EA #2--The Story--Part 3

Left you hanging yesterday with, "...the genetic parents responded that they would accept us as a match"  

Part 3 of our EA #2 story...

Our next step was to contact Dr. K at the NEDC to see if his clinic would accept the embryos there and he would be willing to do the transfer. First, Rhea and I needed his advice on the possible health challenges that these embryos might face and also discuss my health challenges and hear Dr. K's thoughts about these concerns. 

The embryos had been shipped to a third party cryopreservation facility (think mini-storage for frozen babies). The embryos would need to be shipped again to a clinic where the FET would be performed. The NEDC had their own EA program where they match families. Their program is set up differently than the Snowflakes program, but the two have worked together a couple of times in the past. 

We were able to schedule a phone consult with Dr. K rather quickly and as the day approached we had all of our questions typed up, all of the paperwork on the embryos, and my medical history sent to Dr. K's office. The appointment went well, no, very well.

You see, the embryos we were praying to adopt were special because the genetic mother tested positive for having been exposed to HepB at some point in her life. Dr. K assured us that the genetic mother went for further testing and her tests only show that she was exposed to it and her body fought it. He also said that the genetic mother had no signs or indications that she had been exposed. She was actually very surprised at the original test results. There were twins (one boy/one girl) born from the original 10 embryos and the twins are healthy and fine. Dr. K also said that there has never been a recorded case where an STD that was dormant at the time of IVF or was a non-reactive exposure-type result has ever been passed on to a transferred embryo. 

With this information we were thrilled, though we were committed to these little ones in our hearts and Rhea and I cannot imagine anything the doctor would have said that would have changed our minds. Think back a couple of years ago to when we adopted Sarah and her siblings and we were given glom and doom consults and told not to adopt the embryos. We trusted God more than men then and we do now. This time, however, the information given was very positive and Dr. K saw absolutely nothing which concerned him about these little ones. 

After I moved the HepB notes to the side of my desk, I was about to ask him if we could discuss my autoimmune history. Before I got to that, he started the conversation by saying that he had some questions and some things he wanted to discuss about my autoimmune history. He said it in a concerned-type of tone. We started chatting and he said what he concluded before talking to me was solidified by my answers to his questions. 

Dr. K does not believe I have an autoimmune response in the area of blood clotting. In other words, he does not believe I have APS. Therefore, it is his recommendation that I do not take blood thinners leading up to and during any pregnancy resulting from our FET. He feels the risks to me and the baby(ies) are more if I am on blood thinners than not. I can share more about that later, but after a later consult for clarification and discussion and prayer together as a couple, we felt comfortable with Dr. K's recommendation regarding me not being on blood thinners. 

Next, it was time to get our home study updated. This whole adoption thus far has blown us away. We had not even at this point spent a dollar yet save Dr. K's consult fee and we seemed to be so far into the adoption process! Our home study visit went well and the paper chase phase was smooth and the next thing we knew, we had a finalized home study in our mailbox and the embryo adoption contract draft in our inbox. 

I just glanced over what I have typed. There are more posts to share that build on many of the things I shared. They will come. We just wanted to give you an update to bring you up-to-date. So where are we now? What are we waiting on?

Here are some highlights and most of these will be shared in more detail in future posts. 

• We have the EA contracts in our hands. We will go get them signed/notarized next week and sent back to the agency.
• The expenses for this adoption and first FET procedure will cost $12,000.
• We were blessed with an anonymous gift of $5,000
• The NEDC has agreed to accept our embryo babies coordinating with Nightlight  and for me to have the transfer at the NEDC.
• The genetic family is blessing us with all 8 of their embryos. 
• We have our 1st appt. in Knoxville on February 6, 2013
• The FET will be scheduled for the week of March 19th-21st, 2013

Well, there you go! You are caught up. I know, minus quite a few details, but those will be coming.