Injection Day!

It is HERE! One of the days we have been waiting for! Of course, it's not as highly anticipated as Transfer Day, but this is the final step to getting there. Had an ultrasound and received my ridiculously large box of medications and injection supplies. Scary thing was, it's only two thirds of the injections and meds I'm going to be taking this month. I have to return mid month to receive the rest! It was completely overwhelming trying to pay attention to all of the instructions and examples on how to give myself these injections. I unloaded all of my meds, wrote out my med schedule, and gained the courage to do my first injection. It is a surreal feeling giving myself a shot. I have never done that before. I will share more after we Skype with S & B on Sunday. They are bursting at the seams like me to begin :))

Crisis Averted Part 2

Yep! Two blogs in one day, and it's been a busy one.

Just excited because not only did I receive my contract, my attorney and I were able to review it and have it notarized today :)))

We are all set to move forward! Woohoo!!

Crisis Averted

In the last 24 hours, I have slept a total of 4 hours. And it's not because my children went to bed late and got up early, which really did happen. I blogged earlier about our very intense contract deadline that has to be met before this Friday. Here we are 4 days before my first injection and I have yet to see my contract. That's not what I lost sleep over though. Yesterday during our Skype with S & B, they seemed worried about their access to a notary in our short time frame. As surrogacy is illegal in France, they cannot just go to any notary and have their documents notarized. They found that they will have to go the US Embassy to have their contract notarized. Luckily, they live near the Embassy and will be able to go, but the first available appointment wasn't until April 1st! We were set to start my injections on March 28th. This doesn't seem like such an issue, but when it comes to my cycle determining our timelines, we have to stay on target of dates. After contacting my attorney and the agency, and all of them convening, it has been agreed that we can move forward since there is an appointment set and the notary will take place!! YAYYYYYY!!! As soon as I get the contract in my hands I will be running to the notary so I can have it available for my appointment on Friday :))

I look forward to sleeping well tonight <3

Only Seven Days Left!

Only SEVEN days left until I start my injections!! Eeeekkk!! I just finished the last of my midterms and can breathe a sigh of relief!... sorta. The only thing that is keeping me from sleeping well at night is the fact that our legal contract is not finalized :/ I have no interest in the contract process, but our RE needs them in order to give me my medications at my appointment next week where I will be receiving my first abdominal injection. I keep reminding myself that it will all work out, and everything will arrive on time. Think positive, think positive! To think we are about a month away from the transfer is crazy!! Happy Spring :)))

Support Group Day

My favorite day of the month lately has become Surrogate Support Days! Oh, the things that excite me. I really do have a great time with the other surrogates and feel like my emotions are justified. I'm such a hermit crab so I finally opened up and connected with ladies I don't usually sit with. I'm glad I did because I met two other lovely surrogates who live in my same area :) One of them will be about four days ahead of me for her transfer, and the other has just been matched with IP's from Switzerland! Today's meeting theme was St. Patrick's Day so we had yummy food (all green), and played bingo! I actually won, for once! I also connected with a surrogate who is on her FOURTH
surrogacy! She's carried two sets of twins, a single, and is currently working on another. Another surrogate I connected with is currently 34 weeks pregnant with a baby girl :)) So exciting! I was mostly excited because my name badge this month was finally titled "Starting meds this month." May not sound like a big deal, oh but it is to me! That means the transfer is just around the corner!

With that being said, it is now crunch time for me and S & B. We have 12 days to get our contracts finalized and notarized in order for me to get my injection supply on the 28th of this month. Sounds easy, but problem is S & B, nor I have seen our contracts yet! Yikes! They have to revise it, I have to revise it, and then it has to be notarized here in the US and in France! Remember how surrogacy is illegal in France? Yeahhhhh, try getting a surrogacy document legally notarized in France. But no pressure on the time constraint right?? Hahaha. It will all work out, I know it will! S & B and I will be on top of our attorneys to make sure everything gets done ASAP.

I am very excited for my next appointment at the IVF clinic since I will receive all of my injections and medications, and also receive another ultrasound. I will be instructed how to give myself the injections, but I'm sure my husband will help me once I am already pregnant and having to continue the medications. It's all part of the journey, and I'm excited to experience that sliver of it :)))

It's midterm week for me so I'm off to finish a ton of homework and exams! Can't wait to update about my next appointment!

Almost There

I had my follow up appointment yesterday with the IVF coordinator. Everything came back perfect from all of my screenings, as I expected. Only two weeks from today until I start my injections! Two weeks seems like a long time, but I have so much going on with my kids, school and work to keep me busy. In the meantime, we have to draw up our contracts, review them with our attorneys, and have them notarized here and in France. The IVF coordinator has to have them in her hands at my appointment in 13 days in order to have clearance to give me my medications. We can do it! I told S & B and my agency rep that I am constantly checking my email for any contact from the attorneys. I don't want anyone to waste S & B's time or money. Our timeline for the transfer is looking like the last week of April to the first week of May. I know a few additional details about the actual transfer, but will save those for later since they are super exciting! The actual date all depends on when my cycle returns after the medication is

From our last Skype. S in her pj's and
B in his suit, as usual!! (10pm in Paris)

started and I am weaned off of birth control. I am very excited about my surrogate support group tomorrow because I finally won't have "Just matched" on my name badge! I am officially in the legal process which is a huge deal, no turning back now!! :))) I am skyping with S & B in about an hour and a half to tell them all of yesterday's appointments details. They love being kept in the loop on a personal level. 

Tests, tests, and more tests

My healthy uterus and ovaries!

Yesterday I had quite the fun time at the fertility clinic. That is actually not a sarcastic statement! I finally met our fertility dr and she was such a sweetheart! Her staff is also so nice. I knew that I was going to have 9 vials of blood taken so I began hydrating on Thursday. I've always had baby veins so the nurses either have to use a butterfly needle to draw blood or fish around since they won't listen to me about the butterfly needle trick. Yayyyyy... This nurse use a regular needle, got a vein on the FIRST try, and did not have to use a second vein to get all the needed blood. It was a rare, but lovely occasion! I also had to give them a cup of a yellow substance.. Not an issue since I had not used the restroom since that morning. The part I was most nervous about was the ultrasound and hysteroscopy. I would hate go through meeting S & B, getting all excited about this journey, and then Dr. A finding a cyst or cancer. That would have been the worst. Luckily, my ovaries looked healthy and nicely sized on the ultrasound. It was an internal ultrasound (which is super awkward) and I found it so bizarre to be having an ultrasound when I'm not pregnant. The only times I've had ultrasounds were to look at my babies while they were in me. This time I had an empty uterus. So fascinating! Finally, I had to have a hysteroscopy. This is where they place a scope into your cervix. It's nothing like an ultrasound and it is a live camera, in color, that shows you your insides. I was dying with excitement for my National Geographic moment! I had been given Motrin 30 minutes prior in case of cramping, but I felt nothing. I guess that is what having two children vaginally will do to you. Dr. A inserted the scope and showed me everything, it was so neat! She showed me the tunnels of my fallopian tubes and also where she will be placing S & B's embryos :)))) She took pictures for my files, I hope I can get a copy! Overall, she said everything looks great and we are just waiting for my blood work results. Tim got his blood work done today, and I got my prescription for my first medication filled! Dr. A said that we are looking at the first week in May for the embryo transfer. It's coming soon! I have my follow up appointment this Friday and should know more about the timeline! We skyped with S & B today to fill them in and they are so excited it went well!

Goodbye, for now

Tonight we had to say goodbye to S & B, for now. They head back home to France tomorrow. My dad came and spent the day with our kids so that we could take S & B to San Diego one more time. We had a lot of emotional moments today. It was so amazing. I've been told many times that the connection that Tim and I have with S & B is very very rare in a surrogacy case. My husband is as emotionally involved as I am. We really do have a special connection that cannot be explained. I wish that I could verbalize everything that I am feeling at this moment. It's late, but I knew that I needed to blog tonight to capture my raw emotion. I ugly cried in the car after we dropped them off. I don't know how to fully explain it, but now that they are done with their medical portion, it is now my turn. I feel as if the pressure is on. S & B put absolutely no pressure on me, but I want this to turn out perfectly for them. I hope to carry twins because it is what S wants, and it is what she deserves! I was excited to hear that since her egg retrieval on Friday, they were able to produce SEVEN viable embryos :) So exciting! Oh, and more exciting news, I have my final medical screenings this week! On our way to the hotel from dinner in San Diego, I held S's hands -- I needed that connection with her. I'm about to embark on this pregnancy journey with her child and I needed that connection. It tears me up inside that I am going to be enjoying this pregnancy while she waits for my reports on the other side of the country. I would give my uterus to her to use if I could. I know this post is all over the place, and I apologize, but I'm just perplexed. I'm... nervous... lost... excited... full of emotion I can't explain.
Thinking positive, only positive.

Love you S & B, safe travels

<3