt very good today after having slept for 36 hours straight. Also, removing the cyst made my Estrogen levels drop (less hormonal is always better :).
We did get our cycle map on Tues. It goes as follows:
June 12 (today) begin stimulation injections (these stimulate my ovaries to make ripe beautiful eggs) Phillip gives these to me
June 25 : Egg Retrieval day (The dr. will go in and take the eggs from their follicles ... this is also the day that my eggs will be fertilized)
June 28-30 : On one of these days, we will have 2 or 3 embryos transferred to ME!! :) The rest will be frozen for later use
****July 9 **** Pregnancy Test Day!!
Phillip gave me my first stimulation injection tonight at 10 pm. The injections have to be the same time every night. He was a pro!!! I did not feel ANYTHING! I am so proud of him. I can't think of anything that would bring us closer than this experience. Both of us have been put into awkward, nervous, and vulnerable positions. One thing is for sure...God is guiding us. I know he had Phillip's hand tonight. Please continue the prayers. We love you all...

My precious friends from college decided to spend the weekend with me. Angela came Sat. night and went to church with us on Sunday. She has been VERY supportive through this entire journey. She even wanted to watch me give my injection. What a trooper. I love her very much.

Sunday evening, Rachel joined us for dinner and fun. We ate at Bonefish Grill and just talked. It feels good to have people to listen. Rachel is our experienced friend with all of the wisdom about motherhood. She is such an amazing mother and wife. I am very proud to call them both my friends. P.S... We missed you Jen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, I finally put my pictures from Memorial Day weekend on the computer tonight. I thought I would share them with you. We had so much fun. It is easy to forget everything when you are relaxing at the lake.

I felt o.k. today. I am VERY tired. Must be hormones. At least they are working. :) All my love...Amber

We are right on track!!

Hi all! I want to give a quick update. My injections have gone pretty good. I only had one mishap that left a bruise, but I am tough (growing up with 2 rough-housing brothers will do that)!! All-in-all, I am very relieved by how easy the injections are. Phillip is my strength. He has insisted that I NOT do my injections without his support every morning. It helps so much to have him just watch and count for me. :) I spoke with my nurse today about "stuff" (I will spare you the details) and she said "We are right on track!" WOW! She was so encouraging. That 5-word sentence boosted my confidence sooo much. Gotta go...bed time.
Thank you for your love, support, and most of all PRAYERS!!