Super Declan.

Declan went to a superhero themed birthday party on the weekend, but refused to put on his custom made cape and mask until all the other kids left and the party was over. That is why he is alone in all these pictures. But super-cute, no?

In other news, our trip to Denver was unsuccessful this go around.  They couldn't get my ovaries going, so Dr. Schoolcraft cancelled my cycle and we came home a week early.  He said that my poor response could be because I started this cycle so exhausted and depleted, or it could just be the end of the road for us, and the only way to know is to try again.  So we will head back for another cycle at the end of April.  To switch it up, Dr. Schoolcraft is putting me on a protocol that has never been tried before.  It will involve a few weeks of me taking testosterone and human growth hormone.  Time to man up!  I've never been a medical experiment before.

Canadian Mayhem

With as  much fun as Declan is having up in Canada, he still asks from time to time to go to Little Rock cause he misses his Daddy.

Mexico: Where we went.

We planned this trip about 6 days before leaving, because of having to work our way around our fertility treatments.  Everything just kind of fell into place, and we were able to meet up with my old friend Roscoe and his wife Anna, and son, Finley who is just a few months younger than Declan.   It made for a great holiday combination,  combining relaxation, adventure and visiting with friends. 

We opted to go to Playa del Carmen, which is a smallish tourist town about an hour south of Cancun.  We didn't have much to choose from, as at this late date, most of the hotels were all booked up. We ended up at a middling level all-inclusive resort, with a beautiful beach.

Declan was all about lounging on the beach chairs.  Mommy was all about the fruity drinks they would bring to you in said chairs.

For some reason., Declan pretty much didn't eat a thing the whole week we were away even though the food was almost exactly the same as he would eat at home.  He survived solely on chocolate milk. 

Our resort bordered the jungle, so there were all manner of creatures lurking about the landscaping.  Declan's favourite were the coati, who had been well accustomed to being hand fed fruit and bread by hotel guests.  This was very confusing to Declan, as coati are portrayed on Dora the Explorer as bloodthirsty jungle predators.  So I got a lot of great shots of Declan fleeing from coati in alarm.

There were also a number of feral housecats that lived on the property.  So we bought some cat food at the bodega and Declan really enjoyed trying to feed them as they would dart out from the bushes.

But while feeding the kitties, out came another coati looking for a handout.  Declan escaped by fleeing up a tree.

The resort also offered a bunch of activities for the kids.  We did a craft session where the kids could paint some Mayan style pottery, and they had all these clay forms of Mayan symbols for the kids to choose from.  Declan passed over all the traditional Mayan pieces and managed to uncover the one American option:  a Lightning McQueen piggy bank.   He did a pretty good job painting it though!

As nice as the resort was, we also enjoyed getting off property and checking out Playa del Carmen, which is a cute little town.  There is a lively little pedestrian street with a bunch of vendors and restaurants that runs the length of town.  Here Finley is pushing Declan down the street.

  We found some good local restaurants, including one particularly brilliant one that had a trampoline in it, so as we ate dinner, the boys could jump their little hearts out. 

That is an idea whose time had come. 

Obligatory Sombrero Montage

In order to set the mood for a much-delayed reporting on our holiday to Mexico, I offer up a sombrero montage. 

Boxing Day.

Christmas with Declan was so much fun this year.  He was right into everything, Santa, our tree and especially getting all the presents.   My favourite part came on Boxing Day.  I was going through Declan's closet looking for some summer clothes for our trip to Mexico, and coincidentally came across a little Santa Suit, complete with hat, size 18 months.  I have no idea where it came from, beyond the Bay?   Anyway, Declan was on that suit like white on rice. He insisted on putting it on immediately and wore it for 2 days.  He really committed himself to character, only saying "ho" for hours at a time.  To the point where I started to get a little worried. 

I got some cute pictures though.

 

We opened presents from Canada on Boxing Day, and when Declan got an outfit from my sister, he would only put try it on over the Santa suit.

At one point, I heard a funny noise downstairs, and came down to find Santa Declan had commandered an ornamental sleigh.

This went on and on.  Here is a short chat with the Old Man himself.

This went on for a lonnnng time, until Santa plum fell right asleep.

Baby shower leavings.

So last night I hosted a baby shower for Nicole, and I will post some pictures of the shenanigans forthwith. However, as happens from time to time, a karaoke machine got left behind, and guess who stumbled across it in the living room this afternoon? Declan rocks the mike for your listening pleasure.

In other news, the karaoke machine was the only thing leftover from that party, because, for the first time ever in my storied hostessing careeer, I didn't have enough food.  On the one hand, it was nice not to waste anything, but on the other hand, I died a little inside.

Laboratory Business

The blog has been barren as I have been preoccupied with laboratory busines since our egg retrieval in Denver last month.  For those of you who are interested in our trials and tribulations on the IVF front, I thought I would set out the nitty gritty details of where we are at now and where we are heading. 

 I had been prepping for the "fresh" retrieval in December with drugs for 2 months, and with antioxidant supplements 3 months before that.   At my baseline ultrasound, they found an abysmal antral follicle count of 2.  The AFC is your body's supply of eggs for the next 60 days, and represents the potential number of eggs for harvest in an IVF cycle.  An AFC of 2 correlates to a live birth rate of pretty much zero.  On the old go/no go gauge, an AFC of 2 registers a no go, no question. But we went ahead, AMA, mind you, as we wanted to know that we tried everything possible before moving on, and because we are people of faith.

I think a lifetime of being a Razorback fan has Shane comfortable with being on the wrong side of the odds.  For me, it is harder.  I am an inveterate gambler, and have been playing cards for money since I was 7 years old.  I don't draw to an inside straight, ever.  So I found it very challenging to try and get through another round of IVF drugs and tests and rigamarole when we have known from the outset that the odds are lonnnnng against us.   Dr. Schoolcraft gave us a 10% chance of success which is not too bad until you flip the script and call it a 90% chance of failure. And the cost.  Oh the cost.  It would be totally crass for me to talk about the cost, when I should really just be grateful that we have this opportunity, but gosh it's hard not to worry about the cost.  Dr. Schoolcraft is the best around, and he takes the hopeless cases like me, but ay caramba, the cost.  I know you want to know, but are too polite to ask, and I'm too polite to say, so let's just leave it at, it rhymes with flirty mousand collars.  Flirty mousand collars.  Heaven help me.



When we got to Denver, things took a surprising turn.  From a possible supply of 2 antral follicles, I had somehow managed to develop 7 follicles.  This is kind of... inexplicable.   I tried to keep my hopes in check as follicles can sometimes be empty.  I had my egg retrieval under general anasthetic on 12-11-10.   Unfortunately were unable to retrieve the eggs in my right ovary as it is too garbled up with scar tissue from my myomectomy last year, but they were able to get 4 mature eggs from my left ovary.  From a possible supply of 2 antral follicles.  I don't know what happened there, but I am grateful for it.   Our embryologist called us the next morning to let us know that 3 of the 4 eggs fertilized, and would be grown for 3 days in the lab.  Those were an agonizing 3 days to wait for news to hear if each embryo would grow or arrest.  When we finally got the phone call we got our report card:  all three embies had managed to grow - 2 to 8 cells and one to 10 cells.  They were all frozen on Day 3 to await their biggest hurdle.  We had agreed to be part of a study where frozen embryos are screened to figure out which ones are too chromosomally damaged to make it to live birth.  This allows you to avoid implanting embryos that will miscarry down the road, which saves a lot of heartache, as well as time.  Our doctor has found tremendous success with this process for women over 38. At this "advanced" age, 75% to 90% of the women's eggs are too damaged to make it to live birth.  With only 3 embryos in the mix, again the odds were again long against us, and we expected that all three of our embryos would be found to be abnormal.  The screening process takes 4 to 6 weeks, another agonizing wait.


But getting ready for Christmas, and then an impromptu trip to Mexico made the time fly by.  On our way home from Mexico, we changed planes in Houston.  Shane had just boarded the plane to Little Rock to install Declan's carseat while I was on the jetway gatechecking the stroller when I unexpectedly got the call from the lab with our results.   One of our embryos is normal.   Against the odds again.  I immediately burst into tears- heaving sobs actually- because I was just so relieved, and happily surprised.   I don't think I realized how anxious I was about the results until I got that call.   Well there's nothing quite like someone boarding a plane in the middle of a crying fit to get everyone's attention- I just couldn't manage to compose myself coming down the aisle of that plane, and I had the flight crew crowding me trying to ascertain what the problem was.  Shane was completely flummoxed as we had only been apart for about 45 seconds.  He couldn't imagine what could possibly have happened on that jetway, and I was crying so hard I couldn't explain.  I finally was able to choke out the words that one of our embryos tested as normal, and it was a moment of true joy for us.  I don't think I've ever had one of those flying economy before.   I was actually worried that I was going to be thrown off the flight, but I managed to assure the crew that I was okay and ready to fly.  I sniffled all the way home.

Back in the cold light of day, we had a telephone regroup with Dr. Schoolcraft, who told us that with one normal 3 day embryo, we were now up to a 20% chance of getting pregnant.  Now we are getting somewhere.   So what do you do when you're up and playing with house money?  You press your bet.  So we are going ahead and trying to do another fresh cycle, to try and get one more normal embryo, and get up to a 40% chance. We are letting it ride:  back to Denver in February we go.  

Until then, I must say, I feel like I'm in stasis myself.  It has been hard for me to get things rolling in 2011, as certainly has been reflected in this blog.  My thoughts are stuck with our little 10-cell, moderately fragmented, snowbaby in Denver, with high hopes for him/her and our upcoming fresh cycle.  We are very appreciative of all of your prayers and well-wishes and crossed fingers as we trudge through this process.  Hopefully we will have more good news to share in March.  Until then I will try and catch up with my emails, return some phone calls and do some retroblogging. There has been a lot of cuteness around here the past month that deserves to be documented.

Next Year's Calendar is half way finished.

While in Denver we took Declan to the Children's Museum which had an interactive firetruck display.   They also had this computer that taught children that if they want fireman to come to their house, just dial 9-1-1.  Declan is a 9-1-1 natural.

I foresee no problems whatsoever.

Fiesta Texas!

Also in San Antonio, we made a trip to Fiesta Texas, which features WigglesWorld.  Declan loved the Wiggles - it was his go to TV-show for a lonnnng time. I don't know if it was the Wiggles branding or what, but Declan had a fabulous time.

riding with Grandpa

gi

You can't tell, but I am confronting my fear of ferris wheels in this picture.  Also what you can't see, the thing completely malfunctioned and we had to be evacuated.  I. was. terrified.

first hot chocolate

Thanksgiving in San Antonio

While in San Antonio we headed to SeaWorld for the day.  We took a behind the scenes tour that allowed us to see the park in the morning before it opened.  We got to feed dolphins and seals and have some other animal encounters.   This is definitely the way to see the park- no crowds.

A lizard named Genoble (sp?).

The trainers in the Shamu show don't get in the water with the Orcas anymore.  Guess they rethought that strategy.  Still wearing the whale outfits though.  That might get them in trouble one day.

This was such a fun day, as Declan is *just* getting the idea of exciting plans.  When I told him in the morning we were going to SeaWorld to feed dolphins, he replied "We are having an adventure!"  Several times during the day he would say that "this is so much fun".  That's the first time he's said anything abstract like that.  So I guess we just have to up the excitement ante around here to get that boy talking.