Snag a Copy of Aaron's Free eBook!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Back from the NEDC w/Our Babies!

First off, let me say that God was so gracious to us in every way! We had originally reserved a hotel room for $95/night, but on Monday 2 hours before we left for Knoxville, our future-sister-law (who is a hotel employee) was able to book us a different hotel in the Knoxville area for only $35/night! We had beautiful weather driving down, I-40 was now back open (it was closed off due to the rock slides when we traveled in March). Ashley & Dusty met up with Aaron and me for ice cream the night before our transfers, so we were able to meet in person which was awesome! So, in just these things alone, God richly blessed our trip.

Arriving at the NEDC at 9:30am on Tuesday morning! (The sun was definitely in our eyes.)

Now, for the babies' transfer details...

First off (again for this section) - The NEDC staff is wonderful! They took such good care of us and our babies. I know you Snowflake families are biased to the Snowflake program, but the NEDC totally outdid themselves for our embryo adoption - they, I say again, were just fantastic! :)

God answered our prayers in that our first two babies survived the thaw. Not only did they survive the thaw, they looked really healthy. We had one expanded blastocyst graded a 5AB and one hatched blastocyst graded a 6AA! We don't take "grading" to mean too much, because we know that God chooses which lives to continue growing on earth and which He decides to usher into Heaven. All embryos equally need a chance at birth no matter what their "grading" may be. However, what parents wouldn't want to hear from the doctor that their babies looked healthy!? - We were obviously very thankful. Our hatched blast had actually already hatched prior to freezing and in Dr. K's words "this one is wanting to attach" followed by him saying "but, there are no guarantees, it's out of my hands." To which Aaron replied, "But, we know Whose hands they are in!" Indeed we do. Beta is on July 29th - Praying for strong numbers! :)

Our expanded blast is on the left and our hatched blast is on the right. The darker areas are the actual babies and the lighter areas are what will (Lord willing) become their placentas. As you can see from our picture, the hatched blast baby had completely broken through his/her shell. :)

Ashley & Me

A rainbow across the shopping center where we enjoyed ice cream - Ashley and I decided to take that as a good sign! (Haha - I'm not really superstitious) But, it was a gorgeous rainbow.

23 comments:

Leigh said...

Praying for all 4 of you!!!

Britney said...

I've loved watching your story. We are hoping for a Sept/Nov transfer with NEDC. Which hotel did you end up staying at?

Aaron and Jennifer said...

We stayed at a hotel outside of Knoxville, but the only reason it was $35/night is because our future SIL got us the "friends and family" rate. Otherwise, it would have been over $100!

Jess said...

So glad that all went well and that both embies were healthy and survived the thaw. Praying that the next 2 weeks fly by and you get a BFP!!!

Ashley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ashley said...

Your babies are already so precious.
I love the pictures of them. We are
praying for you!

Angelwingsbaby said...

So happy that everything went smoothly and that you got to meet each other, how wonderful! Praying for all of you! ((hugs))

Mama B said...

YAY! Praying for HIGH numbers!!!

Anna said...

YAY for a great trip and for your little embies! Sounds like they are gonna be fantastic!

3Babes2Jens1Cause said...

So happy for you!!! Thanks for letting us share in your excitement and journey!!!

Hugs!!

Elizabeth (and Dan) said...

Yea! Very relieved to know that things went well. Can't wait to know what is in store for you next!

Jen said...

Wahoo! Congrats on being PUPO!

Emily said...

yay! i've been praying! i was sitting at my desk at 10:30 on Tuesday morning praying for you and thinking "hm... i bet the transfer is taking place right about now..." :) SO excited for you guys and can't wait to hear more updates.

Angie said...

So glad to hear all went well. Praying for you and the babies!!

Heather said...

Just catching up and SO happy for you!! Hugs and prayers during this difficult wait!!

NEDCKnoxville said...

Hi Aaron and Jennifer:

Congratulations in advance! I work at NEDC, and spotted you guys. I'm just a staff computer geek. Do you mind if I link your blog to ours? You tell the story very well, and flatter my colleagues.

Chris Barrett
chris.barrett@tds.net
865 777 2013

Lisa said...

Beautiful picture of your babies :) Thoughts and prayers being send your way during the 2WW!

Rebecca said...

Read a bunch of your blog. We are very similar to you all! Unfortunately, our road has been a bit rougher, but nevertheless, not a second has transpired that our Sovereign Lord has not specifically designed for our good! Wednesday was supposed to be our implantation date. But I didn't respond well to the meds, and it was called off last minute. Nov of '09 we had our first implantation. 2 didn't survive the thaw. 2 did, but I yielded no pregnancy result. We tried to get in on January's cycle, but I developed a serious infection that caused me to call off the implantation the day before. The infection relapsed and I missed out on March's cycle. Instead of implantations, I was laying in a hospital bed, intensely ill. In May, I didn't respond to the meds again, and it was called off a couple days before implantation date. And now, again.....It's very agonizing, to say the least. We have been infertile for our 12 years of marriage. We have a 7 yr old that was a miracle baby. She is now old enough to strongly desire a sibling, but recognize she must also learn to be content with God's sovereign plan for her life. I will pray today that the Lord would grant continued life to these babies you have. He has precious thoughts towards them! Our prayer is that He would grant us children, but that He would closer draw us to Himself, that His name would be glorified, and we'd be content! We do not understand the road He's desired for us, but trust that it IS good!
My hubby and I chronicle our embryo adoption road on our blog. www.dougandbec.net

Rebecca said...

Read a bunch of your blog. We are very similar to you all! Unfortunately, our road has been a bit rougher, but nevertheless, not a second has transpired that our Sovereign Lord has not specifically designed for our good! Wednesday was supposed to be our implantation date. But I didn't respond well to the meds, and it was called off last minute. Nov of '09 we had our first implantation. 2 didn't survive the thaw. 2 did, but I yielded no pregnancy result. We tried to get in on January's cycle, but I developed a serious infection that caused me to call off the implantation the day before. The infection relapsed and I missed out on March's cycle. Instead of implantations, I was laying in a hospital bed, intensely ill. In May, I didn't respond to the meds again, and it was called off a couple days before implantation date. And now, again.....It's very agonizing, to say the least. We have been infertile for our 12 years of marriage. We have a 7 yr old that was a miracle baby. She is now old enough to strongly desire a sibling, but recognize she must also learn to be content with God's sovereign plan for her life. I will pray today that the Lord would grant continued life to these babies you have. He has precious thoughts towards them! Our prayer is that He would grant us children, but that He would closer draw us to Himself, that His name would be glorified, and we'd be content! We do not understand the road He's desired for us, but trust that it IS good!
My hubby and I chronicle our embryo adoption road on our blog. www.dougandbec.net

Room for More said...

YIPPEE!! I am glad it was a wonderful experience. I will be praying for the hcG to be super HIGH!!! (are you breaking down and doing hpts?--I couldn't remember)

I am so excited for you! Congratulations again!!

Lisa said...

Congratulations on your beautiful babies!

twondra said...

So happy for you and glad you guys got to meet! Praying for ya!!

Christina said...

Those are some great looking embryos! Congrats and I can't wait to hear the news Thursday!