We have a transfer date!

Since the baseline ultrasound looked great, we have a tentative transfer date of October 8th!
This means our due date would technically be around June 25-27th depending if on if the babies are a 3 or 5 day blast  :-)
During the last pregnancy I delivered the twins at 35 weeks 4 days. Nice and healthy, almost 6 pounders! I delivered both my son and daughter 9 days earlier so I think it is safe to assume these babies will also come early.
Our kids get out of school in mid June and I think it would be great to have a week of recovery while they are in school sine life gets a little chaotic during the first few weeks of summer, so if all works out well, we will be able to meet those babies in the beginning of June.

Two weeks and counting!

 

 

Current Meds: Estrace pills 3xday

Next Appointment: Thursday October 3rd at 8:30 for an ultrasound and blood work

 

 

 

 

 

 

Way to go Aunt Flo!

My period started Friday! I emailed our awesome nurse at the clinic to let her know and instantly got an email back saying she was out until Sunday. (AHH!) I had to laugh because it feels like every time we were ready to move to the next step, something comes up to slightly delay our momentum. Even though everything has worked out perfectly even with any delays, so I told myself to relax and everything will continue as needed. Then I got an email from our agency saying the clinic nurse happened to be there that day (luck me!) and told me to call the clinic and say she gave me permission to schedule the ultrasound on Sunday.
I called the clinic to inform them I was 'cycle day 1' and schedule the baseline ultrasound (which needs to happened 2 days after the period starts). They tried to schedule me for Monday but since I got permission we got scheduled for Sunday :-)

Things feel like they are moving right along now!



9/22 confirmed meds with the pharmacy and scheduled delivery.
9/21 Meds were delivered!
9/22 Baseline Ultrasound and blood work

Estrace pills (3xday) and Progesterone in Oil for the IM shots.

The view from the clinic. Fall will be gorgeous from up here!

Baseline Ultrasound looked great!

Signed, sealed and delivered.. to NRM!

Contracts were signed Tuesday, which fell on our 2 year wedding anniversary! Lots to celebrate!
Shortly after sending the final signed contract to our lawyer I got an email from Northeastern Reproductive Medicine (NRM) that they got the clearance to proceed.

The next step is to call NRM when I get my period to go in for the first baseline ultrasound and to pick up the meds they ordered. My period is supposed to come this week so the timing could not have been better. The last BC pill would have been Saturday but I continued until Monday to make sure it did not come before contracts were signed or we would have had to wait for my next cycle.
I have never looked forward to getting a period before and now I get excited for each cramp because it makes me hopeful that Aunt Flo is coming to visit meaning we can continue this journey smoothly and start meds soon!

The first two week wait...

Well, both our lawyers went on vacation for a week right when we got our medical and psych clearance! I guess that was to be expected right before school starts but my oh my that put a stop to our progress for a couple of weeks. Were on such a roll I thought we would be on track to sign those contracts, start meds and transfer in no time. Now it looks like we will be looking at a possible October transfer if we can get things moving.
Luckily they used a very similar contract as last time so we should not have to go back and forth too many times. There was not much for me to edit once I did receive the contract a week after the lawyers returned (the first two week wait...ahh!), and hopefully once the IPS and their lawyer approve it we can sign and get started with the medications.
I was looking over my med schedule from last time and I think I was on the estrace pills and Lupron shots for at least a month to fluff up my uterus, though I think since we are doing a frozen embryo transfer this time as opposed to the fresh embryo transfer last time, I was told I would not have to do the Lupron shot. The main question on my mind at this point is, if everything goes according to plan, how long is it expected to take for the meds to fluff up my uterus enough to transfer those babies!

I joined a group on Facebook for surrogates transferring soon, and I have read about some who had to rescheduled numerous time because they ovulated through the meds, their uterine lining was not thick enough or too thick, and other barriers that got in their way of transferring. I always assume that this will go smoothly and the issues will be minimal so I have refrained from reading any other surrogates experiences because they are putting so many situations in my head that I feel will not have to be a worry of ours! Though I think it will be helpful once we get started to have that additional level of support, right now I am going to stay focused on whatever the next step on our journey will be.

During the contract phase I believe that the surrogates and the IPS don't have much contact while the legal stuff is taken care which has been a little sad not taking with Patty and our check in texts. It will be a relief to see that final email come in asking us to sign those contracts so we can get this train moving faster again!

I had a dream last night that I was pregnant, with a girl. I was 39 weeks + 5 days, and someone asked when I was due and I started to panic when I realized I was 2 days away from 40 weeks and had not planned anything or asked for time off.
Clearly, I am a planner so that part of the dream is nonsense (hahaha) but I woke up with a smile on my face that the pregnancy dreams have already started and my body is ready to make some babies for our wonderful IPs <3

I have hit refresh on my phone's email app so many times it may start fighting back soon...

We are cleared for take off!

We now have psych and medical clearance and are ready to move on to the legal phase.

The lawyer we worked with during the last surrogacy reached out again and it sounds like we will be going off a similar contract so this next step should go pretty quick.
Last week it felt like things were moving also at a slow pace  with an appointment each week and then all of a sudden we were moving again getting the clearance email and lawyer contact in one day. Now I keep checking my email, feeling the pace slowing down again. I know that this process is moving along very smoothly for us but September feels so far away and so close depending on the day.
I am looking forward to signing those contracts and getting the medication calendar and transfer date since I think that will finally feel like we have jumped the main hurdles and are on our way to making babies! Of course that is when the "fun" begins, and we will be the constant hurry up and wait phase... is the uterine lining fluffy enough? are my hormone levels correct? the process of thawing the embryos?! The TRANSFER!!! :-) what is the 1st hcg level? and the 2nd hcg level? the first scan...
Then we will be able to breath again and really enjoy this pregnancy.
But oh, how those little moments up to that point may be nerve racking, there is also so much joy and excitement.

So let's hurry up and wait...

Psych Clearance Appointment

Yesterday we got to see Patty and Shawn again! We met up for coffee before heading to out appointment with the social worker for out psych clearance (spoiler: we passed!). It was so good to see them and catch up that the time got away from us and we had to rush over to the clinic for our meeting.
During our chat we found out that Dave and Patty have very similar sleeping patterns, don't poke the bear too early in the morning, as do Shawn and I who are early risers. And, one of the best part of our conversation was Patty asking me to be a part of the baby shower.  I am letting them take the lead on how much involvement they want to have and was very excited to know that they want us to be a part of such a special time in this baby-making journey!
It was great to see the social worker, Angela, again as we met with her for our last surrogacy psych clearance. It was nice to review the last surrogacy and how this one will be different in many ways and just as, if not more, exciting!

Next step will be getting official documentation that the physical and mental clearance have been completed sent to the Vermont Surrogacy Network who will notify the lawyers to begin the contract phase.
We are already almost a week into August and September feels right around the corner, but also so far away! Looking forward to keeping this moving along and getting to the actual transfer. This process so far has been so special and such a good fit so far that I can't wait for the next step...and the smiles on their faces when we confirm the pregnancy!!!

Medical Clearance Appointment

July 16th - Medical Clearance Appointment

Blood work, physical and sonohysterogram (an imaging study of the uterus where fluid is inserted into the uterus via the cervix to examine the uterine lining) or as the Doctor referred to it as "invasive, wet and a little undignified".
Everything looks great so far and now we just have to wait for the blood work results to complete the medical clearance.

Since we are doing a frozen embryo transfer there will be one less medication than last time, so there will be a few less pokes without having to do the Lupron injections. It sounds like we will be using the Estrace pills for a few weeks to fluff up the uterine lining and then start the Progesterone in Oil shots (aka the pain in the ass shots), right before the actual transfer up to week 8-10.

Next Step: Psych screening with the IPs, potentially August 5th, then we will move onto legal and get contracts started.

Hopefully we stay on track with things rolling smoothly to transfer by September!!



Weight: 175.7