Making a Baby in a different way

We have wonderful news to share...

... but before I do that, I want to remember why I even started this blog. I am a cancer survivor and due to a hysterectomy, I can not bear my own children anymore. But the doctor was able to save my ovaries, so we can still have children - just not the normal way.
So about three years ago, we went through the fertility process of harvesting my eggs, the Hubby's sperm and made lab babies. Sounds fun, right? If you want to know the entire medical side of it, you can read about it here. (If not, you skip and let your imagination go wild.)

The important part is that we needed a carrier, or to be more exact a gestational carrier, that 'borrows' us her 'oven' to 'bake' our baby. I highlighted our, because it is ours biologically. No part in this baby comes from the woman who carries the baby. Just to be clear on that!
So a lovely relative had stepped forward and wanted to carry that baby for us. She was such a blessing when we were in need of a true miracle. It was not an easy process but we made it through together and the result was a beautiful creation of God, the maker of us all, our pretty baby girl. And the many blessings that came along the way for both families.

During those difficult months, I got closer to a lady from our church. That lady is my best friend today and I love that I had her then and could share my worries with her. But I love even more that we are friends today and I can not think of life without her....
The day after we came home with Peanut, Beth came over to our house for a play date for the kids, for us adults to see each other, and to tell me something.... something that I was not prepared for and I didn't even expect....
... okay, are you ready? Drum roll please...

... she told me that she wanted to be our next carrier!!!

Can you believe that? I was so.... flabbergasted, I guess. I didn't know what to say. I mean I said thank you and all that, but I seriously wasn't thinking about that at all, not when you are holding that six-week old baby in my arms. We didn't talk about it for a while, but after about a year, I brought it back up and wanted to know if she was still willing to do this for us. And she was! So time went by, life goes on, schedules and such don't make it easy to really sit down and crunch the numbers.... but we finally said, okay, we gonna do this.

So the process was a bit different than last time. For once, I did not have to go through any medical procedures. Still, we had to go see a psychiatrist, go to the local fertility clinic for financial stuff, and had to have the embryo shipped to Texas; until finally Beth could have her first appointment with the doctor. She was in luck because she didn't have to take any hormone shots!
On the morning of the transfer, the embryo had to survive being thawed and then being implanted into Beth. Then we had to wait another ten more days for a blood test to take place, until we got the results that....

...... we will be a family of five soon.

We are almost eight weeks pregnant. I am looking forward to share this pregnancy with my very best friend, whom I love so much, and who has a special place in my heart, forever.

So yeah.... thank you, my dear friend Beth, for giving us this wonderful gift.
And I thank God for His infinitive blessings He is and will pour out over all of us.

If you want to read what she wrote today, here is a link to her blog.