Doctors Recommendations

Sorry it has been almost a week, I know I said I would post the day of or the day after we got our results. We talked to Dr. Long on Monday morning. Since the negative result we were expecting him to tell us that after looking at the 2 failed cycles he had another protocal that he wanted us to try for IVF # 3. Jarrod was a little weary about doing it again, but I was ready. I thought third time would be the charm. Well.... we talked to him and were suprised to hear him say that he did not recommend us trying again at this point. He said that with our situation that usually gets the best IVF results. He said if it were going to work it would have with cycle 1 or 2. He does not know why the embryos are doing great until day 4 and then they quit growing. Everything LOOKS good, but thats all they can do. The test they usually run on "the boy stuff" they can't do bc they can't get a regular sample from Jrod. He said that he can't even say that its that- it could be my eggs, but they are 5-7 years away from being able to analyze eggs. Right now all they can do is look at them under a microscope and mine look fine. Another thing he said is that it could be due to my stress. My body always seems to take on my stress (when I get really stressed I get neck and back pain which the chiropractor says is due to stress). So that could be another reason why the embyros aren't making it. In other words they really don't know whats happening and they don't have a way to figure it out. His recommendation was to get a second opinion from a reproductive endocrinologist- which are the doctors at the "big city" clinics. Chicago, Boston, NY, Vegas, LA, and even Atlanta are some of our options. I have seen the best results out of the Chicago clinic. I happen to have a free round trip flight from Airtran to anywhere they fly because of a delayed flight when I went to Indy last year so I am trying to talk Jarrod into us making a short vacation out of this:-) He's not totally on board yet, but he's getting there. If not for the free flight i'd agree that we could go to the Atlanta clinic, but since I have it why not make a not so fun trip a little better! If we could go during baseball season he would be all about it since we could catch a MLB game wherever we go. It will have to be after football season though so no baseball. Oh well. we'll see. I have a month before the flight has to be booked. Dr. Long also mentioned getting a "boy stuff" donor and doing IUI's. That was a hard pill to swallow and is definitely something we are not on board with at this point. Doc suggested we just "keep it in our back pocket" as a option. Adoption is not something we are ready for yet either. I just don't understand why God wouldn't let such an amazing man inside and out use his own genetics to have our child. Its not for me to understand because I know God has a reason for us going through this, but wow. That is what just breaks my heart. I respect my awesome husband even more now though bc of the way he is handling this. He is so amazing and humble. He has taken it on stride and is taking this heart break and using it to get even closer to our mighty Savior. We are closer because we are the only ones who can give each other comfort. We are the only ones who know each others pain and emptiness we feel.

On a brighter note...Other than that news we are doing ok. Work has kept me really busy and its officially football season- first game is next week- so Jarrod is going full blast too. We continue to pray and ask for guidance and in the meantime we will enjoy our life together as a married couple and parents to our baby girls Belle and Ellie May- they really do give us so much comfort. They fill the void as much as is possible.
We are excited to be going to the Chris Tomlin concert tonight with friends. The first football game is next week and then college football starts. YAY! Can't wait to watch some AUBURN football!!! Of couse he can't wait to watch bama play- blah blah blah;-)

I'm sure i'll be posting again soon. Until then thank you for the prayers and support!