37 days and counting....

We are officially 37 days away from the due date. I've said it over and over but we can hardly believe this is happening. Rachel has been feeling well and like I tell her all the time she's just so cute pregnant. She's a trooper as her hips bother her during pregnancy but she just focuses on how much she is enjoying it. She recently was able to become a stay at home mom, with her two precious babies Marcus and Cleo. That has been amazing seeing her thrive in her new path of life. She is an amazing mother! We plan to head to Wichita as soon as she has any signs of labor. The last Dr. appt. we found out that he is head down and is measuring just right on track for size. This coming week is the very last week we don't have an appt. After that we will be heading to Wichita weekly. We ask for prayers for safe travels and stamina to keep up with the next few months. Owning our own business has so many perks. Being able to go to Wichita when we need to is one of them, but we won't be able to have typical maternity leave but we are confident together we can do it! Looking back over the last four years of this journey it feels so amazing to be at this point. If I would have told myself 4 years ago that all of this was possible I don't know if I could have believed it. We started Bling with the hopes that it would get us to the point that we could have a chance at surrogacy. Building the business was the most challenging thing I could imagine. There were times building Bling that I just didn't think I could do it, I certainly wouldn't have thought I could do it if I would have known what was in store for us. There were also times that we just felt hopeless that we would ever get the chance to be parents. Through those times God was really able to show us the power of prayer and faith. Even when it felt too hard, we never stopped believing his plan was perfect. Now not only do we have a baby coming but God has provided us with a team of managers at Bling that exceeds even my highest expectations, at a time when we need it the most. His timing is perfect. We are so ready for the next blessing and all that lies ahead!

Time flies when your having fun...

I can't believe how long it has been since we posted, but we are now 15 weeks pregnant! I think Mark and I are STILL pinching ourselves and trying to believe this is happening. It's hard at this point for us to even imagine waiting until July 23rd to meet our little baby but it is totally worth the wait! We have an appointment the first part of Feb, and then we hope to find out the gender in early March! Rachel felt the first movement last week!! It was amazing to think that soon we will be able to feel it too! Rachel is such a trooper and doing great, she sent us this pic today! Thanks for the continued love, prayer, and support!

10 more days!

Yesterday we got to be part of the most amazing part of the process so far. The Dr.s transferred an embryo to Rachel!!!! I know it doesn't look like much but to Mark and I it is the most beautiful thing we have ever seen :)!

It was nothing short of overwhelming to see it all come together. Rachel was so gracious and kind and let me be there to watch the monitors as it happened. I still get teary eyed when I think of the Dr. with all sincerity shaking Rachels hand after the procedure and said "you are doing a truly monumental thing".  She  is, and she is our hero....

Now we wait...on Nov. 13th a blood test will determine if she is pregnant. This will be the longest 10 days of our lives, but we are filled with hope for the first time since this began 3 years ago! It's truly in Gods hands now and that's the most reassuring part of all!

Were still here....

Today marks day 11 that we have been here and tomorrow is finally the day of retrievel! At 11 am I will go into the procedure and by the afternoon we should have some embryos!
Right now is a little tough as my body and emotions have had it and nerves are setting in about the procedure, but overall things have gone extremely well! Can't believe that we have made it to this point! It's going to be worth it all! I have been thankful for Rachel and Chelseas support every single day!

If there are viable embryos then the transfer to Rachel will be friday or sunday. We will have to wait until Nov. 13th to find out if there is a positive pregnancy. The waiting game is difficult and it's just beginning! Thanks for the prayers! We are in the middle of this and appreciate all the support! God is good!!

Feeling pretty blessed

                                                           You keep him in perfect peace
                                                            whose mind is stayed on you,
                                                                because he trusts in you.

                                                                          Isaiah 26:3 

Thank you all for the calls, emails, and facebook messages of encouragement! I can't even say enough how much they mean to us! We had an appointment this morning to see where my estrogen levels were at and to get a sonogram. I have 8 follicles which seems to be a good thing. They are needing to continue to grow, that's what the medication is for.  Things seem to be going well. I got to leave with this picture!  Each day that passes during this process I realize what  a blessing this is that we have the ability to try this process. We don't know what challenge we could face in the days to come but we know we are trusting fully in the lord!

Tonight we got to get together with our carrier Rachel and nurse Chelsea and my friend Fogle. I'm so excited to introduce these two amazing women!!!!  It was the best time and truly good for my soul! I just kept looking around and seeing what God put together and just really feeling in awe! Chelsea is on the left and Rachel is on the right. I was just trying to take it all in tonight with them. I realize that this time in our life is so huge, it is something we will never ever forget and I just need to hold onto every moment!

Mark was excited because Chelsea was there to help him give the injections tonight! He really appreciated the help! Here they are preparing the injections.

We are on day 5 of injections and everything is going as planned! Thanks for the prayers they are working! Please keep them coming! God is in control!

Here we all are together! Thanks Fogle for connecting the dots to put us together! I knew you could do it!

We're Here!!!

We just left the fertility center! I have officially began my injections! Mark was able to give them to me, which was a HUGE deal. He didn't think he would be able to. I was so proud of him! We found out we may be able to come home for the night on Sunday and then we will be back for the duration.

We were able to see both our carrier and our nurse today. They give me strength and peace. Just writing about them makes me emotional. I can't figure out how I desereve those two women in my life.

We just ask prayers that my body will handle these medicaitons, and the surgery. Also that our business will be ok without us for a little while! We are beyond thankful for the people on that end holding things together and the managers that are doing more than normal to help us be here!

I hope to have a lot more news in the upcoming days. Right now they are trying to make me produce a lot of eggs, that they will then retrieve in the next two weeks. We don't know the day the retrievel will be as it just depends on when my body is ready. They will then create embryos, and 3 to 5 days after that we will hopefully have a healthy great quality embryo for them to transfer to our carrier. We then have to wait 2 weeks to see if she is pregnant.

Thanks for the love, concern, and most of all the prayers! God is good!

How it all came together..

Anyone who knows me, even just a little bit knows of my friend Fogle (Ashley Schlatter). Her and I met in college and are Kappa Delta sisters! She has been on this road with me as well and knew that Mark and I were getting seriously discouraged the last few months. I kept telling her "Fogle..you have to find me a carrier" she lives in Wichita now so she has access to many friends through her junior league. Every time I would say it she would just look at me exasperated like I don't know what to do! I knew her little wheels were spinning, it's not like her to back down from a challenge. For some reason I just felt like if anyone could lead me in the right direction it would be her!

I was right! One morning I woke up and had an email from Fogle that said "hey you need to email this girl, she may know someone" one of her friends had a connection that connected us to our carrier!!!

We want to get a little farther into the process before we post pics of our GS and talk more about her, but I really feel like at this point I need to say something because without her openness, and caring heart none of this would be happening!

The first time we met our GS and her family it was so wonderful. I was nervous and felt like I was going on an interview!! They made us feel so welcome at peace. After all that we have been through I didn't let myself get to invested just yet, I thought oh my goodness surely it doesn't come together that easily! Well it did! Since then we have been talking a lot, sharing our days with each other and mostly talking about this process. I just don't think I can fully wrap my head around what they are doing for us.
I have moments throughout the day when sometimes I get really emotional thinking that there is a person willing to do this for us. It makes me believe more in the goodness of people than I ever have before.

We had a few hoops to jump through after we met, she had to get clearance from the clinic...that had been a major issue for us in the past but she passed with flying colors. We had to quickly get through all the legal paperwork, classes, testing etc so that we could start in this cycle. Everything went painlessly. We decided through this that Mark and I would do whatever is best  for her and her family, and we have seen time and time again already them do the same for us.

I can't wait to share more of this person when the time is right! Honestly this has been difficult to write as I can't find words enough to describe my gratitude to her. It just seems like my words are truly not enough. She is truly a hero to our family already. I appreciate that her and I can talk as easily as we can right now. We both have acknowledged that there will be all sorts of emotions throughout the entire thing, and that there are some parts of this we just can't plan how we will react but we will just do the best that we can for each other.

One other person that I have to talk about, because I'm sure I will be talking a lot about her in the weeks to come is our nurse. I always tell her that she moves mountains daily. She is so much more than a nurse, she is a compassionate caring friend. She has made it possible for us to be in this cycle and genuinely cares about each of us. She works harder than anyone I know! Even myself! Yet she still cares about every detail of what we are about to go through and are going through. She is a big reason why we chose the clinic that we did. Her compassion too cannot be summed up in words.

I recieved my box of medicaitons...more on that to come! God is good all the time! Nicole