It's ON... Surrogate Side

My monitoring appointment was this morning at 10am.  As I waited to be seen, I thought to myself, "I cannot believe the time has come once again".  You may think that I am crazy to be doing this again, let alone so soon, but I am SOO ready.  I am just as excited - if not more so than last time - to do this again.  I have so much invested in my IPs and their new little family that I cannot wait to be a part in helping them achieve another little bundle of their own; to give a sibling to Charlie!  

As I await my turn to be called back, I looked around the waiting room to see other couples waiting to be seen.  I wondered if there were any other surrogates in there, but since there were couples, I figured they were there for themselves.  It made me think of all the people out there, not only couples, who struggle with infertility; all coming from different walks of life.  There are so many situations out there and so many broken hearts.  I was fortunate to be able to conceive on our own.  I am also fortunate to be able to be a part of another journey to bring another joy to such a wonderful family.

Okay, okay.  On to the good stuff...  I had my labs drawn (this lady was GOOD, too) and was sent on to my ultrasound.  I was informed by the technician that a resident doctor would be in to observe the procedure.  I said okay and was ready to go.  The ultrasound technician was no stranger to maneuvering the "weenie wand".  She shoved that thing in there with a vengeance.  I was, at times, squirming around the table from the pressure.  When she was done, she said that she was going to hand over the wand to the resident doctor (who I thought was just observing the ultrasound).  What?!

Do I have a statement written on my forehead that appears any time I enter a medical facility that says, "Hey, pick me! Pick me!  I'd LOVE to be your guinea pig"??!  

Seriously, I've done my fair share!!  

Anyway, I allowed her to check things out.  After some time of just laying there and hearing them whisper amongst themselves and seeing the resident shake her head and begin to get frustrated, I interjected and asked if everything was okay.  (At this point, I still hadn't been told how things looked and whether or not my uterus had failed or succeeded.)  The resident explained that she was learning and that she couldn't locate my ovaries.  I decided to clue her in that maybe she should shove the wand a little further since it basically felt that it wasn't in very far at all.  She followed my "suggestion" and pushed a bit further and voila;  she found the goods.  

After they used and abused me, I felt I deserved to know the outcome so I asked for the results of the thickness of my endometrial lining.  She obliged and told me I measured 12mm.  Umm, what?! 12mm!  My uterus is a rock star!  I walked out of the clinic with my head held high and nipping at the bit to text K my results.  

K and I waited (and waited and waited) until I was called by the clinic to let us know if we were good to go for the transfer on Monday.  I received the call around 3:30pm and they said my labs and ultrasound were great and we had the green light for our transfer!  They gave me my next steps as far as my meds, too.  I began progesterone in oil (PIO) injections tonight as well as began taking the antibiotics due to the assisted hatching to the embryos.  

I have to say, I totally rocked the PIO injection tonight.  Only a slight hesitation before taking the plunge...  I'm a pro.  Let's do this! 

Time just ticks away... Surrogate Side

The time has come again!  The time to suck it up like a big girl and get ready to prepare my body to cater to a growing little human.  Because the time has ticked away and we are approaching the end of my 8-9 month recovery period from giving birth to Charlie in January, the clinic has called to set things up for our new cycle. 

There were a couple quirks; one being when I called one time back in August, the nurse asked me when my last period was.  I answered that it started yesterday.  Out of nowhere, the nurse kinda gets into a panic and says that she'll have to send out the meds STAT so I can begin them right away.  I was thoroughly confused.  I let her get through her entire spiel before asking if she knew that we weren't planning to transfer until October.  Although I knew we weren't doing anything until October, I was a little freaked out! But, we got everything cleared up and I was told to call on the first day of my next period.

In preparation of our upcoming transfer, meds were mailed to my home. My protocol this time around consists of estrogen pills (twice daily) and an estrogen patch that gets changed every 3 days. If my body reacts correctly to the estrogen and my uterus gets fluffy enough (they check this with a fun internal ultrasound), I start progesterone injections a few days before the transfer. 

Fast forward to early September...

I called the clinic with my first day. The nurse proceeds to give me some instructions and says she'll call me back because she needs to work out the details. A few minutes later, she calls me back with our potential transfer date; September 29th! Yikes! RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! So much for October, huh?? Close enough, I guess. LOL! 

I have my monitoring appointment tomorrow, 9/26/14. At this appointment, I will have some labs drawn to check my hormone levels and have the internal ultrasound to check my lining. We need it to be super fluffy!

Since we will be transferring the remaining embryos that K&J had frozen from our last journey, things are little more laid back this time around. The timetable is a bit more relaxed in comparison to the rigid schedule last time around where we had to sychronize K and my cycles and time it perfectly. This time I didn't have to suppress my ovaries to prevent my own ovulation by using Lupron (the little needle shot into my belly). Woohoo! One less needle!

So, we're hoping my uterus cooperates so we can move forward with the transfer on Monday. K will be flying out for the transfer to be with me (can't wait to see her)! Charlie will be hanging back at home with J since he's been battling the ever-so-lovely ear infections... 

Fingers crossed for a good turnout! I just cannot wait to start the intramuscular injections into my backside... Can you feel my enthusiasm??! 

ALL. WORTH. IT.