My cups runneth over

Ok, so I'm not really one to hold my tongue, as most of you probably know. So I just have to share this lovely titbit (pun intended) of information. MY BOOBS HAVE GROWN.

I have been pregnant 3 times and birthed 4 children. Not ONCE in all my pregnancies OR IVF cycles have my girls decided to bust out.

You see the funny thing is, I didn't even realize they had grown. Shows just how much attention I really give myself. I ran upstairs to slip into something more comfy than dress clothes (aka yoga pants and a long sleeve shirt) and happened to put on a tight shirt. When I came downstairs my husband's face lit up like a Christmas tree! He was like "Hell Yeah", "When did you get those"? To my surprise he was referring to my bazookas (no squirt guns here, I'm running with the big gals!). So of course, being the shameless woman I am, I grabbed a hold and measured with my hand and wouldn't you know? My cups runneth over! Hallejujah!

So enough about my jugs. I know you're all dying for an update on the surrogacy front. I went for my last date with the weenie wand today and my lining is looking MaHvElOuS at a "12". And the little bit of fluid in my lining is GONE baby GONE. I haven't heard back about my labs, so we're left to assume one thing. I'm good to go!

As far as Stitch, the eggie donor, she had an appointment on Friday that resulted in this email from the clinic's ED Coordinator, Charlene....

"Donor was seen this morning. Everything was baseline as it should be. She had 4 basal antral follicles on each ovary that were reported. She has been instructed to start her stimulation meds tonight. She will be seen again on Monday at the IVF clinic in Florida. I will let you know how everything looks on Monday however I do not expect much to be different. Thanks."

Stitch also had an appointment today and these were the emails we received...

"I was not in yesterday but the donor’s appointment was unremarkable. She had 3 follicles on each side that were still less than 10 mm as expected. Her estradiol is rising slowing also as expected. She will be seen again in Florida for bloodwork and ultrasound tomorrow."

and because we were a bit upset that she went from 4 on each ovary to 3, we had our agency email the clinic and this was the response...

"Unfortunately, this is the reason we like to see them in our office at some point. I can only count on what they are reporting. Her labs look good so we would not want to adjust her meds. It is a wait and see at this point. She only had two ultrasounds so far, so I would not expect much to be going on just yet. She is young so they tend to all of the sudden perk up mid cycle. I will keep everyone updated. I will be out of the office tomorrow but will be back on Thursday."


So feel free to make what you can of it all but needless to say the clinic likes to make it painfully obvious that we're an annoyance to them and we inconvenience them. Good thing I have a HUGE amount of respect for Frank and Adam or else I would have torn someone a whole new asshole way before this point. Do they forget that they work for their clients? Maybe one phone call to the doctor to inform him that his Jaguar payment won't be made this month will get someone's attitude in check? Ugh, I have IVF clinics! Always on their high horses.

Eeeek, 1st appointment down for Stitch

Sooo, I'm super psyched to report that Stitch went for her first appointment today. Nothing big or exciting to report other than she had 4 basal antral follicles on each of her ovaries. Which is good because they're "resting" right now. She started her stim medication tonight and goes back to the FL clinic on Monday.

Monday is going to be a big day for my IF, Frank. His mother has been in the hospital for two weeks now, not well enough to have her surgery and they have finally decided to move forward. I will be doing lotsa praying for her on Monday and peace for Frank. Poor guy has so much going on right now.

But, welcome to the life of IVF/Surrogacy... it's a wild process. It's a hurry up and wait and anxiety ridden process.

Becomming a Drug Addict



I had my second monitoring appointment on Tuesday and all went fairly ok. My lining was measuring an "8" with a bit of fluid. So we upped my estradiol to 3 times a day. I am starting to feel like a darn drug addict carrying around all these pills, needles and whatnot! I currently pop my levothyroxine (for my thyroid), folic acid, prenatal, baby aspirin, estradiol and my azithromycin (for my ear/sinus infections) in the am. At lunch I down 1 estradiol and I take the last estradiol with my lupron shot at 8pm. Yeah I am becomming a drug addict, of the best kind!

Today marks antibiotics for Eddy. I don't have to take them because I'm already on them for my infections. I'm half tempted to continue onto them though because I'm still feeling like crap.

Anyhow, it's also a VERY big day for our ED Stitch. She is going to a clinic in FL today for her first weenie wand appointment as well as labs. And, if all is good, she starts her stimulation medication today! Holy crap, this is it. This is everything we have been working towards since JULY. She also has to go back on the 30th and then on the 1st. Then on February 2nd she'll travel to the lovely state of PA and have her appointments at our clinic, Abington Reproductive Medicine, on the 3rd, 4th and 6th. Depending on how things look at those first few appointments at the clinic, she could take her HCG trigger shot (that triggers her ovaries to prepare for ovulation) anytime between the 4th-6th. Once she triggers I get to stop the Lupron and move onto Progesterone suppositories. And tentative retrieval is anytime between the 6th-8th. Once she retrieves they will fertilize the precious cargo and Adam and Frank will each have a batch of embryos. We are hoping that 5 days after retrieval we will be safely transporting one of each batch of embryos back into my fluffy uterus for the next 9mo! HOW SURREAL?

Thanks, I quite enjoyed that!

So Thursday has come and gone. What happened on Thursday you ask? Well, I had my first date with the weenie wand for our cycle. Today also marks our potential 3 week anniversary until transfer! I can not believe we are only 3 weeks away from Making It and Baking It.

A whole lot is going to happen in between too! Stitch (our eggie donor) has her first date with the weenie wand next Friday (1/27) and also starts her stims on that day too! Poor thing is surely going to regret deciding to go on vacation and cycle at the same time because now she can't have any alcohol and surely won't be up to partying because those drugs are gonna make her cute, skinny little ass bloat like a 4mo pregnant woman. Eh, she'll know better next time than to make plans without having a calendar for her cycle!

I go back for monitoring on 1/24 and 1/31 and then we just wait... Waiting is the name of the game in Surrogacy. You get your paperwork to the agency and you wait to be matched. You get your appointment at the clinic and you wait to be approved. You get your testing done and you wait for your calendar. You start your meds and you wait for the egg donor.... you get the idea. Because all that waiting has added up to about 6 months for Adam, Frank and I. But you know what, all that waiting is ok because in 9 months we are praying Adam & Frank have one or two adorable miracles in their arms.

Surrogacy is all about miracles. By golly I deserve to fulfill my dreams by carrying another surrogate baby or two. Won't hurt to fulfill Adam and Frank's at the same time!

thankyouverymuchlupron... for the side effects

I think this guy Lupron and I need to have a talk tonight. This side effect shit is NOT in my vocabulary. Indigestion, constipation, dizzy spells, REALLY? I'm starting to sound like a Pepto-Bismol commercial.

I usually buck all the fun by shooting up at night. Ha ha, after 7 cycles Lupron has figured me out and handed me indigestion to deal with all freaking day long. I ate ONE small piece of my banana bread (that I made because of a craving, thankyouverymuchlupron) and sipped a small cup of apple juice and WHAMO I feel it inching up into my esophagus. It's really just a matter of time before the "baby pukies" set in and gone and done ruined my whole day.

Ugh, I just keep repeating in my head that in 9 months (approx October 29th) Frank and Adam will be daddies and this will ALL be forgotten and worth it.

It's a bumpy road but someone has to travel it

So the title says it ALL. And I have to say I'm so glad that we are FINALLY on our way and I officially start Lupron today!

It hasn't even been a whole month since I last posted. Since then the ED Stitch and I have both been on active birth control pills (BCP's) and waiting for further instructions. We've also had to repeat labs that became lost, send over psych evals about four times, deal with a lazy nurse at my doctor's office, change our transfer schedule once because of a nurse at the clinic who shouldn't have been so presumtuous, and so much more.

But it all comes down to this... Frank and Adam will be daddies on or around October 27th 2012. How awesome is that? Our tentative retrieval date is February 6th with a tentative transfer date of February 11th (5 day transfer). If all goes like last time (like I said before I carried twins in 07') I just might have a BFP (big fat positive pregnancy test) by Valentine's Day. How sweet would that be? With Evan & Cole I had a positive on a test by 3.5dp5dt (that means three and half days after we transferred a five day embryo).

So, in the spirit of what's to come, I have designed a t-shirt to wear on the superstitious transfer day! There are many fun "customs" that have come to be for us surrogates on transfer day such as wearing green (I don't care if it's your UNDERWEAR, you better support us!), eating pineapple and french fries (it's been argued that McDonald's is better than Burger King but that stands to be determined still), wearing a lucky charm from another surro who got pregnant while wearing that item (I have no shame, lemme borrow those stinky socks.. all in the name of Surrogacy), and last but not least (for me at least) is TONS OF PICTURES. Yup, that's right! I customarily take pictures throughout the entire procedure. So be prepared to see my legs in the air and the doc between them. I have NO SHAME when it comes to miracles. Smile for the camera Doctor!

So be prepared because the ride is really beginning and we're off.....

The start of something good

Whoppee! One appointment down, three more to go until transfer (typically). On December 14th I went to the clinic for my baseline U/S (ultrasound) and B/W (bloodwork). They look for a lining that measures 6mm or lower and we were at a "5". My bloodwork came back perfect as well.

Unfortunately Stitch and my IF "A"'s labs for Tay Sachs both came back inconclusive. REALLY? What an awesome lab that can't run a simple blood test? Anyhow, now they have to go for DNA testing which "A" went and got out of the way on Friday. Of course "F" had to go to "A"'s work and abduct him. "A" was worried about what his boss would say. "F" told him he didn't care, they have babies to make!

The clinic told us they would get in touch with Stitch asap and hopefully everyone's results will be back by Friday. We're hoping for a January transfer but realistically it's probably going to be February.

It's been a while

Holy cow has it been a LONG time since we last updated. Boy, where do I start?

Well the guys and Eddy and I all finally met back on September 26th for a whirlwind day at our clinic. Of course, that didn't leave much time for socializing. But it was super nice to meet them and they are amazing guys!

Another BIG update is that the guys got MARRIED. Woot Woot! The big plunge. October 28th will forever be in my heart (course it was a few days before my 5th Wedding anniversary, which is super cool). So happy for them. I hope they share some pictures of their beautiful day. Eddy and I sent them some tuxedo strawberries to end their night ;).

Houston, we also have an egg donor! Her name is "Stitch" as she was egg donor 626 from the agency. We're hoping she'll be good luck for us!

She just had her appointment at the clinic on December 7th and they said "I just wanted to let you know I met with your donor yesterday and everything went well. She was very friendly, mature, and personable. I think you made a great choice based on what I was able to ascertain. The Genetic Counselor was unable to meet with her yesterday, so she will do a phone consult with her next week. Injection teaching was completed and she met with our doctor.

I actually started her on birth control pills today because she started her menses on 12/4/11. I was able to do an u/s and hormone levels on her yesterday because of this and the pill will keep her
in a holding pattern. Once everything is complete we will be able to move forward without that step. We will continue to keep you updated as results come in."

What a super update! We are so thrilled with how things are finally starting to flow after many bumps in our road. Now we are praying for a January transfer but hoping for a February transfer!

Keep watching for more updates as the time gets closer!

On our way! Or so we hope...

So after many harassing phone calls to the clinic and agency, we finally have a consultation appointment with the RE (reproductive endocrinologist). Monday, September 26th at 11:00am it is! I'm so dang excited. The guys are hoping to fly out to NYC, spend a day or two there and then make their way to PA for our appointment. I really can not wait to finally meet them. Hoping I can convince them to stop by Kingston, PA on their way to the hotel near the clinic, and hang out at my house for a meal and visit!

Course the clinic shot down my hopes that we could possibly transfer in October. But let me tell you what, they didn't diminish them. We still have a chance. Our appointment will be before my second Day 1 and if we can get Dr. Barmat to write up a "plan of action" soon, then we can start Loopy Lupron in time for me to catch my cycle!

The guys are also working on finding an egg donor who already has all her testing up to date so that once they get the contract done with her, we can be off off and away!

The way IVF works with a fresh cycle is the surrogate's uterus has to be ready and waiting for the embryos. So my ovaries have to be suppressed before the egg donor starts stimming her ovaries for the egg retrieval. Once the egg donor gets close to having her eggs retrieved, I will stop the Lupron and start the Progesterone (usually the day before a retrieval).

I'm so excited for these guys! They have so much happening in the next few months that adding something as exciting as a pregnancy would be icing on their cake.

Cross our fingers that my persuasive self can convince all the "team players" that October should be a GO.

Telling Tall Tales

I'd love to think that every day I write in this blog I would have something witty to say. Usually I'm the only one laughing. But I truly hope to you enjoy these tales and learn that surrogacy can be an amazing blessing to everyone involved. It's not always pretty but it's a wild ride!