Thankful Thursday - IVF Galore

We can't stress enough how important it is in our own lives to slow down when things seem to be getting "fast" and just think about the little things that we're thankful for. It will just be me posting today as I'm forcing my wife to rest as she recovers from laying all of her eggs. The little "Linky Tools" thingy that's usually at the end of these posts will not be there today as apparently it's a subscription service and I don't think it's worth paying for. I'll figure out an alternative for the future. Feel free to leave a link to your thankful blog in the comments section.

Ronnie's & Mandi's List:

We're so very thankful for a smooth IVF process thus far. We realize that this is far from over, but so far, we feel very fortunate to have had a good experience. Sure, we've had some physical pain here and some emotional stress there, but looking at the big picture, it's been a smooth ride. We're both very aware of the fact that whatever we go through in this entire process is well worth it if it means having the family we dream of.

I'm thankful that I have motile and "good looking" sperm. As most of you know, 95% of CF men have what some refer to as a "natural vasectomy". Now, this doesn't mean that we don't have sperm, it just means that it doesn't meet up with the semen as it should because of an absence of the vas deferens. With this "natural vasectomy" there comes a risk of having no sperm, lazy sperm or "weird" sperm. We got the call two days ago that they found plenty of sperm in my biopsy and that it was motile (good swimmers) and it's morphology checked out (normal structure). We had been praying for these results and feel so blessed that we're able to have our own children.

We're thankful that Mandi is one fertile myrtle. If you haven't heard the news, Mandi produced 42 eggs of which 18 were mature. They fertilized all 18 eggs and ended up with 15 embryos. We now wait to see how many of those embryos continue to grow over the next few days. The embryos that grow until day 5 will either be implanted or frozen for future use. We're praying that God provides the exact number of embryos that he would like for our family.

We're thankful for all of the kind words and support given to us through this process. You guys have been extremely encouraging and we'll never be able to express in words how much that means to us. We've had countless emails, phone calls, messages and comments that continue to put a smile on our face. It's amazing how loved you can feel by people you have never and probably will never meet in person. We just hope that our love for you shows as greatly as your love for us.