speedbump...

There's so much to catch everyone up on....sorry for the delay on updating, but things have been so hectic!

First for the good news....we have a timeline! This is a very complicated, scientific process so I'm going to try to explain it as I understand it. I have started taking prenatal vitamins to prepare my body for the baby. Starting around mid-February, I will start taking estrogen to see how it affects my hormone levels. Then I will begin taking the injections. The eggs will be harvested from the egg donor the week preceding Easter, and the eggs will be implanted in my body the following week, the week after Easter (mid April). That is so exciting that we are so close to making a baby for Chris and Kimberly!!!

Now for the not-so-good part. Let me just say that things have been running so smoothly with the process and we have just been so grateful to God for His hand in everything. That being said, none of us expected for the road to be bump-free. For Chris and Kimberly, the journey of having a baby has been a roller coaster, and I'm sure they are emotionally exhausted. And now we have officially hit our first roadblock with the surrogacy. We were originally told by our local insurance rep that the pregnancy would be covered no differently than if I were having my own child. However, this rep has since left the agency and we are now being told the pregnancy will not be covered because the policy excludes surrogacy (I'm sure I'll post about how ridiculous this exclusion is in another post). Needless to say, we felt like we had been punched in the stomach. I cannot even fathom how much it costs to have a baby without insurance, but I'm pretty sure it would more than double the costs of the surrogacy. With all of the doctor appointments, sonograms, hospital stay, medications, etc..., human procreation is an expensive thing. My niece's golden retriever Belle just had puppies and her mom was telling me that Belle bit off each of the six umbilical cords with her teeth. No sonogram, no delivery doctor, no surgical utensils, no epidural. Amazing. Off topic, but amazing. Anyway, I am very grateful that we have the technology and scientific advances to make pregnancy and delivery so much safer, but along with that comes the mula.

I have tried my best to convince Chris and Kim to let me handle the battle with the insurance. They have enough to worry about with figuring out how to pay for the actual in vitro fertilization procedure. For now, we are awaiting a definitive answer from the insurance company bigwigs. If it is confirmed that we will not be covered, we will try to fight. If that fails, we will seek out a separate insurance company to cover maternity. This will not slow us down. Please be in prayer for this situation. We are still hoping to work it out without additional costs. Finally, Chris and Kim could really use some support and encouragement right now with this latest setback. Even if you can only donate a small amount, just the timing of it would serve to show them that they are loved and supported and that God's hand is still moving. I love you guys and thank you for all you have been doing to encourage me! I am very blessed!

http://www.lifelonggift.com/