A Thanksgiving Worth Waiting For

This time of year we all count our blessings and there is no doubt that this year we'll be doing the same. Last November was a whirlwind for us. Between doctor appointments, daily injections, weekly blood draws and then egg retrieval, embryo transfer and of course, a positive pregnancy result!...this year we get to sit back and reflect on it all. All while snuggling our precious Miss Eva :)

Last year on November 22nd, we found out we were pregnant. I cheated a bit and took a home pregnancy test the day before we were to get the official blood results from the IVF clinic. I will NEVER forget that moment when I saw the positive test. And I will never stop thanking God for our little blessing, she was definitely..Worth The Wait.

                                                

                                                (Thanks for the adorable onesie Alana!)

Frozen Babies

This week we got a letter in the mail stating:
"We are pleased to inform you that your 5 vials containing 5 cryopreserved embryos were safely transferred on November 15, 2012 and are now in long term storage"

It's still hard to believe, but we have five frozen babies! And I'm not really sure which is harder to believe:

1. That we were lucky enough to have such a successful IVF cycle to produce so many embryos
2. Also that we were lucky that five of those embryos successfully made it long enough to survive cryopreservation
3. The fact that technology is now so advanced that we're able to freeze these embryos for any amount of time and thaw them to use at a future time when we want to grow our family

This letter means it has been a year since our embryos were conceived and frozen, as they were transferred from our fertility clinic to a cryopreservation storage center where they will be safely stored for as long as we desire. (or as long as we want to continue to pay, because yes, those frozen babies have a storage fee!) And I truly mean that they can be frozen for 100 years if we wanted. Amazing!!

I've wondered what this storage center must be like. A giant walk-in cooler with racks of frozen vials and liquid nitrogen "steam" everywhere? Do you have to wear full rubber gear with a mask?
I knew these places existed but never really put much thought into it before this. This place holds the dreams of so many families who've struggled with fertility. It also holds the promises of those who weren't able to conceive but may be receiving a donated egg, sperm or embryo. I'm sure it's not a big freezer by any means, but it's definitely not a typical workplace.

I'm still amazed at how everything worked out for us and can't be more thankful to live in a time where all this is capable. Without it, we'd most likely still be trying to conceive and I cannot imagine being back to that place in our lives.

I'll gladly send my payment and put my trust in them, knowing our frozen babies are safe and sound. 

Kitties!

I love cats. Some may even say I'm a little cat crazy.
We have two furry friends, Bear and Mittens, and before Eva arrived, they were our "kids" and spoiled silly. It's been quite an adjustment for them and not an easy one, but it's getting better. They are no longer freak out and scamper when Eva screams and cries and have even started to come up and smell her. Though they must not like that baby smell cause they give a look of distaste and walk away (they are the only ones who don't like that new baby smell!).

Eva had gotten quite a few kitty outfits and toys from friends and it turns out, she loves kitties as much as I do! This Kitty Tails book is her favorite. She loves to look and smile and coo at it and has now discovered all the different tails. Smooth tails, curly tails, fluffy tails and striped tails. The first time she grabbed something and brought it to her mouth...guess what it was?!  A kitty tail!!

We may be teaching a bad habit, but it sure is cute for now!

Last week she finally noticed them. Bear was walking across the room and it caught Eva's eye and she was locked in on him. I'm sure she was admiring that fluffy tail!  And later in the week, Mittens came and sat on the ottoman while I was holding Eva. She saw Mittens and then I watched as she got the biggest smile on her face. It was heart melting!

I have no doubt they'll be buds soon enough, or at least until Eva tries to grab their tails and dress them up for tea parties. We've warned the "kids" of what's to come.

Halloween Fun!

We finally got to celebrate a Halloween with our own little goblin! It was so much fun to plan costumes for the whole family. J really wanted a theme and started thinking about it pretty much right after Eva was born.

Although Eva is much to little to go trick-or-treating, we went to a few Halloween parties that our friends were having. Since most of our friends have children, it was really fun to celebrate with everyone, something we definitely will look forward to every year!

Here is our Wizard of Oz family! The scarecrow, Dorothy and our little munchkin!

Once J had picked the Wizard of Oz theme, we took about a month to get our costumes pieced together. I went to a few local consignment stores and picked up items to make Eva's munchkin costume for under $10! J went to a hardware store for a lot of his and I on the other hand...good ole Ebay!

For Eva's costume, we had gotten the leg warmers as a gift and I based everything around them. I found the orange pants at a consignment store and cut the legs off. I also found the green flower headband there as well. I took one of her long-sleeved onesies and used fabric glue with ribbon to make the suspenders and cut out buttons with felt and glued those on as well. It turned out perfectly!

J also really enjoys carving pumpkins and cannot wait to do this with Eva when she gets older. She was still a really big help though...

Here is how they turned out!

Eva and I handed out candy to all the little ones that came to our house, though she fell asleep in the carrier. Apparently the doorbell ringing and the sugar buzzed kids were boring to her. Can't wait for next year to take her to a few houses and better yet, to start planning our costumes...