A Plan and Travel Arrangements

This past week I've been an email crazed lady! Starting last Saturday, the nurse from the clinic and I exchanged about a dozen email just getting an appointment for the screening on the books. July 3rd is the day of the screening, which means that I will fly out on the 2nd and back late on the 3rd. The cool thing is that I will be flying into LaGuardia and driving out to Bridgeport. (I really love to explore new places!) Hopefully, I can have dinner with a friend while I'm out there. We will see!

After all of the email with the clinic, I exchanged a bunch of email with the Agency to get travel arranged. Thankfully, I love to travel and can't wait to start this adventure! I'm not stressing about the screening (I've heard parts can be rather uncomfortable) and just looking at it as a time to learn more about what the clinic has planned for me. 

After I come back from the screening I've been told that we will get the results back in about a week, then the clinic will figure out my medication protocol and get me started on that. Should all go well, we will shoot for a late August/early September transfer, all dependent on the egg donor's cycle.

The steps to a miracle are many!

The Ducks are Starting to Line Up...

Now that the agency has the contracts, they are in communication with the Clinic to get things going on their end. This Clinic is a bit different from my last experience, for one, its here in the states (can you tell I'm a bit excited to go to CT?). Another difference is that they have me fly out there for a day to get screened by them, rather than order tests here and send all results to them. I'm okay with this as I will be a bit more familiar with the clinic when the transfer time comes. As I've not been screened by a fertility clinic before, I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm not concerned. 

I've been asking my surrogate friends about the clinic, screening and their experiences there as I like to be prepared. I know that everyone has different experiences and way of looking at things, but I was so thankful the other surrogates had kind of given me a head's up about some of the things they experienced while in Toronto. I wasn't too shocked or freaked by anything and, looking back, I could see how I could have been had I not known a few things. (Read past blog entries if you aren't sure what I'm talking about.) So far I haven't heard much about CT, but I'm sure that will change as I get closer to travel.

Speaking of travel, I've been told that someone from the Clinic will be contacting me soon to get things scheduled. Things should be happening in the next month or two! Woo hoo!

Let's get this miracle started!

Notaries, Contracts, and Tornados

At last the big envelope arrived... The contracts are here! Last night I spent a chunk of time signing, initialing, and handwriting a page of stuff. I asked Shawn if he would initial the stuff he needs to initial and meet me at the bank to have the whole mess notarized. Tomorrow, I'll mail the contents back to the agency and we will be on our way!

As for the Tornado part of the subject line, the parents I'm working with are close to the area that was hit by tornados yesterday. Once I realized where the tornados were, I quickly emailed B & R to make sure they were safe and okay. I received a response letting me know that yes, they are okay. Schwoo! Glad to know they are safe!

Now that contracts are done and B & R are safe I wait for the medical part of this miracle.

Contract!

Last Friday I was sent an email with an attachment I've been waiting for... The Official Big Document of a contract nature (OBD for short.) This go 'round I chose not to have it reviewed by a lawyer, which is a bit of a bummer, because I really liked the lawyer we used the last time!

Anyway, I looked over the thing pretty thoroughly, comparing it to my previous OBD. Of course there were some changes, like names and dates and a few other specifics, which are to be expected. I also found some other minor changes, but nothing that I felt needed legal counsel to figure out or that I disagreed with. But, good golly, that thing takes FOREVER to read! I wish I could share with you some of it, but that is also against the contract. :-). I'm not arguing with it or disagreeing with it, just stating that its in there.

Anyway, I just sent off the ok to the agency to get my copies so I can sign them in triplicate and we can get this miracle started! Woo hoo!

Checking In

Having already had one attempt at surrogacy I've been rather laid back this time. I think just knowing all that B & R have to chose and everything that needs to go into a contract and then everything else has made me a bit more relaxed this go.

I received a nice email today from the Agency. They were just checking in and letting me know that B & R are pretty sure they have picked a clinic (it's in Connecticut!!!), and that they are still excited and thinking about me. I shot back a quick message for them and asked a few questions about the clinic. You know, questions anyone asks about a clinic... Medication protocol, bed rest, successes, etc. Normal questions, right? :-)

Anyway, I'm glad that they are still happy they chose me and things are moving along on their end. I'm just hanging out here in St Paul, patiently waiting for a contract, excited to get started on a miracle.

New Development!

I have some exciting news... After the disappointment of finding out that M & A did not want to continue with another cycle, I told the agency that I would like to be matched with another couple. I was sent a profile of a couple who I really liked and yesterday we had our conference call. They sound just as wonderful on the phone as they did on paper!

After the phone call, I chatted with my hubby and told him about the call and my thoughts on how it went. He agreed with my assessment that they sound like people I would like to work with. I sent the "yes!" email quickly to the agency and got a response of "they want to work with you, too!" Yeah, I'm matched again!

Now for the OBD process (contract), and many, many arrangements for B & R to get lined up (clinic, donor, etc) and we can get started on this miracle!

Medical Red Tape

Apparently, I am a complex person, medically speaking. At least my pregnancies are. There seems to be quite a bit of medical red-tape to work through to get the go-ahead.

The clinic that is working with the potential parents isn't convinced by my doctor's note that I can safely carry another baby(ies). They requested all medical notes from my first pregnancy so, my wonderful OB/Gyn clinic received a call from me requesting that info. Hopefully, once it's faxed to the clinic we will get an all-clear. Once that happens we will have our getting-to-know-you phone call and get this miracle started!