Mother of Ten

I have talked to a lot of people on the last few days and weeks about our babies in the freezer. It seems that people are not sure what to think about them. I have gotten a lot of comments along the lines of "They probably all won't take, you won't have 10 children".

It has made me think long and hard about what those babies mean to me. And maybe this is just coming from an overstimulated, super hormonal woman, but these are my feelings.

All 9 of those babies are alive. They are all humans. As a Christian, I believe life begins at conception, and these babies have lived and grown 5 days after conception before they have been cryopreserved.

It is hard to fathom that someone microscopic is alive, and just as important as any other baby.

So comments like "It is doubtful that all of them will work, anyways", are hurtful. I would never say to a pregnant woman "You could easily miscarry that baby" or "Your baby could be still born".

Are those possibilities? Of course they are. Anything could happen at any time. I fully understand that my babies might not survive the thaw, that they might not implant, that they could miscarry early. Any of those things will be considered a loss for me, and I will be devastated.

As crazy as it seems, I WANT all those babies to survive. One of the things we understood when deciding to do an IVF is that we could end up with a lot of embryos to freeze. And we decided to be commit to giving all of those embryos a chance at life. Nobody will be discarded, nobody will be forgotten about. If that means we have a large family, then we have will have a large family. Something I have always dreamed about, but never thought it could be possible with infertility. 

Lately

I really thought posting for an entire year would help form some good blogging habits, but it seemed to make it worse!

This past weekend was a busy one. Saturday we went to the Matheson Island Fishing Derby, which we go to every year. It was a very nice sunny day, but there was only one fish caught. The fish was 0.74lbs and won the man over $3500! Pretty good I would say! This year I didn't fish, but Eric always does. He loves it!

On Sunday Eric and I went to the Baby & Kids show at the convention center. It was a fun experience, I got some free stuff and lots of ideas! I found a really awesome newborn photographer and I would LOVE to get pictures of this baby when he/she is all fresh and new!  I also found a made in Manitoba option for cloth diapers, and we bought a cute little onsie with Eiffel towers all over it. It was fun to walk around and tell people my due date and just enjoy the fact that I am pregnant.

I feel like my mindset has done such a 180 since finding out I am pregnant. Hearing about other pregnancies doesn't hurt as much, I almost look forward to it because these are all the babies mine will grow up with! Walking around the Baby & Kids show and seeing all the pregnant ladies, babies and little kids made me excited about the future, instead of left out and alone.

October 16th seems so far away. But I am looking forward to every step of this journey. Even the huge, hot, uncomfortable summer part. At least I will get to wear this dress : )

Because Of Your Prayers....

.... I got to see this on Tuesday morning.

And on Thursday afternoon I had beta HCG results of 415!

I think I am still in shock. I can't believe the IUI worked on the first try. 

It kinda reminds me of one of the time Peter was in jail. The church prayed and prayed and prayed for him to be released, and when he showed up on their doorstep they didn't believe it was him! 

I kinda feel like that.  So many people have prayed for this, so why I am I having such a hard time believing it! 

I feel so incredible blessed, humbled and thankful. God is SO good. His timing is perfect. His plans are better than ours. Praise God for being so amazing to us. 

Broken Dreams

My uncle gave us a new oven. It is not brand new, but it is probably 10-15 years newer than the one we have. It looked lovely. I was so excited to start using it.

On the way home, because it did not get tied down, it fell in the back of the truck and the glass faceplate shattered on the road. We have the knobs and everything. It probably still works but we don't know which way is high or low, which dial is for which element, and how hot the oven would be. It is also pretty banged up on the outside.

I was so close. For 15 minutes I had a beautiful stove. Too bad I never got the chance to use it.

Sometimes it seems like we get nothing easy. Like everything is a struggle and we get all the bad luck. Like all I ever get is junk and I will never have anything nice.

And then I am reminded....

I own my home.

I have a comfortable bed.

I have a cool house in the summer and a warm house in the winter.

I own an oven that I can cook food in.

I have a fridge to keep things cold.

I have enough food to keep me full.

I have indoor plumbing.

I have electricity.

I have a nice car that gets me where I need to go.

I have clothes and shoes.

I have a wonderful husband who loves me.

I have amazing family and friends.

I get to live out in the country.

I have all the animals I want and they are well taken care of.

I have all the electronics that I could ever wish for.

I have a good job.

I have fresh food growing in the garden.

I have beautiful flowers outside in my yard.

I could go on and on. The blessings never end.

But most importantly I have a Jesus who died for me and a God who loves me. He loves ME!!

And I am thankful every day for the blessings in my life. There may be a lot of things I would like, but I have everything I need.