In Other News....

We are still chugging along in this cycle.  It's not as fabulous as in January, but oh-so-much-better than last month.  It's better than Matthew's and Luke's cycle, though probably not retrieving as many eggs as I did in either of those cycles.

That's ok.  It's quality over quantity and hopefully, the adjustments for extra maturity of the eggs will make a difference in the quality.  I went in Saturday and there were 4 follicles that were a decent size and dominant still and thirteen smaller ones.  My estrogen that day was 297, which is WAY better than Matthew's was on that cycle day (102) and Luke's (don't remember, but it was around 100ish).  As I predicted, my medicines were upped a bit (not all the way maxed yet, though!) and today was a recheck.

Much nicer.  About 8-10 follicles with promise; my estrogen was 635 and SO much better than at this point in Matthew's and Luke's cycles—with Matthew, it was 308 and with Luke, it was 321.  With Trey, it was 1282 (CRAZY) so 635 is a nice medium.  All seems well, and we are on target for a Saturday or Sunday retrieval and a transfer 3-5 days later.  I feel good about it all.

The other news, which has sort of been rumbling around for awhile, is that John will be switching the squadron with which he is working, and will be going out with a different squadron soon.  Much sooner than we've been planning.  I've never been one to worry about people knowing he was gone because I am A)naive and B) usually lived on base or in a neighborhood I felt very safe in.

I still am not worried about people knowing he is deploying, but in the interest of security for ALL, I will never publicly disclose anything about what he does or where he is.

While ALL who deploy put themselves in harm's way, suffice it to say that where he's going has not been pretty lately.  AT ALL.  Marines have been killed and are dying pretty regularly, and it's just so sad.  The nice part about him leaving earlier than expected is that if this cycle works, and we should be bringing another baby home sometime in the next year, he will hopefully be home not too long after that happens.  We also are planning on taking Luke to Disney a bit earlier than we thought.  We've always wavered about spending that crazy amount of money to take a child at an age that he may be able to get more out of it than when he's Luke's age, but frankly...we live to minimize regrets.  Going to Disney before John leaves works with that plan.

Thankful in advance for your prayers for us and all service members everywhere.