Transfer #2

Friday morning we dropped all of the kids off at school then started our trip south. We stopped in Red Bluff for coffee and then walked through Ide Adobe State Park. That is a tiny little historical park in Red Bluff. Then we stopped at a few little shops along the way before having lunch in Sacramento and hitting the Spirit store! It was a nice relaxing trip since we had plenty of time to get there before our flight. The flight was on time and uneventful :) We flew into the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, it is much smaller than LAX and much closer to the hotel! After checking in we went to dinner at a cute little Mexican restaurant and they took our pictures! They give you a complimentary post card and since it has been forever since George and I had pics done, we bought more!

 

Yes, that is my last margarita in the background and it was YUMMY!

 



 

After dinner we walked around a bit and then headed back to the hotel. The beds are awesome at the hotel and I was sleeping really good (rare for me) when at 1:30 am we were woke up by the loudest group of drunks ever! It turns out that there was a Latin wedding earlier in the day and they REALLY party afterwards! It wasn't a big deal though because the morning of the transfer I actually got to SLEEP IN! It was so nice! We left the hotel a little after 10 and were at the clinic by 10:30. The doctor had been in Texas and we literally saw him running in the door a few minutes prior to our appointment!

 

Here is the infamous waiting pic

 

 

 

 

Same thing as last time, it was very quick and easy, although I don't think the doctor appreciated my jokes about how cold the speculum was! That's ok, George and I thought it was funny! Here is a pic of the actual transfer. If you look REALLY closely in the center of the picture there is a tiny white dot. That is the embryo in my uterus!

 

 

After the procedure I had to hang out on the table for almost an hour. That was so boring!! Then back to the hotel for bed rest!. Earlier that morning George thought he would watch TV while I was in the shower, turns out our tv was possessed! The volume would go up to the max on its own and then it would turn itself on. We let the hotel desk know when we left but of course it was not fixed by the time we got beck so George unplugged it and then plugged it in again and it worked fine! I mostly read the new Nicholas Sparks book though. It was really good!

  The next day I stayed in bed until it was time to go home. We had an hour delay on the way home but the flight was smooth and easy.

 

Now we are a week into the two week wait, my official pregnancy test is October 3. Of course I really debated doing home pregnancy test, but if you know me at all, you know that I HATE surprises and have no will power when it comes to that stuff! So I tested this morning but I won't be sharing the results until the official blood test!!





Final monitoring appointment

   Shortly after I wrote my last blog I got an email that my ultrasound results were NOT great. They thought that my lining was thickening too slowly. To help things along I was instructed to increase the hormones! I went from taking two tablets a day to four and from injecting .1 cc every three days to injecting .2cc EVERY day! BUT it worked! At my last appointment my lining was at a nice fluffy 9 with 11 days before transfer. So it is a go! 9/21 we will try again to make my IPs parents!
  Another strange thing that I have had happen twice this time and never before, it seems I have hit a vein when doing my injections! How do I know this? Well I turned to put the syringe into the sharps container and felt something running down my leg, what do I see? Blood shooting out of the injection site all over me and the floor! It didn't hurt or anything, just bleeding all over. So gross! It stopped with a little pressure and was no big deal, just a surprise to see blood literally shooting out of my body!
   Transfer plans are that we will fly out Friday afternoon, transfer Saturday and come home Sunday. I am a little nervous about the flight though. We have had so much smoke in the air that I have had a sinus headache for days. I am working on clearing it up with my secret potion.... Apple Cider vinegar. It tastes horrid but it thins the mucus so that hopefully I am not in pain this flight.
   That's all for now, I'll update again after transfer.

Monitoring

   Today I had monitoring appointment #2 of 3. I am pretty sure that everything is going well. My uterine lining is thickening up as expected and everything on the ultrasound looked good. Last week I started on many of the medications again. Currently I am taking 3 prenatal vitamins, 2 estridol tablets, DHA, folate, baby aspirin and a shot of Delestrogen every 3 days. I am feeling well and the shots are totally painless. We are only 18 days away from transfer.  This is still an emotional roller coaster. I am excited and thinking positive that this WILL work this time, but the doubt that it may not still looms. I know that it is out of my control, that is probably what is so scary about it! I am dedicated to this though, and I will try however many times it takes us to get pregnant. I have struggled to even blog about the process this time. It seems like there is not much new to share as the process is the exact same as last time. It is much nicer to go through the process with my OB, partially because there is not much of a drive, but mostly because I will be able to have the same person through it all. He has done the monitoring, he will monitor the pregnancy and then he will, hopefully, be there for the delivery. It is very reassuring that I will not have to explain the situation over and over to different doctors. As much as I like sharing the experience of this journey, it gets tiring to repeat things to every professional I come in contact with. I have learned that there are not a lot of people in this community that know much about surrogacy.
   I am asked a lot of questions when people find out I am a surrogate, the first one is almost always "how are you going to give the baby up" to which I get to explain the process of how it is not mine and that there is no genetic connection. The next question is usually about my mental stability when I share that my goal is to TRY to deliver without an epidural! There are a lot of questions about the medical process and the shots. It is really hard for others to fathom that it really is not hard to give myself shots or to have my husband do it. Then there is always the BIG question: How will I handle being pregnant, caring for 3 kids, going to classes, attending a practicum site, being a wife and taking care of my house? Well, just like I do everything else, one day at a time and with very careful scheduling! I am VERY dependent on my planner. Everything has to be written down or there is no way I will remember it! From there things just work out. I am trying to accept that I cannot do everything and be everywhere. I will have to miss some of Kimberly's swim meets, I cannot volunteer in Noah's class as much as I would like but I do as much as I can! I have also learned to ask for help. When I look at my calendar I am SO glad that I will not have to throw the care of a newborn into the mix! I am happy to answer the questions that people have. I wish that there was more publicity on the positive surrogacy stories. There are so many stories out there of when things go wrong, but there are also many untold stories of happy journeys and families that would not be without surrogacy. My ultimate goal would be that I could encourage at least one other woman to help someone else have a family. I have had a few inquiries but no one actually start the process. Even though we are early in the journey, it has changed my life, my children's life and my families beliefs. That on it's own in a huge accomplishment!