Today I heard from my coordinator. The clinic sent her my medication protocol. I had no idea what or when I would be taking anything, with the exception of the lupron. That I knew was to be started on my day one for January.
The only thing is that I think they might have gotten my BCP confused with some other brand. My protocol thinks my day one will be tomorrow, when, according to my BCP and my body, my day one should be Sundayish (you know how accurate women's bodies are!). Oh goodness.
One kind of confusing email typed out via my phone and now I wait to hear back from my coordinator. I'm guessing it will be sometime tomorrow before I hear back. I'll keep ya posted!
For now, I will go to sleep, dreaming about a miracle...
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Monday, December 24, 2012
The Cat's Out of the Bag!
With the gathering of family and friends, we decided that now is as good a time as ever to let everyone in on our news. Reactions have been interesting and varied.
I've been getting a lot of "why/how did you decide to do this?" I know I talked about it a bit in my first post, but I'll go over it again.
Surrogacy has been something that has interested me for a number of years. When I first brought it up to Shawn, he said that he would help me look into it, but maybe wait until our family might be done. No problem there for me as I was thinking the same thing.
Fast forward a couple years. I'm pregnant with our second child and a friend of mine who struggled with infertility for a number of years becomes pregnant with twins. We chat via Facebook about hanging out while we both are on maternity leave. I had our little girl and three weeks later I received a text from my friend's husband letting me know the twins miscarried. Ugh.
As I looked at our two beautiful girls and sit amazed at the blessing in my life, I told my husband that I need to help a couple have a child so they can experience the blessing we have.
Meanwhile, thoughts of surrogacy were put on hold as we walked with my dad through his final stages of cancer and finally as he made his home in heaven. I miss him terribly, but know he fought a difficult fight here on earth and he deserves the rest he now has with the angels.
As we put the grief of my dad's passing behind us, I felt it was time to stop dwelling on myself and start focusing on how I could help others. And our surrogacy hunt began!
Lots of Internet research later and chatting with a few people who have gone through the process, I decided to go through an agency that specializes in surrogacy and fertility. I figured that way I won't have to reinvent the wheel on the whole process and get some help and support along the way. (Read back blogs to get the saga between then and now.)
So, that's my story. Our friends whom we've told have been incredibly supportive and some have even been enthusiastic to hear of our plans! Our families have been cautious and guarded, mostly out of concern for me, my physical and mental health, and my relationship with Shawn. I can understand that concern and hope that as we go along they see how excited I am to be helping M & A (or another couple) have the blessing they have been praying for.
Little Miracle, I'm ready for you!
I've been getting a lot of "why/how did you decide to do this?" I know I talked about it a bit in my first post, but I'll go over it again.
Surrogacy has been something that has interested me for a number of years. When I first brought it up to Shawn, he said that he would help me look into it, but maybe wait until our family might be done. No problem there for me as I was thinking the same thing.
Fast forward a couple years. I'm pregnant with our second child and a friend of mine who struggled with infertility for a number of years becomes pregnant with twins. We chat via Facebook about hanging out while we both are on maternity leave. I had our little girl and three weeks later I received a text from my friend's husband letting me know the twins miscarried. Ugh.
As I looked at our two beautiful girls and sit amazed at the blessing in my life, I told my husband that I need to help a couple have a child so they can experience the blessing we have.
Meanwhile, thoughts of surrogacy were put on hold as we walked with my dad through his final stages of cancer and finally as he made his home in heaven. I miss him terribly, but know he fought a difficult fight here on earth and he deserves the rest he now has with the angels.
As we put the grief of my dad's passing behind us, I felt it was time to stop dwelling on myself and start focusing on how I could help others. And our surrogacy hunt began!
Lots of Internet research later and chatting with a few people who have gone through the process, I decided to go through an agency that specializes in surrogacy and fertility. I figured that way I won't have to reinvent the wheel on the whole process and get some help and support along the way. (Read back blogs to get the saga between then and now.)
So, that's my story. Our friends whom we've told have been incredibly supportive and some have even been enthusiastic to hear of our plans! Our families have been cautious and guarded, mostly out of concern for me, my physical and mental health, and my relationship with Shawn. I can understand that concern and hope that as we go along they see how excited I am to be helping M & A (or another couple) have the blessing they have been praying for.
Little Miracle, I'm ready for you!
Saturday, December 22, 2012
A Package Arrives!
This week has been a busy emailing week between me and the agency. Here's the recap:
-Ovulation has occurred! Not for me (not a big deal if I ovulate, as we don't want my egg anyway). The doctor's office is tracking both our cycles for obvious reasons.
-I chatted with a pharmacist for quite a while. The fertility doctor came up with a medication protocol for me leading up to transfer and for a bit after. This leads to...
-A package arrived on my doorstep! Friday, after I came home from work I saw a box. I love boxes and packages and fun mail! Anyway, I excitedly opened the box to find it filled with tablets and vials and syringes and vaginal suppositories and alcohol prep pads. (Too much info? I never said that this process was pretty)
The deal with the meds is that I will be starting them next month on my January day 1 (first day of next period.) Hello, injections! Then, they will tell me when to start the others...
Let's get this miracle started! Merry Christmas!
-Ovulation has occurred! Not for me (not a big deal if I ovulate, as we don't want my egg anyway). The doctor's office is tracking both our cycles for obvious reasons.
-I chatted with a pharmacist for quite a while. The fertility doctor came up with a medication protocol for me leading up to transfer and for a bit after. This leads to...
-A package arrived on my doorstep! Friday, after I came home from work I saw a box. I love boxes and packages and fun mail! Anyway, I excitedly opened the box to find it filled with tablets and vials and syringes and vaginal suppositories and alcohol prep pads. (Too much info? I never said that this process was pretty)
The deal with the meds is that I will be starting them next month on my January day 1 (first day of next period.) Hello, injections! Then, they will tell me when to start the others...
Let's get this miracle started! Merry Christmas!
Friday, November 30, 2012
Blood and Bodily Fluids
Alrighty then... I am one step closer toward baby!
Today, my hubby and I went to a random lab to have tests done. (Random to us, specific to Agency.)
What kind of tests?
The tests were to check for infectious diseases.
Infectious diseases? Really? Shouldn't the Hubs and I have already come clean about any known diseases way before today?
Well, yes, and yes, we did already talk about our health, but of course we need to take every precaution for both our safety and that of the baby. I did work in health care for a number of years... And prayed every day for my safety.
That being said, we willingly went to the lab and had lots of blood and other bodily fluids taken from us. They were really great at the lab and got us through quickly. Well, as quickly as one can when taking 7 vials of blood (only 4 for Shawn) and a urine sample! (TMI? I haven't even started yet! Wait until we get to the good stuff in a month or so!)
We/Agency should get the tests results back in a week and we will continue on this journey toward our miracles!
Today, my hubby and I went to a random lab to have tests done. (Random to us, specific to Agency.)
What kind of tests?
The tests were to check for infectious diseases.
Infectious diseases? Really? Shouldn't the Hubs and I have already come clean about any known diseases way before today?
Well, yes, and yes, we did already talk about our health, but of course we need to take every precaution for both our safety and that of the baby. I did work in health care for a number of years... And prayed every day for my safety.
That being said, we willingly went to the lab and had lots of blood and other bodily fluids taken from us. They were really great at the lab and got us through quickly. Well, as quickly as one can when taking 7 vials of blood (only 4 for Shawn) and a urine sample! (TMI? I haven't even started yet! Wait until we get to the good stuff in a month or so!)
We/Agency should get the tests results back in a week and we will continue on this journey toward our miracles!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Subject to Change...
Wow, having a baby for someone else sure has a bazillion steps before the actual pregnancy happens! I had no idea! Here's the latest...
I received an email from the agency stating that my surrogate coordinator has handed me off to the program coordinator (I'll refer to her as PC from now on) for the duration. No problem there. I really like my surrogate coordinator but totally understand the need for the hand off. I received a call tonight from the agency and was able to chat with PC for a bit. She seems really great, very knowledgeable about everything. She sounds like the kind of person you would want to coordinate your medical stuff. Confident and reassuring.
Anyway, I have been informed that Shawn and I will need to undergo infectious disease testing next week (M & A have to do the same testing, too). Totally reasonable request, if you ask me. Of course I agreed to that with no problems.
PC and I chatted about what will be happening for the next little while. Here's the unofficial rundown (from what I remember from my phone call):
-Infectious Disease testing next week for me and my hubby (and M & A)
-PC will be keeping tabs on my cycle for the next couple months and reporting to the doctor to coordinate with the egg retrieval (not my eggs!). Is this TMI, yet? Just wait... :-)
-Once the clinic/doctor has our cycles down they will figure out a medication protocol for both of us and get us started on the drugs.
-I've been told that I will probably be starting medication in December. We are shooting for a January (or February, if needed) transfer. **Holy cow, I just realized that if this transfer takes and I get preggo right away then Baby would be due October (or November) of next year! Oi! That's less than one year from now! Wow!**
It is so nice to have an idea of when things MAY happen. I know that all of these dates are tentative, totally subject to change due to a number of factors, but it is at least good to have something on the horizon. This is really happening! There are miracles within sight!
I received an email from the agency stating that my surrogate coordinator has handed me off to the program coordinator (I'll refer to her as PC from now on) for the duration. No problem there. I really like my surrogate coordinator but totally understand the need for the hand off. I received a call tonight from the agency and was able to chat with PC for a bit. She seems really great, very knowledgeable about everything. She sounds like the kind of person you would want to coordinate your medical stuff. Confident and reassuring.
Anyway, I have been informed that Shawn and I will need to undergo infectious disease testing next week (M & A have to do the same testing, too). Totally reasonable request, if you ask me. Of course I agreed to that with no problems.
PC and I chatted about what will be happening for the next little while. Here's the unofficial rundown (from what I remember from my phone call):
-Infectious Disease testing next week for me and my hubby (and M & A)
-PC will be keeping tabs on my cycle for the next couple months and reporting to the doctor to coordinate with the egg retrieval (not my eggs!). Is this TMI, yet? Just wait... :-)
-Once the clinic/doctor has our cycles down they will figure out a medication protocol for both of us and get us started on the drugs.
-I've been told that I will probably be starting medication in December. We are shooting for a January (or February, if needed) transfer. **Holy cow, I just realized that if this transfer takes and I get preggo right away then Baby would be due October (or November) of next year! Oi! That's less than one year from now! Wow!**
It is so nice to have an idea of when things MAY happen. I know that all of these dates are tentative, totally subject to change due to a number of factors, but it is at least good to have something on the horizon. This is really happening! There are miracles within sight!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Progress...
Let's see... the last thing I posted was something about getting help with the OBD and meeting with our attorney. I'll pick it up from there.
Our attorney chatted with us and went line by line over the OBD. A bit over two hours later, she had a couple pages of notes of changes she saw and a few questions from us that needed clarification of wording. I wish I could post a few of the more abserd lines, but there is a clause in the OBD that states I can't share the content of the document. Let's just say that I had a good laugh over a couple of the lines and a "duh" over others. :-)
Anyway, the changes were emailed and sent to us to get our okay, then emailed and sent to the agency and M & A for their response. Most of the requests were okayed and a few were compromised. Nothing too big and definitely nothing that was a deal breaker. Anyway, some more back and forth emails later and I was finally given the final OBD to sign and have notarized. In triplicate. With one whole page handwritten by me. And each page initialed by both me and Shawn. In triplicate. (Yes, I had a hand cramp when I was finally done!)
The copies were then delightfully priority mailed to the agency and M & A for their signing and I started getting fun emails again. :-) Let's talk about those now.
Email #1: I was given the contact info for my program coordinator. I believe she is going to be the person who will get the meds to me and get my cycle where it should be, and a bunch of other medical stuff needed for this all to take place. Once the agency gets the OBD and everyone's signatures then all of the medical stuff starts to happen (I guess).
Email #2: I was given the contact info for M & A. Woo Hoo! Of course, me being me, I shot them a quick little note letting them know I am still on board and excited to get their miracles started. It was so nice to have that contact with them and to get their response that they are still here and ready to go, too. Big sigh of relief! I hadn't talked with them since we had lunch a couple of months ago and was curious to know they hadn't changed their mind or were frustrated with the whole process or me and the changes I requested with the OBD... they are still excited to get things going, but of course are a little nervous about this and will feel better once I actually am pregnant. I can understand this and hope and pray everything will happen fast and well for their sake.
Anyway, I hope to hear from the agency and/or M & A this week and find out where we go from here. Let's get these miracles started!
Our attorney chatted with us and went line by line over the OBD. A bit over two hours later, she had a couple pages of notes of changes she saw and a few questions from us that needed clarification of wording. I wish I could post a few of the more abserd lines, but there is a clause in the OBD that states I can't share the content of the document. Let's just say that I had a good laugh over a couple of the lines and a "duh" over others. :-)
Anyway, the changes were emailed and sent to us to get our okay, then emailed and sent to the agency and M & A for their response. Most of the requests were okayed and a few were compromised. Nothing too big and definitely nothing that was a deal breaker. Anyway, some more back and forth emails later and I was finally given the final OBD to sign and have notarized. In triplicate. With one whole page handwritten by me. And each page initialed by both me and Shawn. In triplicate. (Yes, I had a hand cramp when I was finally done!)
The copies were then delightfully priority mailed to the agency and M & A for their signing and I started getting fun emails again. :-) Let's talk about those now.
Email #1: I was given the contact info for my program coordinator. I believe she is going to be the person who will get the meds to me and get my cycle where it should be, and a bunch of other medical stuff needed for this all to take place. Once the agency gets the OBD and everyone's signatures then all of the medical stuff starts to happen (I guess).
Email #2: I was given the contact info for M & A. Woo Hoo! Of course, me being me, I shot them a quick little note letting them know I am still on board and excited to get their miracles started. It was so nice to have that contact with them and to get their response that they are still here and ready to go, too. Big sigh of relief! I hadn't talked with them since we had lunch a couple of months ago and was curious to know they hadn't changed their mind or were frustrated with the whole process or me and the changes I requested with the OBD... they are still excited to get things going, but of course are a little nervous about this and will feel better once I actually am pregnant. I can understand this and hope and pray everything will happen fast and well for their sake.
Anyway, I hope to hear from the agency and/or M & A this week and find out where we go from here. Let's get these miracles started!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Help with the OBD...
On Thursday, Shawn and I met with our attorney to go over each line of the OBD. Over two hours and a ton of discussion later, our attorney has a list of minor changes and revisions. Mostly, they are changes to the wording to protect me in case... well, in case anything goes bad. She said that she will have the changes sent to our agency and to us sometime Monday (tomorrow).
Then, I talked with the agency and let them we had the meeting so they will be looking for the changes. The changes can then go to M & A and we can get this ball rolling! Well, I guess we have a little back and forth to do before we get a signed document and THEN we can get this ball rolling. Gotta love legal stuff, right? All for a miracle or two...
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