17/18 Week Update

Trying to cover her face

Hey Everyone! Today I am 18 weeks. We are almost halfway to D-day! This past week I had an appointment with my midwife and a follow-up ultrasound. The appointment went great. Just the basic blood pressure, weight check, etc. Everything is good. I have lost about about 20lbs since I got pregnant in August (horrid morning sickness is to blame) but my midwife is not concerned about it at all. Honestly, it sounds worse than it is. I had a few extra pounds I do not mind parting with AT all. :) BP was great, as it always is. We listened to baby girl's heartbeat and tried to get a recording of it for my IF, but she was so active we could not get anything that did not sound like a bunch of fuzz. But luckily for him, he got some cute photos from the ultrasound, which in my opinion, is even better.

The ultrasound went great, but the tech was a little sketchy. I was not very happy with her, to say the least. She was not very personable and of course I was alone for the appointment, so it made for an awkward thirty minutes. I don't think she really knew what the ultrasound was for or anything either. She asked a lot of questions that I feel like she should have already. I assume she had specific things to look for per my midwife. But oh well, I hopefully won't see her again. Ha.

Just relaxing with her hands behind her head

I am really enjoying being pregnant. Even with all of the sickness and everything I have been through the past few weeks. I did jinx myself in my last post about feeling so much better because last week, I was sick for almost three days in a row. So I am not going to say that I am feel great this time. I will say that I have not been sick, but that can change. (hopefully not). I haven't really had any cravings other than chocolate covered strawberries with dark chocolate only. I have been having little movements and "pressure" of her moving. Every single day I can feel her getting stronger. Today I have felt her move a lot more than usual. I actually felt her on the outside and I don't have to really concentrate anymore to feel her moving. She has always been very active from the first time I saw her on the ultrasound. So she is going to be a handful! I did have a few braxton hicks contractions today while cleaning. (or nesting I should say...)

Everything with my IF seems to be going a lot better (not that it was horrible) this week. I have gotten a bit more communication from him, which is always nice. After thinking about it for awhile, there really is only so much for us to really chat about. His biggest concern in not wanting to be too overwhelming to me or taking a lot of my time away from my every day life. But it is also awkward to be like "Hey, I threw up three times today." ha. Not that I would ever say that though. Everything is starting to become more real to him and I am starting to feel a lot more of his excitement. Which is all I want from this journey. I cannot wait to see him hold his little girl for the first time. To know that I am helping someone have a child is one of the most rewarding things I have/will do in my life. I love this feeling so much, that I know I want to do it again. I know some might not understand, but this feeling is so indescribable it is no question in my mind.

18 Weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks 

15/16 Week Update!

Hey Everyone!

Not too much to update, so this will be short and sweet. I have been feeling so much better the past two weeks. It has been three weeks exactly since I have last thrown up! I think I mentioned feeling some movement in my last update. Mostly just little flutters and a "pressure" feeling. But now I am feeling little kicks here and there and a lot of the "pressure" feeling when I assume she is flipping around. This is the most exciting part of pregnancy to me! It makes being sick so worth it. Cannot wait until I can actually feel her moving around more. She is about the size of an avocado now! It is so crazy to think how quickly babies grow.

16 weeks

Here is a photo of me at 16 weeks exactly. Please excuse the two photo bomber's in the back. Haha. I have my second appointment tomorrow with my midwife. I am assuming it is just the normal stuff measurement and heartbeat. I also have an ultrasound the following day. Which will be to check up on her and make sure that everything that should be happening after a reduction is happening. I will edit and update this post to let you all know how both of those appointments went.

13/14 Week Update

Hey Everyone!

I want to start by saying that this is going to be a very emotional post. I found out about a week ago that my IF changed his mind, and decided to go ahead with the reduction. I wanted to wait to post anything until after it was done and over with in case he decided to change his mind again. The past week has been a roller coaster for me, along with my family. I knew that this could happen all along, and I honestly was not prepared for him to actually change his mind. I went through a lot of different emotions. I was angry, hurt, and bitter to say the least. I was also still on my continued bed rest and had a lot of time on my hands to really think about this whole situation. Now that it is done and over with, I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I do not want to feel angry and bitter towards my IF. In reality the babies are his and it was his decision to make. I have went back and forth on why he would have changed his mind. We did not talk about why, but I have an understanding of why he decided to go through with it. I am not going to share my thoughts on that, because it was no one else's decision but his.

The procedure itself, went well. It was something uncomfortable and an indescribable feeling. I was not in pain at all, nor am I traumatized from the experience. Although those things did not happen, I will not ever choose to reduce again. I am on bed rest for the next week. No lifting and pretty much no standing for longer than an hour, the doctor would prefer less. I felt okay after the procedure, but as it has been two days I am gradually having a weird feeling in my stomach and some pain (cramp like) if I do walk around too much.

I also want to give a huge thank you to my very best friend, for taking the trip with me and being there for me. I also want to thank my wonderful Grandparents for helping me out so far with Peyton and taking care of me while John (my hubby)  is at work. Then of course to John for taking care of me 24/7 as well.  I love you guys so much and appreciate everything you have done for me and the support you have given me in the last two weeks! I could not have done it without any of you!

I am here for anyone who is interested in surrogacy and has any kind of questions! Whether it be how to get started, about the reduction, or anything else you may think of! I love educating people about surrogacy and IVF and I want to be as open as possible. One thing though, that I will not tolerate is rude or hurtful comments. Especially regarding the reduction. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, because I know people are pro-choice and pro-life. I respect that and I believe that I deserve that same respect in return.

12 Week Update!

Well the past two weeks have been pretty crazy for me. I have finally been completely weaned off of all of my medications, aside from my prenatal of course. I also had my first OB appointment, which was boring because it was just the maternity counseling appointment. I was just asked some questions about my previous pregnancy and my own health. It was kind of awkward because a lot of the questions did not really have anything to do with me since the eggs were donor eggs, and of course my IF sperm. The nurse was pretty awesome though and we laughed through the awkwardness of it.

So, I will start with the good news first. My IF has changed his mind and will be keeping BOTH babies!! I got a call from my agency earlier last week asking if we (IF and I) had talked about the pregnancy at all. I thought it was weird for her to be calling and emailing me about it (she sent an email before calling). She said that he decided that he did not want to go through with the reduction. She also said that he expressed having concern that I would not want to carry both babies anymore since we had been planning on a singleton pregnancy this whole time. I reassured her I was 100% willing and was always willing to carry both babies. I also sent him a text and we had a pretty good chat about everything and how he was feeling about the whole situation. Also, a few days before I got the news about the reduction, I found out that both babies are GIRLS! I am going to assume this is why I have been SO sick, which I will talk about later. But I am feeling a lot better and now preparing myself for a twin pregnancy!! 

This next little bit of news isn't good, but it also isn't horrible as of right now. Last night I experienced quite a bit of bleeding. I had been sleeping and woke up because I had to pee. I laid there for a minute before getting up. All of a sudden I had this feeling like I was leaking...so I thought that I as peeing myself! I jumped up and rushed to the bathroom to pee. As I was peeing I had looked down and saw two drops of bright red blood on the toilet seat.  I looked into the toilet and it was all bright red. My underwear was also completely saturated in blood, but I did not know at the time because I was wearing dark undies. I called the nurse hot line because I know that sometimes bleeding is common in the first trimester. I hadn't had any cramping at the time of the bleeding either.

*TMI Warning*


After speaking with the nurse, she told me I needed to be seen within the hour. So off to the ER I went. They did blood work, some kind of other lab work where I had to have a catheter put in for them to test to make sure I did not have an infection. Which by the way was VERY uncomfortable and slightly painful. The nurse did bring in a Doppler to find heartbeats. She found one for sure, that was very strong, but was unsure about a second since she only had one Doppler and said it could be picking up the heartbeat we already heard. Then they also did a pelvic exam of course, which was one of the worst ones I have ever had. I am pretty used to all of that going on down there by now, but this was very different and also slightly painful. I couldn't bring myself to just relax. The ER doctor was also not very pleasant or vocal about what was going on down there. At one point he asked for forceps (without saying why or anything mind you) So I am freaking out thinking that he sees one of the babies coming out or something. I had still been bleeding off and on for the past two hours before he did the exam. He ended up pulling out a blood clot that was about two inches long. Then he pretty much got up and left after saying he was going to get a hold of OB in LaCrosse.

Eventually, the nurse came back in with this tiny ultrasound machine. She showed me both babies and both girls had heartbeats and were moving all around. I was so happy to see them both with little heartbeats! One baby was VERY active, but there has been one that is a lot more active at each ultrasound than the other. So at the moment I am on bed rest until I get an actual ultrasound to figure out what caused this bleed. As of right now I do not know. I am supposed to call right away tomorrow morning to get in with my Midwife and see what is going on. I will update if I get answers tomorrow.

Other than those two things, I have been off and on crazy sick! Some days I get sick about 4-5 times a day. Other days I can eat a TON of food, almost as if my body is making up for the three or four days I hardly ate anything. I have of course lost weight, but nothing that is concerning to my Midwife since I am still hydrated and can at least keep water or tea down most days. But since I am almost 13 weeks now, I am hoping that it will soon pass! Other than that I feel good and my body is feeling good, no pain there yet!

10 Week Update

Hey Everyone!

It has been about 5 weeks or so since I updated. So I have A LOT to talk about in this post.

First things, we have had a few ultrasounds now, and the results are in with twins. But before anyone gets too excited, I have some other news that may not sit well with some. My IP has chosen to have a fetal reduction done. This is sometimes common in IVF for various reasons. Sometimes medical and sometimes more embryos transferred than they are willing to parent to "increase the odds"of at least one sticking. So, in other words, some parents will choose to do a medical reduction and some choose to do a selective reduction. In our case, we will be having a selective reduction done.

In the beginning of all of this, I thought that it was the norm to transfer two embryos, even if the IP only wanted one. So I agreed to transferring two and also agreed to reduce from two to one, unless one of the embryos split (making them identical). I was also very misinformed on how the procedure is done. I was told, when I asked in my interview, that it is something done VERY early on. The procedure was said to be painless and similar to how the transfer is done. So, that also helped me to agree with it. When becoming a surrogate, you want to give the parents any rights that they have to their baby. I went into it with that mind set and I really thought that I would not be in this situation I am in now, had I done my own research on fetal reduction and not just taken someones word for it. But I am not going to dwell on what I did not do. I want this post to educate anyone who wants to become a surrogate, or any potential IPs to REALLY think about what they want. If they only want one child, there is no need at all to transfer more than one. If they want twins, there is no reason to transfer more than two. The odds are not how many you put it, if one is going to take, it is going to take. If not then you try again. It is all part of the process of IVF.

The reduction will be done in November. I will be between 13 weeks. The reason that I have learned (after speaking to the doctor who will do the procedure) that this procedure is done between 11-13 weeks is because they will usually hope that one twin does not make it that far into the pregnancy. The procedure is done with a needle through the abdomen, and a saline solution is in the needle. The needle gets injected into the chosen baby's sac, and then the solution stops the heartbeat. I will update everyone on how the procedure goes and how I feel afterwards. Right now, to be honest I am very scared of the procedure. The needle they use is very small, smaller than what I have been using for my daily shot. But they can only numb you topically, there is no way to numb your uterus.

Some questions that most people have:

Can you (me) keep one?

Absolutely not. Neither of these babies are mine and it is not up to me to make any kind of decision regarding them. Like I said earlier, part of being a surrogate is leaving all parental rights to the parent. Now which of those you are comfortable with, are something that you need to decide and stick to it. No matter what an agency tells you about being "hard" to match. It may take a little longer, but there are IP that do not want to reduce at all costs.

Can they put it up for adoption?

Again, no. When you think about it, if you were in their situation, would you be able to give someone else your child? After all of the heartbreak and money that it has taken to finally have a child?

Why do they not want both?

My IP is single, already has one child. Not having a partner and raising twins is not something that is ideal to him. But I do not think that it would be ideal to anyone.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask in the comment section or send me a private message.

Positive Beta!!

Well....

The results are in!!

First Beta=2057

Second Beta=3904

Which means I am pregnant!! We are all so happy for these results. I know my IF is so excited and relieved that this was the one! My progesterone level was a little lower than they would like today (it went from 29 to 18 in two days) so I get to up my suppositories. Whoo. Not. go in for another Beta next week, then the following week we will have the first ultrasound! I am very excited for that and will be skyping (?) with my IF during so he is there with me!

On another note, my butt HURTS! I had to do two injections tonight, and for some reason the smaller of the two (less medication) left a nasty little lump from where I injected. So now my amazing husband is going to have to rub it out, along with giving me a back rub ;)! Sorry to keep this short and sweet, but I am off to bed!

Second Transfer

Hey Everyone!

Sorry I have not updated much, there has not been a lot to update on until now. I started meds a few weeks ago and had a transfer today! All of my monitoring appointments went just as well as the last cycle. We did decide to do a fresh transfer this time.

We transferred two beautiful embryo's today! These embryo's are what they call 6-day embryo's. 

I love this page from Shady Grove Fertility that explains the different stages of an embryo. You can click here. to read all about it :) This time I drank about half the amount of water I drank for your first transfer. For those of you that don't remember, I pretty much almost peed all over from my bladder being overly full (like that feeling you have to pee so bad it hurts...yeah that. I thought it would be a good thing and be an over achiever. Never again! Haha. This time went more quickly and was not nearly as uncomfortable as the last! You live and you learn right?

I have my first beta test on September 8th (to know if I am pregnant or not). I am technically 3 weeks pregnant tomorrow (crazy right?). The 8th will put me at about 5 weeks that Wednesday, which is my second beta test. So I will keep all of you lovelies updated and do a new post then! Until then, please send all of your sticky vibes and prayers for these little ones to get comfy in their new home for the next nine months! 

*Update*

Well I have just a small update for everyone. We have gotten in contact with IF's previous egg donor!! So we will be try a fresh transfer hopefully in August!! Very excited to have some kind of a plan now. We are waiting for her to go in for her medical screening this week. The results from that take one to two weeks to come back. (Hoping for one...or sooner! lol) So we should have a calendar in the next few weeks and I will be once again starting meds. Please cross your fingers for us for a successful transfer that results in a healthy babe!!

Failed Transfer

Just wanted to updated everyone on what happened with my test results today. I went to the clinic this morning to have blood work done. After waiting all day, I got the results. They were negative with my Beta number being less than 1. Which is just a normal everyday level. The Beta test tests for the amount of HCG (pregnancy hormone) that is in your system. So I really had none at all. I am to stop all of my medications except two, that will wean me off of them. I will get a very heavy period in the next few days due to stopping medications. I have not spoken with my IF yet. I am going to give him some space and let things settle with him and his family, so they can decide exactly what to do from here. I know we will try again, just need to figure out when and what kind of transfer we will be doing.


I am waiting to hear back from the agency tomorrow and see if they have spoken with IF. Maybe tomorrow I will have a better idea of what the next few months will bring for us. This was his third failed transfer this year, and it does cause a lot of heartbreak not only for him, but me too. I know I did everything right and my body was more than ready, but sometimes these things take time and can take a few tries. Lots of prayers and positive vibes for us for our next transfer. I will keep everyone updated on what is decided! ♥

Transfer Time!

Sorry I have not updated since our transfer day. We have been pretty busy since we got back with work and school. First I am going to talk about our flight there, only because it sucked. We had to be up at 4:30am to be at airport by 6am. It was cold and rainy of course. We flew from LaCrosse Airport to Minneapolis/St Paul. That flight was a little bumpy but not too bad. Our flight from MN to LAX was horrible! We were on one of the biggest plans known to man (not even kidding), one of the ones were there is three rows of three. Ugh. Never again do I want to ride a plane that big. There was a lot of turbulence in the beginning thanks to the weather. I am not just talking a little shaking here and there, I mean dropping a few feet at a time. Felt like I was on a roller coaster. I was trying to sleep, but every single time I would actually fall asleep, the plane would drop down. Worst. Thing. Ever.

On to better things. We got to our hotel around 1pm. Ate some lunch and took a nap. Then the moment we have been waiting for, meeting our IF and his mother! I was so nervous and excited to finally meet them. I was welcomed with a hug from each of them though, and that calmed my nerves. I wondered from the time we left the hotel room to the time we got down to the lobby to meet them if I should just hug them! We had dinner together and went our separate ways to get some rest before our transfer the next day!

Finally it is transfer day! I was told to drink a 1 liter bottle of water after I arrived at the clinic 45 minutes before "transfer time". Well I drank ALL of it like I was instructed, and let me tell you, my bladder is not meant to hold that much pee!! Finally Dr. Kolb, IF, and IF's Mother joined John and I in the transfer room. The Dr. looked at a few more things via ultrasound and got everything set up down there to put the little embies in. By this time I had to pee REALLY bad and I swear I am going to burst all over the Dr. LOL.
Finally the tech comes in with the embies and they are finally in! It literally took 5 seconds and they were in there. Two little white dots in my uterus.

I then have to wait 10 minutes before I can get up to go pee. But it is easier now that I can cross my legs and don't have extra pressure down there. When I do get to get up, I don't even worry about getting dressed. I literally get off the table with the blanket wrapped around me and find a bathroom! Overall we had a really great trip and I am so happy with how everything has turned out. I find out on Monday the 30th if I am pregnant or not! So please keep your fingers crossed for us!!!

Third Lining Check

Hey Everyone!!

So I had my third lining check yesterday and it was at a 13 with triple lining...SO in other words my uterus is perfect and ready for transfer!! I got to start my Progesterone in oil injection today. I do have to say that this injection is a lot more different than my first. It is done the same, but the medication is thicker (it is in oil). My butt cheek hurts a lot right now. I did not ice it before or use a heating pad until a few hours after. I do have some bruising , that I will assume will only get worse because I get to do this one EVERY day. I am not complaining though (well maybe a little) because I know that this is all worth it to give my IF a baby!

Our transfer is set for June 16th at 9am! I have started eating pineapple and have been doing some simple yoga poses to help with fertility. My first beta (which is when I will find out if I am pregnant) will be two weeks after the transfer. So I will be 5wks 1 day at that time. Crazy to think when I come home on Tuesday that I will be 3 weeks pregnant! I am so excited to truly be starting this journey after 8 months of beginning this process. I have an amazing IF and amazing friends and family for being so understanding and supportive of my choice to become a surrogate. Stay tuned for more updates after the transfer!! Any questions about surrogacy or if you are interested in becoming a surrogate, feel free to send me a message or leave a comment for me!! :)

Second Lining Check

This past Tuesday I had my second uterine lining check. Everything looks wonderful! My ovaries are nice and quiet and my lining is a 15!! Which is just awesome. The doctor wants at least a 7 or more. I also have
"triple stripes", which is also good. For only being on medication for a week I am very proud of my body! I have another appointment and blood draw this coming Tuesday. As long as everything checks out good, I will start Progesterone in oil (once a day) and the oh-so-wonderful vaginal suppositories...(3x a day) EW.

The transfer date has also changed to the 16th of June. I am starting to get so nervous and excited for everything. I am doing some yoga each day and I will be starting to eat pineapple everyday on Tuesday! They say it is supposed to help the little embies to implant. My next update will be Tuesday!!

First Lining Check/Shot

The past two Tuesday's I have had what are called "lining check" appointments. My first check was on day 3 of my period (gross I know). Luckily since I was on birth control pills, my period was very light. At the first check they are checking to make sure that my uterus is good to go (not tilted or anything) and to make sure that I do not have any cysts in my uterus or on either of my ovary's. I also had to have some blood work done to check my hormone levels. Everything check out and was wonderful! So I got the okay to start my meds. 

My first intramuscular shot took me about twenty minutes to finally stick myself. I was so nervous I was sweating and shaking. Haha. I made the mistake of poking myself with the needle to see what it felt like, instead of just putting it in. I even thought about having John give it to me, but changed my mind because I was so nervous. After I got it in it was not really that bad. I have not experienced any soreness or bruising from it either. I have done four shots since then and it takes me less than five minutes to do now. 

Just An Update!

Hey everyone!! Just going to do a little update. As you know I was matched at the end of April. Things are moving pretty quickly now. I just received all of my medications today and I am SO excited to start them.  Contracts will be signed this week (Probably the least exciting part of the whole process). Our next steps is to start meds. My first appointment is next week Tuesday. At this appointment they will be checking the lining of my uterus and doing some blood work to check all of my hormone levels. As long as everything checks out okay, I will be starting majority of my medication that day. I get to start with the big needles, I do not even get the luxury of using Lupron (which is a tiny little needle, kind of like someone who is diabetic would use). But at least for now I only have to take it every third day, until about 5-6 day before the transfer. Then I will be starting another medication called progesterone, so that will total TWO intramuscular injections for about 7-8 weeks after the transfer or until my RE tells me to stop them. In other words, my butt may be a little sore. Aside from sticking myself with needles I will be having to "suppositories" (I will let you imagine where those go..haha). To me, these will be the worst of the medication I have to take.

Our next few steps will be two more appointments to check my lining and my hormone levels before the transfer. We have a transfer date set for June 15th! Which is awesome because it is Fathers Day! Which will make this so much more special to me. I will be sure to update the day we transfer! I am so excited that this is finally happening, and I am even more excited to share my experience and educate people about surrogacy. If you have any questions or are interested in becoming a surrogate feel free to contact me and ask anything you want!

It's a MATCH!

This will be short and sweet! So after having some ups and downs with being matched, I was officially matched with an amazing IF today! He is what they call a VIP client and he wishes to keep everything confidential, including his identity. But I can tell you that he is a very laid back, easy going person from what I have seen so far and I am really looking forward to this journey with him!

So now our next step is to sign contracts (fuuun) and start medication. Who would have ever known I would be so excited to poke myself with various needles? Well, I am! I should be starting medication here in the next two weeks if everything goes as planned. Which will put us at about mid-June for the transfer! I love that everything is going to start moving so fast. More in a few weeks about medication and maybe even a little video of shots. :D

Possible Match!

We found out we were matched with potential IF's today!! I am SO excited I could cry. (I already have) We will be traveling to LA in the next month to meet with the guys. We will be having a meeting with the agency in the morning, then they will send us off to lunch so that we can get to know each other better. After we meet and spend the day together, we will all let the agency know if we would like to continue to our relationship and move forward from there! Sorry this is just short and sweet, but that is all I have for now.

Surrogate Q&A

Will they be using your egg or an egg donor?

This is one of the most important questions. I am a Gestational Surrogate. So that means that we will be using an egg donor. We will not be using John's sperm either. The baby/babies will not be any part of us. A lot of times I notice that people get confused on how it works. The egg and sperm are put together to make an embryo. The embryo is transferred into my body. Although the embryo is in my body, my DNA does not get mixed with the embryo/fetus once that has happened. Which leads us into the next question.

How are you going to deal with the pregnancy and bonding with the baby, knowing they will be going to someone else?

For me personally, I know from the beginning that this is not my baby. I know that I am giving the gift of parenthood to someone who wants it to dearly. I will be in contact with them all the time and they baby will never be referred to as mine. I do think that what plays the biggest factor in this whole experience is knowing the baby is not biologically mine. If we used my eggs or John's sperm, then I would have a whole different perspective of being a surrogate. Seeing my IP's with their baby after the birth will not only be a kind of "closure" for me, but is also a reminder of why I am doing what I am doing.

Will you receive updates or picture of the baby/babies after the birth?

This is something that is discussed with you and the IP's. The agency will match you with someone who would like the same relationship after the birth that you want. I personally would love to see photos and have a relationship with my IP's. I am going into this hoping to become friends in the end.

How can you just give your baby up?

This is my favorite one. It kind of goes with the first question, but I just have to clarify again. This will not be MY baby. So I will happily give it to the parents. I am sure there will be some kind of sadness, but mostly to the fact that I am no longer pregnant. I LOVE being pregnant.

Will the IP's be in the room while you are giving birth?

Yes. My IP's will be in the room while I give birth. This is something that was very important and a must for me. I am not embarrassed at all for anyone to see their baby be born. I think it helps with bonding, not only with the baby but between us (IP's and me). I want to share every experience I possibly can with them in this process of having their baby.

Why did you decide to become a surrogate?

I have always thought of being a surrogate since I was in high school. After having Peyton and feeling the love that I have for her, I want to give someone that same feeling of unconditional and indescribable love. My MIL was also a surrogate through the same agency. Knowing she had a wonderful experience with it just sealed the deal. My SIL is also going to be a surrogate through the same agency.

More to come as I think of them or get asked :) Feel free to post any questions in the comments section!

Officially Medically Cleared!!

I am so excited to announce that we have officially been medically cleared!! We hit a little speed bump so we almost had a delay. There was a little lab error and they needed me to go and get my blood drawn one more time. I am thankful that the specific test only took a half hour for the results. Now we are onto the next step, which is choosing out intended parents! We actually got a couple profiles already and have chosen who we would like to work with (based on their profile). I am trying to contain my excitement right now, because now they have to choose us. So nothing is official until we meet and approve of each other. For those of you wondering how the matching process works. The surrogate is sent an Intended Parent profile. You are given a few days to look it over and discuss it with your partner. Then once you "approve" their profile, your profile is sent to them. This is mostly done so that the IP's are not getting their hopes up and a surrogate for some reason does not choose their profile. You do not want the IP's getting their hopes up and then being crushed in return because the surrogate did not think it would work out. We will know by Monday if these will be our future IP's! Then next step: Match Meeting! :D

Medical and Psych Screening

 

We were so excited after lots of planning to finally be on our way for our first meeting with GG and Dr. Kolb! We arrived in L.A. the night before our appointments. We were two hours late due to our plane having engine problems once we got to Chicago. Talk about how creepy that is, when you have a four hour flight ahead of you on the very plane that needed engine work. We did arrive in L.A. safely, as you can see. Our first appointment was at 9am with GG. I had to take a test on the computer that was almost 400 questions. Not something I would ever like to do again. They were just true or false and a wide range of how I felt about things in my life. I "passed" that with flying colors. Next we had our interview by the Psychologist, who also started GG. She was pretty awesome and I am looking forward to talking with her more. She also loved us! We finished up with GG, and had some time before we had to leave for our appointment with Dr. Kolb, So we went and grabbed lunch a few blocks away from the agency. John got to choose where we went, so of course he chose Chipotle. If you know me, you know I am not a fan of Mexican food. I think Mexican food is Taco Bell..haha.

Trying to take a selfie

So after we have finished with our lunch, we go back to GG and wait for our taxi. I do have to share that I HATE taxi's. I was on edge almost the whole time. I am used to Wisconsin driving, none of this crazy stop and go, and pull out in front of cars going 40+ mph deal. I did get pretty nauseous on the way back to the hotel after meeting with Dr. Kolb. Anyway, this next part may be a little TMI. (You have had you fair warning to stop reading if you are easily grossed out).

We got to Dr. Kolb's office and were greeted by a former GG surrogate who showed us around the office (she is also a nurse). She took us to get our blood drawn and our urine tests. Which went very smoothly. Next, we met with a nurse and signed some paperwork and learned how to properly take my injections, (I guess watching youtube tutorials is frowned upon).I do have to admit won't be AS bad as I thought. I do have to say I am actually excited to be matched and start them. Then I think this will feel more real! After we were finished with the nurses, we met with Dr. Kolb. He explained how the ultrasound would go (which is vaginal). To keep it short, I had saline injected into my uterus through a catheter. It was one of the most interesting things I have ever seen. It was almost like a practice run to how the actual transfer will go, except that will be way more exciting! The only thing I did not enjoy about my day was the "leaking" I experienced. Let's just say after the "gush" he warned me about, I got up to get dressed and it felt like a messier recap of my water breaking. LOL.

We were happy to get back to the hotel room and rest for our 12 hour day of travel the following day. Stay tuned for our news on finding a match (it is harder than you may think!) and our next travel dates.

I Am Going to Be a Surrogate!

It is official! I am going to be a surrogate. We are so excited and happy to start this wonderful journey and share our experience. I know everyone is wondering how this all works, so here is a little preview of the steps we will be going through. I will put them into more detail as we experience them. I do have to throw in a thank you to all of our wonderful family and friends that are so supportive of our journey!

1. Fill out an application to be a surrogate. (We are going through Growing Generations)

2. After you hear back from GG about the application (a two-step process) you will then have a phone call interview. After that comes quite a bit of paper work. Which is SO fun.

3.So now your paperwork has been received and you start planning your first trip to L.A. This first trip will entail a medical and psychological screening. It can take up to 2 weeks to get the results from the medical back. In the meantime, if your psych evaluation is good and you are accepted, the may send you a Intended Parent (IP) profile.

4.You accept a parent/parents profile. They then send your profile to the parents. If the parents accept, then you will plan your next visit to L.A. to meet them. If all goes well and everyone would like to work together, you will all sign the legal documentation that is needed.

5. Medications. I will go more in depth on those when the time comes.

6. The transfer. This is when the doctor will transfer the embryo's to my uterus and we shall hopefully have a baby or babies!

I will be adding more Q & A's to this post as well as the questions come along. I have been asked a million (or more) so far, but at the moment cannot remember any of them as I am typing this. Feel free to ask in the comments section and I will answer them as soon as I can.