Guess whhhaaattttttt!?!?!

Remember that new protocol I am on? The one CCRM – Minneapolis cleverly concocted based on our past cycles and their brilliancy? Well, I am THRILLED to share that its working wonderfully. So wonderfully in fact, that our transfer date has been moved up!

YES!!!

So that October 3^rd date that has been burned into your brain? Erase that. Update your calendars my friends …. Our new date is …

THIS MONDAY! YES! September 26^th!

Whoa baby! (Or babies!)

We got the call this afternoon that everything is looking perfect and things are being escalated because this typically faulty body of mine, is FINALLY doing what it’s supposed to do, ahead of schedule at that!

*CUE THE TROMBONES! PRAISE HANDS!*

Friends, GOD IS JUST SO GOOD! Despite the date change, everything has lined up perfectly, from our acupuncturist working us in to her schedule, to my meds being ordered and ready to change up. These prayers are being answered one by one! Prayers we didn’t even know to lift up. Friends, we can’t thank you enough for your prayers.

So, going into our transfer next week, we would love to share some specific prayer requests with you. We are calling it them TOP FIVE.

1 – that the transportation of our embryos tomorrow (Wednesday – Thursday) would go smoothly. We want these precious babies of ours to arrive safely and will feel incredibly relieved once they are at our clinic.

2 – that the new medications work, as we are adding in new ones starting tomorrow. And specifically, that my lining, estradiol and progesterone will be perfectly where God wants it to be so that pregnancy is possible and sustainable;

3 – that our embryos would thaw perfectly on Monday morning. (We won’t find out their status until we arrive to the clinic.)

4 – that the transfer goes well on Monday, exactly according to God’s will. Our exact transfer time is 11:30 am CST. (If you want to make a quick note of that on your calendar, feel free! J). Also, that the hands of our embryologist, doctor, and nurses would be blessed and allow for the transfer to be as smooth and pain-free as possible. (I will be completely alert during transfer, thanks to a mighty pill called Valium, which relaxes the uterus during transfer but allows me to be present.)

and finally,

5 – that our hearts would be filled with joy, peace, encouragement, hope, and trust as we step into this emotionally overwhelming, but exciting path again. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious about the days to follow post transfer and am praying hard that we can walk away with excitement and hope.

I wrote these words in 2013 and reflect back on them tonight:

I am constantly re-reminded of the words in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT) “Always be joyful. Always keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ.” I am sure we can all reflect back on the troubles in life, the hardships and the frustrations. But the words of Christ have never been more true – Always be joyful. It can seem so hard to find that joy sometimes but I learn and experience more and more each day that our joy is not to be rooted in our wants or desires, our successes and our victories. They are simply to be rooted in Him. Joyful always. No particular circumstances required.

I read this quote from a book tonight: “Today we suffer. Today we don’t understand….Someday all the scattered, broken pieces will fall into place, and we will suddenly understand the hand of God has been upon us all the time. All the tragedy – all the darkness – will instantly be swallowed up by triumph. What a perfect ending to our imperfect stories!”

I love that. He wipes every tear from our eyes, He holds us so close. I have to choose to believe that if I knew everything He knew, that I would choose this exact same journey for us. We are more than conquers in Christ Jesus.

Tonight we are thanking Him for His blessings in this cycle so far and are choosing joy for whatever lies ahead. We pray, that this is our time, a time when all the broken pieces fall into place and we see the darkness swallowed up by triumph. Ultimately, He is the one who writes our stories and can I be honest friends? I am so very thankful He is the author and not me. His endings are always better.

If you are looking for a GREAT message on waiting and the timing of answered prayers, specifically wondering why certain doors open and others feel closed, I encourage you to listen to this message our pastor gave last weekend. My heart was incredibly encouraged by the reminder that God is a BIG PICTURE God. We look in front and all we see is the traffic jam, but God has the helicopter watching over the city, seeing it all. We can trust Him. (I am preaching to myself here because, boy, the nerves are there!)

We are so blessed to call you our friends and supporters. He has placed you in our lives for a reason and we are ever so thankful for that! I will do my best to keep you posted in the coming days!!

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PS –

1) Despite the change in dates, I am still heading to San Francisco on Thursday for the FertilityIQ Basecamp! If you haven’t read up on it yet, click here to do so! I have to say – the agenda is PHENOMENAL! A few trip highlights ahead:

• Talking about what you’ve shared for what you would like to see more support with, specifically affordability, finding support groups and getting reliable information.
• Meeting with and touring Instagram to discuss building online communities. (Shout out to my TTC Sisters!!!! Whoop whoop!)
• Meeting with Stanford Medicine, a top RE and Urologist, to look at and discuss the GREAT topics you have asked about, like unexplained infertility, technology progression, lifestyle and BMI, recurrent pregnancy loss, male factor infertility, PCOS and endometriosis.
• Meeting with a RESOLVE Support Group therapist to talk about how infertility affects couples and how you can be supported in the challenges.
• Meeting with Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine to learn about saving money when getting ready for and going through treatment (YES!).
• How to navigate 3rd party reproduction with the founder of Donor Concierge.

and then …

• Working on getting ALL this information back out to you – to offer you support, knowledge and insight!

Want to follow along? Keep an eye on my Instagram page @chels819 for updates and info about some fun Facebook Live activities and also, choosing a $150 Amazon gift card winner based on the survey you filled out! (Not yet entered? Click here to do so!)

2) The TTC Mug Exchange closes at 11:59 CST TONIGHT. (No late entries allowed). I wasn’t planning on doing this during my transfer week so I am going to work HARD to get as much ready as possible. I am hoping the timeline still will fall as planned on when you will receive your partners (9/28). If it doesn’t, I will let you know immediately!