REST AND RELAXATION

By

 Tuesday, June 1, 2021


Hey folks! It's Ben.
Shelby wanted me to "guest blog" tonight. 


We've had a busy stretch of days in the Curlee household. Shelby finished school on Thursday and had a PD day on Friday. Then, as soon as we possibly could, we left out for Orange Beach. Friday also marked one week doing Lupron shots every night at 9:45. 

Most nights I prepare the shot, then we each administer the shot on alternating nights. I am thankful Shelby feels comfortable enough to let me be involved in this part of our journey. It is hard to adequately put into words how this IVF process feels. One day we are excited and just can't wait for retrieval.  The next day we might wrestle with anxiety over any one of the numerous factors that are under examination by our doctor. 

Our time with family has been a needed encouragement. The Lord in His providence aligned our family vacation perfectly with our IVF calendar. God always knows what we need! Even though we had to leave yesterday afternoon so we could be in Birmingham this morning for Shelby's baseline tests, we were sustained on the trip up and the return swing by knowing our family was waiting on us.  SIDE NOTE: our faith family at LBC continues to be a source of comfort and provision for us. When one of our families at LBC heard that we would have to interrupt our vacation, drive to The Ham, and then drive back, they *graciously* secured a hotel room for us so we could rest comfortably. Words still fail us when we try to express our thankfulness. 

Speaking of Shelby's baselines, our nurse called tonight to give us the update. All is normal and we are proceeding as expected. The nurse told Shelby to stick with our calendar and with the dosages as already prescribed. So, on Friday we will add Menopur and Gonal-F injections to our nightly routine. This is when "production" will really start to ramp up. We go back on Monday for another monitoring visit. We might get a glimpse at how the follicles are growing, but the nurse said things might still look quiet then. After Monday, we will likely begin every-other-day visits for monitoring. Then, as "production" reaches the appropriate levels, we will go in for egg retrieval. The target remains somewhere between June 14-18, so about two weeks from now. 

In the short term, we are resting and relaxing in Orange Beach. We paid our bill in full this morning (see earlier posts to read about God's provision in that area). Now we press on to whatever it is our gracious Lord has in store for us. He is good, gracious, and kind!

Thanks for praying with us. We love you all and we are honored to have you with us as we walk this road! 


Ben



Popular posts from this blog

FET and PIO

By
Image
 Our last update was not the one we wanted to give.  There have been many encouraging developments since then, and we wanted to update you all so you can help us pray.  The IVF nurse, Dawn, called a few days after the embryo update to tell us we could do a frozen embryo transfer (FET) at the end of July. She called later to tell us we would be able to transfer a week before we had been told. We will be transferring one of our embryos around 1:20 PM on July 19th. The hope is that this little embryo will begin to implant into the uterine lining and grow into a successful pregnancy. Many couples who undergo fertility treatments like IVF or IUI choose to adopt a purposefully positive state of mind until the first pregnancy test, so I will be pregnant until proven otherwise (PUPO). After nine days of trying to distract myself, I will go in for a blood test to check for the pregnancy hormone hCG. Higher than normal levels of hCG will confirm that the FET was successful and that I am pregnant
Read more

FINAL EMBRYO COUNT

By
Hello everyone. Ben here. We wanted to give you an update about our IVF journey.  Let's back up a bit... After Monday's retrieval, our doctor called Shelby on Tuesday to tell us that 13 of the 20 eggs fertilized. We were overjoyed! I was in Nashville for the Southern Baptist Convention. Shelby's voice was so full of hope when she called me!  We waited all week on our next update. Yesterday our doctor called during the rain/power outage. In the weirdest turn of events yet, I was taking a shower in the rain because our water ran out. That's living on a well for you. Shelby's face said it all- what a strange way to hear this news! Our doctor told us that 6 of the 13 did not make it. Of the 7 remaining, one looked great and the other 6 were still developing. She promised us that she'd call back today with more information. She called about an hour ago as I write this.  We have two embryos in the freezer. One is graded "fair" and one is graded "poor.&q
Read more

FIRST BLOG POST

By
Well, it's finally happened, people. We started a blog. This should be fun! I'm not always great at expressing myself with spoken words. As I often say, I'm really bad at telling stories. I hope you enjoy following along with Ben and me. We have a crazy, hectic, beautiful life.
Read more