Merry Christmas
and the
Happiest of New Years!
from ALL of us to all of you
Friday, December 18, 2015
Holiday Wishes 2015
This year has been a full and blessed one for our family: trips and graduation and new jobs and running workshops and preparing for upcoming baby. We hope it's been as wonderful for all our family and friends. You deserve the best!
Ian Highlights
Clayton spent much of last Christmas break putting together a highlights video of Ian's life with us. Longer than most people will be interested in, but so much fun for us to watch. Such a fun, amazing kiddo! I'm putting it here for easy family access, but feel free to browse.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Baby Love, My Baby Love...
For nearly three and a half years now (over a year before we lost Ian), we have been pursuing a long and emotional journey. We began working with a fertility clinic in Layton in August of 2012 to attempt a process called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (or PGD). Basically, the goal was to have more children without the 1 in 4 risk of Sanfilippo Syndrome. We didn't know if financially, physically, or emotionally we could successfully raise two children/teenagers (remember: we still had Ian and had no idea how short his time with us would really be) with the syndrome as we got older. We wondered about the implication for Anya being sandwiched between two siblings with such extensive needs. We wondered about our ability to adequately meet the needs of all our children if we added another with such significant and extensive special needs. But we really felt that our family was not complete. This was a matter of much thought and prayer and despite how crazy it seemed at times, we truly felt it was the right thing to do.
I was to undergo several cycles of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in order to retrieve as many eggs as possible in order to fertilize as many as possible in order for as many as possible to mature enough to test as many as possible for the syndrome in order to transfer as many as possible and hopefully end with another child/more children. Little did we know that before we had finished I would have applied for, been accepted to, begun, and completed my Master's Degree; lose 3 grandparents and Ian; begin new jobs at 3 different schools; move in with my parents to complete a medical externship for a summer; decide to build a house and see it completed; move from our rental into storage; move from the storage unit into the new house; Clayton would have hernia surgery; Anya would be seeing a psychologist for anxiety (where would she get that?) and attention/distractibility issues; and I would begin a new job as the SLP over all the preschool students in the district. It's been an intense ride!
At the end of April, 2013, we obtained DNA and genetic information from all our parents, from Clayton and myself, from Ian, and from Anya and sent it to a lab so a probe could be created to test the embryos for the specific genetic mutation causing the syndrome. We were told the probe creation could take 6-9 or maybe even 12 weeks, so we began waiting. Over 9 MONTHS later, they were finally finished and we began the next phases.
In short, over the next year I went through three full cycles of IVF. They retrieved several eggs from each cycle. Of those, 3 or 4 from each cycle matured enough to fertilize. From that point, two from each of the first two cycles developed enough to be tested, but we got nothing from the third cycle. We ended up with 4 embryos for screening. Of those 4, we had statistical perfection: 1 was a totally unaffected boy, 1 was a carrier boy, 1 was a carrier girl, and one was a girl carrying not only the Sanfilippo mutation but two other additional genetic mutations which would have made implantation and survival impossible.
We had decided we would transfer and have as many as we could, so we began the portion of the journey which would take over 6 more months. The first two we tried were the boys: one didn't "take" at all and one began to grow long enough to appear to be an early miscarriage. By August of this year we had one more chance and on August 13 (my due date for Anya ten years earlier, coincidentally) we transferred the final embryo -- a girl. For two long weeks we waited...hoped...prayed. On September 11, 2015, we went back in for an ultrasound that showed us for the first time our baby girl's heart beating strong!
The first trimester was LONG (and filled with some minor heart issues and MAJOR heartburn) and we had lost something every other step of the process, so it was hard not to worry that this couldn't possibly be real. Yet now, at 21 weeks, with my "big" 20 week ultrasound completed this past Tuesday, this wiggly little girl inside me is finally starting to seem real.
I was to undergo several cycles of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in order to retrieve as many eggs as possible in order to fertilize as many as possible in order for as many as possible to mature enough to test as many as possible for the syndrome in order to transfer as many as possible and hopefully end with another child/more children. Little did we know that before we had finished I would have applied for, been accepted to, begun, and completed my Master's Degree; lose 3 grandparents and Ian; begin new jobs at 3 different schools; move in with my parents to complete a medical externship for a summer; decide to build a house and see it completed; move from our rental into storage; move from the storage unit into the new house; Clayton would have hernia surgery; Anya would be seeing a psychologist for anxiety (where would she get that?) and attention/distractibility issues; and I would begin a new job as the SLP over all the preschool students in the district. It's been an intense ride!
At the end of April, 2013, we obtained DNA and genetic information from all our parents, from Clayton and myself, from Ian, and from Anya and sent it to a lab so a probe could be created to test the embryos for the specific genetic mutation causing the syndrome. We were told the probe creation could take 6-9 or maybe even 12 weeks, so we began waiting. Over 9 MONTHS later, they were finally finished and we began the next phases.
In short, over the next year I went through three full cycles of IVF. They retrieved several eggs from each cycle. Of those, 3 or 4 from each cycle matured enough to fertilize. From that point, two from each of the first two cycles developed enough to be tested, but we got nothing from the third cycle. We ended up with 4 embryos for screening. Of those 4, we had statistical perfection: 1 was a totally unaffected boy, 1 was a carrier boy, 1 was a carrier girl, and one was a girl carrying not only the Sanfilippo mutation but two other additional genetic mutations which would have made implantation and survival impossible.
 |
| Embryo Transfer 1: 2/24/15 boy |
 |
| Embryo Transfer 2: 5/14/15 boy |
 |
| Embryo Transfer 3: 8/13/15 girl |
We had decided we would transfer and have as many as we could, so we began the portion of the journey which would take over 6 more months. The first two we tried were the boys: one didn't "take" at all and one began to grow long enough to appear to be an early miscarriage. By August of this year we had one more chance and on August 13 (my due date for Anya ten years earlier, coincidentally) we transferred the final embryo -- a girl. For two long weeks we waited...hoped...prayed. On September 11, 2015, we went back in for an ultrasound that showed us for the first time our baby girl's heart beating strong!
 |
| Baby Girl's First Photo: Heartbeat and yolk sac |
The first trimester was LONG (and filled with some minor heart issues and MAJOR heartburn) and we had lost something every other step of the process, so it was hard not to worry that this couldn't possibly be real. Yet now, at 21 weeks, with my "big" 20 week ultrasound completed this past Tuesday, this wiggly little girl inside me is finally starting to seem real.
 |
| Baby Girl with heart beat at 20 weeks, 3 days -- 12/15/2015 |
 |
| Wiggly Baby Girl at 20 weeks, 3 days -- 12/15/2015 |
The ultrasound technician said (at least 4 times) what a wiggly baby she is and all we could think was, "just like big brother and sister!" In fact, we think her profile looks a bit like Ian's did in his ultrasound. We smile to think that maybe big brother has been spending some time training and preparing this new sister for life in our family -- he knows all the tricks but didn't get to use all of them. We may be in for quite an adventure...
We are so happy and excited, but now the fear really begins to kick in. I definitely feel every bit of 10 years older than last time we did this. Can I really do a newborn again? Terrified or not, I'm really excited and thankful to be able to give it a shot!
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