Baby on Board

   It's been a whirlwind of a month, but we've made some wonderful memories and more people in our family are vaccinated!  My sister and I spent many, many hours calling pharmacies to add a bunch of family members to a "no waste list" in case they had leftover vaccines they needed to use up at night.  We've successfully managed to get every single one of those seven people in for their first vaccine!  It's a huge relief knowing that we're protected, and we're looking forward to a little more normalcy in the near future.  Whatever that might look like?

Spency, Jack-O, and Chloe sledding

     We were able to sneak in some sledding and visiting with Spencer, Chloe and their Daddies before the snow melted.  It was a wonderful outdoor visit, and I'm looking forward to some hugs in the near future.  They were our last hugs before covid...gosh, I miss those hugs!!  They're excited to watch this journey from a different perspective this time.      

    On March 4th, I went in for and ultrasound to make sure my lining was thick enough and my blood-work was ready for the tentative transfer on March 11th.  I had a PA who did the ultrasound this time and she struggled finding my right ovary.  After about 15 to 20 minutes she had the ultrasound tech from two weeks earlier come in and find my missing ovary.  They want to see a lining measuring at minimum a of 7, and my lining came in at a 9.2!  I was directed to start my progesterone suppositories two days later and our transfer was confirmed for March 11th.     

Last snuggle before Jeff's surgery

    On the morning of March 11th, I dropped off our sweet bunny, Jeff, to get neutered on the same day I was getting pregnant.  I just think its kind of a funny coincidence that we both were having reproductive procedures on the same day!  He did great and is all healed up now.   

32oz of water

    Anyway, I was told go to the bathroom and empty my bladder at 10:30 am, and then I had to drink 24-32 ounces from 10:30-11:00 before the 11:30 transfer.  Of course I drank the 32 ounces because I needed to be the A+ patient.  I needed to have a ride home from the transfer and only one person was allowed in the clinic for the transfer, so my IF picked me up at 10:45 to take me to the transfer and watch the IVF proceedue.  After getting all changed and settled on the table, the ultrasound tech looked at my bladder and it was too full.  She asked me to empty two small cups full of of urine so my uterus was in a better position for the transfer.

Sweet Baby's First Photo

    I hopped back up on the table and my uterus was in a much better position.  The doctor walked in and introduced himself and gave my IF this sweet first photo of their baby prior to the transfer.  We had to review that they were transferring one girl embryo, who is genetically connected to the IF who brought me, and sign one last piece of paperwork.  After that, they did a little trial run with the catheter and were ready to do the transfer.  They opened the window to the lab and placed the tiny catheter through the cervix and right into the lining of the uterus.  The doctor was happy with the placement of the embryo, the lab confirmed the embryo was out of the catheter, and I had to lay on the table for five minutes.  IVF is so simple, painless, and fast.  My IF dropped me off at home and I took it easy for the rest of the day. 

Lydia's post

     In case you wonder what a teenage child of a surrogate feels about her mama becoming a surrogate for the third time...worry no longer.  Lydia has only posted a few times on her Instagram, and this is one of the few posts of her life!  It's pretty amazing the positive impact this has on our kids!

Can you see the line?

    The soonest and at home pregnancy test will show up is three days and twelve hours post transfer.  I took my first test at three days and seventeen hours after the transfer.  Only a seasoned eye would look that this test and feel the excitement I felt that day knowing that's a positive line!  I'm sure the people I sent this picture to were doubtful that it was truly a positive test.

    I took the next test at four days and 17 hours post transfer.  I didn't want to take the digital one until we were a full four days post transfer.  This one doesn't leave you guessing...

     The last home test I took was just about seven days post transfer.  It's fun to see the line getting darker!

     I had a beta test on Monday, March 22nd to "officially" confirm the pregnancy took.  My blood work came back positive with a number of 810.  They like to see that number double at the next check on the 24th, and it came back at 2,210!  I'll head in for a confirmation heartbeat ultrasound on April 9th. 

    I'm starting to feel the symptoms of a healthy pregnancy already.  I  always think that cramping after the transfer is my greatest sign that the embryo is snuggling in and implanting into the uterus.  I've had a lot of cramping!  I'm in full swing of pregnancy fatigue and have a heightened sense of smell.  All beautiful signs that it's a healthy pregnancy!   

Ohhh...BEAUTIFUL!

 

I celebrated George's 13th birthday and being a mother of three teenagers by getting my second covid vaccine on February 11th.  It literally brought tears of joy and relief to my eyes as the emotions of the last year flooded though me.  It feels as though somewhat of a normal life is within reach.  I'm so grateful that my whole office is now fully vaccinated.    

Just a quick update on where things are at in our journey...

I started my lupron injections on February 9th and discontinued taking the birth control pills on the 13th.  This morning I had my first of two monitoring ultrasounds and blood draws.  I had the best phlebotomist I've ever had in my life!  Seriously, I didn't even feel the needle poke into my arm.  Today they were looking for thin lining and to make sure my ovaries are "quiet" and not ovulating.  Julie, my ultrasound tech who has the most luscious white hair, inserted the ultrasound probe and said exactly what you want to hear when someone is looking at your insides, "Ohhhh...BEAUTIFUL!  Your uterus looks just perfect.  Here's your thin lining.  See your ovaries?   They are nice and quiet."

I'm to start estrogen and a low dose aspirin tomorrow and decrease my lurpon amount (only 10 more pokes!).  In two weeks they'll look for a nice and thick lining that will be ready to have a sweet embryo snuggle into.  As long as everything looks good on the 4th of March we'll have our transfer a week later!  It's really happening!!            

We Have a Tentaive Date

I have the strangest story to share about how I ended up getting scheduled for my covid vaccine that I'll share in another post.  I'm SO GRATEFUL that had my first one done on on January 21st.  I truly believed in the depth of my soul it would happen before the transfer.  And it did!

After the painless injection, I was instructed to wait for fifteen minutes after the vaccine to make sure I didn't have any kind of reaction and then I was free to leave.  About five minutes into my wait I received a call from Jill, our nurse coordinator at CRM.  All of my labs came back normal and we are ready to proceed!  I believe my response was, "Jill, I didn't know the day could get any better!  I'm literally sitting here waiting after getting my covid vaccine and now you're telling me we're ready to schedule the transfer!"  I was elated!  Jill shared with me that she had just gotten back from receiving her first covid vaccine, too!

Jill was aware of my days off of work and double checked with me that the monitoring appointments and transfer would work in my schedule.  Starting February 9th I'll begin prepping my body, and we have a tentative date of March 11th (my favorite brother-in-law's birthday) for the transfer!!!  This means, if all goes as planned, we could have a baby in T and J's arms around Thanksgiving!  Although, I always seem to go late.  So, by early December they should be Daddies!

 Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better - it did!  As I was gathering my things to leave after waiting my fifteen minutes, I saw my cousin's husband sitting down to get his vaccine.  I was fairly confident that it was Brian but I asked him to make sure.  He told me that my cousin, Amanda, was out in the hall waiting for her turn, too.  We did an air hug and then she was called back.  We snapped a selfie quickly before she went back.  It made me so happy!!!  It also makes me miss living close to all of my relatives.  I love just randomly bumping into them.  Hugs are coming to all of you soon!  I can't wait!!

So far I only have one odd reaction to the vaccine other than the typical sore arm.  I ate an apple with peanut butter on it and the peanut butter tasted so salty that I had to spit it out.  I had the kids try the apple and peanut butter combo to see if they though it tasted weird but it tasted normal to them.  It did bring back some feelings from when I had the tainted progesterone suppositories and became sensitive to sweets when I was pregnant with Spencer.  Hopefully this won't last nine months!   

Magical Uterus

 Happy 2021!  The list of reasons 2020 was the worst year ever is decently long; however, the list of reasons 2020 was a wonderful year is longer.  Us introverts aren't having as hard of a time with all of this.  I actually felt like it was a much needed slow-down for our family.  I gained so much time with our busy teenagers and have really enjoyed spending our nights in the hot-tub we purchased this fall.  We've had so many great conversations and laughter in that tub.  I think it's quite possibly the best purchase of our life.  I wish we would have had it higher on our list of goals so we could have gotten it years ago.        

We are so lucky that both of our surro-fams live close by.  Spencer and Chloe brought their dads for a quick outdoor visit just before Christmas.  The connection our kids have with these two is undeniably unique and greater than anyone could have dreamed.  Jack had Chloe laughing more than I've ever heard her laugh before.  It's in those moments that I have to pinch myself to realize it's not a dream.  A perfect dream!  I sure hope that this new wombmate will fit in with all of these sweet kids.  Can you imagine their reunions when they grow old?  Generations of people connected by the passion of surrogacy and a magical womb!  I just don't think there could be a better story written.        

Speaking of a story...Through the surrogacy community, I was able to connect with the author of the book Milo's Adventures: A Story About Love.  I purchased the book as a gift for Spencer and Chloe as one of their Christmas gifts.  It was signed by the authors and Milo himself.  The book traveled from the place where all of this began - Toronto, Canada.  It's a perfect book to add to your children's collection. 

https://www.gayswithkids.com/life-plus/books/milos-adventures-a-story-about-love

Our family added a new bunny earlier this week.  Jeff is a 10 week old Holland Lop who has stolen our hearts.  He is far different than our first bunny but seems to be warming up quickly.  He was much needed after our first bunny passed just a couple months after we got him.  I feel a little sad that their personalities are so different.  Our first bunny, Bill, was the best, sweetest, most cuddly little bunny ever.  I hope Jeff does well with our energy healing and calms down enough to enjoy the snuggles.  George instantly felt better when he held Jeff for the first time.  We needed him, and we hope he loves his new home.    

I've kept guarded feelings around this next surrogacy journey.  It's not that I wasn't excited about it, but trudging through the screening process I felt the need to guard my heart.  Deep down inside I know I'm meat to carry again.  Every part of my being loves the journey!  I think I understand all the hiccups that can come along with this process, and I just didn't want to get my hopes up that things would move so quickly in case they didn't.  It's going so much faster than I actually expected.  As fast as I had hoped.  I'm crossing my fingers that my IFs have their baby in their arms by Christmas.  I need to be on the beach by then anyway.

I had to get on birth control last month before heading to my medical screening this morning at CRM in Minneapolis.  I've heard rumors from many people that Dr. Casey is amazing.  She definitely lived up to my expectations.  I first met with Nurse Jill.  I've been communicating with Jill for a couple months now, and she obviously knows this process well.  She went through the medication protocol with me and we discussed the covid vaccine in depth.  The protocol isn't too different from my first two journeys, and they made a couple of minor changes to mimic what my body has already done and proven successful.  It's a win for suppositories over injections!  Woohoo!!  I'm also skipping the Valium for the transfer.  I've never had to use that before and I'm petrified of that stuff!  I'm ultra sensitive to medication.  I know, I'm an introvert, a highly sensitive person and empath all wrapped in one.

After chatting about the protocol I was off to get my blood drawn and a urine sample.  They check for communicable diseases and do a drug test prior to moving forward with the transfer.  The phlebotomist had to readjust the needle once it was in my arm.  It wasn't that big of a deal but worth mentioning.  Once the blood was sucked from my vein I was off to the the bathroom to collect my urine.  "Pee in the cup and use this pipette to fill this vial in-between the two black lines.  If it's under or over the line they won't test it.  It HAS to be in-between the lines.  Then put them in the separate bags and drop them off here when you're done."  Seems like easy enough instructions, right?  Here's the thing...as I squatted over the toilet to collect my pee in the cup, I accidentally dropped the cup in the toilet!  I've never done that before.  Thankfully, I was able to retrieve the cup that was floating on top without touching any of the toilet water!  I obviously can't use the toilet water contaminated cup to catch my urine, so I gathered my thing with my clean hand and headed back to fetch a new clean pee cup.  I was so humiliated telling the phlebotomist that I dropped the cup in the toilet.  She somewhat giggled and annoyingly said, "How did you do...never mind, I'll get you a new cup."  In addition, I ran seven miles (I'm still training for the Lake Wobegon Marathon because there are so many unknowns) before my appointment and my pee looked like I hadn't had a cup of water in days.  I'm not sure if it was a funny color because of all the beets I eat or that I just ran.  OMG!!!

After the pee experience I was ready for my saline ultrasound.  They look for polyps in my uterus and make sure it looks like it's ready to host a baby for nine months.  Any of you ladies out there have a uterus that's tipped?  I've known I am tipped for as long as I recall having exams.  I stopped counting after the fourth time the doctor tried to put the speculum in my vagina.  She apologized after the fifth or sixth time that she'll get it eventually.  It doesn't hurt but it's not the most comfortable experience ever.  Once she finally got it in the right place she inserted the saline (only about a tablespoon worth) and it took just a couple of minutes.  There was an area on my uterus that they double checked to make sure it wasn't a polyp.  She said it looks like the lining is waving but not a polyp.  Of course, It's like, "Hey girl, I'm ready for you to put that embryo in me!  I know they're here frozen somewhere.  I'm ready when you are."  We chatted about the protocol and the vaccine.  We were given the green light to proceed as soon as the lab results come back from the bloodwork and urine samples on the 25th.  

Ben heads in tomorrow morning for his bloodwork and then we just play the waiting game again.