Well, I have decided to once again try to revive our blog. I'm not promising anything and I'm not going to come up with any cute "themes" to try to keep me motivated. My main goal is to update those who have an interest in what is happening in our life - especially those who aren't living in the same area. It's been really hard to keep everyone up to speed the past few months.
Disclaimer: This does include lots of medical info. I did try to dance around the details. There is nothing "gory" in here, but just wanted you to be warned. :)
This past October I was told that if we wanted to have children, now is the time. According to my doctor, since I have Spina Bifida, my biological clock is ticking about 5 years ahead of my age. He also is thinking in terms of my being able to carry more than one pregnancy, so the sooner the better (or more children we can have). We believe that God is sovereign and able to do anything at anytime. With this news, we began to pray and seek counsel. We came to a few conclusions: 1. We will never get this time back - this time while we are young and desiring children. 2. God has provided everything that we need, so if this is His will, He will continue to provide. 3. We want a baby and we are going to go for it. 4. Kelly doesn't want to be old and unable to play basketball with his children.
For those who might not know, we have known for almost 5 years now that we would have to have InVitro Fertilization to have a child. This is due to abnormalities that I was born with. Because my fallopian tube, is abnormally long, it has to be bypassed.
So began the doctors appointments. We had a bit of delay because of the timing of Thanksgiving and Christmas plus, my doctor had surgery on his hand - and we really need his hand to be in great shape for this. But these delays provided us with time to get our finances together. We have spent the past few years trying to be completely debt free before we started IVF, but with this news, it's just not possible. Again, still trusting that God will continue to provide. We certainly have not gone without in the (almost) 6 years that we have been married.
Thru the past few months we have seen God provide even as we panic. It's amazing that even though our trust and faith in Him is so incredibly weak, He still chooses to provide for us in the most weird and awkward ways. While we weren't prepared financially for this. We were told initially that the cost would be anywhere from $12,000 to $18,000. We have reached well over $20,000 in cost at this point, yet God still provides.
I was told I'd have to have a surgery for egg retrieval. This is not common. It's because of the abnormal placement of my ovary. This cost is out of pocket, $4,950. We were initially told this would only be about $2,000 - but the hospital raised their fees for this surgery. After receiving this news we made the decision to not purchase Christmas presents for each other and we only bought for our niece and nephews. We are thankful to our families for being so understanding.
My doctor set me up to have a USI and more lab work done on Jan 10 and if that were to go well I would have started my injections the next day. So we ordered and received all of my meds (about $2,200 worth of meds). On that Tuesday, I went in for the test and they found polyps inside my uterus. I was told I'd have to have surgery on Jan 20 (this past Friday) and wouldn't be able to start injections yet. We were initially devastated, but after a talk with my grandmother, I realized that if we had not started this process, they might not have found the polyps and the situation could have been worse. I had no symptoms, so this was really a shock to us as well as the doctor and nurses. Again, this is God's timing, not Amy's, not Kelly's. The most devastating part of this has been coming up with an extra 5K for the surgery. God is continuing to provide for us in this way. Thankfully the hospital was very gracious and understanding in providing options for us to pay.
I had the surgery this past Friday and it went well. Dr. Dunaway was intrigued by my uniqueness, but was also pleased with what he saw. Kelly was very encouraged by his report. I will call my IVF nurse tomorrow and she will tell me if I can start the injections tomorrow. I will give myself injections for 10 - 13 days and then I will have the laparoscopic egg retrieval at Tulane - Lakeside in Metairie. the transfer will be 3 to 5 days after and then we wait. :)
We are humbled, yet excited and encouraged by the way in which God is working in our life. This isn't something that we are keeping secret. We do covet your prayers and support for us. We will continue to update through the process. Hopefully this will turn into a blog about our growing family. :)
We know the Lord is good. He has shown Himself to us in this experience and our prayer is that we glorify Him in this process.
"O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it." Psalm 139:1-6
Disclaimer: This does include lots of medical info. I did try to dance around the details. There is nothing "gory" in here, but just wanted you to be warned. :)
This past October I was told that if we wanted to have children, now is the time. According to my doctor, since I have Spina Bifida, my biological clock is ticking about 5 years ahead of my age. He also is thinking in terms of my being able to carry more than one pregnancy, so the sooner the better (or more children we can have). We believe that God is sovereign and able to do anything at anytime. With this news, we began to pray and seek counsel. We came to a few conclusions: 1. We will never get this time back - this time while we are young and desiring children. 2. God has provided everything that we need, so if this is His will, He will continue to provide. 3. We want a baby and we are going to go for it. 4. Kelly doesn't want to be old and unable to play basketball with his children.
For those who might not know, we have known for almost 5 years now that we would have to have InVitro Fertilization to have a child. This is due to abnormalities that I was born with. Because my fallopian tube, is abnormally long, it has to be bypassed.
So began the doctors appointments. We had a bit of delay because of the timing of Thanksgiving and Christmas plus, my doctor had surgery on his hand - and we really need his hand to be in great shape for this. But these delays provided us with time to get our finances together. We have spent the past few years trying to be completely debt free before we started IVF, but with this news, it's just not possible. Again, still trusting that God will continue to provide. We certainly have not gone without in the (almost) 6 years that we have been married.
Thru the past few months we have seen God provide even as we panic. It's amazing that even though our trust and faith in Him is so incredibly weak, He still chooses to provide for us in the most weird and awkward ways. While we weren't prepared financially for this. We were told initially that the cost would be anywhere from $12,000 to $18,000. We have reached well over $20,000 in cost at this point, yet God still provides.
I was told I'd have to have a surgery for egg retrieval. This is not common. It's because of the abnormal placement of my ovary. This cost is out of pocket, $4,950. We were initially told this would only be about $2,000 - but the hospital raised their fees for this surgery. After receiving this news we made the decision to not purchase Christmas presents for each other and we only bought for our niece and nephews. We are thankful to our families for being so understanding.
My doctor set me up to have a USI and more lab work done on Jan 10 and if that were to go well I would have started my injections the next day. So we ordered and received all of my meds (about $2,200 worth of meds). On that Tuesday, I went in for the test and they found polyps inside my uterus. I was told I'd have to have surgery on Jan 20 (this past Friday) and wouldn't be able to start injections yet. We were initially devastated, but after a talk with my grandmother, I realized that if we had not started this process, they might not have found the polyps and the situation could have been worse. I had no symptoms, so this was really a shock to us as well as the doctor and nurses. Again, this is God's timing, not Amy's, not Kelly's. The most devastating part of this has been coming up with an extra 5K for the surgery. God is continuing to provide for us in this way. Thankfully the hospital was very gracious and understanding in providing options for us to pay.
I had the surgery this past Friday and it went well. Dr. Dunaway was intrigued by my uniqueness, but was also pleased with what he saw. Kelly was very encouraged by his report. I will call my IVF nurse tomorrow and she will tell me if I can start the injections tomorrow. I will give myself injections for 10 - 13 days and then I will have the laparoscopic egg retrieval at Tulane - Lakeside in Metairie. the transfer will be 3 to 5 days after and then we wait. :)
We are humbled, yet excited and encouraged by the way in which God is working in our life. This isn't something that we are keeping secret. We do covet your prayers and support for us. We will continue to update through the process. Hopefully this will turn into a blog about our growing family. :)
We know the Lord is good. He has shown Himself to us in this experience and our prayer is that we glorify Him in this process.
"O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it." Psalm 139:1-6
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