This time tomorrow...

By this time tomorrow I will officially be PUPO! (Pregnant Until Proven Otherwise).

Our embryo transfer is scheduled for 8:30 AM on Thursday, November 19.

People keep asking how I feel and it's a hard question to answer. At any given moment, I'm feeling a variety of "feels." And depending on the moment some are stronger than others... I'm mostly excited, and definitely nervous. (Mostly nervous about peeing on Dr. Nelson during the procedure! They want my bladder super full and then the nurse presses down on my stomach to "open things up" or something... it's definitely a precarious situation for him to be in...)

But there's also moments of despair, "I just know this isn't going to work"; and sometimes even indifference, "whatever, who even cares if we have kids or not?"; and sometimes even panic, "I'm not ready to be a parent, I'm still just a kid myself!" But I think those moments tend to come more when I'm failing to trust in God and am relying on my own self-preservation methods instead.

Approaching this second transfer, we've been more purposeful about guarding our hearts. I was SO optimistic last time and it just made so much sense to us that God would allow us to get pregnant on our first try.  And I still think it's good to be excited and to ask God for very specific things, and we firmly believe that God is 100% capable of giving us a successful pregnancy.  But more specifically, we're praying for contentment whatever our circumstances.

Having walked through all this once before has prepared us to enter this second transfer with a little more caution and perspective.  Last time I was so wrapped up in EVERYTHING, it kind of took over my life. I was nervous about what I was eating, how much sleep I was getting, if I should be doing acupuncture, and if I was better off with the raspberry leaf pills or the tea... plus a myriad of other worries. And guess what - it didn't work! And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? (Matt 6:27) If I can't add a single hour to my life by worrying, I'm surely not going to be able to add a living human to my life!  But God has been SO gracious in the midst of my shortcomings.  Instead of just giving up on me and saying, "well, Gabby's a lost cause," He's continued to gently reveal to me the areas in my heart where I'm failing to fully trust Him, and has given me a second chance to do things better.

So yes, I am excited! I really want it to work! But this time around, instead of thinking about pregnancy symptoms, nursery decor and parenting methods, we're mostly focusing on just being still and knowing that God is our refuge and our fortress, and that He will be exalted regardless of what that pregnancy test says.

I can't thank everyone enough for their prayers and encouraging words.  Every time someone tells us that they've been praying, my heart just feels so full.  We are so grateful for God's church and the love we've felt. Thank you!

1 year blog-iversary

It's hard to believe that it's already been a full year since starting this blog and embarking on our journey through embryo adoption!

In many ways this year has gone really quickly, but then when I think about all of the things we've experienced (applications, background checks, interviews, matching process, hormone treatments, embryo transfer, 2-week wait, sad news, more waiting, more hormone treatments) it's kind of crazy that it's only been a year.

I would characterize this year, overall, as really good.  Donny and I have both grown closer together and closer to the Lord through this process.  We've had to make a lot of tough decisions, we've had to write some really big checks, and we've been forced to really think hard about our future - all of which has really helped us mature and just grow as people.

We've had a lot of fun this year too! Of course we would have loved to have a baby a long time ago - but this extended time of just Donny and Gabby has been just downright fun!  Since last November I've lost track of the times we've been to Disneyland, we've been to Ducks games, concerts, stayed out late, slept in and we even went to Disney World! We're definitely happy to lose that flexibility and freedom when it means we've added another little human...but I'm so glad God gave those memories in the meantime.

This year also had the obvious low points.  Did I ever tell the story about Donny passing out cold when the doctor's office messed up his blood draw by not finding his vein and then spilling blood in front of him?  It was terrifying (for me) and was definitely a low point (that at least we can laugh at now).  Losing one of our precious embryos in the thaw was something we knew was very possible, but was still hard to hear. Waking up one morning during the two-week wait and finding out that I was bleeding was scary and sad. And of course, the hardest day of the year, April 22 - the phone call telling us we weren't pregnant.

Ultimately, although a lot of this year looked very different than I might have imagined or would have planned it (had I been in control) - it's exactly how God wanted our year to look, and for that reason, I wouldn't change anything.

We're prepping my body for another transfer and are praying that year two of this blog will be full of pregnancy updates! But if that's not the case, if we hit November 6, 2016 and we still don't have a child, I know I can still say that it had been a good year because our God is good and our God is in control and our God promises contentment when we find our peace in Him.

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3 ESV)