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!!