As you may have guessed by the silence, it has been a busy summer for us. In anticipation of the expenses of travelling, fertility drugs and clinic costs, Steve has opted to work 2 jobs this summer; both his full time job with the Mobile Work Crew and Landscaping in the evenings and on most weekends.
Since my last post, I have been busily looking into our options for the FET (Fetal Embryo Transfer). The Embryos are at a clinic in Thousand Oaks, California, near L.A.. It is usually cheaper to go to the clinic where the Embryos were conceived, but the downside in this case was that we don't have any connections near there. We found a clinic in Roseville near Sacramento, California that seemed like a good option. We have friends near there who were willing to have us stay with them for several weeks while I was preparing physically for the FET and needing to be monitored at the clinic. As we began to prepare to have our Embryo records sent, it became obvious that the cost of this clinic was going to be much higher than we had first expected. As a final confirmation, the clinic was also requesting that the genetic parents must also provide new blood tests. This was an unnecessary complication since the original clinic already had all that information.
Last Tuesday, I received a phone call from Dr. Kumar, a fertility specialist from Fertility and Surgical Associates of California. To make a long story short, I had my initial phone consultation appointment the next morning and we will be going to Thousand Oaks for the FET around the third week of October! The good news is, I can have most of the lab and ultrasound monitoring done from home, so we only have to travel there for 5 or 6 days. (This wasn't an option with any of the other clinics that we talked to.) Everything is comming together, all of a sudden we are moving forward!
Steve and I have both been really praying about the timing of this trip and we both feel that God is with us. We have been working hard to be able to afford to travel and we are trusting that God will provide for any unforeseen expenses.
In the beginning of September I will start hormone treatment to prepare my body for the transfer. It is kinda hard to believe that we are at the final phases of waiting! Just over two months from now I will be taking a pregnancy test!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
It's Official!
Today is June 25th, the day our Adoption is final! We are the proud partents of two precious Embryos! It is a big step, but not the end of our journey. All of our paperwork has been sent in with our final payment to the Adoption Agency, now we need to decide what clinic we will be going to.
Choosing a fertility clinic is a fairly big deal to us because that is where we will go to have the embryo transfer done; they are the people that will handle our embryos in the crucial moments when they are thawed and transferred to my womb. Many fertility clinics do not view embryos as having any moral value. It is important to Steve and I that we find a clinic that will uphold the preciousness of the lives of our embryos and honor our decisions regarding their viability.
The next step for us will be to select a clinic that we would like to work with and then send them our embryo records. They will review the records and then let us know if they will accept them or not. When we find the right clinic, we will determine what their costs are, how many visits are necessary and what our travel costs will be. Then we will estimate how long it will take us to get the money together and plan to travel when we are ready. I am really hoping that we can have the transfer done by Christmas!
Your prayers are appreciated!
Choosing a fertility clinic is a fairly big deal to us because that is where we will go to have the embryo transfer done; they are the people that will handle our embryos in the crucial moments when they are thawed and transferred to my womb. Many fertility clinics do not view embryos as having any moral value. It is important to Steve and I that we find a clinic that will uphold the preciousness of the lives of our embryos and honor our decisions regarding their viability.
The next step for us will be to select a clinic that we would like to work with and then send them our embryo records. They will review the records and then let us know if they will accept them or not. When we find the right clinic, we will determine what their costs are, how many visits are necessary and what our travel costs will be. Then we will estimate how long it will take us to get the money together and plan to travel when we are ready. I am really hoping that we can have the transfer done by Christmas!
Your prayers are appreciated!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
3-2-1-Adoption!
The highlight of my day today was spending 10 quiet minutes in my car waiting for someone. It was so nice to just sit there with nothing to do.....and then I got on the phone and started making appointments for the upcoming week! So much to do and so little time! The 25th of June is coming up quickly and I still need Life Insurance! Really, our Dossier for our adoption consists of so many pieces of paper to show that we are responsible adults that can care for a child; such as Life Insurance, Criminal Record Checks, health statements from our Doctor, Financial Statements and even our Drivers Abstracts. Normally I don't have a file containing all this information in one place, so I have to run around and get all the vital copies to send in so our adoption can go through on the 25th of June as planned.
So exciting to think that in a couple of weeks, we will be the proud parents of two precious Embryos!
So exciting to think that in a couple of weeks, we will be the proud parents of two precious Embryos!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Match Making
Suddenly thing are happening quickly and I am falling behind on updates! We have been looking at Embryo profiles this last month; information about the Donating family like physical description, personality and family dynamics. Also, what they are looking for in an adoptive family. We considered very carefully how many embryos we would like to adopt since we would be adopting all the remaining embryos of the profile we choose. We selected a few profiles that fitted that we felt might be a good match and requested more information. We received pictures of siblings and parents and even a letter from one family telling more about themselves. Steve and I both agreed that one family stood out as the one we felt that we should send our profile to; a family with 2 embryos.
We contacted the Adoption Agency and requested that our profile be sent. Our profile consists of a worksheet containing basic information about our family; race, religion, hobbies, physical description, education, income etc.. Our profile also included a personal letter, outlining who we are as a family and our vision to include new family members into our lives and a collage of family pictures including our home and pets.
It was exciting and to ask a family to consider allowing us to adopt their embryos! It was also very scary to ask strangers choose us, knowing full well that they might decline!
After what seemed like weeks, but was only a few days, we heard news. The family accepted our match proposal! We are all so very excited!! I was teary when I phoned Steve with the news! We are currently working on signing a Match Contract and finalizing Adoption papers! The expected completion date of the Adoption is June 25Th.
It has been a long time coming, but in the foreseeable future, we will be the proud parents of two precious Embryos!
I will write more about the next steps after that in a later blog, but just to give you an idea, we will have to do a lot of travelling to the US to approximately 3 clinic visits before we get to bring the babies home.
To be continued....
We contacted the Adoption Agency and requested that our profile be sent. Our profile consists of a worksheet containing basic information about our family; race, religion, hobbies, physical description, education, income etc.. Our profile also included a personal letter, outlining who we are as a family and our vision to include new family members into our lives and a collage of family pictures including our home and pets.
It was exciting and to ask a family to consider allowing us to adopt their embryos! It was also very scary to ask strangers choose us, knowing full well that they might decline!
After what seemed like weeks, but was only a few days, we heard news. The family accepted our match proposal! We are all so very excited!! I was teary when I phoned Steve with the news! We are currently working on signing a Match Contract and finalizing Adoption papers! The expected completion date of the Adoption is June 25Th.
It has been a long time coming, but in the foreseeable future, we will be the proud parents of two precious Embryos!
I will write more about the next steps after that in a later blog, but just to give you an idea, we will have to do a lot of travelling to the US to approximately 3 clinic visits before we get to bring the babies home.
To be continued....
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Adoption
I have been asked many times why we would choose to adopt embryos when there are so many living breathing children that need families. The short and easy answer to that question is that we are doing what God asked us to do.
There are foster children living in limbo. There are children in Canada and Internationally that are waiting for a family. There are waiting embryos, frozen in space and time. The Bible says that we are to "look after orphans...in their distress" James 1:27 and to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" Proverbs 31:8. I can't tell you how many embryos we will adopt or wether or not we will ever adopt a child that has already been born. I believe God sees them all the same. We will continue to seek wisdom and direction for our family.
Am I saying that People should adopt embryos instead of children already born? No. Am I saying that people should ask God if they should provide a loving family to a child that needs a home? Yes! Am I suggesting that we should redefine what we consider a normal family to include God's mandate to the church to look after orphans? Absolutely! Am I saying that one form of adoption is better than the other? No! Don't get caught up in the petty stuff! Lives can be impacted! We are talking about the kingdom of heaven here!
There are foster children living in limbo. There are children in Canada and Internationally that are waiting for a family. There are waiting embryos, frozen in space and time. The Bible says that we are to "look after orphans...in their distress" James 1:27 and to "speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves" Proverbs 31:8. I can't tell you how many embryos we will adopt or wether or not we will ever adopt a child that has already been born. I believe God sees them all the same. We will continue to seek wisdom and direction for our family.
Am I saying that People should adopt embryos instead of children already born? No. Am I saying that people should ask God if they should provide a loving family to a child that needs a home? Yes! Am I suggesting that we should redefine what we consider a normal family to include God's mandate to the church to look after orphans? Absolutely! Am I saying that one form of adoption is better than the other? No! Don't get caught up in the petty stuff! Lives can be impacted! We are talking about the kingdom of heaven here!
Pictures
This week we moved into a new phase of our Adoption; we received pictures and letters from several embryo donor families. Steve and I both felt connected with the same family, so we will send out our profile as soon as we get our paperwork in. It seems very exciting, yet surreal. At the same time, we are nervous because our profile might not be accepted and that won't be easy! never the less, this is part of the process, so I must be brave!
I know that we have been praying from the beginning that God would bring the right child(ren) into our family. This is the faith factor that I must keep foremost in my mind and not get caught up in expectations; it might not be the first ones, or the second....Lord, give me peace...and patience.
I know that we have been praying from the beginning that God would bring the right child(ren) into our family. This is the faith factor that I must keep foremost in my mind and not get caught up in expectations; it might not be the first ones, or the second....Lord, give me peace...and patience.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Quick Update
I am hard at work getting our paperwork together to send off with our Application to Embryos Alive. I have most of the information together and we are working on getting our "Dear Genetic Parent" letters and family profile together to send out for matching with a donor family. The paperwork is the long and monotonous part of adoption; I am looking forward to prenatal vitamins and maternity clothes! I know this is a necessary step, so I will persevere! We need to get an updated family picture for our adoption file, so hopefully I will be really on the ball and send a copy to all of our family and friends! Cross your fingers! This morning I overheard Zeke and Autumn practicing their "baby songs" to sing to the new baby; so cute! I am glad that we are all looking forward to this together. We have decided to adopt through Embryos Alive in Ohio. We will get our application in to them and the matching process will start right away. We will choose available embryos that we are interested in and our profile will be sent for their family to review. If they choose our file, we will get contracts to sign. If the match is confirmed, we will have two weeks to get in the remaining paperwork for our dossier and any outstanding fees. Once all that is taken care of, the match will be confirmed and we will start the process with a fertility clinic for the transfer. This whole process can take many months....or it could go fairly quickly depending on the match and our financial abilities. I am, of course, optimistic as usual. Maybe we'll have special news by Christmas! (I hoope maybe even sooner...)
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