First injection was....

Super easy! Check it out!

___________________________________

Days on Prenatal Vitamins: 46
Active Birth Control Pills: 42

Baby aspirin: 1

Doxycycline: 2 

Lupron injections: 1

Vials of Blood Drawn: 12
Vaginal Exams: 2
SIS: 1
Mock Transfer: 1
Internal Ultrasound: 1

Starting IVF Meds Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I will start 3 new medications; baby aspirin, Doxycycline (antibiotic) 2x/day, Lupron (subcutaneous injection) and I will continue taking birth control and prenatal vitamins. 

This sweet pill organizer is the newest addition to my purse! Here's a breakdown of what I'm taking and why. 

Doxycycline: I'm taking this antibiotic (as well as my husband) to treat any possible low grade pelvic infections that might exist. We'll only be taking this for 10 days now and then again for a week after the transfer. I've been told to take it with food but not with other medications and not with any dairy. Apparently doxycycline doesn't play well with dairy in stomachs so I've been told not to eat dairy two hours before or after taking it. I decided I'll take it at breakfast and dinner. 

Prenatal Vitamins: these are the two large pills in the "noon" boxes and it's pretty obvious why I'm taking them. Prenatals help prevent congenital deformities (such as spina bifida) and help make sure myself and the babies get the proper nutrients.  Prenatals can upset an empty tummy so I'm taking them with lunch. I'll continue taking these through the whole pregnancy and as long as I'm lactating. 

Aspirin 81 mg (baby aspirin): these are the other little guys hanging out in the "noon" compartment. The point of baby aspirin during this process is the help improve blood flow to the uterus (which I need some help with). There have been some studies done that show a significant increase in success rates with IVF (and even regular pregnancy rates). I believe I stop taking these once I have an ultrasound confirming pregnancy. I chose the take them with the prenatals just because. 

Birth Control Pills: Friday will be the last day of these pills. Thankfully I haven't had a ton of side effects from the two months I've been on them. The pills have served two main purposes so far; Number one- making sure I don't get pregnant. Number two- helping to control my body's menstrual cycle so we can know exactly where I'm at. Although, I do have to say that my cycle has seemed more messed up since I started taking them haha. I have been taking them at night before bed so I'll continue taking them then. 

Lupron (leuprolide acetate): this is the medicine I will be injecting into my tummy. It's a subcutaneous (the fatty layer under the skin) injection that will be administered with the small insulin needles shown below. 

I'll start out administering 10 units every night for two weeks and will then drop down to 5 units every night for two weeks. Lupron's job is to essentially shut down my ovaries and put me in a menapausal type state. I've heard the symptoms are similar to that of menopause with hot flashes, headaches and nausea being common. I'm not too concerned about the shots themselves, since the needles are so small, but I am a little nervous about side effects. Hopefully they aren't too bad for me! 

Acupuncture: this week I will begin acupuncture treatment twice a week until the transfer, then directly before and after the transfer. Acupuncture has been quite successful in treating fertility issues by helping to increase blood flow to the pelvic region. ORM has prescribed this for me because they noted a decrease in blood flow to the right side of my uterus during the ultrasound they did. Acupuncture has always fascinated and mystified me. I have no idea how sticking tiny little needles all over your body could help to cure anything but there's no doubt it somehow works. I'm actually pretty excited for it! My first appointment is on Tuesday. 

These daily medications will stay the same for the next two weeks (besides stopping birth control after Friday and stopping the doxycycline after 10 days). These first two weeks are probably the easiest since the big scary needles and vaginal suppositories come later! I'm excited that the time has actually come for us to start the Meds and I'm just hoping and praying that my body responds the way it should! 

_________________________________________________________________________
Days on Prenatal Vitamins: 45
Active Birth Control Pills: 41
Vials of Blood Drawn: 12
Vaginal Exams: 2
SIS: 1
Mock Transfer: 1
Internal Ultrasound: 1

Merry Early Christmas to this Surrogate!

Today I picked up the best present a surrogate can get; my medication! 

Look at it all! 

So an update on what's happened since my last post. I left off having gotten my bloodwork and OB clearance done. Well, we ran into some frustrations after that.

Like I mentioned, the OB ordered one of the wrong tests so I had to have him reorder it. Well that ended up taking a week because he went on vacation and I didn't know- I thought he was just ignoring my emails. 

While we were waiting for that to go through, I found out I misunderstood what ORM told me about Mark's blood tests. I thought we could still work on my med calendar while we waited for his results but I guess we had to have those in before moving forward. So I quickly forced Mark to go to the lab and get his blood work done (he hates getting blood drawn). 

All of the test results pop up online for us to view through our insurance company. Whenever the results would post, I'd send em on over to ORM. Well, one of the test results don't get posted online so ORM has to request them with a signed consent form. A few days after Mark got his blood drawn, I began emailing ORM to get the paperwork so they can request the results. My emails went unanswered, which became quick frustrating. Something that was supposed to take about a week (blood tests and results) was now creeping up on a month. Frustrating. Very frustrating. 

Come to find out, our coordinator had gone on vacation without notifying me of her absence so I was emailing no one. How nice of them, right?! I expressed my frustration to M&S and, being the amazing people they are, they not only comforted me, but reached out to other people at ORM to figure out what was going on. We were told not to try and rush things this cycle, especially with our coordinator being gone (she won't be back until the 29th). I became discouraged. We were so close to REALLY starting this process yet it kept being delayed for reasons not in our control. I guess that's life, though, right? 

Anyways, obviously we were able to get them to work on the calendar and let us move forward this cycle! I received my med calendar yesterday and picked up my medication today. I start the medication on Monday and we have a transfer date of February 2nd! Groundhog's day! Seems like a good day to get pregnant, doesn't it! 

I plan to update quite frequently with what each med does and how it makes me feel. I'll also continue my tally of surrogacy related Meds/procedures. 

This is all really happening! Yay! 

_________________________________________________________________________
Prenatal Vitamins: 39
Active Birth Control Pills: 36
Vials of Blood Drawn: 12
Vaginal Exams: 2
SIS: 1
Mock Transfer: 1
Internal Ultrasound: 1

Blood, blood, blood, blood, blood

I totally forgot to update about my appointment last week! I had my OB physical clearance appointment and blood draws last Tuesday.  It was pretty uneventful but they did take 9 vials of blood!  I just found out today that I'll have to redo one of them, too.  BUMMER.  It's alright, though.  It really doesn't bug me.

There they are... in all their glory.  

_________________________________________________________________________

Birth Control Pills: 18
Vials of Blood Drawn: 9
Vaginal Exams: 2
SIS: 1
Mock Transfer: 1
Internal Ultrasound: 1

Are we there yet?

I'm feeling a bit stressed today.  There is so much that goes into the surrogacy process and it's just a little overwhelming right now.  All the paperwork, appointments, emails, phone calls, legal documents, etc.  Today it's just getting to me.  Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the intricate system that they have set up because I know it keeps everyone safe and protected, but I'm just ready to be done with all the legal mumba-jumba and get on with becoming pregnant!

The list of "things-to-do" seems endless.

• I'm waiting for the results to get back from my blood work last week but the last couple tests seem to be taking their sweet time.  Plus I found out that the OB ordered one of the wrong tests so I'll have to go back and get more blood work done then wait again for those results.
• I have to make sure that the results are being sent over to ORM so they can chart/analyze the results so we can move forward. 
• I've sent ORM the same document two times and they just asked for it again so hopefully third time's a charm.
• I have the  life insurance people coming to my house on Thursday to do their physical work on me and then I'm sure it will be more paperwork to finalize that.
• I have recently found out some pretty unfortunate news about my medical insurance that could throw a loop in things.  I can't really say much right now but I'll explain after we figure out what we will do about it.  It will definitely have an effect on the surrogacy but I'm hopeful that everything will work out just fine. 
• My husband has to go in and get his blood work done, which he is absolutely dreading, and then we'll have to wait for those results.

I guess the list isn't THAT bad... there is so much waiting involved!  This is all stuff that has to be done (besides the life and medical insurance) before we can even talk about making my med calendar.  Ugh.. I just really want to move forward so I can give M and S a beautiful family! 

Speaking of M and S, we were able to Skype with them on Sunday and had the pleasure of meeting M's family!  (Hi guys!) They were all together celebrating a birthday so I was able to talk to his mother, father, sister, and wave at his grandmother and grandfather.  They are so sweet!  I can't wait to meet them in person and continue developing a relationship through this process. 

S's father emailed me a few days ago and one thing I wanted to express to him was how overwhelmingly happy I am to see the support that both families are giving M and S.  I can feel the love pouring through the emails and through the screen as we Skype.  M and S are so loved and I know these babies will be, too.  One of the things that myself and Mark wanted in an intended couple was for them to have a great support system for when the babies came.  I wanted to know that these kids will be loved and supported, not just by their fathers, but by their grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and great-grandmas and great-grandpas.  Even though we have barely begun this journey, I have no doubt in my mind that these babies (I just noticed I keep saying "babies"- probably because that's what we're all hoping for! I'll just go with it) will be overflowing with love.  They will have so much love they won't know what to do with it.  I can't wait :)

It's interesting for me to think that I'm not only helping two men become fathers but I'm also helping to create grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, and many more.  It's quite exciting and I can't help but feel all fuzzy inside just thinking about it. :)