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.