Happy 24 weeks!! What a magical number! (and specialized dr. appt's)

**(disclaimer... Long post, had much to talk about)** :-)

Well I never knew with my own pregnancies how magical week 24 is.  I never worried about going into labor early with my own pregnancies, I was always known for being over due.  Since carrying these two girls, and so much I have researched about twin pregnancies, I was surprised to learn that many twin pregnancies delivery early.  Some very early!  Something I have also learned is that 24 is the magic number with nicu's in hospitals.  Before 24 weeks, most nicu's will not intervene to save babies lives if born early, even if they are born alive.  That is a scary thought and something I would dread going through.  Once babies make it to the 24 week in gestation, their survival rate dramatically increases, so NICU's will do everything they can to sustain babies born after 24 weeks.

Needless to say since carrying these twins and learning all I have about twin pregnancies and even watching a few of my fellow surro sisters lose twins in the 20-21 week range, I really woke with a sigh of relief this morning knowing I have reached the magic number of 24 weeks.  We are in the home stretch now!  

Watching some of my surro sisters give birth in the past month and seeing the  pictures of the new families created with their new little miracles, I so can not wait to give that gift to my wonderful IF's!!!  These two little girls are going to have so much love and such a wonderful family, I get tears just thinking of it!  I also feel so fortunate to have such an awesome relationship with the soon to be daddies, I am very thankful that my family and I will be able to be a part of these little girls lives.  I really look forward to watching them grow up!

So we have had two dr. appt's over the past month or so.  First one was a normal check up with the birthing center.  My blood pressure is great babies are growing well!  I was 21 weeks pregnant and measuring at 34 weeks.  These little girls are very active!  I think they will be gymnast or something, I feel like they are trying to bounce off my ribs all the time!  Just by feeling my tummy one of my midwives was pretty sure Baby A is head down and Baby B was maybe slightly transverse.  Which is no big deal to me, we just need Baby A head down to start out with a normal vaginal delivery when the time comes.  I am good with twisting and turning to get Baby B in the right position if need be after Baby A is born.  Baby B will have more room to move around and get in the right position after Baby A is born also.

Our second appt was at 23 week with a MFM Doctor.  (Maternal Fetal Medicine)  Often with a twin pregnancy most doc's will refer you over to a MFM just for extra checking out.  Their equipment is normally a little more high tech and the MFM Doctor specializes in multiplies and possible problems during a "high risk" pregnancy.  I use that term loosely, "high risk" because it actually bothers me.  I am automatically considered "high risk" for the sole reason that I am carrying two.  Nothing else is used to determine that classification.  I personally feel that a "high risk" pregnancy should be based on more than just the fact of carrying two verse one.  So far I have no sugar issues, I am not gaining extreme weight, my blood pressure is completely normal, all my other blood work is in normal range.  To me those are things that should determine whether you are high rick or not.. but alas it's not up to me.

So over all besides seeing the little girls again with maybe a little better resolution or clarity, the MFM visit was just another reassurance that these two are on track doing exactly what they are suppose to do!  Both girls measured within one day of each other, they both were at one pound in weight.  By the end of the ultrasound both girls were in a head down position.  Keeping fingers crossed they stay that way! ;-)

One of the biggest reason I started this blog was so that others could learn from my experience.  I have a little more to say about the MFM appt.  This is based on my experiences and my personal beliefs.  There is most certainly a time and a place when specialist are needed!  I do not feel one was needed at this point in time for our pregnancy.  The dads felt that they wanted to have that dr appt, because of much of what they had read about twin pregnancies being seen by MFM's starting in second trimester.  So I happily obliged, and it was a great day for us all to be together again.  The ultrasound tech did the first part of the exam, looking over every little detail of these little girls and measuring everything little thing about them.  The dr came in for the last part to go over what the ultrasound tech already did, and also to look at my cervix.  Going over every little detail, they found Baby A to have a tiny little white spot on her heart.  The dr. then told us all that it plays no effect on the baby's heart and how it works and that many babies do have this and are born completely fine with no issues and have no issues with their heart through out their lives.  This little white spot plays no effect on the structure or function of the heart at all.  The dr. then explains that the only reason to bring it up is that it "can" be a marker for downs syndrome.  When this is found and no other "downs markers" are found, it is an extremely low chance for downs, and of course the only absolute way to know is to have an amniocentesis test done.  Now I have already gone through all the other possible tests, (measurements, blood work, both done at different times) and no other possible markers for downs have been found.  Everything to date has been perfectly in the norms for pregnancy.  So I personally have had no worries about the pregnancy and development of the babies.  I am also an "experienced mom"  I have been through 4 pregnancies, I have been through all the concerns and doctors and their tests, and I remember my first time, being absolutely worried about every little thing the doctors talked about.  I can only imagine how much more difficult it is to be a first time parent and actually not be experiencing the pregnancy.  
Thankfully these soon to be parents I am carrying these awesome little girls for, are very logical and intelligent.  I know they were concerned and probably even freaked out a little after leaving the MFM appt.  There were talks of an amnio, termination of pregnancy or one of the babies, all of which I knew the dr was doing as it is part of "the job" to cover all basis, but I know it was freaking the dads out!

We all left and both my husband and I tried to reassure them, but not sure we were very successful.  The dads went back to their hotel room and started their research.  By the time they were done, they were armed with enough knowledge to know they have no worries and everything is good with these little girls.  They both feel there is no need to see the MFM again, unless our normal care providers feel there is a reason.

So overall to me it was just another great visit with the daddies, we all got to see these beautiful little girls again, and even how much they are changing.  Everyone was able to see how much they are moving.  I keep telling everyone they exercise every day all day and all night, they are going to be strong little girls!  Well during that long ultrasound everyone was able to see just how much they move!!  By the time ultrasound was done Baby B had even changed her position to head down also, just a little higher up than Baby A.  Although with as much as they move around, next time they could totally be in different positions.

I have more to share, but think I will write a separate post a little later, as I think this was long enough.  :-)
Say hi to both baby girls!

 
 

A few things I have learned throughout this journey...

I wanted to add some advice for women thinking about becoming a surrogate.  Throughout this process I have learned a few things I feel are very important.  First do not be in a hurry!  If this is something you want to do, take your time, do your research and make sure you are happy with every decision you make!  Do not settle or agree to something you are not comfortable with!



I think the most important thing I can not stress enough... Do not agree to transfer more embryos then you are willing to carry and no more embryos than the parents are willing to parent!

The last thing you would want to go through, is a reduction based solely on too many embryos stuck!  A medical reduction is a different story and each surrogate and IP's have to be on the same page about that... but to reduce just because there are too many healthy babies growing would just be an awful expereince!

Make sure if throughout the matching process something is important to you, that you have it put in your contract!

If you have any reservations about the possible match you are trying to make... talk about them with the IP's if you can not agree and are not on the same page together... do NOT match!  The right couple will come along, just do not be in a hurry and do not compromise the things that are important to you!

If you are using an agency, do not let them intimidate you into making a decision fast!  Once you are carrying a baby or babies for someone else, you are connected to them at least through the whole pregnancy and if you are all not on the same page, it could be a uncomfortable and stressful pregnancy ... which no one wants!

I am sure I will come up with more info to share, but I wanted to get this out there now!

And the sex of the babies is... ;-)

Well our next ultrasound was scheduled for November 10th.  The daddies were planning to be here for that as they are with most appointments. 

But... Hubby and I really wanted to surprise them with the sex of the babies.  It was something we knew they really wanted to know.  They could not wait to put names to their babies instead of calling them Baby A and Baby B.

We were planning on traveling to their home for a long Halloween weekend.  We were making a special trip out of it as they are in the north east and within a few hours drive from Salem MA, which is where we wanted to take our boys for Halloween.  A very neat place for Halloween and lots of history for our boys to learn about while having a night they hopefully will not soon forget.

So in the midst of our planning... I got sneaky again ;-)
I called and talked with one of the wonderful midwives at our birthing center and asked if there was anyway at all to squeeze me in before we left to try and take a peak at the babies, after telling her our plans... they got me in early in the morning on our way out of town.  Of course we knew there was no guarentee the little ones would be cooperative, but we were going to try.  Low and behold, both babies had no problem letting us know if they were boys or girls right away.  Everyone in the office was so excited, it was a great morning!  We left the birthing center with almost an 11 hour drive ahead of us, plenty of time to figure out how we planned to surprise the daddies.

We arrived Wednesday evening, and knew both dads had to work on Thursday.  So our plan was to check out a museum or two and shop and brain storm for a good way to surprise the dads!  We took our boys to a great little museum where we spent most of the day and then headed to the local mall.  We kept coming back to the idea of getting something special and engraving the babies names on them, as we already knew their baby name choices.

Finally came upon the store Things Remembered, I forgot how much I liked that store.  There is not one anywhere close to where I live now.  We decided we would get the dads each a gift and then the babies.  We found these beautiful glass coffee mugs with silver plates on them.  We had "Daddy" engraved on one and "Papa" engraved on the other.  That is their choice for their children to call them to cut down on confusion of "two daddies".  Then we saw two beautiful little silver rattles.  We picked them out and had the babies names engraved on each end of the rattles.  It was perfect!

So Thursday evening after a late dinner, we all sat at their dinning room table and told the guys we had some gifts for them.  We gave them their first two boxes with the mugs.  Each opened his perspective mug and they both loved them!  Then we gave them the two smaller boxes and told them those were gifts for the babies, that we wanted to be the first to give the babies a gift.  One daddy asked if they should wait till the babies were born to open the gifts... we laughed and said no way!  Open them :-)
So each daddy had a box and was opening slowly waiting for the other to be at the same spot while unwrapping the presents... "Daddy" was holding his rattle and noticed a name printed on it... and said "I got a Helen"
"Papa" was still examining his rattle and was not quite sure yet what he even had in his hands.  Daddy said to Papa... what did you get, he said I got a Thea, still looking to the other end of the rattle thinking we had put all four names on the rattles.  Daddy jumped up from his seat "we got two girls?!"  Papa was still figuring it out!  LOL  Both Dad's were beyond ecstatic !!  Lots of hugs and tears of excitement!!

Hubby and I think we did a great thing with the surprise and it turned out perfect!

We had a great weekend together, Daddy and Papa even decided to make the drive with us to Salem for Halloween.  All six of us dressed as skeletons, with my hubby painting two skeleton babies on my shirt.

We said good byes on sunday... and the following monday 8 days later, the daddies would be down to us for the next ultrasound appointment.  Which of course was a great time and they were able to see their girls easy! :-)

I am feeling better these days, the world is not spinning anymore and most of the "morning sickness" is gone!  woo hoo to that!!  I still get tired easy and need to rest more so than I have ever in the past.  Not too sure if it is my age or the fact of carrying two, or maybe a combination of both, but they do seem to tire me out easy!  I lay down for 15-20 minutes a few times throughout the day and then I seem to be ready to go again.  So far me and babies are doing very well!  Almost 1/2 way done already!  I was 18 weeks this past saturday (11/15/14)  They say a twin pregnancy is full term at 37 weeks... so here is to hoping we make it to 37 weeks with no issues!

Time with Daddies and 12 week ultrasound!!

Our awesome birthing center is now working the ultrasound tech in on Mondays instead of just Wednesdays, which is great for us.  Now the daddies can fly in over the weekend and we can all have time together and then have check ups and ultrasounds on Monday morning.  So Dad's can fly home after that and only be out one day of work.  This is how our past weekend went.  Dad's came in Saturday morning, we were able to spend Sat and Sun together and then babies checkup Monday morning and tour the hospital planned for delivery and lunch and then part ways for dad's to head back up north.  (Very eventful weekend)


Well lets start with Friday night... What a night!!  The daddies had gifted my husband and I tickets to the Darius Rucker concert.  We had tickets in the pit, right in front of the stage!  Hubby and I had a total blast!  While I was sure I would enjoy the concert, it was 10 times better than I even thought it would be!  Darius Rucker was awesome!!  Can't wait to see him again when I feel more like me!!









Saturday morning the Daddies flew down here.  My wonderful hubby was cooking/smoking 300 lbs of Boston Butts for a friends wedding.  Me and my boys met the dad's for lunch, we had a nice lunch together, great to see each other again!  By the time we were done with lunch they were able to check into their hotel, and rest up for a few, then head over to our friends wedding.  First time the Daddies got to see a real down home country wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding and great reception in an awesome barn out in a huge field.  Hundreds of guests, great food (thanks to my hubby) music and dancing and loads of fun!  It was nice to have the Daddies with us, and I think they really did enjoy themselves with us.  We parted ways for the night and made plans for a great little breakfast place to meet up at and spend the day together on Sunday.

After a wonderful breakfast we all piled into our minivan and went for a drive up the mountain.  We took them to a couple of beautiful spots to look out at and some gorgeous water falls.  It was a great day, the weather was wonderful and we all had an awesome time.

After a great time outside and hiking, it was time for me to take a nap... LOL  So we came back down the mountain, all got a little rest and then we headed to our little bowling alley.  My boys were anxious to take the Daddies bowling in our little town.  We bowled two games and then went out to dinner, Alyssa my 17 year old daughter and a couple of her friends joined us, so we had a good group for dinner.  The teenagers left us after dinner and we headed over to my favorite little yogurt place for a wonderful dessert!!   Of course I loaded it with raspberries and strawberries again!   yum yum!!

It was a long and eventful day and it was time to call it a night.  Ultrasound appointment was first thing in the morning and have almost an hour drive to get there.

My husband and I have a friend who has been to an appt already with us, and wanted to join us for this one also and finally get to meet the daddies, so she came over early in the morning to ride along with us for the day.

Here we show up for an ultrasound appointment, me, my hubby, our two boys, our friend Wanda and the two Daddies... So thankful we have such an awesome birthing center and great staff who are all so welcoming and excited to see so many of us walk in together.  So we had a room full for the ultrasound, but it was awesome!  Great views of both babies, they were showing off and active.  It was wonderful to hear and see all the excitement!!
Here is the whole ultrasound it is 19 minutes long, but very neat to watch!

You Tube Video here

After a completely awesome time at the birthing center, we all headed over to tour the hospital that I plan to deliver at.  The hospital time was great, the labor and delivery nurse who gave us a tour and shared all kinds of info with us was wonderful.  While I am sad that I can not deliver in the birthing center, this hospital really seems like a welcome 2nd place. 

We all shared lunch together before we headed home and the dad's headed to the airport.  It was a wonderful weekend together and a great ultrasound appointment.  Our next one will be November 10th, and if babies cooperate, we will be able to give them names after instead of calling them baby A and baby B.  I am kind of anxious to find out if they get two girls, two boys or one of each.  After my first dream about delivery, I am stuck with the feeling that there is one boy and one girl.  I have even had a couple more dreams... always with Baby B as the boy and Baby A as the girl.  So very curious to see if there is any truth to my dreams.

I am very much looking forward to the sickies to go away, and just really start to enjoy the pregnancy and experience the difference of actually carrying twins.
This past week I have been thinking I am starting to feel some soft movement, so this will be fun to see if I can tell the difference between the movement of the two or will I just feel like there is a bunch of arms and legs moving around in my belly.  We are over the 13 week mark now and looking forward to the better times of 2nd trimester.  
please ;-)

Carvings and Dreams!!!

Pregnancy has always given me weird dreams!  I am the person who normally does not ever remember having a dream, but while I am pregnant, I seem to have lots of them and remember the weirdest ones.  So I have had a couple already that might even be to weird to share, but the one the other night was kind of funny but still weird.  I was dreaming about delivery.  Everyone was there, and things were going well, Baby B was pushing past Baby A so that he could come out first.  Baby B came out as a big beautiful baby looking very much like his daddy.  Baby A was taking her time, but she finally made an appearance, she was much smaller than her brother and she came out with a bow already in her hair and she was talking to us and telling us all about her experience from the beginning of being created.  LOL  wow... weird stuff!
We have no idea of the gender of the babies, but after that dream I really am thinking one is a boy and one is a girl.  It will be interesting to see how it all turns out. :-)

Now Cravings....
With feeling sick most of the time I really am not having any cravings or even want to eat at all.  I have actually lost 15 pounds so far since transfer day.  (which I am not complaining about as I was too heavy to begin with)  But every so often I really get the urge to eat something in particular.  Mostly has been fruit and salads, which is wonderful as I try to eat really healthy anyway.  One thing I have learned from past pregnancies though... is when you are craving something you will not be happy till you get it!  LOL

My fruit wishes have mostly been strawberries and raspberries!  I have this little awesome frozen yogurt place in town that is a fix it yourself type place.  It's great and they have the best fresh fruit!!  I get a just a little of the frozen yogurt, generally a mix of their dark rich chocolate and alpine creamy vanilla and then I smoother it in fruit!!  Maybe a couple of little carmel chocolates too... wow is it good!!!

I think I might be able to eat this every day!!  I also really wanted some peanuts one day and still had the craving for fruit, so off we went to the store at 10 p.m. to make my belly happy... strawberries, raspberries and nuts!  (had to add the antacids in there also, never know when you need those with pregnancy!

 
 I happily sat and ate those raspberries for two days... all gone very yummy!!  Strawberries were chopped up and put on cheerio's in the morning and later used for a wonderful fruit smoothie!

Now we have this mom and pop bakery shop in town, that is absolutely fantastic!!  It is all very rich and awesome, but I have only eaten there a few times over the past couple of years.  It has probably been over a year since I have been there.  This morning I woke up and wanted their "Death By Chocolate" cupcake!!  This thing is the richest best chocolate cupcake I have ever had!!  I fully admit to being a chocoholic and I have a hard time finishing one of these!  So with mommy having these neat cravings, my boys are really happy as they get to indulge in my splurges also.  So off to the bakery for breakfast today! LOL

Now I wanted that death by chocolate so bad, and I gladly ate it this morning, and could not finish it, but they had so many others that looked so good, I had to get lunch and dinner to take home also!  ;-)
 

Over Due Post!!

So we will start with the fact that I am still dealing with "morning sickness", not really sure why its called that, if it only lasted through the morning it might not be so bad!  But it does not... it last all day long!!!  It's not just sickness either, its little headaches, light dizziness, constant nauseous feeling, just an overall yucky feeling and the gagging is driving me crazy!!  I really fight actually throwing up!  It is one of the worst things in the world to me.  Sometimes I wonder, should I just let it happen and maybe I will feel better... but oh I hate to throw up, so I hold it back as best I can every day, all day!!  So instead I just walk around trying to hide the fact that I gag at almost every smell and quick movement.  With all that being said, I have not had any worries for this pregnancy in the past couple of weeks, since I feel sick everyday, I know the babies are growing!!  

I really did not start this post to complain about feeling sick every day, I still am very excited to be doing this and very grateful it is all working out for us on our first try!  But with as crappy as I have felt, I have not accomplished much of anything in the past 3-4 weeks.  Which means my house is a total mess, and I have not spent any time on the computer at all which also means no blog posts.  My favorite thing to do is lay in bed, the world is not spinning then and I seem to be able to at least think straight then. My boys have been great, trying to help mommy feel better and have been doing wonderful keeping themselves occupied alot.  Although they have had a lot more free time on the Wii, but they are happy.

So to try and catch up on blogging... We had another ultrasound at 8 1/2 weeks. (On September 10th)  My husband, our boys and a friend of ours came along for this one.  We skyped with one daddy, heartbeats were really fast and strong, could even see one baby move a little.  It was a great appointment and all is going well so far.

That was the last appointment the fertility clinic wanted or needed.  Just a couple more weeks of checking my hormone levels so that hopefully when we got to 10 weeks I could stop all the meds.

Last friday the 19th was 9 weeks and 6 days so it was the last day for meds!! Yea no more shots!!! my rump is very thankful!!
Monday had to have blood work done to make sure my body has kicked in and is doing what it needs to, to support the pregnancy without the meds... and test results came back good!  I am officially released from the fertility clinic and a full fledged patient of the Birthing Center now!

Monday I also had my first appointment at the birthing center as a "real patient".  It was just a normal ob appointment, with questions and bloodwork and all that.  Nicole one of my midwives tried to hear heart beats with doppler on my belly and we could not quite get it.  So we hopped over to the ultrasound room for a minute and she found both of them real quick that way.
Both babies were laying in opposite positions of each other, it was cute.  Baby B had a good strong heart beat at 158 and Baby A had a good strong heart beat at 167.
All is moving along well for now minus the sickness stuff... here's to hoping in another week or two the sickness will leave us!! :-)

Morning Sickness Sucks!! and at the same time in surrogacy it is a relief to have it...

Yes I know that title sounds funny, but its true.  IVF and surrogacy is so different than just a normal pregnancy.  With all of my own I only had morning sickness with my first, and it was horrible!  I threw up for 16 weeks straight every day all day non stop!  One morning woke up and felt good... never threw up again and it was a good pregnancy the rest of the way through.  My other three while I had a bit of nausea here and there, no real big deal. 

Now this pregnancy is totally different.  I think it is because there is more risk at the beginning of losing it or it not working.  So as a surrogate, for me I have always been looking for a sign that in fact I am still pregnant. Once pregnancy is confirmed, there is a lot more monitoring that goes on as a surrogate than with a normal pregnancy.  So we look forward to these weekly appointments, for blood work and monitoring as it confirms every week that things are going well and staying on track.  In between each appointment though there is 6-7 days and if you feel real good and seem to have no symptoms, you begin to worry, or at least I have.  Just before my first beta test to confirm pregnancy I was getting a little nausea happening, nothing big just a little, which was enough for me to know the pregnancy was happening.  A few weeks later, after seeing heartbeats on ultrasound, I had two days were I felt great... so then worry set it.  What if something has happened and they stopped growing ... I had to go buy another pregnancy test, just to ease my mind.  A few days later I felt yucky again and had another monitoring appointment and of course all was well!

I sit and think about this, and I had none of these concerns with my own pregnancies.  I knew I was pregnant and all was good.  This time it is just so different, and so many other things to think about.  So since my last appointment almost a week ago, my morning sickness as progressively gotten worse every day!  Thankfully I am not throwing up as of yet, I really fight that till the bitter end.  Of all things... I hate to throw up!!  So on the positive side, I have not been worried about the pregnancy all week, with the way I am feeling I know the little babes have to be growing with leaps and bounds.  Getting excited for tomorrows ultrasound, can't wait to see the changes!!

Ultrasound with the Daddy's

Since my last post I have had two more ultrasounds.  The very first one, while we found the sacs, they were both measuring a week behind from where they should be.  The second ultrasound they were almost caught up in size and we could see and hear the heart beats!  I was skyping with one of the dad's so he was able to see and hear all that was going on.  It was awesome!!

Today was my third ultrasound, both daddy's flew down late last night to be here this morning with me and my family to go see the babies progress again.  We are using a birthing center, and everyone there is so welcoming and awesome!  They were all excited to meet the dad's and the dad's had a great time meeting all the ladies who are helping to take care of us!  We had ultrasound, we were able to see both babies easy and see and hear both heart beats!  Both babies have caught up in size.  They are both measuring a day apart in size and right on track with gestational weeks.  Both heart beats grew faster and stronger this week.  We could actually distinguish heads from bodies and see a big difference in just one week.  Getting excited to see the differences next week.

I am still on all medications from fertility clinic, they test my hormone levels every week also, and they are looking great and hoping to be able to start weaning off meds within the next two weeks.  (My rump will be so thankful and my poor husband who feels so bad everytime he has to give me a shot in my butt)

We had a wonderful morning and afternoon with the dad's.  We took them to my boys favorite science center to visit for a while, and then we all went out for a nice relaxing lunch together at Olive Garden, (since salad is my favorite meal these days) ;-)  Then they had to head back to their home for work schedules.  Sad for the short time together, but so glad they were here and got to be a part of it first hand!

Looking forward to next weeks ultrasound and some good pics!

On a side note, the morning sickness has kicked in pretty good the past week or so :-(  I do not like to take medicines so I was just starting to suffer it out... when I was told about Sea Bands from one of my support groups.  Holy Cow are these things awesome!!!  They are little wraps to wear around your wrist that use acupressure points and oh do they work!!  I can function through out the day now wearing these.!!!  Can not recommend them enough!!

First Ultrasound... Did one or both embryos stay put?

Well since my last post, I have had a second beta (HCG test) which confirmed that I am pregnant and HCG is rising!  Then I had my first ultrasound, which we all new we would not be able to see very much, but was hoping to see a gestational sac or two.
For my first ultrasound I thought it was only fitting to wear my lucky transfer socks once more...
I was able to Skype with one of the dad's throughout the ultrasound.  The tech found one sac right away, took measurements and all looked pretty good, but did not see another sac.  So we were thinking that maybe only one embryo made it.  After looking around for a few other things they want to see, we found another sac.  :-)  As of now it looks like both embryos have made a home and are starting to grow.
My HCG was tested again, only to confirm that my numbers were growing the way they are suppose to which was great to hear!  First HCG at 8 days past transfer was 88, second which was 11 days past transfer was 229 and the third which was at 20 days past transfer was 7159.
Here is the first ultrasound picture

So congrats to my IF's, so hopeful they are getting the twins they wanted!  We will have more ultrasounds almost weekly for a few weeks, to make sure things stay on track and are developing the way they should.  Can't wait to share some ultrasound pics that you will be able to tell what it is you are looking at!

I Can Be So Sneaky... Ha Ha!!

It was not but a few days after transfer, and I was "feeling" pregnant.  I know all women are different with pregnancy, but I have always known I was pregnant very early on with my own.  With all four of my pregnancies I knew I was pregnant before I was even late for a period. So with all this fertility stuff in play now, my cycle is not normal and I was not sure how I would feel or anything.  Within just a few days though, I had these very familiar twinges.  It is a very hard thing to explain to someone else, never the less it is a feeling I know well... and they were there.

We had discussed before transfer, that if I took home pregnancy test, the guys did not want to know about it, they wanted to wait for the blood results.  I am sure with all we have gone through to get to this point, they just did not want any false hopes.  So I respected their wishes and told them, I probably would test before the blood work, but I would not tell them about it.

Once we got home I went to walmart and bought 5 of their cheapie tests, (.88 cents a piece) I planned to start testing 3 days after transfer. This was really funny because originally I told my husband I would probably only test once or twice just a day or two before blood work.  For some reason, an over whelming urge came over me to want to keep checking every day, to see what day it would show positive.  I did test on day 3 and test was negative, I really didn't expect anything other, so I still can't figure out why I actually did the test... LOL  From all I have read and learned from other surrogates, it seems most women who transfer 5 day old embryos, which is what I got, if they take they normally get positive test between day 5 and 7.  Although there were a few who got positives on day 4 and some as late as day 9 or 10.  It seems the average is around day 5-7 though.  Day 4 was positive, Day 5 was positive... lines were light and took a few minutes to show up, but never the less they were there.  So I was getting really excited by this time, I so wanted to tell my guys.  I know this was something that was weighing heavy on them, in all honestly me too since knowing they had no other embryos to work with.

Day 7 after transfer, my lines showed real fast and darker than the other days, which is great!! I have not taken any more home test since day 7.



So me being me... ha ha, I contacted the clinic and asked if I could have blood work done on Friday instead of Monday. (just a couple days early) :-)  Clinic said sure.  So we set up appointment and did not let the guys know.  I was hoping to be able to give them positive results early.  As it turned out, the clinic had a policy about giving medical results, and the clinic had to call the guys first.  :-(  boo hoo...

But it was still great!!  They got a call from the clinic on a day they were not expecting one, so at first they were concerned something was wrong.  The last few phone calls the guys have got from the clinic have not been full of great news.  The nurse gave them the positive news right away, which totally took them off guard, as they were not expecting it till Monday.  So after the shock wore off, and I was able to talk to them, it was a wonderful happy conversation!!!  Lots of tears and excitement!!

This is a little weird for me, I am full of excitement feelings but they are all for this new family I am helping to create, and the excitement does not revolve around me at all.  I am jumping out of my skin happy for my guys, because this is something they have waited for, for so long and want so badly!!  I am so excited that I am able to give this to them, and so hopeful there are no issues, and this pregnancy goes through smoothly.  (which all mine have, but this is pregnancy and anything can happen)

So now I will have more blood work done again on Monday, which is to make sure my hcg level (pregnancy hormone) is climbing.  I am confident it will be, I still have my little twinges non stop.  After that we will start scheduling ultrasounds, so we can see if one or both embryos have decided to stick around.
Will be back with more news as soon as I get it... but as of now, I am officially pregnant with someone else's baby!  LOL that sounds funny!!  but great!!

Transfer is Complete!! Yippee!!

So last week we headed to the soon to be daddy's house to spend some time together and get ready for embryo transfer.  Some of these meds have not been making me feel too great, we took our time getting to their house.  Finally arrived Tuesday afternoon.  As usual we had a wonderful time just being together, me, my husband, our young boys, and both "daddy's".  Everything we did, I was the only female in the group.  It was a blast!


From my last post to the time we arrived there, they had 13 eggs that were retrieved, only 12 were mature.  The clinic separated them into two groups, 6 for each daddy.  They were fertilized and watch for a couple days, by day 4, each dad had 4 growing embryos left.  Sadly not all were making it.  Day 5 which was transfer day, each dad had one really good embryo.  So both of those embryos were what was transferred to me.  The clinic said they would watch the other 6 embryos for another day and decide which ones were good to freeze and save just in case first transfer does not take.


~Transfer day~ Our appointment was in the early afternoon, so we all enjoyed a nice relaxing morning together, although I think each of us adults were all getting a little anxious! :-)

 

So here is me with my lucky socks on, on the way to transfer!! :-)

 After arriving at the clinic, they took me back right away to get ready.  We got to see really magnified pictures of the embryos, its amazing to look at these pictures and imagine that a little human being will be created from this little blob. You will see one is very round and the other is what they call hatching, the embryo is actually already coming out.  The one that was not hatching yet, they could see it was starting to, so it was not far behind.  This is so interesting and exciting!


The transfer itself was very easy, no pain and really no big deal. The dads were in the room with me and were able to watch it all on a monitor and see their little embies transferred to my uterus.  Here is a pic of the monitor screen after the transfer was complete, the little tiny white dot is the two embryos that were transferred to me.  Which is about dead center in the middle of my uterus.  Now we wait and hope the little embies attach themselves and continue to grow and develop!!   In the meantime I have to continue meds, estrogen pills, and progesterone shots daily in my rump! :-(  They are not as bad as I was afraid they would be, but they still do not feel good by any means!

Here is me, my wonderfully awesome husband and my two little gorgeous boys right after transfer.

We went back to the dad's home for a relaxing evening and wonderful company.  All three men put together an awesome dinner, even the boys helped get it all together, while I laid in bed and rested for a few hours.  The guys even let my hubby take the grill over, one of his favorite things to do! :-)

 

We brought some fresh squash out of our garden to share, and cooked on the grill with the steaks, pork chops, hamburgers and hotdogs the guys got.  It was a feast for all of us!  Dinner was fantastic and we all had a wonderful evening!  Spent another day resting, before making our long drive home.


The day after transfer the clinic notified the guys that none of the other embryos made it to the point of freezing.  So the only two good embryos out of 12 eggs, are in me!   All fingers and toes are crossed, with nothing but positive thoughts this will work out our first try.

We are now playing the waiting game until Monday August 11th.  I will have my blood drawn and they will check my hormone levels.  We should know the results by Tuesday the 12th at the latest.  Of course we are all on pins and needles until then.
So until next week.... stick embies stick !!

Countdown to Transfer Time...

Sitting my rump on a heating pad writing a long over due post.  Well really there has not been too much to talk about.  Cycle itself has not been very "exciting".  Have just been taking a crap load of meds and getting my body ready.  Here is what my nightly routine has looked like for the past month.

 

First two round pills are my chewable vitamin c's, then the white one is my calcium/magnesium pill, then my prenatal vitamin with folic acid, little round clear ball is the vitamin d3, which I was a touch low in, next little yellow one is my baby aspirin and the two little blue ones are the estrace, with the lupron shot to top it all off.

A week ago I had my uterus lining check and bloodwork, all was great and ready to go.  The lady who is donating eggs for this was moving a bit slower... so I was put into holding pattern while her cycle ramped up a little more.  Her eggs are ready now and they are retreiving them today.  So that means my meds changed today to get ready for transfer.  Had to start the dreaded progesterone shot. Here just so you can see the difference between lupron and progesterone... 

The needle alone is enough to intimidate you... or at least me.  I have to have one of these injections every day now, for weeks.  I am so thankful for my wonderful husband who did an awesome job of my first injection today.  It is a very thick oil, so that is why I am sitting on a heating pad to help the oil spread out in my rump muscle.  There is even more pills added to my mixture today for the next 5 days.

So while I have been typing this, my IF's have sent me notice that the egg donor's retrieval went well and they were able to get 13 eggs.  Now the clinic will be fertilizing the eggs with their sperm and one from each dad will be transferred to me on Thursday!

Monday we will be on the road to their house, we planned to spend some time together before transfer just hanging out and bonding more over our upcoming journey!

The one exciting thing that has been going on this month is watching my guys get so excited the closer we get.  I get text message pics of them baby stuff shopping.  It's so awesome to see them so excited!!

Packing things up and have my lucky socks in tow and my beautiful lucky charm bracelet (although wearing my bracelet all the time, only wearing socks for transfer day lol)

Will post updates after transfer!!  Till next week... "sticky thoughts"!!

 

Hormones

Lucky Charm Bracelets

Well we have officially started to cycle my body to be ready for embryo transfer in just a few weeks.  So I am taking all kinds of hormones.  I generally am not a very emotional person, at least I do not show it easy.  The simplest things will bring tears to my eyes right now.  Well I checked my mail today and there was this little box from my IF's.  With a beautiful thank you note for all I am doing for them, and expressing the hope of how these lucky charm bracelets will bring us good luck for our first attempt at transfer to be our only lucky one.  They had already put one bracelet together with special meaning charms on it for us.  Had me crying all the way to pick up my daughter from work.  So sweet and thoughtful!

So this week I had my first ultrasound lining check of this cycle, and blood work.  Results came back with the go ahead and we are ready to start the cycle up for transfer.  Right now I am taking a slew of pills... lol (mostly vitamins) but also an estrogen pill twice a day and an injection of lupron every night.  Next week blood work again.  Here is too lucky charms and everything going as planned!

Real Intimidation Now...

Ha ha!! Well I only thought I was slightly intimidated by my first set of shots... Now here we are for the real cycle and here are all the meds and shots I will have to take!  wow!!

One thing I have learned while talking to many surrogates, is that every fertility clinic has their own medical protocol for surrogates.  While it seems they all vary to some degree, they also seem to have much in common.  So if you are considering becoming a surrogate, this picture will look something close to what you will have also.  Really I have decided the lupron shots are no big deal at all.  Especially after learning that the belly was an easier place than the thigh.  They have a super tiny needle to use and you barely feel them.  I do not think I have had any side effects from taking the lupron.  I think the most "scary" thing is the progesterone oil shots.  They use large needles, needs to be done in buttocks area.  Thankfully I have an awesome husband who says he can handle it and will be doing those for me.  I have read many different things to do to help through those shots.  Some really complain about the lumps, or redness, or pain that they seem to leave most ladies with.  It is a very thick oil, and only seems to make sense to hold on to the bottle and warm it slightly.  If oil is warm it seems to be a little thinner.  Most all agree that icing the butt before the shot helps, and then using a heating pad and message after helps spread the oil out better.  So that will be my plan of attack on these shots.

I think everything else will be no big deal, other than I really do not care to take medicines, I just keep reminding myself it is for a short period of time and the outcome will all be worth it, being a big part of helping create another family!

So Close Yet So Far Away...

Well I started out rereading all my previous post today.  Back the middle of April we were thinking we would be going through transfer around the end of May to beginning of June.  Now here we are in the middle of June and finally have a planned cycle for embryo transfer the end of July.  It is exciting that we know we are getting closer, but a month and a half still seems so far away. (even though I really know it is not, and that things have only taken longer than originally thought because I am too fertile, ha ha)
So today I received my written instructions for cycle set up.  Now the clinic has to sync the egg donor's cycle and mine together.  Reading through all the instructions and med's I will be on and hormones... this should be interesting.  Next week I will start the lupron shots again, the following week blood work and ultrasound, week after that more hormones, next week after that, blood work to checks hormone levels.  By the 17th of July there should be another ultrasound and more blood work, and then some more hormones and medicines to get ready for transfer, which if all goes as planned will be scheduled for the 27th of July.
Soon as I saw my email from the clinic, the guys got their copy also.  We were texting with in minutes of each other, we are all starting to get really excited and anxious.  I have joined this one support group on facebook, that all the surrogates are going through transfers in June and July, so we all get to share our experiences together.  Most of these ladies are a real hoot, have me laughing everyday.  One of the big things many of them do is to wear lucky socks to their transfer appointment.  So I am off to amazon and or ebay to find some nifty lucky socks to wear.  Getting into the spirit of this!! 

One Step Closer...

Well I have been lax at getting this post out,  I started to write it about a week ago.  The day after Memorial day I had my ultrasound appointment to check the lining of my uterus and blood work done to check other hormone levels.  Wednesday my clinic received the official results of all my test.  My body has done all they wanted it to this past  month on the new medicine protocol. The ultrasound check is to see if my uterus is getting thick and fluffy from the meds they have given me.  They said they would be happy with an 8 and mine was at 13, so that was awesome! (these numbers are a measurement of thickness in the uterus lining)  So this means we are ready to move on to the real cycle.  They will sync my cycle with the lady who is donating her eggs. Everyone is happy and excited for the next step.  I do not have to give my self any more shots for the next 10 days and for a couple of weeks after that.  For the 10 days following my results I will be taking half of the estrogen amount I was on, and a new one called prometrium (progesterone).  I do have to say the first night I took those pills, I was extremely dizzy!  I felt like someone had fed me a serious narcotic.  I do not normally have much reaction to any medicines, and when they say there are all these side effects, I generally feel or notice none of them.  This was not a good feeling.  I could not even walk steady.  So talking to my clinic the next day, they told me I could take them as a suppository instead of orally, and that it would cut down on my side effects.  It did, and I will only take them that way from now on.  While a vaginal suppository is not my most favorite thing, it beats the dizziness any day of the week.  Now we wait for my own cycle to kick in again.  As soon as my period starts, I will get the new protocol for cycle meds to get my body ready for transfer.  This is really turning into a long journey.

Lupron ~ Tummy vs Thigh

Well, never thought I would be writing about this.  At the clinic when I was first being told about the shots, the nurse told me I could do the lupron shots in my thigh or my tummy.  I instantly said I would do them in the thigh, thinking there is no way I would give myself a shot in my tummy.  I was convinced that the tummy would be way more sensitive than the big thigh muscle.  So for two weeks now I have been giving myself a shot in the thigh.  It is not too bad, some nights I seem to hit a more sensitive spot then others, but over all its doable.  

Well the other day I found a few surrogate support groups on facebook.  So I joined two.  There was a conversation about lupron shots and I found most ever single one of them were doing there shots in their tummies and having no complaints.  Most all I talked with said no feeling or pain at all.  So I decided I would try one tonight in the tummy...

Yes I will agree almost no feeling at all, just a tiny little prick feeling sticking the needle in, but over all... I think much better than the thigh.  So tomorrow night the shot will be in the tummy again, and we will see if the feeling is still the same.

For anyone who thought like I did that the tummy would be much more sensitive than the thigh, I think I was wrong.  I am glad I joined the facebook pages, as it is really nice to talk with others who have already done this surrogate journey and those who are in the process just like me.

Quick Update

Well I went for my ultrasound lining check and blood work two days ago.  All results were in yesterday and they were exactly what they wanted to see!! Yea!!
Funny thing was after I received my phone call from the clinic with positive news about the results, one of the guys had received an email from the clinic, and he and I were texting each other at the same time to share the good news.  So the results showed that I did not ovulate this past month through all the meds.  Now I still have to give myself lupron shots, but I have gone from 20 units to 5 units a day.  Had to start the estrogen pills again yesterday, so I am taking two pills a day and one shot for now.  Next week will have blood drawn again, to ensure that my estrogen levels are climbing.  Then the following week will be another ultrasound and blood work, to ensure levels are still climbing and uterus lining is thickening up and no ovulation.  Providing all of those things happen in that way, then we will be on to start planning for embryo transfer.
Getting excited!! 

Lupron Shots, past the intimidation...

Well I have been giving myself shots now for just over a week.  It is still just a tad daunting every time I put that needle to my skin, but overall it is not really a big deal.  My first shot I gave to myself in the evening.  Living on a farm I still had nightly animal chores to do before bed, which means a bit of walking around for me.  I had just a tiny bit of discomfort at the injection site or maybe even just being able to feel it in my leg muscle while I was walking around finishing up all my night time chores.  So the next night I gave myself the shot just before I went to bed.  Other than just feeling the shot itself, which over all is not painful, just a bit irritating... no issues with the shot.  I went to sleep as normal and felt nothing when I woke in the morning.  So for me, I have discovered that I will do the injection just before bed and I have not noticed any other side effects or discomforts.

Tomorrow will be my next mid lining check, and blood work.  Lets hope that everything is where the clinic would like it to be, so that we can get geared up for cycle next month and embryo transfer.

I was thinking I kind of skipped over some details between posts.  From the clinic day to being intimidated by shots.  The month in between I was on medication (pill form) to evaluate the lining of my uterus.  The medication I was on was suppose to stop me from ovulating so that they could see the lining of my uterus.  Well I ovulated right through the medicine.  So we had to start the process over again with stronger meds this month.  So here is to hoping the ultrasound lining check tomorrow and bloodwork shows that I did not ovulate this month and that all levels are where they want them.

Keeping fingers crossed.... 

Slightly Intimidated...

A bit of nervousness set in Wednesday holding the box of needles and medicine that Fed Ex brought to me.  The clinic tried to put me through a mock cycle last month and I ovulated through the meds, so this month I will be on stronger meds which means I will have to give myself a shot every day for a week or so.  I knew this was coming and I would have to do this close to the time of transfer, which just now means I will have to go through the shots twice to make sure it works.  Honestly this is not the most exciting thing I have looked forward to in this journey.  I have done my research and I know some women have issues with the Lupron shots and others do not.  I will hang onto my positive thoughts and keep in mind most medicines I take for any reason do not give me any side effects.  I know I can do this and it will probably be no big deal, but still the thought of giving myself shots on a daily basis is just a tad intimidating.

The internet is really an awesome tool these days, in anticipation of my upcoming injections, I googled surrogates and Lupron injections, and low and behold there were a number of actual instructional videos on You Tube.  Watching a number of other women do this with no real issues, did give me a little sense of relief.  I live on a farm and have had animals all my life and have actually given many shots and vaccines to animals, but just never to myself.  I’m sure I got this, no biggy (I keep saying to myself) feel the need for winking smiley face here. ;-) 

Well for now we are at the wait and see game (which is one game I do not play well). Have another week or so of meds and ultrasound to check lining of uterus and blood work to be done.  As long as that all goes the way they want, then I think we will be within 4-6 weeks of embryo transfer. 

I guess I will post in a week or so to update on how the injections are going and the ultrasound and blood work.  Keeping fingers crossed it all goes smoothly and as planned.