I got my beta drawn on Thursday (5/15) and today. My beta on Thurs was 223 and today’s beta was 398. The clinic called me and said the numbers were looking good and to continue my medicine as prescribed.
Right now I am technically 4w2d and my due date is January 22, 2015. My ultrasound is scheduled for June 5th when I’ll be 7 weeks. We will know then if both embabies took or if it is just one.
On May 11th, I was 5dpt so I took an HPT and it showed up faintly positive. On May 13th, I was 7dpt and took another HPT and it showed up positive too but slightly darker.
Looks like I am pregnant! It’s very exciting! I told my IM on Mother’s Day but she was more scared than excited I think. I think she will be more excited once we get the beta results showing that I am pregnant.
Yesterday (May 6th) was my transfer. The BIG day!! The day before (May 5th), I found out late in the day that my transfer was scheduled for 12:45 pm. I wasn’t sure if they were actually going to tell me because it was after the office was officially closed.
On the morning of transfer, my DH took the girls to our sitter and then he drove me to the meet up point with my MIL. My MIL drove me the rest of the way to the clinic. On the way I had to drink so much water and take a Valium one hour before the transfer. My IM met us at the clinic and we checked in. We didn’t have to wait long at all and it was time to go back and gown up. I let my MIL and my IM go back with me while they did the transfer.
The transfer went pretty quickly. The dr put two little embabies in and then I was good to go! I laid there for a few extra minutes and then went to the bathroom because I really had to pee!!
The first pic below is the US pic right after the dr put the embabies in my uterus. The little white patch is where the babies are!
Here is the two little embabies that were transferred!!
When we were done at the clinic, my MIL and me went out to eat with my IM. Then we made the trek back (with a little nap for me)! We detoured where my MIL lives and my SIL took over the driving to meet up with my DH. Then my DH and I went to pick up the girls from the sitter. It was later in the evening when I finally got home so it wasn’t long before I went to bed.
My beta is schedule to be drawn next Thursday. Although, I will likely cheat with a HPT! ;)
On May 1st, I stopped my Lupron and started my Progesterone shots. These are the ones that have to be given intramuscularly around the upper, outer gluteal region. One of my nurse coworkers did my first shot while my other coworker watched so that she could know how to do it too. First shot went fine. Had a little bit of soreness and bruising afterward but not as bad as I thought it’d be. The next day my other coworker too her turn on the other side and she did great too.
Today my husband his first turn at giving me my shot. He’ll be doing it on the weekends or my days off work when my coworkers can’t do it. I had him watch the video online and instructed him a bit beforehand. He was a little nervous but he did it just fine. He’s glad he doesn’t have to do it every day. lol
On My 2nd, I started the pills Doxycycline and Medrol. Doxycycline is an antibiotic that is supposed to keep away infection from the transfer. Medrol is supposed to help keep your body from rejecting the embryo. I have to take these twice a day. Oh my gosh, the Medrol leaves such a nasty taste in my mouth!! I always have to eat and drink stuff afterward to try and get the taste away.
We are just a few days away from transfer now. Our contract is finishing up with the lawyers. We only changed a few things from the original contract because we had talked about most things beforehand. It should be finished up by Monday. My husband and I also got a few things signed and notarized today for me to take to the clinic on Tuesday that hadn’t been signed yet.
Please pray that for Tuesday the transfer goes perfectly and that baby sticks!!
Today I had my lining check in Ann Arbor. This basically checks my uterine lining and make sure it’s thick enough for transfer. The drive wasn’t bad as I listened to an audio book the whole way. That really makes the trip go much faster! I had to get up super early because my appt was at 9:20 am. I left my house at 4 am and I got there 1.5 hours early. I should have figured that I’d get there quicker with there being less people on the roads so early in the morning. I tried to take a nap with my spare time but it wasn’t that great.
They drew some labs first and then I went back to the room for my ultrasound. The doctor came in pretty quickly and got it done. She said that they like the lining to be around a 7 and mine was at 14. She said I had one of the best looking uteruses she’s every seen! That made me smile just a little. I’m really glad that all is on track and even better than expected. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be. My IM reassured me that everything would be just fine and she was right. :)
So everything is still on track for a May 6th transfer!
I went down to the Cincy clinic to get some labs drawn to check my Estrogen and Progesterone levels and make sure everything is on track. Happy to report all is looking good! So glad I didn’t have to make the drive to Ann Arbor again for something simple.
Today I decrease my Lupron from 10 units to 5 units. I also start Estrace 3 times a day vaginally.
It’s been a bit since I’ve updated so I need to do a catch up post. This is mostly because A and I have been on vacation and we just recently got back. I kept in contact with my IM over the trip when I was able to keep updated on what was happening and what needed to happen.
Over the trip, we finally secured an insurance. Dealing with the whole insurance issue was just one big headache. I originally though my insurance did not have a surrogacy exclusion based on the info my HR provided me. Turns out, there is one. I just wasn’t given that info. Sooooo…..long story short…we basically were scrambling to meet the March 31st deadline to get insurance before we weren’t able to. We made it by just a couple days. I really wish the insurance issue would have been caught earlier by my agency because we could have avoided quite a few headaches. We can officially start using it in May.
I’m still taking my OCPs every night. In addition to them, I am now taking a prescription prenatal vitamin, extra folic acid, baby aspirin, and levothyroxine. Are you wondering “levothy what?” It’s Synthroid the synthetic thyroid hormone. My TSH levels were around 3, which is considered normal but for fertility purposes they like it to be 2.5 or below so I’m taking a low dose of levothyroxine to balance it out a little better. I’ll likely be on this the whole pregnancy, but that’ll ultimately be up to my ob dr once I transfer to their care.
Today I had my pre-Lupron ultrasound. Thankfully, I did not have to travel to Ann Arbor to get it done. They were able to set up an appt at a clinic closer to me near Cincinnati. Once I got there it was a bit of a wait because they didn’t have my order and we had to get that faxed to them but once they took me back and into the room it went very quickly and it was super easy. The drs were very nice and said everything looked great.
DeLynn called me later and let me know everything did look good and we went over the calendar since we haven’t had the chance yet with me being on vacation.
I got all my meds today from Freedom Pharmacy and I started my Lupron shots tonight. Easy peasy. I’ll be doing these shots for several wks. I stop my OCPs on the 13th.
It’s all quite the process and things definitely don’t go smoothly all the time as I’ve found out! Luckily, my IM and I have been keeping in close contact about everything and we’ve figured things out along the way. Sometimes she knows something and I don’t and vice versa.
My IM should have all the financial stuff for the contracts and I believe she is sending that to her lawyer tomorrow so we’ll be finishing that up very soon. I don’t anticipate there being any disagreements. The biggest challenge for both of us is if bed rest would happen. It would cost her and it would put my job at risk if the bed rest was long term. Really hoping we don’t have to even worry about that!
I’d appreciate prayers for everything to continue to go smoothly and for things to stay on schedule. Originally we thought a April 24th transfer but now we are set for an April 27th lining check and a May 6th transfer. I really don’t want to have to switch dates at work again (not that it’s my fault the dates change).
Here’s a photo of my nightly routine now:
On Saturday the 15th, AF came unexpectedly and a week early. The first thing I thought about was if it was going to throw all the timing off we had just discussed on Thursday. So on Monday morning I called the clinic and left a message with the receptionist to give to the nurse. Later in the afternoon I got a call from the clinic. They asked me about AF and then surprised me by asking if I’d be able to come in tomorrow afternoon for the mock transfer and hysteroscopy. That was quite a surprise! It was pretty short notice so I told them I’d call them back and let them know once I checked with work. After making sure my schedule would be ok, I called back and left a message that it was a go!
Today I worked about half a day again and then left to make the trek up to Ann Arbor. I went by myself this time though since no one was free to go with me. Good thing for audio books! That made the drive go by much faster.
I got to Ann Arbor after 1 pm and my appt was at 1:50 pm. I stopped at a gas station and went to the bathroom and picked up a drink and some snacks for the ride back home. I started chugging water since I had to have a full bladder for the procedures and I downed 3 Ibuprofen that they recommended since their might be cramping afterwards.
My IM met me for a little bit at the clinic but then she had to go back to work. It was good to see her for at least a little bit. They got started pretty quickly once my IM left. Both the hysteroscopy and the mock transfer went very smoothly and was easy. They said everything looked good and went very well! Great news! I finished with a mandatory exam (after using the bathroom) and then one of the nurses came in and we went over injections and future schedule. We set everything up so that we’d do a April 19th lining check and a April 24th transfer. Wow! This is really happening!
I went to the lab after I was done with the clinic to get some labs drawn and then started the trek back home. I stopped at one point for more gas and food and a bit of stretching.
I started my OCPs tonite to start preparing for the real deal.
For the past couple weeks we’ve been trying to nail down a date and a location to get the psych evaluation done for my husband and I. We were set to go in Akron but then the IM wanted to try and get someone closer to me so we wouldn’t have to travel so far. Turns out Ashley couldn’t find anyone closer to us with the qualifications the IM wanted so we were back to Akron.
Ashley really wanted to get us in this week so thankfully I was able to manage it with my work and babysitter for us to go on Thursday (2/27). A and I made the several hour trip to the office yesterday morning. Our appt was at 10 am. We got there a little early so we stopped at A’s corporate office for work, which was ironically very close!
The appt started with an interview with the counselor. We talked a good bit about various things. She already had our profile so she covered some of the things I mentioned on it. She was very nice and gave us the impression that we did great on our interview. Next came our personality tests. It was an actual written test-one of those fill-in-the-bubble ones. It was over 300 questions! It’ll be interesting to see what it says about both of us. I’m pretty confident we have good personalities. lol
Once we finished up we filled up the gas tank and ran through McDonald’s for some food. Then we made the trek back home. I was hoping to get back in time to pick our daughter, K, up from school but our appt ran longer than we expected so our sitter picked her up for us.
The IPs who were interested in my profile apparently loved me and wanted me to look at their profile. I’ve checked it out and I really like them too! I’m really excited to start taking steps to move forward in the surrogacy process. I’m still answering additional questions they have about me and my history, too, since the profile only covers so much.
I got some interest in my profile with my agency! I’ve been waiting (patiently) since putting in my application in October to hear there are IPs interested in me so this is great news. Right now I’m just answering additional questions they have for me. We’ll see how it goes!
