Behind the Scenes

I am watching Rules of Engagement with Ben as I write this and the episode is about surrogacy.  It's interesting the way the media portrays surrogacy and how the facts are so skewed.  I'm pretty sure that I've said, "That's not right!" about ten times.  I really like that surrogacy is becoming more common and accepted by people worldwide.  I'm so happy that our kids are allowed have an open mind on how a family can be created in many ways.  I truly believe it's a gift for our IP's and our family!

Surrogacy can take interesting twists and turns along the way.  Late Friday I received a message from Keely that I needed to get a clearance letter from my doctor that I'm healed from the Mono and healthy to proceed.  The fertility doctor needed this letter before we could start our medication protocol.  I called my ENT pronto.  He was the one who diagnosed the Mono and did my Tonsillectomy.  His nurse called back just minutes later and sated that he wasn't comfortable writing a letter because he doesn't deal with pregnancy.  He asked that I call my primary care physician to obtain the letter from her.  I haven't been to my primary care physician in a little while and she didn't diagnose the Mono, so I thought this would take a bit to get this letter.

I called my primary care physician on Friday and it sounded like they would get back to me the same day.  I didn't hear back from them, of course I called them first thing on Tuesday morning!  They said they had called me on Friday several times and got a busy signal each time.  Thank goodness I'm impatient and called them back.  They asked several medical questions to make sure that Mono was gone and said they'd write the letter, "But your doctor is out until Thursday".  UGH, Seriously!?!  Then I asked them if the last doctor I saw would be able to sign it?  YES!  They said she'd have it ready the same day...

I knew the clinic had a glitch in the phone system and they couldn't reach me, so I figured it was kosher for me to call five times in one afternoon, but still no letter.  I was able to run to the clinic and check with them in person to see if the letter was ready. NOPE, not ready yet.  My brilliant idea was to sign the release and have them fax the letter to Keely as soon as it was signed.  Hopefully the next day it'd be ready to rock n' roll!

I called my IP's last night to share the news of all the behind the scene work that I had been doing to get things rolling.  They told me that they have a couple things they have to get done before we do the transfer and have a meeting all scheduled to go over more paperwork.  Paperwork is the story of our lives lately!  They're so supportive and understanding.  We're so lucky to be matched with them  :)

I felt a bit more relaxed today about obtaining this letter.  I didn't check my phone until lunchtime and I had a message from the clinic and Keely that she'd already received the letter and we're moving on!  Actually, we are moving on to our next contact person.  Welcome into my world, Kim!  I should be hearing from her before the end of the week and she'll be it from here on out.  Yay for getting one step closer.  

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm done taking my Children's liquid Ibuprofen for my throat!  I've been able to eat real food since Monday and I'm feeling GREAT!  Yay for quick healing.      

Endorphins

As most of you know, I had a successful and uncomplicated tonsillectomy done on Friday.  They warned me about the pain that would come after the surgery, but I have a very high pain threshold and I don't care for pain meds so I thought I'd be fine.  I took the advice from the nurse and started taking the Tylenol with Codine for the first couple days.  I felt pretty good all weekend. 
It may sound disgusting to most people, but I'm a believer that breast milk is the cure all for anything and everything (it healed my eczema that I couldn't get rid of for five years with just a couple of fresh applications).  I had a few ounces of my sister's milk in the freezer (I feel a little frantic when I run out so there always has to be some on hand) and I took it out and consumed every last drop, except for the tiny bit I put on a dry spot that I have on my back.  I felt AMAZING!!  I went to bed and told Ben that I was cured and felt like I could go back to work on Tuesday.  Nedless to say, I needed to get my hands on more milk!  I contacted some gals in my holistic mom's group and was able to buy some more milk that I saved to help when I go back to work.
Sunday the pain seemed tolerable.  I switched to children's ibuprofen and seemed to be quite comfortable with just that.
Yesterday the pain was a bit worse, so I tried to take the Tylenol with Codine right before going to bed and it burned my throat.  It was so bad that I was awake for the full four hours in sheer pain until I could take the ibuprofen again.  OUCH!  I won't do that again. 
Today was the worst pain so far, I just wanted to be little and curl up in a ball and have my mom snuggle me while I cried!  I did cry a bit while I felt like a thug sitting on the couch.  I knew it was a day for some breast milk.  The milk tastes as bad as the smell of baby spit-up.  It's really gross, so I have to have something good to smell after each sip so I don't throw up.  CHA CHING, It worked its magic and I feel better again.  It was worth the dollar per ounce I spent.  I still have three more days of milk and my sister is coming to my rescue this weekend with more milk!  THANK GOD for my lactating sister/BFF :)   
My cycle started again today.  I've had to report the first day of my period to the agency since January or so.  Just a few hours after I sent my e-mail I received a message from our coordinator, Keely, that the donor got her's today too.  This is so awesome because I'm thinking that I won't have to get on birth control to regulate my cycle, though I don't know this for sure it seems like a good guess.  I guess God, the Earth, or Positive Energy (whatever your belief may be) is in control and made it obvious that all the stars lined up right.  When I heard that our cycles both started today I'm pretty sure that the endorphins took over and made ALL of the pain go away.  It's really neat what the body can do naturally (give us endorphins and milk).  
It sounds like the egg donor will start her meds in three weeks and I'll start mine on day one of my next cycle.  The transfer should be set for Mid July!  YAY! I'm a little in shock that this is really happening...

Snail Mail Surprise and Update on Times

Card that came in the mail from my IP's

The inside reads:

Happy Mother's Day Josie!

We are so  happy to be going on this amazing journey with you!  We will never be able to say enough "Thank Yous" to express how much your tremendous generosity means to us!

This couple never ceases to amaze me!  I feel so lucky that I've been matched with people that will be a part of our lives and our forever friends.  I feel honored that I get to carry and deliver a child for them, and watch them become the amazing parents that I see in them already.  Sometime soon there will be a little one that will be extremely lucky to make this couple a family.  

 

TIMING UPDATE

 

My tonsillectomy is scheduled on Friday.  I'm a bit nervous about having surgery and healing time.  I'm not sure anyone looks forward to having surgery and the slight risk of being put under.  I do look forward to not having tonsil issues anymore.  I've already stocked up on popsicles and made froze about two weeks worth of food for my family.  I think we're ready to go!

 

The infamous "So long as things go as planned..."  Looks like I'll start meds next month to get on the egg donor's cycle.  I will be on birth control for a short time to get my body in sync with her's.  I've only taken birth control for three months total in my life, so hopefully I won't feel yucky!  Natural family planning worked like a charm for Ben and I, unlike my Grandparents who had 14 kids using that method (This is seriously not a Joke.  My dad is number 8)!  So long as she gets her cycle in early June then we'll schedule a transfer for Mid-July!  YAY!!!!!    

 

    

Something must be wrong when this earlybird gets up at 10am

I've been very very tired for the last few weeks, in fact, I was talking to a new co-worker a couple weeks ago and she joked about me being pregnant!  Little does she know that I'm working really hard on that, but not trying to get knocked up with my own...

A week ago I woke up with a terrible sore throat.  Naturally, I blamed a different co-worker who was sick the previous week and was working closely with me.  I had the same list of symptoms that she did.  I had a horrible sore throat and all I wanted to do was sleep.  She stated that she thought it might be strep throat and she got over it in 7 days without any antibiotics.  At day five I knew I needed to get on a antibiotic to help with my rock hard tonsils that were covered in white lesions.

I ran to a minute clinic and had a strep test done that came back negative, however, my tonsils were seriously infected!  She gave me an antibiotic and I started taking it right away.  I thought within twenty four hours I'd be feeling better.  Well, I did feel better when I was taking Ibuprofen with the antibiotic, but when the Ibuprofen wore off the pain came back and it felt worse.  I slept this whole nice weekend away.  I knew yesterday that I needed to see the ENT, and have someone other than Sister Karen, the Nun Nurse Practitioner, look at my tonsils.

Being in pain makes you do things that you may not otherwise do.  I was at the ENT clinic this morning right at 8:00 and walked in to see if they had an appointment.  :)  I love when things work out...They had a cancellation right away and guess who was ready to fill that spot?  ME!

He didn't even look at my throat before he told me that my tonsils needed to come out.  He listened to my history with all the troubles that I've had with them and after he looked he was certain they needed to come out.  I asked him if the infection was making me so incredibly tired.  "You could have Mono!!" he said.  I've been tested for mono a handful of times due to my chronic fatigue and It's always come back negative.  I thought having the test would be a wast of time and money, little did I know...   
The blood work came back within an hour saying I am positive for Mono!  Seriously, the conversation (joking on both ends) went like this, "Ben, I have Mono.  Who have you been kissing?"  He replied, "Just you, who have you been kissing?"  Laughing I said, "Just you, Babe!"  So it is, I have Mono and I now have to take a steroid to help with the inflammation.  They are going to call soon and schedule a tonsillectomy in about 3 weeks.

I kept my IP's and IARC updated throughout my crazy weekend and morning.  I'm thankful that we haven't started meds yet and even more thankful that we haven't done the transfer, but we're going to have to push it out another month (Start meds in June and tentative July Transfer).  I'm really sad, but we need to make sure I'm healthy and healed from the surgery before anyone starts meds.  I bummed!   

Update!

The plan for now is that I'll get on the Egg Donor's cycle starting in early May.  I'll keep you posted when my meds arrive.  Stay tuned for a picture that might frighten you!
Thanks for the support and encouragement.

Medical Testing

I received all of my information on Tuesday to go ahead and schedule my medical testing.  Both Ben and I  have to go through very in depth testing on communicable diseases, drugs, nicotine (I know this sounds funny for people who know me.  I've never ever tried a cigarette or been drunk in my entire life.  I may be the ONLY person in Stearns or Benton County to fall in this category), etc.  We need to travel to the cities to have the testing done, so we scheduled for next week Friday.  I was so excited to spread the news that some of you received an exciting text message with all of this info!

What do you get when you have a snow storm in April?  -A SNOW DAY 

The kid's school was canceled today due to severe weather in our area.  Ben decided that he'd stay home with the kids today and I went to work.  Thursday is my six hour day, so on my way home we decided that since the roads were clear we could head to the cities and have our testing today.  So the testing is complete.  Ben and I had to give six viles of blood.  Ben gave one urine sample and I gave two.  We were done in less than fifteen minutes!

I guess the next step is WAITING again...   

1/2 Marathon

So, I thought we'd be farther along in this journey by now.  I didn't plan on running in the Earth Day 1/2 Marathon because I thought I'd be pregnant by now :(  I figured I'd better keep training just in case I'd be able to run it with my hubby, and today I officially signed up for the race.  I'm really excited to run one more race before we get the ball (or baby) rolling!  You're welcome to come and cheer us on at the race.  April 20th at SCSU.

I hope to hear back from Keely early this week on scheduling medical appointments for Ben and myself.  It sounds like we'll be into June before the transfer will happen.  I'm just ready when the time is right.