Firstly, thank you for praying!  Lots to update you on.

Wednesday we woke up and dropped off Wyatt at Pastor Daniel and Tammie's; and off we went.  Well, first I had… HAD to get myself a Rockstar Roasted…yum.  And good thing I did! A mile down the road at a red light I started complaining about how somebody's car was smelling up the road.  Jennifer saw smoke coming out from under our hood and said, "I think it's us!"  Sure enough, we blew our power stearing pump hose. 

Now I'm on the phone to Pastor Daniel and the insurance company and the fertility clinic.  The insurance company arranged a tow, and Tammie and Pastor met us with one of their cars.  All in all we ended up there right on time, but admitedly irked.  I called my dad to start praying all this crap away from us!

So we went in and to make a long story short, the fluid was gone!  Praise God!  We were so excited!  I think we were really frustrated that we didn't get to see the embryos last time.  So now they are safely in Jennifer belly.  The Doc even said he was glad we waited till day 5, because one of the embryos didn't look as good as they thought it would.  So they picked 2 different ones.  All in all they transferred 2 embryos and froze 3.  So there's the potential we could end up with 6 kids including Wyatt!

Please keep praying.  We are going try to enjoy this pregnancy.  Last time we were really uptight.  Imagine that…the Pickwells uptight.  We'll go Sept 15 for a blood test to see if we're pregnant.  Then 2 weeks after that, they'll do an ultrasound to see how many!  Lots of things still have to go right.  But I believe God is going to battle for us.  Thank you all!  Oh…and here is a peak at the 2 new arrivals.

Saturday we received a phone call that 11 eggs fertilized.  To give you a comparison, last time we had 23 eggs, 11 fertilized, and 3 survived – 2 were transferred and 1 was cryopreserved.

Monday we got the call that all was a go.  We started our drive to Charlottesville and Jennifer gladly took her Valum.  It helps her body relax for the transfer.  We were waiting in the office and our nurse came out to give us some unexpected news.  3 more fertilized! 14 total.  So at this point we were really feeling good.

They got Jennifer ready and rolled us into transfer room.  For some reason they have it really dark in there.  It's dimly lit with a monitor in the corner so we can see the embryos.  The Doc came in and started doing an ultrasound and then gave us some bad news.  For some reason there was fluid where there wasn't supposed to be fluid.  And that would be toxic to the embryos.  Translation – no transfer.  We were crushed.  I was ticked.  Why does everything have to be so difficult for us?

So the verdict is we have to wait till tomorrow and pray the fluid is gone.  If they still see the fluid tomorrow, we'll have to freeze the embryos and wait till another time.  We really don't feel good about that because we were only able to freeze one last time and it didn't make the thaw.

So here is what everybody needs to do.

1. Pray that the embryos continue to thrive.
2. Pray that the fluid goes away by tomorrow.
3. Pray that the transfer happens tomorrow.
4. Pray that we have something to freeze.
5. Pray that we in 10 months we have a baby because of all of this.

Thank you!

Went for Egg Retrieval today.  23 was the count.  We'll find out tomorrow how many are fertilizing like they should. 

Jennifer took the day off, but I had to talk her into it.  The nurse found out that she was planning on working after having anesthesia and insisted she stay home.

Thank you for your prayers!

Oh boy…

• Friday 7:45AM – Egg Retrival
• Friday 1:00PM – Jennifer actually goes to work.  She's stubborn.
• Friday 2:30PM – PCI guys get here and we start retrofitting the trailers.
• Saturday 10:30 – 1:30PM – Gas Buy-Down.
• Saturday 2:30 – 7:00PM – Integration of our stuff and PCI cases.
• Sunday 6:30AM – Training and unloading of trailers.
• Monday AM? – Implant day.
• Monday – Wednesday – Jennifer is ordered to bed-rest.  Translation, "Jeremy!  Will you bring me something to drink?"
• Tuesday – Mom flies out.

Not to mention we are trying to hunt down a 3rd trailer.  Anybody selling one?

Ok….now we're getting somewhere.  As I stated last time, we've been on shots since August 17th.  Then recently we began a 2nd drug called Ganirelix.  Which is supposed to keep the eggs in place.  Don't understand that, but anyway… It has been slow going.  Frustrating actually.  Every time Jennifer would go to the Dr. they'd say, "Still not big enough (the eggs), so maybe another day or two of drugs."  Translation for us:  "$$$$ $$ $$$$ $".  Thanks Doc.

But yesterday we had a nice surprise.  Everything is ready!  Last night we took what is called a 'trigger drug'.  I think it has something to do with helping the eggs mature.  Today is a free day…no drugs.  Then tomorrow morning we go for egg retrieval.  It is actually minor surgery.  They put Jennifer under and everything.  By the time we leave we'll know how many of the eggs are fertilizing like they should.  Monday morning we'll get a phone call telling us either to come in, or that they are going to wait till Wednesday.  They generally implant either 3 day or 5 day old embryos.

Please pray for us.  This is going to be a busy weekend for us (another post).  Thank you all!

Here is an in depth update on how we are progressing.  Jennifer began her shots on Sunday.  These shots cost about a million dollars a piece. Not really, but close. An interesting twist to the whole thing is that we were in NYC for our anniversary, and one drug in particular – hCG – has to be refrigerated.  So when we were in between hotels, we had to pack it on ice. 

Anyhow, the whole process goes like this.  We have a box of Gonal-F.  This is the million dollar box.  We mix up the solution included, draw out a certain amount, put the cap on.  Then we use a separate needle to pull out the hCG.  THEN, we use a 3rd needle to combine the other 2.  We simply twist off the needle, shoot the other 2 into it, then put on a new needle.  So at the end of one shot we throw away 3 syrnges with needles, plus an extra needle.  Sheesh! Our hotel maid probably thought we're druggies.  And to make things more fun, we have to do this at the same time every night.

Jennifer went today and everything is progressing very slowly.  It looks like Sunday she'll go back to get another check up.  Which isn't easy because our Dr. is in Charlottesville – we're in F'burg.  Translation: 1.5 hrs each way.

And the paperwork!  It is worse than buying a house – no exageration! What do they do if one of us dies?  What do they do if both of us die?  What do they do if they can't find the person we donate the embryos to?  What, what, what?  They think of every possible, if even impossible, scenario they can think of.

So there is the latest.  You'll know when we know when everything else takes place.  Please keep us in your prayers!

Our 5 year anniversary is August 15th. So here is the plan.  We leave Thursday morning August 14th via train from Fredericksburg to Penn station.  Then back Monday afternoon.  Here is what we hope to see while we're there.  Let us know if we missed anything!

• Empire State Building
• Statue of Liberty
• Ellis Island
• South Street Seaport
• Bloomingdales and David Burkes
• Serendipity 3
• "South Pacific" at the Lincoln Center
• Mesa Grill by Bobby Flay
• Times Square
• Good Morning America
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Brooklyn and Brooklyn Bridge
• Grand Central Station
• Gray's Papaya
• Ground Zero
• Wall Street and the Bull and Bear Statues
• St. Patrick's Cathedral
• Trinity Church
• Chrysler Building
• Rockefeller Center and Top of the Rock
• Chinatown
• Central Park
• Union Square (Nice farmers market there)

Man….I hope my shoes have enough tread on them!

• A week from yesterday I pick my mom up from the airport.  And Jennifer has her preliminary tests to see how things are progressing.
• A week from today…nothing really special happens.  But…
• A week from tomorrow, we leave for NYC!  Can't wait!
• Then while we are there we begin shots for the IVF process.  Fun.

Saturday’s I’m very lazy.  But for good reason.  I get to spend most of the day with Wyatt.  We basically lay around in our pajamas, eat waffles, or cheerios…lots of cheerios, and pull out every toy he has.  I do nothing.  It’s nice.  Then as he naps, I scramble to clean house like I’ve been working hard all day.  But it’s nice to just hang out with the kid.