Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Be Specific In What You Ask...

I know I'm behind, behind, behind in keeping up with pictures and updates for Lukealicious.

Seriously, though...it's because I am just enjoying every second with him and in those few minutes here and there during the day that he's napping or gobbling up some goodies in his high chair, I am trying to at least keep up with the unholy amount of dog hair that piles up on the floor each day. I will sweep, Swiffer, vacuum (with my NEW Dyson 35 Slim Digital—not impressed) and swiffer again, and yet, that boy crawls around for 5 minutes and he's wearing enough fur to build a new dog.

I digress.

ANYWAY...we also have been pretty busy doing some things...like testing to see whether or not we were eligible for Shady Grove's Shared Risk program again. It's been a few months worth of preparation—from weaning Luke (which really and truly was so easy in the big scheme of things) to hoping my body falls into semi-regular cycles (TOTALLY. TOTALLY did. On its own. Crazy.) to just managing when/where/how to have the testing done...it's been a process.

A super duper easy process, though.

Yep, easy. Very easy. Like I said, Luke practically weaned himself. My body became so normal so quickly and surprisingly. The day I needed to have testing done just.so.happened to be the day after Thanksgiving and we were ever so conveniently about 30 minutes away from Shady Grove. We walked into the office, had bloodwork done and then an ultrasound. My ultrasound was to determine how many antral follicles I had and they found 22. Not too shabby for a gal my age, and the tech said not too shabby for a gal in her 20s!

A few days later, on Matthew's birthday, my nurse called and told me the preliminary blood work was fabulous. FSH was 7.5, estrogen was 45, LH was 10...just all in all, super bloodwork, again for someone my age. She (knowing it was Matthew's birthday) said, "Maybe he decided to let you know on his birthday he has a brother or sister up there waiting to come down to you."

Gulp.

The only thing we've been waiting on is the Ovarian Assessment Score. It's new for me in the IVF cycling, and was the determining factor as to whether or not we'd be accepted into Shared Risk. We've decided to go with Shared Risk again because we felt like as much as Shady Grove loves us (and we love them!), they ARE a business. If they don't feel like I'm going to be somewhat profitable for both their numbers and pocketbooks, they are not going to accept me. In my eyes, I'd rather have them say, "Sorry, Lori...not saying you can't get pregnant again, just saying we aren't that confident in it...and it may take 3 or 4 tries at that." because John and I decided that if that was the case, we'd look into other options that we were more than ok with.

Sooo....driving down 95 yesterday and flipping through the channels, I came across Focal Point and the pastor was talking about prayer. He was basically saying that God wants us to be specific...not just, "Thanks for a good day, God," or "God, please fix this," but really specific..."Thanks for that awesome conversation I got to have at lunch today," or "God, please open the job that I really feel I'd fit well in up for me."

I am a bit embarrassed to say this, but hearing that, I rather flippantly said, out loud, "Ok, God...how's this? I'd like a baby brother or sister. I'd LOVE a healthy and happy baby brother or sister for Matthew and Luke."

Would you believe that in fewer than 10 minutes, my nurse called me and told me my score had come back (not expecting to hear from her that day) and it was GOOD?! It was a 13, which was the highest score she's seen!!! The score ranges are Excellent, Good, Fair and Poor and she said the only thing that dragged me down was my age (gosh darnit!). I was expecting Fair, but really dreaming of Good...and there it was!

(Ummm...did I also mention the little prism of rainbow Mom and I saw in the sky the day before as we were just driving and there really was no reason for a rainbow to be out but perhaps a lovely little sign of things to come?)

Lesson learned in specificity.

And get this...we are moving FAST! In about a week and a half or so, I'll start birth control. Two weeks later, the lupron. About two weeks later, the hormones....we are looking at a retrieval and transfer sometime in January/February.

Crazy.

John, of course, will probably be gone, but that's ok. We can work around that, ha ha.

That's some of the goings on of late in a nutshell.

We are going to try and add a new little brother or sister to our family.

And seriously...look at this boy....this amazing, fun, fabulous, precious little boy....



Picture his brother...God gives us some pretty incredible babies.

How could we not at least ask him for one more? I know when pregnant with Luke, I prayed so many grateful prayers but ones that always included, "If you just let me bring him home and have him healthy, I'll never ask for another thing again," and here I am, asking for one more thing.

But I'm being specific. We would so, so, so cherish another baby.

And that's where the specificity ends. Gender doesn't matter!

If you pray, and pray for us, please pray for these next several weeks. They hold the potential for so much.
Pray for us to accept whatever they bring with open and grateful hearts and to remember that God works all things for our good.

17 comments:

  1. Thanks for the reminder. I know I certainly needed to read this today. I'll send some 'specific' prayers up with your name on them.

    And how in the world are our January boys about to be O-N-E?

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  2. awe Lori! what wonderful news! I will pray for you all!! xoxoxo

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  3. So awesome Lori!
    Absolutely praying!!!

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  4. As Jonah would say, "thuuumbs up!" I can't believe how awesome our God is sometimes ... I'll always be praying! Mwah! xoxoxo

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  5. Didn't mean that He's awesome sometimes, but that sometimes I can't believe it and then am reminded by things like this. Doh.

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  6. I just blogged about prayer and being grateful for all blessing big or small! Then I read your post and things are sinking in! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Thankyou.

    I will make sure I am specific now :)

    Oh, and praying, begging, hoping and wishing for a little sibling for your boys... x

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  8. Yipee Lori! this is fantastic news!! Will be hopin and prayin :)

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  9. Very specific prayers coming your way!

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  10. Thrilled to hear this, Lori! I will pray for you, John, Luke, and Matthew.

    I'll try to call you sometime soon. My mom lives about 15 minutes from Rockville and I know she would be so thrilled to host you and Luke if you need a place to stay. Her whole basement is fitted for a baby (bedroom, bathroom, playroom, pack 'n play). You would have your own private entrance and a ton of space. Consider it!

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  11. Yep, every day I wake up and no matter the messes, I look at my Lovie and say "thank you GOD"! Thank you for the struggles, thank you for the trying times and thank you for giving me my boy, my sweet, sweet, gift. As you say, gender matters not....

    I'm trying to wrap my head around where we are with heading back to the "fertility guys" Time will tell I guess....but for a gal my age, I need to seriously be looking in that direction, or assessing our options ;)

    Much Love sweetest friend! Give that little Lukalicious a big snuggle for me. And you know you are always, always in my prayers :)

    xxx

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  12. you know i've already been praying. you know i will continue to pray. i remember His words to me, "her CHILDREN will call her blessed." i know you already have CHILDREN, :) but one more here on earth is specifically ;) what i'm praying for! all the while prayerfully thanking Him for both of your boys.

    (((((((hugs))))))))) and merry christmas.

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  13. I love this! Keeping you in my prayers *hugs*

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  14. Lori I owe you an email.. but just wanted to send SO much love and light your way about the program! I can't believe how fast this is all happening.. and I could not be more excited for you!!!
    XOXOXO!!!!!

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  15. I think it's a great idea to be specific in our prayers! Im gonna do more of that. :)

    We have a big dog and can get lots of hair around and we did til we bought a Kirby. It has cut down SO much on the dog hair and I don't have to dust as much either! Score!

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  16. (I'm a tad behind in my blog reading). So happy to hear about your plans to add to your family and wishing you the very best :)

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