What a nice guy!

You know you have stayed at a hotel too much when the man at the check-in desk recognizes you with each new visit. Chris and I went to check in at our hotel and the man remembered me and asked how all the procedures were going, then presented us with cookies and drinks since we were valued customers. He is a very nice guy and I hope he has more cookies when we return Houston on June 6th.

Here we go again

Today when Chris gets home from working the Lake for Memorial Day weekend, we will be headed back to Houston for yet another blood test. It is such a long drive for the 10 minutes it will take for them to draw blood and send us on our way. However, since we are in the study, they won't let us have this done anywhere else. So it's off we go again and we will return tomorrow with bells on.

I'm Back and Better Than Ever

Today was my first full day back at school since earlier this week Mom and I took another trip to Houston for a Dr. visit. Boy, I forgot how quickly those kids could wear me out. I'm exhausted. My return to school was short lived, as next week I have another doctors appointment in Houston on Tuesday. After that there are only two more days of school left until summer vacation. I think I will probably make it to the end.

Upon threat of death!

I was supposed to go back to work on Thursday and Friday, however, after a phone call to my boss on Wednesday, I decided to stay at home. My wonderful boss said that she would kick me out and thoroughly embarrass me if I showed my face around school. She doesn't want the students to stress me out or she doesn't want me to over exert myself. I guess that means more quality time to spend at home. It's getting old and I am about to go stir crazy!

Playing Catch Up

Today, while stuck on bed rest, I have managed to get the following done:

*went through two and a half weeks of mail and paid bills
* entered all of my grades into the online grade book at school
*reported failures to my principal
*split my classes into new groups for next year
*napped
*watched a few episodes of my favorite shows
*visited with friends and family who stopped by
* drove my husband crazy with "bring me this" and "please put this over there"
* read some of my new book

I managed to do all of that and I am still bored out of my mind.

Day 18- The End (for now)

Today our embryos were implanted, and now all we can do is say our prayers and hope for the best. Tomorrow after Chris finishes loading all of our things into the truck and making me a pallet in the backseat, we will finally go home. I'm so ready. While it has been fun and we have had a blast on our "vacation," it is time to return back to the real world (for a short time anyway, Mom and I will come back in one week for blood test).

Please stay tuned to the blog, though, while post might not come on a daily basis, I will still try to keep it updated.

Day 17

Today was pretty slow. We made a trip to Barnes and Nobles for reading material, and reorganized the truck for the ride home. If we plan on fitting all of our stuff in there and still lay the back seats down so that I can still be on "bed rest" on the way home, it definitely needed some work. I can't really trust Chris to do it the way I want it done once I'm bed ridden.

Tomorrow is the big day, we have the implantation at 3:oo. Please keep us in your prayers.

Day 16- Caution you may get splashed

When you read the words "Caution- You may get splashed on this ride" what do you think? I see a small splash similar to that of a super soaker water gun. Well I'm here to tell you that I was wrong. Chris and I went on a speed boat ride today. It was a huge boat that probably seats about 70 people. Thinking that we would get just a mere splash we went just before we planned to eat supper. I wish I had some after pictures, but when we walked off of the boat we were both SOAKED from head to toe. Chris even claimed that he had to pull the fish out of the pockets of his shorts.

Needless to say, we couldn't go to supper looking like that, so after a quick trip back to the hotel, to shower and change into dry clothes, we went to eat at a Cajun Seafood house. As the pictures can tell, Chris thoroughly enjoyed his 5+ pounds of crawfish.

The embryologist let us know today that we now have 8- eight celled embryos and 2- four celled embryos. They are all growing right on schedule and everything looks great.

Day 15

Today the embryologist called and said that our embryos have split into more cells. Of the ten that we have, we have 8-four celled embryos and 2- two cell embryos. The doctor said that this is very normal and all of the embryos look excellent.

Chris and I went to Bass Pro Shop today, and surprisingly we walked out of that store with nothing, we didn't buy a single thing! We also went to ride on the bumper boats down the street, that was fun and my first time to drive a boat of any kind. Tonight we went bowling and came to the harsh realization that we both "stink."

Day 14

Well, the call from the embryologist reported good news today. Of the 11 mature eggs, 10 have fertilized and become embryos. We will have them implanted on Mother's Day Sunday (that's got to be a good sign...right?). We are pretty excited and hopeful.

This afternoon we ate at the Saltgrass Steak house and Chris found the boat of his dreams. It will have to stay in his dreams because we will never be able to afford a boat like that, but the pictures are fun!

Day 13- Surgery

Bright and early this morning I had surgery to retrieve the eggs. I don't remember anything I just recall thinking that it went really quickly. I got back to the hotel room and slept off and on all day. My tummy feels really sore and it hurts to walk or sit up, but I'm sure that will go away soon.

The doctor said that they retrieved 14 follicles and 11 of those were mature and ready for the next step. I think that sounds like a good number, but I don't exactly know what the average is.

All in all I think it went well, and we will find out more tomorrow at our next Dr. appointment.

Day 12- but it feels like day 436

Wow, we have been in Houston a really long time and I miss my home and especially my own bed. Today, Chris's parents returned to San Saba, and once again it is Chris and I alone. This afternoon we went to Main Event Entertainment and played arcade games, laser tag, black light putt putt and black light bowling.



Tomorrow at 5:15 I will go in for surgery. I'm a little bit nervous, seeing as I haven't had a surgery since I was in 1st grade when they put tubes in my ears. I'm sure it will go fine and it is in the safety of God's hands. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Day 11- The mighty fishermen return

Chris and his dad came back today exhausted and smelling like fish. They had lots of fun, caught plenty of fish, and were two of the four men on the boat who did not throw up. I think all together it was a good trip.

I had a doctors appointment at 6:30 this morning. Everything looks fine, and we will have the retrieval on Tuesday morning at 5:15. I balked when I heard the time of the retrieval and asked the nurse if the doctor would be awake enough to preform surgery at that early time. She said that I wasn't even the first surgery patient of the day. Boy, they start early around here.

Day 10

I went to the doctor today and got the chance to see the follicles on the ultrasound machine. It was pretty neat and there were lots of eggs. The doctor wants them to grow a little more so... as of now the retrieval is set for Tuesday. My hormone levels (which have been really low) decided that they like the new dosage in medicine and were WAY up where they needed to be.

This afternoon, Kathy and I went to see Katie (Chris's youngest sister) preform in a rodeo in Wharton. She did good and got 2nd in the Barrels.

Day 9- Chris went fishing

Today Chris and his dad left for Port Aransas to go deep sea fishing with a group of people from Iraan. His mom and I had a fun day of shopping and went to see Made of Honor at the Star Grill Cinema. It was a fun day and I hope the guys are having as much fun as we are.

Kathy managed to give me all three shots today without tears on either of our parts. There are not any bruises either.

Day 8

Today Chris and I took some time out to do some laundry. Pretty Exciting, right!

We also managed to take some time to go to play Putt Putt golf. It was so much fun, but I realized that I might not be the person you would want as a golfing partner. Chris won hands down, but I did surprise him and make 3 hole in ones.