Update from the Modens!

Well, sorry it has been two months since my last post but life has been crazy for a while. As most of you already know, Erik and I have been going through fertility treatments trying to have a baby. Well our most recent IVF treatment, I am pleased to say was a success and Erik and I are expecting our first child on December 15, 2009. We are 7 weeks and 1 day pregnant.

We had our first sonogram on Monday and everything looked great. They said that it (people make fun because I call the baby "it") is measuring at a good size and it's heart rate was 129 bpm which is supposed to be well into the healthy range.

The most exciting part was that we received our first baby picture and I have already found a place on the refrigerator for it.

We go back to the doctor on the 11th for another sonogram and then I am scheduled to see my regular OBGYN on the 13th.

We hope everyone is doing well and we thank you for all your prayers and support.

Happy Spring!

Skiing in Utah!!!

Well, it has been a while but life has been a little busy. It never seems to slow down but I am sure I am preaching to the choir when I say stuff like that.

This past weekend Erik and I took a couple of days off and went out to Park City, Utah with Krista and her husband Paul and some other friends to go skiing.

On day one, Thursday, Erik and I went to ski at The Canyons. This was my first time skiing in Utah and Erik helped me challenge myself of the double black diamond called the Yard Sale. From what I know about a Yard Sale while skiing it basically means that you whipe out and lose all your gear from your skis to you poles to your hat and goggles.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/2241493668_e1a21ea34a_b.jpg

Laugh all you want, luckily that did not happen to me.

After a nice lunch break, Erik and I decided to do some hiking to ski as well. This is where I called it quits.

Erik kept climbing,

And Climbing,

Until he finally made it to the top.

He did all this work and it only took seconds to ski back down.

We had a great time. However, to end the perfect day, clumsy Rebecca decided to fall on the ice entering the condo and jam her shoulder. So basically that was it for me and the skiing. My arm is feeling better so no need to worry. I know that you all are shocked and upset by this turn of events. The up side to this was that on Friday, I was able to go shopping and get a massage. Erik on the other hand decided to be insane on Friday and he went on a back country tour called the Interconnect Tour through Ski Utah.

http://www.skiutah.com/interconnect/

I will let him make another post with photos of that because he was there and can better explain his insanity. I do know he had a great time and that it was the experience of a lifetime.

On Saturday, we both took it easy. We lucked out and the Olympic Park was hosting the final races for the World Cup Bobsled tournament so we were able to go and watch them. It was amazing and cold. I was sure they were going to have to cut off some of my fingers aftering being out there for so long.

On the last day we went to Alta. Erik skied alone but I am sure he did not mind being able to ski all the harder runs that I can not. He took pictures that day too but again I will let him post them since he knows what they are.

We took the redeye home on Sunday night, which I will NEVER do again, but we survived. Now its back to the grind. We'll post some more soon. Hope everyone is doing well and that we can get to see you all soon.

Love Ya!

I've Been Tagged!

The Rules:


1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3) Explain the picture.

4) Tag 4 people to do the same.

(This is Andrea a friend of ours here in D.C. at our house for Erik's 28th birthday (2 years ago). We were roasting marshmallows (I believe it was Andrea's first time.) Sitting behind her is Dan another friend that lives in Hamilton with us.)

I am tagging Kate and Tim and Kevin and Genny!

Later!

A Rough Few Weeks!

Well, as most of you already know our first attempt at IVF was unsuccessful. However, Erik and I are still really optimistic. We met with our doctor last Friday and he gave us the go ahead to start a second treatment. The doctor's have been great and learned a lot from our first cycle.

Apparently, my body tends to over react to the medication and last time they had to continue to adjust my dosing. The doctor feels that these adjustments are probably the cause for the failure of our first attempt. With this knowledge they will be able to better regulate my response by adjusting the dosing before we start the cycle. The next cycle will begin in February. The "fresh" cycles take two months so we will know in April whether our second attempt was a success. I will try and keep the blog updated with our progress as we go.

On some other bad news, Saturday, the 10th, my grandmother passed away. Luckily, I happened to be in South Carolina for business and was able to make it to the Hospice center about a 1/2 hour before she passed so I had a chance to see her one more time. I had to leave for Montreal on Monday but was able to return to Georgia for the funeral and visitation on Wednesday and Thursday. The service was beautiful and everything went really well. My grandmother was an amazing woman and I will truly miss her.

Will update again soon. Hope every one's new year is going well.

Christmas & A Wedding!

Well, this Christmas was very exciting for us. First, we went to a tree farm in Round Hill and cut down our Christmas tree. It was a lot of fun but really cold.

For Christmas this year everyone came to Virginia and we had Christmas dinner at our house. Luckily, Erik's mom still cooked.

After Christmas we celebrated my brother Tim’s wedding to Kate. Below we have included some pictures from the Rehearsal dinner as well as the wedding.

Well that's all for now. Hope everyone had a great holiday.

Take Care!

Thanksgiving til now!

Well, a lot has been going on since our last post.

First, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family in Georgia and had a very nice time. I was able to take a few extra days off and also go to South Carolina and visit for a while as well.

Work has been a little crazy for both of us and I think it will stay that way through the new year.

We are counting down to Christmas. Our Christmas this year will be a little wild. The Moden's will be coming to our house in Virginia to celebrate. Plus, my family will be headed up this way for my brother Tim's wedding on Saturday the 27th. Should be a great time.

For the update on IVF....

I finished the first month of medicine (birth control) in November. I then started the next round of medicine. It was one shot and a baby aspirin in the morning and then two more shots in the evening. Because I have been responding to the medicine so well they had to add another shot to help control my response in the evenings as well so that made three. YEAH!

You would have to ask Erik but I think I have responded fairly well emotionally.

I took my last shot of those medicines tonight and will take what they call a Trigger shot tonight as well. Then on Wednesday, I will have my egg retrieval and fertilization. They have to put me to sleep so I am not too excited about that but at least it is close to being complete. The final step is the embryo transfer. This will occur three to five days following my retrieval. After that we just wait. We should know if the treatment worked in early January.

We are very excited and think that being pregnant would be a wonderful way to start the new year.

We appreciate all your prayers and support through all of this. Hope everyone is doing well.

God Bless!

A little crazy here in Virginia!!

Well, I am finally home long enough to post another update. A lot has been going on over the last few weeks so here it is.

Erik and I traveled to Knoxville, TN to see our friends Scott and Danielle and their daughter Ainie over the weekend of November 1st. We had a great time and really enjoyed the football on Saturday with WVU beating UCONN and Michigan losing. I tell you life doesn't get much better.

Erik and I also celebrated our 5 year anniversary over the same weekend. We loved sharing it with friends and actually can not believe that it has been so long since we took the plunge down the aisle. The last five years have flown by but have been great.

Over last weekend, November 7th, I went to Santa Fe, NM for work but also got to include a short visit with Krista and her husband Paul in Albuquerque. I had a great time with them but had to suffer through the dreadful loss of WVU to Cincinnati. That stinks.

On some other news, Erik and I have just gotten the go ahead to start our first IVF with ICSI treatment. The next three weeks will just be some medication that I have to take and then we will get into the actually procedure in December. We are very excited and hope to have news of the success of our treatment early next year. We will keep you all posted as it goes and feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Erik and I just wanted to let everyone know that we appreciate your prayer and support through all of our infertility and other times of trouble. But most of all, we want to thank everyone for their continued support of our growing marriage. Married life is not easy and having such a strong support system over the past five years has been great.

We hope that everyone has a nice Thanksgiving and we will update again soon.

God Bless!