It has been one week since we learned the exciting results from our IVF…what an exciting time it is.

After the IVF transfer they send you home, and tell you to return in two weeks…two weeks! The first of those two weeks, we felt optimistic and encouraged. The second week, was a bit different. As the final testing day was coming closer, I was terrified of a negative result. I was also having some pain, ...all to familiar cramping…."oh no! Here it comes!" I thought, convinced that my cycle was going to start at any minute. ...and so that’s how I felt for about a week. Those were some rough days of questioning and wrestling, replaying every scene in my head of what the outcome would be. I was so thankful that God had placed some ladies into my life who have experienced IVF blessings before, and they were a huge help in calming concerns or fears. It was helpful, but still Aaron and I had the feeling of walking through this door into a dark room, with no idea what would happen when we turn on the lights. Each day, we would pray and hold onto the scriptures God has given to us over and over…around Wednesday we had a breakthrough, and we found a newfound peace.

Now my blood test was on Friday. After our procedure, the clinic had given us a take-home test to use as well. Aaron and I had gone back and forth, as to whether I would take it or not...when I would take it, etc. Neither of us really had the answer, but on Wednesday we decided, I would take it Thursday morning. So, we woke up EARLY. I mean do you think we would be able to sleep at all?!? …I went in and took the test and laid it on the window sill and ran back into bed and dove under the covers. The agreement was this, ...I would take it, ...Aaron would see the result. I was convinced, I just couldn’t handle the wrong answer. Four minutes crawled by, Aaron went back into the bathroom…he was gone forever, or at least that is what it seemed to me. I heard no sounds, nothing, not even crickets…so, I finally said, “Well?…What’s it say!?!"

He came in, and said, “I’m not sure. Take a look. There is a faint line, but not sure what that means." I looked, and yep there was a line, it was faint…really faint! (Almost like a true / false test at school when you didn't know the answer and you marked your answer with a T that kinda looks like an F. The test said, “I’m not sure about this…I know, I’ll just draw a line so faint, you have to tilt it in the light.)

I said, "I’ve never had a line show up at all before, so the fact that there is one is pretty positive" ….POSITIVE!!! Just to make sure, there is a pharmacy down the road from us, so when they opened (about 2 hours later), we were at the door. We bought three more tests…you know, just to make sure. When we got home, I drank some water, waited a bit, and took the second test. Boom! Right away, there were two stripes!

We were excited, a little shell shocked and then...emotional. We started thinking about the medications I was on…could I have gotten a false positive from them? After looking up online, we found out the answer was no. It was the middle of the night in the US, and we thought do we share this with our parents now, or wait for the blood test? After the second positive, we thought, we are going to share…we are too excited. So, we sent them a text with a picture of the tests…and figured when they woke up, it would get them to call us…and it of course did! We of course, cautioned and said, the blood test will be the sure fire proof. I remember, we just kind of laid on our couch, in awe and shock of what God had done. We definitely were thanking and praising Him for this miracle. Aaron cried. I don’t think he’ll mind if I share that.

You see, even though we went to have IVF. This is very much a miracle from God. When we first met with our doctor, she said, because of our age and the low quantity and quality of my eggs, we had about a 23-26% chance of this working. There are SO many variables, things that can go wrong at any step. Couples often go through multiple IVF cycles before they are successful. We had ONE shot at IVF. This means, God performed a miracle, working within my body and through the care of our doctors, to make our baby(ies)! We are praising God! He is faithful.

We went in Friday for our blood test. We waited for a little bit. Fridays at the clinic are crazy! They are never fully staffed. So, we were waiting for a nurse and our coordinator. One of the nurses came, and said she was going to go ahead and take the blood. We asked if we could pay the $10 extra to have the test completed within 2 hours…she said it was no problem. She took it, and we went downstairs to the reception to pay. Our coordinator was not able to make it up for our blood test, but as we were getting ready to walk out the door, she came running down the stairs to greet us. She was happy to see us, and anxious for the results. We told her we took a home-test, and that it was positive. She got a big smile on her face and said, “Really?!" Aaron asked if that was a pretty good sign that we were pregnant, and she said, “Maybe!" On our way to the car, we stopped for breakfast and then made our first purchase for our miracle(s). Aaron asked to take a picture while we were checking out…to which that lady looked at us, like we were weird…but, we didn’t care…at that point, we were pretty sure we were going to be parents.

We came home, and the waiting began…again. We weren’t sure; would she text us, call us, email us? Finally around 12:30 my phone rang…it was Karolina. She said, “Hello, I have your results. Do you want to know them?" I said, “Yes, of course." She said it was positive! We are pregnant! She was happy and surprised and kept saying, "I can’t believe it!" (Which, on a side note, makes us laugh…aren’t they supposed to be the ones encouraging and believing in the procedure?) We continued to talk, I asked several questions about the results. We scheduled our first ultrasound with the clinic, out last time with them before heading to our doctor, for the 26. On this day, we will get to hear the heartbeat(s) and find out if it is one or two…or more.

Yesterday, we had to go back to the clinic for some more medication. I am continuing with some of the medication, to continue to help make my body the best environment for our miracle(s). When we walked in, there was “our receptionist". She was happy to see us and chatted a bit with us, before figuring out where we needed to go. Our coordinator was out for lunch, so we went up to the nurses station. While there, we ran into our first coordinator, who helped us with paperwork, etc. She came running over with a big smile and said, “Congratulations!" She shook our hands and said they were so happy and excited for us. She said when Karolina saw our results that day, she jumped up and down and started shouting. She said she was so excited, she had to just call us right away! It was really a great moment for us to hear about. Then, our doctor came around the corner. She saw us, and ran over with a big smile on her face and congratulated us and shook our hands (several times). She was so happy and excited for us (this is the same doctor, who a month ago, would hardly crack a smile). The said she was looking forward to the ultrasound, and we said we were too. She is cute because her english isn’t always perfect….so, when she doesn’t quite know what to say, but wants us to know she is with us and hopeful, she squeezes her hand into a fist and pumps it in the air. We got our second air pump yesterday!

Aaron and I keep laughing a bit at their reactions. We haven’t really seen reactions like this from Czech people we don’t fully know. We also think, “...this is your job. This is what you have trained to do…don't you trust it will work?" By their reactions, we feel almost that they didn’t have high hopes for a success. I guess in their minds, from their scientific point of view, we didn’t quite have much going for us. This was our first procedure, I am 35, I don’t have a great egg supply or reserve……. The great thing is, is that we had something great going for us…we had people of God praying for our miracle!

GOD DID THIS! GOD DID THIS!!! GOD DID THIS!!!!!

There are times when we say, are we really pregnant? This week, I went to the mall with a friend. While in a store, I looked in a small maternity section they had. They were having the end of season sale, so I thought I should look. As I was standing there looking, there were so many emotions running through my head. I just grabbed a shirt, and thought I would try it on. I called my friend over, needing some advice on how I am going to be expanding in the next couple of months…in that moment, I just cried and said to her, "I just can’t believe I am shopping for these clothes and I am trying them on." She hugged me and said, this is a great day, this is a great day! …and it was!

-Julie