We Transferred!

I have been so busy enjoying the culmination of all that we have been working so hard to get to! Transfer Day was Saturday, February 11, 2012. We made it!

We got the news on Friday morning that we had 8 embryos still a-growin and that we were going to have our transfer at 8am on Saturday. The guys had already booked their flights, hotel and rental car so I had them send over that info and we booked a room at the same hotel so we would get to spend even more time together before the transfer. Sadly due to a small snow squall, the guys didn't get to the hotel until just after 2am Saturday morning! I felt horrible.

The morning was slow getting up for us all (thanks to my husband and I attempting to sleep on a FULL SIZE bed together). We just made our 7:45am arrival time. We hauled ass up to the Toll Center and quickly took celebratory pictures of me and the guys in the waiting room. Before I knew it, the nurses were shuffling me back to the transfer room. After laying on the table undressed from the waist down for about 5min the crew arrived! Frank, Adam, Eddy, Jenna and Ryan all shuffled into the room to be present while I got knocked up.

Thank goodness Dr. Barmat has a lot of patience and a good sense of humor because there wasn't much room for him in there. He discussed with the guys the two embryos we were going to transfer and gave them a picture. Both Adam and Frank had a grade A, 8-celled embryo ready and waiting. Sad news was that the doc was only going to be able to freeze 1 of Adams and 3 of Franks. But we were just pleased at the moment that all our hard work had panned out and I was laying on that table in stirrups. So the doctor sat down and got to work. Before we even knew it, the embryos were transferred to snuggle in! We did it, that was it.

After the transfer the embryologist came in and discussed that they wanted to keep an eye on two of Adam's embryos and see how they grow. Of course there was always the scary chance that in a few days they still wouldn't be good enough to freeze. After agreeing to keep an eye on them, she left and came back a few minutes later SHOCKED. Adam's two embryos had grown so much in a couple of hours (since that am) that they were going to be able to freeze them BOTH! So my IF's have FIVE embryos on ice. What awesome news. Of course, we all know we will have no need for them.

We spent the next few days really enjoying eachother's company. Swimming, lunch, dinner, movies. So much fun and so many memories for them as well as my family to always cherish.

Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for the gift of being your surrogate. I am blessed.

Two Proud Daddies

Wow, have I been slacking with these blog posts. Since starting the progesterone on Tuesday, I have been way lazier and I can't freaking poop either! I can't stay up past like 8pm. I tried in vain last night to watch Swamp People with the hubby but I think I may have fallen asleep on him because I woke up alone, in the dark, on the couch. Eh, atleast there was no morning breath to contend with in the AM.

So Stitch had her retrieval on Wednesday! We were SHOCKED to learn that the doc was able to retrieve 12 good healthy eggs! Holy cow was that a surprise because IF you remember, we were told maybe 9 follicles but most likely only 7 mature eggs. Needless to say the next step was FERTILIZATION. Frank and Adam were about to become petri dish daddies. This morning we got the call that 5 out of 6 eggs fertilized for Frank and 3 out of 6 eggs fertilized for Adam. Team FRADAM now has 8 beautiful embabies! I am beyond thrilled for them. And I can't even begin to thank Stitch enough for her selfless act of being an egg donor. Two amazing men who have so much to offer a child(ren) will now have the chance to become parents. How awesome is that?

Anyhow, we are now waiting to find out how they FRADAM embabies are growing. That will determine if we have a 3 day transfer (3dt) on Saturday or a 5 day transfer (5dt) on Monday. The guys fly into Philly on Friday night and if it's a Monday transfer, they will stay up here in the Wilkes-Barre area. If we transfer on Saturday than we'll all hole up in a hotel down by the clinic in Abington. Either way they're stuck here til' Monday and get to spend tons of time with my family! I made Frank promise to take my kids swimming at the hotel. I also tried to make him promise to wear green however he insisted it wasn't a good color on him. We agreed for him to wear green somewhere secret.. or was it turquoise? LMAO

I also came home to three packages from the UPS man (and he wasn't even cute). My fellow surrogate friend Bethany Jones had sent me out a few packages. I was quick to assume that one of them was the lucky socks she wore at her last transfer that left her knocked up with twins! And guess what.. I was RIGHT! It meant so much to me that she bought the very same pair she wore, just for me. I am also sporting a neat bracelet. They are Lucky Karma Beads and the one she purchased for me is called Unexpected Miracles. The tag reads "Wear these beads always and you can overflow with unexpected miracles and everythign you desire can come your way". Well shoot, these aren't coming OFF until I deliver a baby or two into Adam and Frank's arms!

Yeah, that's right, I said baby or TWO. The plan is to transfer an embryo from each daddy. It could become complicated if we only get pregnant with one or if we get pregnant with idential twins. We won't know who the baby daddy is until afterwards (unless we need to do testing during the pregnancy). I would love to have a healthy pregnancy no matter how many babies we conceive, but goodness knows one is easier than two!

So depending on what "day" we transfer on, we start counting days post transfer (dpt). So if we transfer on Saturday, on Sunday we will be 1dp3dt. Got it? And to complicate matters even more we can add those numbers together and that will be equivalent to days post ovulation (dpo). We count dpo to determine when a good time to test is as well as for due date purposes. As of now, if we conceive, our due date will officially be October 31, 2012. Which just so happens to be my 6th wedding anniversary and three days after their father's wedding anniversary! How perfect is that?

Now my good friend Bethany Jones has been through plenty of transfers with me. She's always supportive and absolute understands my need to pee. She gets it soo much that she sent me 23 pee sticks today too! Of course, I know how bad my addiction is and so I had already purchased 25 (for $1.49 how can you go wrong?). I think the day after transfer would be a super unrealistic day to start. I think that I might just see how long until I get the urge and then start peeing like 10 times a day. Valentine's day will be a MUST no matter when we transfer. It would be a small miracle if I got a positive on that day. And to be honest, if I did, I would probably be carrying way more than twins! With my first surrogacy I got the fainted big fat positive (BFP) 3.5dp5dt and it was twins. So that's equivalent to 8.5dpo. SUPER EARLY. I have no expectations for that kind of craziness but I'll take a surprise.

So that's the gist of it all. I will keep you updated as to what tomorrow brings. Stay tuned!

Let's-A-Go (as I sound like Super Mario)

So I got the email AND the call today that our ED "Stitch" is ready to trigger tonight. That call brought forth soo many feelings for me. First and foremost I was elated. My bois (ha ha, get it Frank!) and I have been waiting for this moment since matching in September. My gosh, we've been through enough crap together already that I feel like our relationship can weather ANY storm (not that I plan on having any)! The moment we transfer we will be solidifying their fate (one way or another) into parenthood. Wow, just wow. What a miracle.

Wednesday will be "Stitch's" eggie retrieval. She'll be brought into a cold room, layed upon a table and drugged until she's funny. And then, the doc will poke a huge ass needle through her vaginal wall into her ovary and suck her sweet genetics out. It's a very romantic process, as you can tell. And anyone who is willing to sign up for that process, to give so much of herself, is AMAZING in my book! On Wednesday, she will donate half the genetic material needed to make Adam and Frank daddies. As of right now she has 9 follicles and they are confident they will most likely retrieve 7 mature, fertilizable eggies. Not every eggie retrieved is mature and not ever mature eggie will fertilize. But it only takes 1 (or we're hoping 2) sweet embryo(s) to make a baby(ies).

And that brings me to my next bundle of emotions. I want this SO bad! I'm going to sound super selfish when I say this but I didn't get into surrogacy for other people. I pursued surrogacy for ME. I miss feeling like a complete woman, full of child. I miss the heartburn (and having a real good reason to bitch). I miss my round belly (no longer hanging around waiting to turn from flabs of steel to abs of steel). I miss feeling that life thrive and grow, knowing I did that. Of course, we all know fat kids LOVE cake and boy is there icing on my cake..... I miss seeing the parents' faces when they first hear their child(ren) cry for the first time. When they feel the soft skin on their child's face as they gaze into their own eyes. When they realize that all they've waited for is right there. I can do that. I can do that for them and that is the best, most rewarding feeling ever.

So tonight, when I shoot up for the last time (unless a sibling journey comes into play), my feelings will be very bittersweet. Adam and Frank are not the only couple whose dreams I've attempted to fulfill. There was another couple in particular that I will also be thinking of as I travel through this journey of swollen ankles and 90 trips to the bathroom a night. They will always be dear to my heart and I will always cherish the dreams we shared together. For they will never become a reality and as much as it pains me to realize this, it pleases me to know that out of failure comes success. Success is my only option.

Stay tuned for updates