Embryo Transfer Complete

That is the three embryos right before the transfer and us right after the transfer.

We would like to thank all of you who have followed along with our journey. We won't have any more news for a few weeks unless it is bad news, so please understand the emotional delicacy that we are enduring. Your prayers are joyfully accepted but your questions may be politely dodged. The outcome will reveal itself in time.

We are done here in Brno. I plan on taking it easy and packing on Saturday, maybe stroll around Sheldon's new favorite park with the zip line... here is a peek!



On Sunday we travel by train to Prague with other members of the Baby Making Gang, we will spend one night in Prague and then part ways, Sheldon and I are renting a car and exploring as much of Germany as we can until we fly home Wednesday. The blog will continue throughout our last few days of fun and adventure!

Thanks for sticking with us,
The Jones'

The day we've all been waiting for...

By the time you jokers wake up tomorrow the transfer will be complete. That is all for now. ~V

More Vienna pics

News from the front by Sheldon

Tomorrow is the big day. Veronica's appointment is tomorrow at 1200. That's when the fertilized egg transfer takes place. Things are looking well so far. We are so excited with the news.

Well, because we won't have anymore doctor's appointments while we are here we are going to leave Brno early. We are going to head back to Prague with the BMG (Baby Making Gang) on Sunday. We are going to go to Germany for Monday and Tuesday. Our flight back home is Wednesday from Prague.

Our trip to Vienna was exciting and I am looking forward to seeing what Germany ha to offer.

Hope you guys like the pictures...blog only allows 5 to be posted at a time.

Vienna or Wien as it is known in Austria

Passionate Kisses from Vienna

Hell Yeah! Can I get a Whooo Hooo? Let's go again! We powered into Vienna via train and commandoed our way from sight to sight. When we first got there some guy at the train station (bahnhof... yeah, I got to speak a little German)info booth told us to take the Tram, the light rail system, to the city center and we totally would have done it too, if it had not been for the sprawling gardens of the Belvedere Palace right in front of our noses. We got over loaded on Art and History at our first stop, Monet, Renoir, Schiele, Klimt... I got my nose inches from The Kiss! The Kiss! I accidentally touched the glass with my finger nail and got yelled at! Ha! I just didn't realize I was that close, I think I went cross-eyed looking at it. The majority of Gustav Klimt's work was there as well, save for the few pieces sold to dirty Americans a few years ago. Ah! The highlight of my day happened at 11 AM, but the rest of the day was not bad either!

The weather held up very well and we able to walk to each major sight with no problem. If we had been able to spend more than one day there we might have invested in more knowledge and tram passes but the way we did it got us to many of the sights we wanted to see and photograph. The city itself is overwhelming and requires more than an eight hour stay. But we got to see Stephansplatz Cathedral, the Hofburg Imperial Palace, the Natural History Museum Palace, the pedestrian walking mall (it had a huge Lois Vuitton store... I took a picture for you Brandee and Breanna) and countless other things that I am sure we did not realize we saw.

It was a good day. Our traveling companions (the Baby Making Gang) all decided to put Sheldon in charge of the map and he lead a good fight. It was a little quick paced but we did it and made it back to the train with no problems.

I would go back today... alas, I cannot. But maybe Salzberg next week?

~V

p.s. Our USB cord is MIA and we have no way to share pictures, maybe I remedy that later today... wait for it.

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Daryll Hates Vienna Saugages

On Monday night we met up with another couple, their surrogate and her sister-in-law/ traveling companion. The couple (I am not sure if they care to be mentioned in my blog so for now shall remain anonymous)is originally from Cuba and now hails from Providence, RI. The surrogate and company are both married (and mothers) and are from Cedar Rapids, IA (yet another shout out to my peeps out there!) Anyway, we have had dinner with all of these people for the past two nights, we are quite the motley crew with very little in common other than we, Joneses, are merely a day behind them in the quest for baby. It is very hard to explain my instant love for these folks, as we all wandered the streets last night after dinner, we all six kept pairing off to talk to each other and get to know each other better and connect with each individual, and then we'd switch. So, we all decided to go to Vienna together! I am also very excited to report that we will be taking the train there, we tried to buy bus tickets but Thank God they were sold out! I would have been disappointed if we did not get to take the train somewhere, I love train travel. Austria has long been one of my favorite countries (Salzburg is amazing) and I hope to have a perfect day despite the weather looking a bit gloomy.

It is 3AM Wednesday morning for me, I am on my sleep break, so I need to get back to my last two hours in the sack. We are on the early train and have a coffee date with our baby making gang before that. Later in the morning, we will find out how many eggs from yesterday's 10 were fertilized and which day the transfer will take place. So Vienna (the one without the canals, Dar) is the perfect distraction.

I am so breathlessly hopeful,
V

Eggs-xactly the news we needed by Sheldon

This morning was the retrieval. Happy to report 10 eggs were retrieved. Veronica was only out of the room for about 10 minutes and came back acting drunk...waking up from the anesthesia. She was making me laugh. She stated that she had so much fun that she wanted to do it again. Of course she doesn't remember telling me that.

Looks like we are planning a trip to Vienna, Austria (throw another shrimp on the barbie)with the 4 people we met that just arrived for the procedure. We are excited to see the sites in Vienna. We have gotten a little bored here in Brno. I guess we got spoiled in Prague with all the amazing sites there. Time to be tourists again. I'll break out the sandals with black socks, the khaki shorts, the white t-shirt with black suspenders, and the camera around the neck for our trip. Boy, will I be cold.

We love reading your comments so keep them coming.

Non-Stop Parking and other oddities

I have seen it a few times, the sign that says NON-STOP PARKING. Can someone please help me with this? I can see one from my hotel window and it is driving me crazy. We have fallen into a routine here in Brno. Sleep, shower, breakfast, ten mile hike, shop along the way, hold hands, eat lunch, see a castle, drag ass the ten miles back to the hotel, internet time, find a restaurant for dinner, play sirius radio on the computer, play cards, more internet, to bed. Sometimes we switch it up a bit, like tomorrow, the Egg Hunt has to be squeezed in there. Also, they will be surgically removing Sheldon's sperm through his nasal cavity (I made that up to make it seem more fair)... Just another day in paradise!
Still loving it here, still excited about the mission, still missing our pets and our peeps, finding it hard to believe life is going on without us over there,
V

Our dogs by Sheldon

We have been missing our dogs a lot lately. We bought new leashes today for them. Saturday we actually saw a dog that resembled Zoe. In our hotel there is a picture of a Chocolate Lab that looks like a young Gage. We actually say hi and goodnight to him as we pass by. Can't wait to see them.

Skypers

Just a quick note,
Some of you have already fallen victim to our new obsession: SKYPE. Google it. We are loving it. Nadeen told me to bring my headset with microphone with me (the one I got to talk to Karen with about two years ago and used twice because the time difference to Bangkok really messed me up) and so I did. And can I just say, we really needed some outside contact. Despite being sooooooo in love... we have kinda been getting on each other's nerves. Like right now. So having family and friends to talk to has been nice today. We might just make it home alive, together and alive. Sooooo, if you feel like downloading Skype, we could talk for free, our account is: sheldonandveronica I know that is a tough one but we figured we are the only sheldonandveronica out there.

Call us!

Happy Birthday Yvette

Today is another day without a plan. Not much to do on Sundays anyway. I did just find out that an hour massage is 450Kc about $25. So guess what I might be doing later.... I forced myself to sleep in today and the sleep itself was only broken up by one hour in the middle of the night, not so bad. Last night we watched "Made of Honor" on line for free, that was kinda cool. At some point in the middle of the movie there was a fight out on the street below our window. Four grown people, like in their 40's and 50's, pushing each other down and screaming like banshees, it was quite a spectacle. We had no idea what it was about but were astonished that no one else seemed to mind them carrying on in public for a very long time. We just paused the movie and watched the drama unfold on the street while munching on our huge stash of gummies and sipping Coca-Cola Blak.

Today is a big day in baby-making, I get to take a total of three shots! Yippie! But it sets me up for Tuesday's big procedure, the Egg Hunt. And then we wait. And that means that you get to wait with us. If I am feeling well enough on Wednesday I hope to be on a train to Vienna, otherwise that should happen on Thursday. Also today I get to meet a lady coming from Cedar Rapids, IA to be a surrogate for another couple. A small shout out to my favorite fertile people from Iowa: Send some spare baby dust my way!(I can't stop thinking about you guys!)

Thanks for all the comments! We'll keep coming back if you do. ~V

The sleep issue, thanks ma!

I should still be sleeping. My mother had terrible sleep issues and I am totally pissed that I have them too, I am lucky to string together three hours at a time. For the most part the anxiety about the trip and treatment is all but gone. So why am I not sleeping? It is Saturday morning for us, still Friday night for you all. The girls at Hunter's Pub are still sitting around smoking and joking, but mostly smoking. I can't wait to come home and have a steak. My stomach just growled thinking about it. Someone (KT) tell Tiff that I want to work the Thursday I get back November 6th. I miss my girls.
And, by the way, people, lets please not forget about the walk on November 8th in Centennial Park in Atlanta. We are merely simmering here (is it cause I am out of the country?) We need to bring this cause to a boil. This is our first Memorial walk for my Mom, gather up the team, put on the rally caps, GET YOUR GAME FACE ON. Thanks if you have already joined or donated. Oh, here is that link to get you there: https://www.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=271428&lis=1&kntae271428=8C77F465B2564F68B6C96D9D161B16BB&supId=0&team=2770034&cj=Y

In other news, we have no other news. Today will be our first day without a plan. As long as we make it to the free breakfast buffet we are good to go(breakfast is not in the budget because it is included in the hotel rate... plus the coffee is GREAT!) We did a lot of walking again yesterday and I wore the wrong shoes so my feet are a little mad at me. I did sleep for 3 whole hours though so maybe I will wander around again later this afternoon. I want to find a train schedule to plan our adventure to Vienna. I'd love to go to Salzburg as well and then possibly Germany in our last few days. Maybe that is why I am losing sleep! I know you guys don't feel sorry for me, I am on vacation after all! Anyway, we love hearing from everyone, my fabulouso Mom-in-law and rock-star Sis-in-law comment everyday and we love it. Let us know you are still out there, but we feel the love either way. ~V

Superstitions by Sheldon

To follow up on Veronica's story...

We got to the hotel and were starving. After checking in a the front desk, we went up to our room 212A. As we are going down the hall, we do not notice any letters on the doors. 208, 209, 210, 211, 212...so we try our room key card like 20 times and nothing but a flashing red light. She stays upstairs while I go back to the front desk. I found out that it is 212A and not 212. Because of the language barrier I did not ask any further questions and went back upstairs. The next one down from 212 is 212A. After investigating, we realize that there are no rooms with the number 13. Weird huh? I guess it's like some buildings not having a 13th floor.

Tonight was my first time eating Indian(the dot not the feather)food. Sorry, Veronica wanted me to put that. It was real good despite that Veronica forced me to go.

small negative, big positives

Let me get it out of the way. Yesterday sucked. Eva, our coordinator rode the bus to Prague to pick us up at the hotel by taxi, to ride the bus back to Brno with us. Fine. I get very car sick... buses, for me, are worse. But I tried to be a trooper about it, until the two hour bus trip turned into a five hour crawl down the autobahn (or whatever they call the highway here) because of wrecks involving fiery explosions and emergency vehicles and euro-sirens like in the movies. And then some psycho behind me sprayed perfume to cover up the smell of B.O. I would have rather been shot and then stuffed in the bathroom (which was so far beyond nasty...) The whole thing basically took up the whole day. We were starved and looking crazy in the end, Eva had to get home to her kids, poor thing, she is very sweet and felt bad about the whole ordeal. For her sake, I had to try my hardest not to be a total lunatic. She dropped us off at the hotel, which is quite nice and had no problems with the rate issue, and we settled for a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant.

The good news is that we finally got the right adapter for the plug so we can use the laptop (I plan on recycling this to Nadeen and Mark) so we are well connected, not that you all noticed that we were on borrowed Internet equipment before today. Also, the exchange rate continues to be in our favor, that is nice. Oh, and we went to the Clinic today, WARNING! : avert your attention if you are not interested in the medical stuff... just kidding! But all is well in that area. I am now taking two shots a day for the final few days. Fun. And we got to explore Brno today, it is not touristy like Prague, just a regular town on what seems like another planet. The first round of post cards have been sent, the second round... are waiting for your addresses, duh!

We miss our dogs, and can't seem to sleep without our cats. Two weeks to go. We miss our people too. Big Smooch!

More pics from Prague

Torture Chamber
Being sent to the torture chamber
One of beautiful sites inside The Cathedral
On our lunch cruise
The famous "Botel" not hotel or motel

That's What I Get!!!

Well, when you brag about the weather...what happens? I wore 2 jackets and my fleece cap. Veronica wore both of the scarves that she brought and her knit cap. It was windy, overcast, and about 40-50 degrees. Later that night while we were walking back it even started to drizzle a little. A little more like I expected.

All in all, it was a good day. We got to see a lot of things we would not have normally seen. The key is getting away from the touristy areas, even if by accident. It always seems like we are the only Americans around. Even if we hear someone speaking English, it always turns out to be with a British accent. Surprisingly a lot of the people who work here can speak enough English to communicate with us.

No television in the room means that I have read a book already. Blindness, which is the one the movie was made about, was very interesting. Movie probably does not even come close.

AND WE'RE OUT...Off to Brno...

Shin splints

Yesterday was a work-out. Did I mention that all of Prague is up-hill?

In the morning we went to the Prague Castle and Cathedral. Man! Talk about wonderland! It was amazing. I was a little disappointed that we did not get to see any of the Residence but what we did see was very impressive, I mean, it is a Castle afterall. I have pictures but this computer I am on does not have an SD port, and I have to see which pictures came out because we were not allowed to use flash in the Cathedral, the best part.

Later in the day we got lost. We actually got lost on both sides of the river and ended up at the foot of Saint "Good King" Wenceslas, not where we wanted to be, though it was cool. We were looking for the Astronomical Clock. I wanted to be there by 5 pm but we finally got there at 5:20 ish, that is only annoying to me because I really wanted o see it in full daylight and when the damn thing did it's "thing" which is on the hour. So after walking all over Prague looking for it the last thing I was going to suggest was that we stand in front of it for 40+ minutes, I still don't know what it does. So we decided to head back, are you thinking "why so early?" Well we really had been walking for MILES, and even Sheldon was tired of walking and that is what he does for a living. But then get this... we got lost again. We ended up walking the long route all the way back, I could have cried. But the cool thing about getting lost was that we wandered off the beaten and over-priced tourist path. We ended up finding a quiet coffee shop, a farmer's market, the patron saint of Bohemia and in the end, a wonderful cafe to have a very moderately priced dinner. And with all that walking... we actually got some sleep.

On with the show! Our ride to Brno arrives in about an hour and a half. I am starting to get excited to start treatment. The daily shots are not so bad, I am getting used to them and Sheldon is getting used to the emotional out-bursts that follow. Tonight our coordinator is taking us out to dinner, I guess that is all for now. Ciao!

Goals are good.

My newest goal while here in the Czech Rep is to eat tomatoes with every meal. Cause they are there, might as well eat 'em. Sheldon hates tomatoes so he won't play this game with me but I thought I'd let you all in on my new mission. And I am also still keeping my eyes on the prize with the original mission.

Today we are planning on making up our own tour of the Prague Castle. I like making up stories in my head about all this old stuff, I used to do it all the time when I lived in Germany, at least now I can try to convince my husband that some of it might be true. He tends to believe a lot of what I say... when he is listening. Then tomorrow our coordinator is picking us up to take us to Brno which is about two hours away. I am hoping the hotel does not give us a hard time with our room, but whatever, I don't care if they put us in a broom closet for $24 a night. I am just not paying the full price. I can stress about that tomorrow though. Today I am focused on the Castle stories and Post cards. Want one?

We are not sleeping well. Afternoon naps are needed because we are not sleeping at night but we are not sleeping at night because we keep taking afternoon naps. And then add into the mix that it is 73 steps from the street to our apartment.... and for some reason every route we seem to take to get somewhere is UP cobble stone streets there and back. Our butts are going to be looking cute when we get back. Right?

Ok, the next person that sees Daryll give him a good smack from me, he knows why, and tell him he isn't that funny. I am funny, he is not.

Are you so loving that Sheldon is writing too? Be sure to leave us a comment, ok? We love knowing that you are with us in spirit!

Where's the cold?

70 degrees with a relaxing breeze...that's not the weather report that I had seen before we left the U.S. I guess I don't mind. It made for a very relaxing 2 hour boat tour that also included a lunch buffet. We didn't want to get off the boat. I am surprised that Veronica did not post the "Botel" picture. I have seen a Hotel, a Motel, and now I have seen a Botel (hotel and boat combined). We should have stayed there but then again someone might have ended up getting sea sick or actually river sick.

They must have some big political event coming up. Last night while wandering around town we encountered a protest (looks like some anti-war or anti-bombing protest according to the pictures on their signs) and watched part of a political concert in the middle of a beautiful square.

Brandee, someone has stole my ideas about the play on words. They are selling a t-shirt that says "Prague, Czech Me Out". I didn't even think of that one. My ideas were "Do they accept Czechs?", "Czech please", and "I'll have to Czech on that."

Later for now.

BTW, this is Sheldon (but Veronica spell-checked Brandee's name)

feast your eyes on me posting photos!

Our Taxi driver waiting when we got there.
Our first beer
On a lunch cruise on the river
It is supposed to help with digestion...


More later! Keep coming!

Are your ears ringing?

My ears hurt. I have been wearing earrings, I never wear earrings. These are special earrings though, the ones I gave to mom for Christmas in 2002, when everyone in my family came to Colorado to meet Sheldon for the first time. So my ears lobes hurt a bit, not a bad kind of hurt and nothing is draining or anything gross, it the kind of hurt that almost feels good, like when you make an x with your fingernail on top of a mosquito bite, or the kind of hurt you get from spraying a scraped knee with that crazy anti-germ stuff in a can that foams up and stings a little, that kind of hurt. Anyway, I love the earrings and maybe the hurt goes away a little at a time.

So Sheldon wrote a blog, did you see it? I hope he keeps writing, it is nice to have a different spin on this trip than my own. I have been living this whole thing in my mind by myself for so long and it is just nice to share the real deal with him and everyone that reads this silly thing with no pictures (yet!) The weather here is very nice, not at all freezing like I thought it would be, but sunny and breezy... like us... the Joneses. hehe.

ps... I had tomatoes for breakfast! Isn't that weird? Thought I'd share.

Jet Lag--by Sheldon

First, for those of you that get "Road Rage", just be glad that you aren't driving over here. Just on the ride from the airport, our taxi driver had cut off multiple people and forced his way in several times. Tail-gaiting is a must if you are going to drive here.

The first day was spent sleeping for a few hours, after our walk around our area. We both found ourselves getting grumpy during the walk. Darryl was right, you do have to pay to use a public "Water Closet" (toilet in case you didn't know). Do to this fact, I had a delightful race back to the room that includes a whole lotta steps. Sorry no elevator. The place is beautiful. Prague, or as it is written here Praha, is a tourist town and we have noticed that we have to watch out for price gouging. In Brno, which is a college town, I expect things to be a little cheaper. We just have to look at the cost on the menu before we go inside. <- Not a fun story and I don't think Veronica wants me to tell it. I'll have to wait to tell that one.

Today we plan to go on a tour of the city and will update you after. Having fun in Praha!

We made it!!!

The flight was... long. Sheldon did a little chant before getting on the plane about "no screaming babies" and I thought that was an odd thing to say given our mission but whatever, I just let him mumble a bit. His little mantra worked though cause there were no screaming babies in our section. There was however a Mrs Potato behind him that grabbed his seat every ten minutes throughout the entire flight and shook it for whatever reason. Europeans are very... different. Yvette, I was waiting in line to get my money exchanged and a lady came up behind me and tried to push me out of the way a few times and when that did not work she just crowded me... how well do you think that went over? I almost knocked her down with my backpack. Sheldon got a chuckle out of that. When we got our bags (with no problem) and got our passport stamped (for the first time ever!) we walked out of baggage claim and saw a dude holding a sign that said "Veronica Jones" so we went with him and he zipped (and I mean zipped) us through the streets of Praha to our hotel. So now we are showered but hungry. Tomorrow we are going on tours of the city to see castles and crystal and bridges and beer breweries. Ta-ta for now!

The morning of the day of our amazing trip.

I am up early. We are staying at my fabulous cousin Brandee's in Norcross because she allows dogs to spend the night here. The truth is, we allow her dogs to visit (sometimes as long as two months at a time) so she has to let our dogs visit. Even if our dogs are bigger than her kitchen. Sheldon is next to me on the couch, both of her dogs on him, asleep, and our dogs on the floor at his feet, jealous. Anyway, I came up to Atlanta on Friday with the dogs, I had to get out of our house, the excitement about the IVF trip was driving me crazy so I decided to make it start early. Sheldon came up from Columbus last night and on his way into town he picked Dar and Jonesy from the airport. Their international travels were bringing them back from three weeks in Italy. His travel blog is gonna make mine look so stupid but here it is: http://meandthemajor.wordpress.com/

For those of you who don't already know, Daryll is one of my brothers (who are twins) and he is simply the most amazing person. He took care of Mom while she was sick. That is no small statement but I can't really get into why Daryll is one of my most favorite people on the planet, he just is. He could be your favorite too, I don't mind sharing. I just really needed to see him before we left. So, last night, I set up camp at our uncle's house and lured select family members with some filipino food. It worked, we sat for a while and enjoyed Dar's homecoming with a little bit of wine. He shared his some stories of his Papal encounters in Rome and his Harley riding friend in Sorrento (that let him ride HER bike) and stories of Tom Cruise. Sheldon and Brandee made a lot of stupid jokes and we had a good time. I have a great loving family and their support is so important right now. Last night was just what I needed.

I may write again more later today, before our flight to Prague. Right now I have to get ready for church with Dad in Snellville. Our flight leaves at 7:30 PM and we fly through the night to get there. I need to re-pack everything because one of our suitcases is a little too heavy and I am not paying extra for it! Other than that we are ready. Really ready. Finding out if any of this was successful is more than a month away. But I am ready to do this. I am beyond the flurry of the initial excitement, the anxiety of planning and packing, the worry about the money, worry about the pets, worry about passports and medications. I have put so much work into this. I am ready to go.

One last note: My last big hurdle was yesterday when I had to give myself my first shot- EVER - it was not graceful or cute. Brandee got to witness what a mess I was, just a horrible babbling idiot! But I did it. Good thing I get to keep doing that every morning for the next few months. Yay!

Five days til lift off

I have been blogging for years... in my mind. I am just too lazy to actually DO IT. Welcome to my life.

Where to start? I live in Phenix City, Alabama... that is a glamorous opener. I am married to the funnest, funniest, most hilarious Drill Sergeant (DS) the Army has ever seen, just don't tell him that. And he is really cute. We have been married for five years, and only separated a total of six months due to deployment, any Army Wife (AW... I love acronyms) will tell you how lucky we are, especially considering he is an infantryman. We have two cats and two dogs and our lives tend to revolve around our pets because we have no kids. Which brings me to the topic of kids. We want them, can't seem to have them, which makes me want them even more. We are on a quest to make our dreams come true. You'll never believe where our adventures will take us! Please come back, I promise details about our journey. Right now I have to get some sleep.