Hi everyone! I made it back safely from California after a really busy weekend. DH picked me up at the airport and we went straight to the doctor's office. The timing both getting there and coming home was really tight and things had to happen precisely in order for everything to work out right and they did so we're thankful that God saw fit to bless such trivial details as clocks, traffic and plane flights!
The blood tests did confirm the doctor's suspicion. In reality I think we were both expecting to hear that so we had mentally prepared ourselves as best we could. The net point is that with this diagnosis, DH does have some elevated risks for other health problems, so this will be treated to minimize those, but the treatments do not increase fertility. Our only option for biological children would be IVF, which we have decided is not something we will pursue, for a variety of reasons.
We have officially decided to pursue Embryo Adoption. We chose this over infant adoption, at least for a first child, for a variety of reasons. As we look back on a lot of things throughout our lives, we see a lot of confirmation and "groundwork" that was being laid by the Holy Spirit for adoption in our hearts and we didn't even realize it at the time. We actually made this decision before the doctor's appointment. Embryo Adoption is not our "plan B" or a second best for us. We're confident that this was God's plan all along even if we're just now realizing it. But we had to have solid confirmation that we were discontinuing active TTC to even apply to the program because you cannot do both simultaneously.
We're still a little ways away. Embryo Adoption is very expensive so we're in the penny pinching stage. But we have already contacted the adoption agency and last week received the application. We hope that within the next several months, we'll be able to begin our homestudy and submit our application. When that is completed, we'll enter the matching process. We have our homework cut out for us and we're in for a long journey, but we are excited to begin this new chapter.
Thank you for covering our doctor's visit in your prayers. Please continue to pray for DH. His grief is still really new so he has a lot more to process but he also has a lot of hope. Also, his grief as a man is different than mine as a woman so in some ways, I just have to sit and watch as he goes through this in his own way that's different from me. But we are confident that he has the best of companions in the Holy Spirit and his heart will be filled with peace in time.
We are very glad to have some answers and we are especially grateful because had we not pursued natural conception so aggressively, this condition in DH would have gone undiagnosed and we would not have been able to make the adjustments to lower his risk factors for those other problems. We can look back on this journey (not that it is over!) and see God's loving hand at work in so many areas and we are amazed.
Thank you for praying with us, mourning with us and celebrating with us! Please join us in covering this new process in prayer and celebration!
