We've been busy..

Trying to make a baby!!! I know, I know, you are thinking ewwww but let me tell you its not what you think. Since Avery's diagnosis back in Sept. '11 we have been researching alternative options for bringing another child into this world. After a lot of research, prayer, pondering we ultimately decided to go the route of in vitro fertilization with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (IVF with PGD). Through PGD we are able to test fertilized embryos to make sure they are not carrying the same genetic mutation that both Avery and I carry, basically ensuring that we will have an unaffected child. I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding things like this so this is the last time that Im going to bring this up. We know this option may not be right for everyone but it is the right choice for our family.

Let me tell you baby makin aint easy and it does not happen quickly. We "officially" this was the route to take for us somewhere around January '12. We met with an RE (reproductive endocrinologist) and we got the ball rolling. We also worked closely with a genetics lab who created a test for us to test our future embryos for our single gene disorder. All in all this process took around 6+ months. Once we finally had our test created we were able to start the IVF process. We began with a trial transfer at the dr.'s office, birth control pills to stop my body from ovulating, and finally the fun part the stimulation injections. Then in a matter of two weeks we went from zero to sixty. We had our egg retrieval, where they collected 20 eggs. Nineteen of our eggs were able to be ICSI'd and 12 of them eventually fertilized. In the end we had 5 viable and unaffected embryos. After a long deliberation we decided to implant only one "awesome" embryo. So I think thats it, you should be all caught up. Now we wait, and wait, and wait. September 4th is our pregnancy test and we will see if this awesome embryo likes it in there and decided to stay a while. If not, we have four frozen embryos waiting for their turn. DH and I decided if this doesn't work we are going to implant two the next go round.

Heres a few funny pics right before our embryo transfer :)