Brno

And in case anyone is interested, here are a very few of the very many shots I took of Brno itself.

Starting with Freedom Square, the main public space in the center of the old town. Our hotel was just a few blocks from here so we passed through it on the way to just about everywhere. There is a 17th century Plague Column in the background, dedicated to victims of plagues.

In the foreground is a much more recently constructed black obelisik, commemorating victory over the Swedes who besieged Brno by the Swedes during the Thirty Years' War. After months of stalemated attack the Swedish general decided to give one last push before giving up and going to join the rest of the Swedish army in the attach on Vienna. His plan was to have an all out barrage until noon. The residents of Brno heard the plan, so they rang all the church bells in town an hour early at 11:00 to announce noon. The trick worked and the Swedes gave up and turned away. So if I understand it correctly, the obelisik is a clock with moving parts that line up at 11:00 am once a year and bells inside ring. The top ring rotates in a minute, the next ring in an hour and so on down to the annual ring. I thought it was pretty neat.

Here is a view up the hill towards the entrance to the Spilberk Castle - a medieval and early modern residence for the Margraves of Moravia, but more notoriously known as a Hapsburg prison - which it was for centuries after this region was absorbed into the Austrian empire.

And a view from the castle to the cathedral on its own hill across town.

Here are two shots of the medieval town hall of Brno - the first from inside its courtyard and the second the passage under the tower out to the street. There is a funny story about the crocodile hanging in the tunnel, who is know as the Brno Dragon. I read a couple different versions of the story while I was there, but I'll just relate the funniest. There was a legend that a dragon was ravaging crops and killing people around town. A reward was offered for its capture. An enterprising nobleman who was trying to get in good with the town father's so he could trade with Brno brought this crocodile that a friend of his had killed in the Amazon and gave it to the city. He said it was the dragon and he had killed it. The city was thrilled and have displayed it ever since.

And finally, another interesting story is about this ossuary, under the Church of St. Jacob. Apparently in 2001 they discovered 50,000 skeletons buried under the church. So to display this newly discovered space and its contents - allegedly the second largest ossuary in Europe after the catacombs in Paris - they covered the walls in the all the bones. Look closely at the close up of the wall on the right side and you'll see skulls and the ends of arm and leg bones. Now image all the rest of the walls in this room and a few others are the same! Crazy and creepy ... but kind of cool.

Last Supper

The night before we left Brno, we invited everyone out to dinner at restaurant/brewery we'd been to earlier in the week and really liked. It was a really wonderful evening and everyone had a great time.

Here is everyone at the table - a real family reunion - just Azra was missing :(.

 

Here are the kids color with some crayons and paper we brought them - which turned out to have been a great idea. They ran around a lot and the restaurant and other patrons were very patient. Everyone was joking that watching Dante and Niki play and Didi run after them was like watching Jasko and Miran and Suzana thirty years ago. 

Here are some stylish pictures of Mimica and Suna posing at the bar.

All the gentlemen:

 And Miran with all the ladies:

And here is a view of the outside of the restaurant:

Dinner at Jasmin and Lucie's

Sorry I haven't posted since before we left Brno. As soon as we got home it was back to real life and hectic schedules. But I'm going to bring the blog back up to speed.

We really enjoyed all the time with family while we were in Brno and everyone was so wonderful and hospitable. We were invited to dinner at everyone's house - and at Suna and Mimica's more than once!

Here are a couple of pictures from the afternoon we spent at the apartment of Miran's cousin Jasmin (aka Jasko).  The pictures are of Jasko searching for a video to show us of when he visited their grandparents farm near Foca a few years ago, his children Dante and Diana (aka Didi - yes, everyone has a nickname here) in there very fun play/bedroom, the ladies (Aunt Suna, Jasko's wife Lucie, Milada and me), and Miran with Diana.

Miran definitely has a thing for little girls - and I don't mean that in a creepy way at all. But just like he is completely smitten with Maggie and Ingrid, he was just in love with Diana. He claims he wants us to have a son, but I think he definitely needs a couple of daughters!

4 Frozen!

We learned this morning that yesterday they froze 4 of our embryos - so we have a good number if this doesn't work and we have to come back in a few months for another transfer - or if this does work and we come back in a few years for more kids!

Of course I'm in the phase of analyzing every possible symptom, even though I know that I should really be experiencing anything yet. I did feel something like cramping yesterday, so maybe that was the little blastocysts burrowing into my uterus - or maybe it was my imagination.

Yesterday we slept late, I went for a short walk (after 24 hours in a stuff hotel room, I need a little fresh air) and then we went to Miran's cousin Jasmin's for dinner. It was a great meal and a nice visit. We got back to the hotel about 9:00 and I went straight to bed because I had a horrible migranie. Miran watched shows and movies for a few hours.

I'll post pictures from yesterday later tonight, but now we are headed out to walk around Brno for the afternoon with Milada and to meet EVERYONE for dinner at 5:00 at nice brewery restaurant we tried a few nights ago. It will be our farewell dinner as we head home tomrrow and will leave straight from the hotel in the morning!

Big Day!

Well today was the big day. We were early and were taken right in and everything went very smoothly. We learned that we had 6 blastocysts - 3 excellent, 1 very good, and 2 ok. We have three that haven't reached blastocyst stage yet. So they transferred two of the excellent ones.

Tomorrow they embryologist will evaluate and freeze all additional viable ones - so hopefully we'll have four to freeze. On Monday morning we will call to find out how many they froze.

Anyway, the whole procedure took about a minute, but they showed us an image of the blastocysts under the microscope before they started.

 And afterwards they did an ultrasound and gave us a picture. The oblong white spot in the middle towards the right are the two blastocysts together.

 

And here is our first family picture!

After that they put us in a room where I could rest for about half an hour. The acupuncturist came and did a follow up treatment. (If you look closely you can see needles in my ears). This lady is very rough and does things quite differently than my acupuncturist in Charlotte, so I wouldn't call her treatment today (or the longer one yesterday) very relaxing. But no matter, I figure it can't hurt.

And then we left. We were both really impressed and satisfied with Reprofit. Everything was so professional and the facilities were really nice and we really had a great experience. There is a pharmacy right in the building so I went ahead and bought the pills I'll need for the next few weeks because I'm sure they are more expensive at home. Here are some shots of us leaving the clinic.

So finally we made our way back to the hotel. Miran had preloaded some of my favorite funny movies on Bob (our tablet), so we watched Dodgeball and The Princess Bride so far. Miran is now napping, but I am kind of restless (its very hard to literally stay all day in bed when you don't feel sick). So I decided it was time for a post and look around on line.

I feel fine, but will do my best to take it easy for the rest of the day - and not to attempt too much tomorrow either! Thanks everyone for your good wishes - we are feeling very positive and confident. Of course now we have to wait a few weeks to confirm anything!