All I Want for Christmas

Our transfer date is set for 12-12, TEN DAYS AWAY! Katie had her lining check and blood work today and the technician and our IVF nurse both described her lining as BEAUTIFUL! We have a tri-layer 8mm and estrogen was in range so there is nothing left to do except transfer a beautiful baby! Well there may actually be some more shots in there of course. Poor girl has been on shots now for literally half of this year. :( Praying so hard that everything will be all worth her huge efforts!

She should be able to start poas before Christmas so it will be good to know either way before the holiday. Santa can skip me this year because there is really only one thing I want: to add the second tiny stocking above our mantle that we bought so many years ago when we began the IVF process ourselves. We bought two because we knew there could be a high likelihood of twins. There is now one hanging and it just looks so lonely without its other friend. Santa (umm really JESUS) please make our mantle and our family complete. 

No matter what happens though, God truly has given us a wonderful life with our sweet baby Graham Bradley and the best gift ever, Jesus Christ His only son. Merry Christmas friends.

Love, Science and Pineapples: Sweet Sibling

Why are we wearing and eating pineapples you ask? Well there is a theory in the infertility world that eating pineapple core can help with implantation of the embryo and since Katie had her last lining check/ estradiol draw this morning we thought we'd get in the baby making spirit a bit early! Well not sure if it was the food, shirt or the socks but look at this!!!!

We were so afraid her lining would be too thick since it was thicker than they would like at her baseline appointment but it was a gorgeous tri-layer 13.3, a perfect home for our next little embryo to snuggle in for 9 months. The estrogen level was over 900 so again everything is completely ready this time around for baby Davis the sequel. We are praising Jesus over here and so thankful that we waited until the conditions were just right. The rest is up to God of course but we also know prayer changes things so we are asking for your's for JULY 8th at 11:00 eastern. This baby is already so precious to us and we want nothing more than to make Graham a big brother. He said he's ready!

Baseline check

 Katie had her baseline appointment yesterday.  Estrogen was nice and low just like they wanted but her lining looked as if it was already ready for the embryo! 🥰 Our nurse said it was still OK and she can begin the estrogen shots this week. Next appointment is July 1 to recheck everything again. Will keep you updated.

Delayed for a Bit

Unfortunately the lower estrogen level was a sign of things to come. Katie has to restart meds with a different type of estrogen to see if that will do the trick. She will stay on Lupron for now and do a baseline ultrasound and bloodwork in two weeks. While it is disappointing of course, we want the best possible place for baby to grow so waiting a little longer to make that happen is totally fine. Nothing is predictable in the infertility world and this is just a small bump in the road to a sibling. We will find our way to you just as we did to your big brother!

Making Baby Davis the Sequel/ Graham is 11 Months!

Our sweet boy is 11 months today. I have an equal amount of pride and sadness when I think about that in only one month Graham will be a year old. He has come so far in the last few months with his gross motor skills. He can army crawl quicker than you can run to keep him away from cords, pull up on his knees and even crawled 4 steps just today! He loves balls, music, pushing buttons, reading books, repeating words and sounds and still thankfully LOVES to sleep. We have never felt more blessed in our lives. The 25th is a big day in the Davis family. Just a month ago to the day we were at the fertility clinic with our gestational carrier, Katie, to see if she can help make Graham a big brother soon! Everything went perfectly at her med screening and our doctor said we could begin meds with her next cycle. Wouldn't you know that she started her meds today on the 25th! 

Getting a Graham fix at my mom's house before our appointment

Katie and me at NFC for her med screening. The boys were here too. 

So Katie will be on birth control pills, Lupron, Estrogen and Progesterone and then the transfer will be the week of June 10! Please pray that this little one will survive the thaw and snuggle in tight for 9 months. If it takes then the due date will be in late February so go ahead and pray for our sanity as we will have two kids under 2 for a few months! haha!!! Seriously, we are ready for the challenge and can't think of a better reason to be super tired. 

Katie's friend Heather accepting the meds for her until she could pick them up today!

Got 'em!

Thank you Katie. Ugh that's a lot of needles

Today's menu

We will keep you updated of course, whether it sticks or not. I have been open about our journey for 10 years and so I owe it to this little one to do the same for him/her. No matter what happens he/she will always know they were loved from the start. <3

Graham had his first Easter! After the Easter bunny visited him, he went to church with us and his Gran Randall then met his Davis family at Calhoun's for lunch. It was a fabulous day!

Here he is meeting a few of his recent gross motor milestones. Next up, first birthday!!!!!

Happy 11 month birthday!

This one just because he's a doll

Pulls up on his knees

Can push up from belly now

Crawled four steps!!!

Let's Get This Baby Started!

I've been here six times before. Using the pills and shots to manipulate your cycle into becoming ready to receive a precious little embryo. It's not for the faint of heart and the fact that someone I've only met once is willing to go through this entire process for us is so humbling. Katie knows how I love to document everything so she has been so great to send me pictures so I can be a part of this every step of the way. So here is a picture calendar of our last few months preparing for Baby Davis! Please be in prayer that this baby will stick in September and met us all in May 2018.

 Prescriptions and medication calendar. 

NFC gave this to us the day of medical screening. 

 Birth control pills and antibiotics started on July 20, 2017.

 Medication delivery on August 1, 2017! 

Lupron, Estogen patches and Progesterone in Oil

 Lupron shots started on August 2, 2017.

 Kids pretending to be scared of the needle! haha!!!!

 First shot completed! Didn't hurt a bit!

 First lining check and blood work on August 15, 2017. Estrodiol is 38.5 which is perfect! 

Had to be under 75. Start estrogen patches. 

 Perfect uterus and lining to get ready for our sweet child. <3

 Second lining check and blood work on August 28, 2017. 

Pineapple core is believed to help embryos implant. 

There was even a newborn who came in for a checkup that was 

wrapped in a pineapple blanket because she was an IVF baby! 

We took this as a great sign of things to come for us. 

 Sweet little girls went with their mom for blood work. 

Someone asked if Katie is ready for another one but Evelyn set her straight!

They were so good in the waiting room that they earned a donut as a treat. 

Evelyn said, "I just love blood draw day!" 

So we don't have the blood test results yet but apparently we don't need them! 

Katie's lining check was 10.4 today (had to be at least 7) 

and is triple striped which is what you want. SOOOOO, the transfer date is......

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2017!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for all your prayers throughout this process. Everything has gone like clockwork and I know it's because of the prayers of God's people and the willingness of sweet people to put themselves before others. I will praise God for this journey, even if this isn't the transfer that takes. 

I leave you with an IVF calculator that hopefully will come true soon. Beta day is September 19 but we will know before then because of hpts of course. Please pray this sweet baby sticks and stays with Katie for 9 months until he/she comes home to our family. Love you all!

Transfer Date!

Things are moving right along with our surrogacy journey! When we started this process, I imagined time would creep very slowly but luckily everything has gone perfectly and quickly and I owe all of that to the Lord! He has made this process not only easy but fun and I am so thankful that this is the path He chose to make our family.

Since I last posted, Katie had a saline ultrasound of her uterus to make sure there weren't any polyps or fibroids and of course that test came back fine. We contacted lawyers for us both and the contract is completed. We are just waiting on the final draft (even though we didn't change anything from the first draft) so that we can sign and notarize.

She is now taking birth control pills and antibiotics. She will take Lupron shots at the beginning of August then she'll have a suppression check in the middle of August to see if the birth control and Lupron have shut down her own system. She will then begin estrogen patches and progesterone shots to help get her lining ready to implant this little one! So we are looking at a transfer date somewhere around September 5. We will know the exact date after her last lining check and blood work which should be on August 28.

I plan on sharing pictures once she starts her shots to document every step of this baby's journey to life. Please say a prayer that she will be able to do the shots with ease and that God will continue to bless us all on this path. It seems like He chooses to make things easy when you are in His will. And I know that we are.

Transfer Success

Today we transferred two beautiful embabies! We had four donated frozen embryos from a very generous, loving couple who had already completed their family with two sons. The embryologist thawed the first straw and they both made it just fine so we still have the other two to use later. I am praying we won't need to use those until we are ready for a sibling. And what really excites me is if we get at least two babies out of these four, they will be actual genetic siblings and have that biological tie to one another. So exciting!!!!!And who knows? We might just get genetic siblings out of this round by getting twins. A girl can dream so I'm going to spend this next week doing just that.

BFN and Why I Haven't Told You About It Yet

Sorry that it has taken me so long to keep you in the loop. I've been dealing with some major personal problems unrelated to infertility and that has taken precedence over anything else. Don't worry, I'm ok and my husband and family are fine. I'm seeing a therapist to help me deal with everything but let's just say it has shaken my world. The good news is this particular situation has made me very thankful for everything God has given me. No, He hasn't chosen to make me a mother but He has given me a loving husband, wonderful family, a job that I love and so much more. I am trying to use a terrible situation to see how good He is to me. I don't think I will ever take the "whoa is me" approach to infertility again.

So anyway..... I tested on 12dp5dt and got a BFN so I knew I was out. I think I tested one more time a few days later but I really don't remember since that is around the time I received the terrible news I wrote about earlier. Regardless, it didn't work. I started my period on the day of the beta so I never went to get it done. I didn't want to put myself through that with everything else I was dealing with.

I called my RE the day I started (June 24) and they said to discontinue the Estrace then start back on the Estrace on Friday (June 27) for my next cycle. We have 4 donated embryos so the plan is to check my E2 and P4 levels on July 8 and if all looks good the ultrasound will be on July 14th with the transfer on the 15th. We are thawing out 1 straw of 2 embryos and if they both make it we will transfer those 2 and keep the other 2 frozen to save for later. If this actually works then we will have 2 for a sibling. If it doesn't work (and let's all be honest, it probably won't with my history), then we will have another shot.

So that's the plan. I am excited because donated embryos are new to us and might just be what makes this work. I'll try to do better about keeping you guys updated now that I'm doing a little better. After the new has worn off  I may even write about what I'm going through. I'm just not ready yet.

FET in Cincy

I am going to document this right now in case this is the one that actually sticks! Some of this probably won't interest everyone but I want to savor every moment of this process.


We left on Sunday, June 8th, to travel to Lexington to stay with my good friend Meghan. She always generously offers her fully finished basement to us anytime we are making our trek North! Unfortunately we got there so late that we didn't get to visit with her and just went straight to bed. I woke up the next morning and went upstairs to hug and talk for about 10 minutes. She wished us luck and prayers and we were on our way to Cincinnati for my scan to check my lining.

When we arrived in the parking lot, I saw this on the back of someone's car!

For those of you who aren't aware, Grant is the name of our first baby. I got pregnant the first month we were trying and miscarried shortly after at 6 weeks. Even though we miscarried so early and of course didn't know the sex, we figured it was probably a boy since the Davis side is boy-heavy. Grant will always be our first baby. Back then we were so naive, never thinking I would miscarry but even when I did, knowing I would get pregnant easily since I had this time. Those were the days! Thanks for my little piece of Grant that day Jesus!



So we went inside for my ultrasound to check my lining.The doctor said my lining was good at 7mm and everything was on track for our transfer in the morning at 10:00! Since we hadn't eaten yet we decided to go to the mall because there was a Cheesecake Factory there. Yum. I don't normally get dessert at lunch but today we had reason to celebrate!

I know that's a lot of chocolate. Don't judge me. 

After lunch we went straight to Pottery Barn Kids. It's always nice to go there anytime we have a chance at actually using the stuff they sell. The salesgirl asked if we were registered and I explained our situation. She wished us luck and told me that if it works they do complimentary room design. Yes please!!!!We looked around and I found the cutest stuff. A girl can dream, right? I do this every   time and it hasn't ever worked out but I will not let infertility steal my joy or hope.

We went back to the hotel to take a nap then caught a ferry over to the Reds game. They didn't win but it was still a lot of fun.

Catching the ferry

 After the game we went to the brand new Casino called Horseshoe. We got a gross hamburger at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville inside and then I put $5 in a slot machine. I'm not much of a gambler so $5 was my limit. Turned out pretty well for me!

The next morning was the transfer. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott which was across the street so I got to sleep in, my favorite! I'm so hoping I won't get to do that for too much longer. Anyway, as I was on my way to change into my gown, hairnet and booties, the nurse said, "Did you hear the good news? Your embryo made it and it looks beautiful!" I couldn't believe it. Yes I know that doesn't mean it will implant but the fact that our own little guy survived was so unbelievable considering what we've been told about embryo quality. Of course I'll be upset if it doesn't work but this cycle two things worked: I made an appropriate lining for my baby and my baby survived. Not too shabby!

Without further ado, here he/she is! They said it started expanding just like it should as soon as it thawed. Grow baby grow!!!! Stay tuned for poas. :)