Some REALLY Good News Amongst a Crazy World!

The world has been going crazy lately and it is definitely apparent that we are in the last days! The Coronavirus has taken over the world it seems. I can't pinpoint the time when the world changed for everyone. The virus started out as not a big deal, but just in the past week and a half, everyone has gone into complete quarantine! Cities have closed, stores have been emptied, colleges and local schools have shut down, everyone has been sent home, the MBA and all sports seasons have been cancelled. The craziest thing is even church in our church buildings has been temporarily suspended- all because of this virus! Utah even had a big earthquake on Tuesday and Moroni's trumpet fell off of the Salt Lake City temple. The people are going CRAZY and it is insane to witness. Over and over, I keep thinking how grateful I am to have a living prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, who continues to guide us. My testimony has been rooted more deeply that he is truly a living prophet who receives revelation for our day. How cool is it that just last year, we began the home-study of "Come Follow Me" as a worldwide church? Last October conference, President Nelson said how this year, 2020, it will be the bi-centennial year of the First Vision. He also mentioned that this April conference will be "different from any previous conference." We had no idea how life would unfold in these last 6 months when church is canceled and no one is able to travel to conference because of this whole Coronavirus! 

So, Grant and I are doing our best to be prepared. Along with everyone else, we went grocery shopping to stock up on food last Thursday. I am making it more of a goal to be more prepared with our family food storage for future times. We have never seen the big grocery stores this empty! Also, there is a HUGE shortage of toilet paper!

The gyms are closed, so Grant and I have taken our workouts outside to Freestone Park. Everyone is outside spending quality family time. Whenever something bad happens, the good always outweighs the bad. As a society, we are finally able to focus on what matters most and just slow down while we are all quarantined. Luckily life has not changed too much for Grant and I. He works from home for Graphic Products and I'm still teaching piano lessons in my student's homes. 

On another note...we had a very exciting phone call yesterday, March 19th!!! I heard my phone ring, and I picked it up and it was New Direction, our fertility clinic, calling me! I knew they were calling me with the results of the genetic testing of our 10 little embryos. I hurried and answered the phone. Nicole, our nurse, was on the other line and asked me if this was a good time to talk. It was perfect timing because Grant was just walking through the door from a few notary signings. She told us that out of the 10 embryos that were tested, 7 (possibly 8) of them survived with the correct number of chromosomes!!! We were (and are) THRILLED! That was way more than we were expecting. She then asked us if we wanted to know the genders of our little babies! Of course we said, "YES!" She said that we have 5 BOYS and 2 GIRLS! I could cry just thinking about it as I type this. We could not believe it. What a blessing and a huge tender mercy. The BOYds definitely know how to make boys! haha. Everything has seemed to fall into place so well with this whole IVF experience. I just love those little boys and girls so much and I think about them all day long now. They are our little miracles and we have been praying for our embryos every day during this whole process. We have no words, except complete gratitude. We asked Nicole about their feelings on multiples and they said that it is completely up to us. It looks like we have some major praying and pondering to do until our transfer date in April. We then called my parents, Grant's parents, and Grandma and Grandpa Dayley to tell them the wonderful news!!! They were all so happy! 

7 BABIES!!?!? Can this even be real!? 5 BOYS and 2 GIRLS!!!

After we hung up with our nurse, we knelt and said a little prayer of gratitude and to also ask Heavenly Father for guidance and direction to know which gender of the little babes need to be sent to our family right now. We are still seeking that personal revelation, but we know it will come. I just can't stop thinking about our 5 little boys and 2 little girls!

Egg Retrieval Week!

Wow, what a whirlwind week it has been! Our shot routine was a little different this week. Grant can officially say that he's given me a shot in the doctor's office bathroom (because we had an appointment at 8:30am and that is shot time) and in the church bathroom Sunday night (because it was the night of James and Spencer Boyd's Eagle Court of Honor). Who would have thought?

A little mirror selfie in the Doctor's bathroom after shot 1+ 2.

 We've been to the doctor 4 days in a row for bloodwork and ultrasounds and gosh darn it...those nurses have the hardest time finding my veins to draw blood for the bloodwork! Each ultrasound, Dr. Amols would check the follicles to make sure that they are growing. He said, "Well, it looks like you won't get the award for producing the most eggs." He predicted us having 10-12 eggs at retrieval. Grant and I were feeling a little concerned about that comment so we asked the nurses how many eggs a typical healthy woman produces. She told us anywhere from 8-12 eggs and that made us feel a little better. The main goal is to have healthy eggs. We continued the stims until Tuesday and the nurses notified us that we would be taking our last Tuesday shot, Novarel, at 10pm. Novarel stimulates the release of the egg during ovulation and we were scheduled to do the egg retrieval on Thursday morning at 10am!!! Oh my goodness! We couldn't believe it was finally here!!!

But first...the booty shot! Grant gave me our typical Follistim shot at 8:30pm like normal and then we had to wait until 10pm for the long-anticipated Novarel in my bottom. Ouch! I told Grant not to tell me, just to do it. The nurse told him to hold it like a dart and man that is a deep needle. I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt, because it HURT! Grant said he can't believe he didn't faint. I'm sure glad he didn't because that needle went deep through the muscle. Oh, the crazy memories that take place in the walls of our home on Linda Lane.

Presenting the booty shot!

We re-enacted how the shot went. 

Today, March 5th was our scheduled egg retrieval day! I received a beautiful blessing from my dad last night which brought so much comfort to us. It is so amazing to me that Heavenly Father knows his children perfectly- he knows me! I have felt the Savior carry me these last few years. As soon as my dad and Grant placed their heads upon my head, a tingling feeling went through my whole body. 

I recorded and typed up my dad's blessing to me because I want to remember these words and these feelings forever. 

Father’s Blessing

March 4, 2020

Kathryn Lucy Coon, in the name of Jesus Christ and with the authority of the holy Melchizedek priesthood, we the Elders of Israel, place our hands on your head to give you a father’s blessing. 

Katie, you have so many gifts that our Heavenly Father has blessed you with. Your blessings are of many, one of which is your great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your Heavenly Father has blessed you with the talent of a pure heart and of a willing heart and I bless you that as you continue to be strong and faith, he will continue to purify your heart and you will be able to exercise that talent with increased faith. Our Heavenly Father has blessed us all with great gifts and talents and you have been blessed with great talents and one of the greatest gifts that you have been blessed with, Katie, is the blessing of faith. If you recall, even as a little child, you have always believed in the Savior and his love. And I bless you, Katie, to remember. Remember what the scriptures say; how often to reflect and reminisce about what you have taught and what you have been taught. 

I bless you, Katie, to realize that your Savior walks with you and has even carried you. Katie, your faith is great and He will continue to be able to bless you as you go through this procedure and life to come. 

Your Heavenly Father will continue to bless you and Grant with a strong love for one another and a joint love for Jesus Christ. I bless you, Katie, that he will, that you will receive the blessing of being a mother and the ability to bear children. This will be your blessing. 

Heavenly Father knows your pure intent and your righteous desires and he will fulfill that righteous desire. I bless you, Katie, that your body will be prepared, the doctors will know how best to treat you so that you will conceive and bear a child and continue to bear the children that are rightfully yours and who have been given to you. 

I bless you, Katie, with a continued blessing of health, strength, of well-being. I bless you that you will continue to exercise your faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ and that his love will be given to you throughout the day and days to come. 

You are a choice daughter of our Heavenly Father. He loves you and is very aware of your desires. Now I bless you, Katie, with these blessings; the blessings of faith, the blessings of purity, the blessings of love. There have been many talents that you have been given. We know there are those who have been given the blessing to be healed but the greatest blessing is the blessing of faith. I bless you that you will recognize that great talent that you have been given and I close this blessing and do so with the holy name, even the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

We got to the office at 9:15am and the nurses took us back to the preparation room where I dressed in the stylish hospital gown. My stomach was feeling so bloated and so swollen. We said a prayer that all would work out and we felt peace! After a few pictures were taken and a few Marco Polo's to our families updating them, the anesthesiologist took me away to the operating room and left Grant all by himself to get the collection. Poor guy. In the operating room, the anesthesiologist put the fluid in my needle. He told me that I would start to feel dizzy and a little nauseous and within two seconds, I was out!  

Always by my side!

All I remember was waking up in the recovery room- no idea how I got there! As I was coming out of the anesthesia, I was randomly singing the song, "Families Can Be Together Forever," in my head! Dr. Amols poked his head in and told me that the procedure went great. It took about 20 minutes and the nurse told me that they retrieved 20 eggs!! That is way more than we were expecting! We felt so grateful! We can definitely feel the Lord's hand today and I never want to forget the gratitude my heart feels for all the prayers, fasts, and the faith of others. 

Thumbs up!

After the procedure, the nurses let us know that it is very important to eat lots of salt in order to keep fluid out of my ovaries...french fries, pizza, hamburgers, etc. It was funny, because when has a doctor ever prescribed the patients that kind of food? Instead, Grant and I stopped by Jamba Juice to get a smoothie because I was parched and hungry. Mom came by and fixed us lunch and stocked our whole fridge with food! She brought some salty food as well. Grant was in heaven! I just love how thoughtful and kind my mom is. That act of service meant the world to me. I hope I can be the kind of service-oriented person she is someday. Tomorrow, our nurses will call us and let us know how many eggs fertilized. Now it's the waiting game! 

To My Beautiful Child: Sunday thoughts...

To My Beautiful Child,

I'm laughing right now thinking about our time in Barbados a few weeks ago. My cousin's little boy, Colby, LOVED your dad! Actually, that should be no surprise because every baby LOVES your dad! He just has this way of captivating their attention with his happy face. Colby would cry and your dad would be the only one who could calm him down. Every time your dad would hold Colby, the people of Barbados would say, "WOW that is a BIG baby!" Then they would look at your dad and say, "You must be the father!" We laughed and told them the sad news that he was not the dad. haha.

I was thinking the other night how much I would love it if you looked like your dad. If you look like me, I will still love you, but I think your dad is pretty cute. I pictured him with you the other night, and my heart could almost burst! He will be the BEST dad. He is so fun and loves life. He will teach you to love life too. He sure helps me to love it.

I also wanted to tell you that I am feeling so completely grateful and humbled lately. I struggle with being open and vulnerable about a trial that is so near and dear to my heart, but I can honestly say that I am happy and content. Lots of people ask me how I stay so positive and I've been thinking about that a lot. Here are the three reasons I've come up with:

#1. I know, without a doubt, that Heavenly Father has a plan for your dad and I. He's watching over us and he wants us to experience trials so we can learn and grow. That's the whole reason we are here on earth, right? I read somewhere that God cares more about our character than our comfort. I hope that your dad and I are building Christlike attributes amidst this trial. We love the Savior and want to become more like Him.

#2. Focusing on what I'm grateful for and for the wonderful life I've been blessed with helps me be happy now! Life is so precious and I would hate to waste away days. Sure, there are hard days, but I genuinely love my life and the people in it. I don't want to look back on this time of life and have regrets like, "Why didn't I just lighten up a bit?"

#3. Everything works out in the end. I have faith that if we continue to do what is right and live our lives in a way that's pleasing to the Lord, then we will be blessed. He has promised us happiness if we keep our covenants. I know that He keeps his promises. I trust in his timing for our family and I know that his plan is 150% better than any life plan that I could ever come up with. We've had countless experiences where Heavenly Father has reassured us that YOU (and your siblings) are coming. One of those experiences happened when your dad and I were just 17 and 18 years old. Crazy, I know!

So, needless to say...my heart is full of gratitude for the trials that we have. Our job is to carry our burdens with grace and put a smile on our faces- trusting that all will work out. Your dad and I do feel like a big piece of our hearts are missing...and we fill incomplete. The joy we will feel for your arrival will be indescribable and it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. You have been prayed for and wanted for years.

You are worth every tear and every needle!

Love,
Your Mom

Week one = Accomplished!

We survived the first week of shots and lots of doctor's appointments! Hallelujah! Lots has been happening! I had a really great week and was feeling pretty good each day. I would get exhausted at night, but other than that I wasn’t feeling too horribly. I had an ultrasound and blood draw on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Each day they would check the follicles and measure their size to make sure they were growing well. 

Here are some highlights of the week:

-We do our morning shots at 8:30am and our evening shots at 8:30pm, exactly 12 hours apart. Monday night, which was Day 2 of shots, Grant had a notary signing and he wasn't going to be home until 10pm from work. That meant he wasn't going to be able to give me my evening shot. I was feeling too anxious and nervous to give myself the shot, so...mom to the rescue!!! I called my mom and asked her if she would be able to come over and give me the shot and she was over in a jiffy. I'm so thankful for her and for her support! I'm sure she never thought she would be giving her own child a shot! 

-I really treasure good friendships that don't require a lot of effort. I consider my cousins some of my greatest friends and no matter where we go in life, I know that we will always be close. These are the messages that I got from them this week...

-I've been feeling pretty good lately! In my mind, I imagined this whole shot process to be a lot worse than it actually is. I thought that I would be a lot more hormonal, but to my surprise, I feel pretty normal. Wednesday, February 26th, was my only rough day this week. Like I've mentioned before, I've struggled with finding my purpose in life. I felt so self-consumed, which I don't like at all. Grant came home for lunch and while I was fixing him his lunch, I just burst into tears talking about everything that is going on in my brain. He listened to me and gave me a big hug. We decided to lay on the bed and I continued to talk while he just listened. We both came to the conclusion that we need to serve more and look outside ourselves. Grant worked from home the rest of the afternoon and I took a long hour and a half nap before I had to go teach piano. It felt good. Afterward, I prayed for opportunities to serve and you know what? They have come! That night, we fed the sister missionaries and I'm bringing dinner another night to our neighbor who just had a baby. I am always in awe at the power of service and how that can be a bright spot in our lives. 

-At my ultrasound on Tuesday, Dr. Amols wasn't too happy with how my eggs have progressed-which worried me a little bit. He increased my Follistim dose to 300 (it was at 225) and kept my Menopur the same at 75. We also added another shot in the morning called Ganirelix which prevents ovulation. He said that we should be ready for the egg retrieval next Wednesday or Thursday! I currently have 11 mature eggs and 4 eggs behind those.

-Along with the ultrasounds every other day, they do some blood work to check my levels. I'm learning to be really tough with needles because there's a student that draws the blood at the doctor's and...I have really small veins. That equals trouble!

At the doctor's ultrasound appointment on Saturday, Feb 29---leap day!

-On Saturday, Grant and I rode our bikes a street away from where we live to Downtown Gilbert. It was a fun little date eating our Topo burrito. I will never be able to express enough how much I love this man. We make a great team and I love how he supports me and loves me. He literally makes me feel like Superwoman going through IVF.

-We ended the day with some sealings at the temple. It's amazing the peace and comfort that comes from being there.

-When doing our morning shot routine this morning before church, we turned on cute baby videos to motivate us that this will hopefully be our outcome soon!!! This is a big week and luckily today is Fast Sunday. We have so many family and friends fasting and praying for us and for our miracle baby.

ANOTHER WEEK...HERE WE GOOOOO!!!

To My Beautiful Child: Medications have started!

To My Beautiful Child,

We received all of our medication on Tuesday, so Sunday right before church I posed on the table with it. I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom!

On Thursday, I had my follow-up ultrasound to make sure we are cleared and good to go to start meds! Your grandma, Grandma Jilly, came with your dad and I to the appointment. She is so supportive and I just love her...you will too! I wanted her to be familiar with the meds just in case your dad was able to give me the shot one day. The ultrasound looked great and not polyps or cysts were found. Your dad leaned over to me and said, "What a miracle!" It truly is a miracle considering last May, I had surgery to remove endometriosis and while we were at it, Dr. Wilson found 2 cysts on my ovaries. I felt so thankful that they haven't come back.

I have 100% faith that you will come when you are supposed to, in the way that you are supposed to come to us. The only thing that gives me a pit in my stomach are...the shots that your dad has to give me every day morning and night. There's always the slight feeling of horror before he sticks the needle in. Sunday morning was the first day of shots. I woke up feeling a bit nervous. I got ready while your dad was still sleeping and tried to prepare myself mentally. At 8am, your dad woke up and we began preparing ourselves for the first shot- Menopur. I am so thankful to have your dad. He makes me laugh and makes the situation a lot less uptight. I call him Dr. Boyd...and I think he likes that. He is such a words guy, and I'm sure you will be just like your dad. :-) Right as he was about to put the needle in my stomach, he took a deep nervous breath-which made us both laugh. This is all so new to us, but I'm sure it will become a routine feeling very soon. We were a few minutes late to 9am church, but we made it!

Your dad and I are currently the primary choristers together in our Windrift Ward and we love it. Best calling ever! Isn't it amazing that the Lord knows us so perfectly. This calling couldn't come at a better time and we are struggling to start our family. It is so healing to be surrounded by children and teaching them songs about the Savior. Your dad and I often talk about how we will raise our children strong in the gospel. I cannot wait to teach you primary songs and to sing to you and love you. 

Sunday night at 8:30pm it was time for another shot- Follistim. Once again, we were feeling a little bit nervous so I turned on some tunes to lighten the mood a little bit. The song that turned on was "Loving You Easy" by Zac Brown Band. 

We have received so many tender mercies these past couple of months where we know that the Lord is there. Of course, there have been many times where I have felt that he is not there...but now I can't deny it. My mom sent me this message the other day and it could not have come at a better time. Your dad and I went on a date on Friday to Someburros (that's one of our favorite restaurants) and we had a good long conversation about how we are feeling. I had a hard day. I have had a difficult time finding purpose in my life when all I want to be is a mom and it just hasn't happened. Everyone our age has 2-3 kids and sometimes I just don't know what to do with my life- and that makes me sad. At dinner, your dad and I both agreed that we feel like a part of our hearts is missing. I have never seen your dad like this before. He is typically positive, upbeat, and happy. In the past, whenever I would be sad about not being able to start our family, he would be the one that would reassure me that it would all work out. Within the past couple of months, I have seen how your dad has been missing someone. That someone is you! We feel incomplete and it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. On Friday, I was dreaming about being a mom- what it would be like, what you will look like, etc. I envisioned you as a new baby with your head in my hand and I envisioned looking at your chubby little face. I don't even know you personally yet, but I love you SO much. I don't know why we have had to wait so long for you to join us or why we have had to go through this trial, but I hope I have learned all that I have needed to learn. 

We want to be the best parents for you!

You're worth it!

Love, Mom