Transfer 100% Complete

I cannot believe the time has come.... let me rewind a little to give a full update.

For weeks I have been having monitoring appointments. What that means is going to a clinic local to me in MN and they test how I'm responding to meds by doing a trans vaginal ultrasound and blood work. They test the uterine lining once on the meds, and the number is supposed to increase.

The first lining check was 4.5, the second 6.8 and the third was 7 (she originally said 7.4 but said she couldn't recreate it). Thankfully 7 was enough to get us to the next step, transfer.

Right after that last monitoring appointment in MN, I started the other pills. The first kind I had been on for two weeks just tiny oral pills I take 3 times a day. The second kind of pills are uhm.. how do I explain.....different. They aren't oral, if that leads your imagination anywhere else.

So, fast forward a little, we get to CT and do my final monitoring at the clinic we are using, NEFI (They are AMAZING!). The final lining count was 6.5. That made me so nervous. Its not supposed to go down! They said they would have the Dr review and get back to me if we are still on or not for the next day transfer.

That had to have been the longest day, ever. I was so worried that we would have to cancel the transfer. However, you obviously have already read the title of this post, to know that we got the all clear. THANK GOODNESS!

The next morning was the transfer. I was told to be there at 9:30am. We got there promptly at 9:30. The transfer was at 10am. M and I were called back to a consult room at 10, spoke to a nurse practitioner, and Grace who we have been working with (a fellow Aussie!) and then Dr. Lavy. came in to answer any questions. He really is an amazing Dr. He has been so personable. We tried to call N&M but they were unavailable.

We then went and M and I got all fancy...

Dressed, ready for the transfer

Then we moved into the procedure room. Dr. Lavy then gave me the greatest surprise.... IM was on Skype. I couldn't believe N was there with me all the way from Sweden! She shed a tear and didn't think that I saw, but I did. Anyone who knows me well enough, knows if I see people cry, I will cry. I'm such a cry baby! I shed a couple tears but not a full on sob - though I was close!

IM was on Skype with us through the whole procedure (she was by my side, not down in the nitty gritty, ha!). It was so nice to be able to have M and IM there with me. The procedure took about 2 minutes. It was so fast and completely painless!

I cant wait to confirm that the transfer stuck. Ill have an appointment at my MN monitoring clinic on the 3rd and the 10th for the BETA.

Everyone cross your fingers and send sticky vibes (that the embryos stick).

The Embies! 

Get Ready...Get Set...Go!

Let the fun begin! Everything is starting to happen now. Things are really picking up their pace since some of the confusion last week.

So, I officially have a cycle schedule and a transfer date set. What that means to people unfamiliar with surrogacy, is that I have a schedule for my cycle - my menstrual cycle. I have been on birth control up until this week when I was instructed to stop. HOORAY! Tomorrow I start my first monitoring appointment which is in Minneapolis. It's kind of a pain in the behind, but it is what it is. So I took the morning off from work to find my way in as I don't like Minneapolis much. I ALWAYS get lost.

At the monitoring appointment, they will take blood and check for what my uterine lining is as a base line. Basically, after I start the meds, and go back for my second and third monitoring appointments later this month, the uterine lining should be thickening. We are trying to trick my body with these meds into thinking its pregnant, so when we do the transfer - actually putting IP's embryo into my uterus, then my body will accept it and I will stay pregnant.

Speaking of the meds - HOLY MOLY! There are a lot! I mentioned before that I am so thankful that I don't have any injectibles. I wouldn't have done well with those. There are a LOT of meds! All together, I think this is over 200 doses of medication. YIKES!

After the monitoring appointment, we will get the go ahead to start the meds from NEFI. Ill start with the pills in the little bottle 3 times a day. FUN stuff. I hope they don't make me feel icky like the birth control did. Then we will have more monitoring. I think it will be the 12th and 19th but we will see about that. Then as long as everything progresses as we need it to, we go for transfer! M and I would fly out to NYC and then drive/shuttle to CT on the 24th as we will have an appointment on the 25th bright and early to monitor one last time and then transfer on the 26th. Then I am out of commission for the remainder of the 26th and for the 27th. Such a long time. I bet I will be doing a whole lot of pinning during that time. :)

So exciting! I cant wait for the next step. I'm not feeling quite as stressed as yesterday. Thankfully! I keep telling myself I will go get a massage, but I know I wont really. I never spend money on myself. Seems so silly when I have M and little M. They are my priority. though if I would have remained as stressed as I was yesterday, I would have had to!

I'm sure tomorrow wont be much to update on, but an update shouldn't be too far down the road.

It's happening!

It's happening! It's really happening! We have a transfer date. September 26th is the date.

I only know a little bit right now because everything is moving so fast. I'm excited though! So, sounds like the 24-28th we will be out there. M had to tell his boss today so that his PTO will be approved, I'm not terribly thrilled about that, but I suppose it is what it is. I would like to keep it all as under wraps as I can until I'm actually pregnant with IPs baby. Especially at work. 

So this Friday ill have my first monitoring appointment. I'm not real sure what that will consist of other than checking my uterine lining. I've let my team lead at work know because my boss left me to go on her honeymoon. Oh the audacity! Actually, at her wedding this weekend I think I cried so much. I'm thankful I wasn't on the hormones for that because I can't imagine how much more I would have sobbed. Ha! She was an absolutely stunning bride.

M and I at The the bosses wedding

Anywhoo, meds arrive tomorrow. No needles! Hooray! I'm so very excited about that. Interested to see how these meds make me feel. I cannot wait to be done with the birth control though. I HATE it. It makes me feel so nauseous and disgusting. Thank goodness that's almost to an end! 

That's about all I have for today, in my whirlwind of a day! So excited and nervous. But I'm REALLY excited that I transfer the same day as a surro-sister and the day after another surro-sister who are at the same clinic. Meetup!! Poor M is just going to have to deal with us girls jabbering away about surrogacy a little more. :) 

Tug of War

This picture accurately describes how I feel right now, with me feeling like the rope. I have been really patient with the blogging the past month or so because I wanted to be sure before posting anything and there have been so many changes!

We started out by being given a date. An official date of transfer. September 20th was it. We had it! It was finally here. I was so excited and I wanted to blog about it immediately. However, something inside of me said I should wait incase things changed. I felt us moving in the right direction as a part of our lovely tug of war.

So, because IM had previously worked with another clinic (she had another surro that didnt work out before me) and her Embryo's had been there. When we were doing contracts, she was considering switching from the one clinic which I had heard terrible things about, to NEFI, which I had heard great things about. Well, as a part of working with the other, unnammed clinic - she had to go to a third clinic to have her embryo's extracted and they were housed at that location.

We didnt find out until we got our 9/20 date, that the third clinic was going to have a bunch of additional steps in order to allow the embryo's to be released from their clinic and transferred to NEFI. Oh boy. So, we started out with all of these steps. They told IM that she had to go to the US Consulate in Sweden. What in the world?! After some probing - I was able to find out that they wanted something notarized. All of a sudden, I felt like we were going the opposite direction in game of tug of war.

Being that I grew up overseas, I have often had to deal with finding a US comparible notary in another country. So, I let IM know what I would try first - especially because the consulate couldnt get her in until the end of September - past our transfer date! She went to the place that I found via google and it appears to be good. Documents were sent out Monday of last week to the third clinic.

NEFI cannot proceed with me until the third clinic gets the originals. Which seems, annoying but I suppose I can understand it. So, yesterday I spoke to NEFI and they let me know the Septemeber 20th transfer is officially cancelled. Sigh. They explained that I would have had to of started meds either last week or this week and they cant give me meds without the embryos being in house.

So, feeling defeted and sad for IM, I emailed her to let her know what I knew. It has been important to both IM and I that we stay in communication with one another. Right now, we are a team. Working towards the one goal - to get the IP's a baby! We need to make sure that we are all on the same page at all times. And right now, that can be hard because there are so many cooks in the kitchen. We have done a good job of it, though. IM was obviously very upset that the September transfer was cancelled. I wish I had more answers for her as to why, and how, and what now - but I simply did not.

Late last night I realized that I only had about another week of birth control left. If we werent doing a September transfer, I would need more. I emailed NEFI to let our contact know to please place the order. This morning when I woke up to read her reply, she explained that I will no longer be taking BC as we are proceeding without the embryos being in house! WHAT?! That's great news! Even though it is great news, and I am SO happy, this is about where I began to feel like the rope in the tug of war. So much back and forth and confusion. I really am a person who likes to set expectations and stick to them. Obviously, I am going to learn a new way with the surrogacy process as things can change so easily.

She said she will call me later today to explain what is happening, however, I can assume that she is overnighting me some medications to start tomorrow and that we are either going for a September 20th transfer, or shortly thereafter. I emailed IM to let her know immediately. The response I received was "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!". Needless to say, it sounds like she is just as excited as I am. (plus, I am secretly over the moon to not have to take these bc pills anymore as they make me super nauseous and sick).