Monday, February 11, 2013
Embryo News
I got a message from C today stating that the embryos are indeed, frozen in the same straw. However, she did say that they are fine with thawing both and then re-freezing one. I couldn't be happier about that. This means that we will be moving forward with an SET! Yea! Now to just finish up the contract and wait for March. : )
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Great First Visit
What an extremely long day for me, but definitely all worth it. I had my first visit at the clinic in Houston where C&W's embryos are being kept safe until transfer. I actually decided to drive instead of fly for several reasons. I'm so glad I made that decision, especially after the foggy, rainy day it turned out to be (more so in Houston than DFW). No telling if my flight may have been delayed due to the weather. That would not have been good. We had a joint psych evaluation scheduled at 10:30am and then I had my exam (hysteroscopy - I'll explain more about that later) at 12:30pm.
Because Houston is a little over 4 hours away, I decided to give myself 5 hours before my appointment time just to be on the safe side and it really couldn't have worked out much better. I was up before the sun (4:30am) and out the door about an hour later (the time I'm usually getting up to start my day). I was so excited to see C&W again and knew I wouldn't need any coffee for a little while. I figured I would stop around half way to get some coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. Traffic was light and I had some good tunes, so on my way I went.
Around 7:30am, I figured it would be a good time to stop for coffee. I opened my Starbuck's app searched for the closest store. To my surprise, the closest one showing was in Houston! Really?! I was quite disappointed. I had to go in and get coffee at the Loves Truck Stop where I was currently sitting. Needless to say, that even after the sugar and creamer I added, I only had a couple of sips. NOT good. Drove on a bit further and found a McDonald's. Got a cup of coffee and some oatmeal from there. Coffee was ok, but the oatmeal is always good and continued on my way. I usually don't drive a lot, as DH usually does the driving and I get to sleep. Hehe
I did hit a little bit of traffic once I got into Houston when I was getting onto the Tollway and a little close to my exit too. The drive itself was pretty easy without issue. The medical center the clinic is at is HUGE. Thank goodness Gayle told me what to look for when I got close. I exited and pulled right into the garage I was supposed to be in. I got in a parking spot at a little after 10 and texted hubby that I had arrived safe and sound. I headed on in for our appointment. The clinic is on the 23rd floor and has floor to ceiling windows and a beautiful view. If it hadn't been such a cloudy, gloomy day, I would've taken a picture. I'll be back for at least 2 more visits, so I'll take a picture then. C arrived a few minutes after me and W wasn't far behind. We went in for our appt and had some really good and honest conversation. Again, we had to talk about of a lot of the what ifs that are so important in ensuring that it is a good match. We talked for about an hour and then C&W had to head back to work. As we were talking on the way out, I asked C if they would be ok with me blogging publicly about the journey. She said that it would be fine and I'm so excited about it. She said she was going to start one after her diagnosis, but just didn't get a chance. We discussed the parameters and I agreed to only use their first initials and I won't post any pictures of them without their permission. I can definitely do that! I had a little less than an hour before my exam appointment, so I went to grab my laptop from the car and went to the cafeteria to grab some water and burn a little time.
At about 12:15, I headed back up to the clinic for my next appointment. This was the fun one. *sarcasm* This appointment was for a hysteroscopy, where the RE would check to make sure my uterus looks good (no cysts or issues) and is ready to carry another baby. I took a couple of Advil before because the last time I had one done, there was a little bit of cramping. Dr. M came in and started the procedure. This time, I barely felt a thing (thank goodness). The procedure took all of about 7 minutes. I think it would've only been 5 minutes, but they had some computer issues. Gotta love technology. Dr. M was taking some pictures and they got a printer error and the screen went blank, so she couldn't see anything. Thank goodness it didn't take too long to get it back on line and she took a few more pictures. I think around 5-6 all together. She said that everything looked great.
Once I got dressed, I went to get some blood work done and meet with our NC. Went to get my blood drawn and the tech pulls out 6-7 vials. I knew that was a lot and I had done a ton of blood work at my OB's office back in December at my yearly exam in anticipating another journey in the next 6 months. I had all the infectious disease screening that is typically required, along with several other tests that are usually performed. I told the tech this, so she went to check with the NC (even though I had emailed the records to the NC a couple of weeks ago and informed her of the tests I had already had). I got a bit frustrated because some of these tests are quite expensive. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind having blood drawn and have had tons of blood draws over the and I always try to save my IP's money when I can and I thought she was going to make me retake ALL of them. She came out and removed some of the tests at least. I still think they duplicated some of them and some I will have to have again 30 days before the transfer due to FDA requirements. We have to go through the same FDA testing for an embryo transfer as someone who is getting a tissue or organ transplant.
Once I was done with blood work, I went to meet with our NC and let me tell you, that was very interesting. She introduced herself and then we started talking about protocol and a mock cycle. A mock cycle is where you are placed on cycling meds as if you were doing an actual cycle to see how your body reacts to the meds. Near the end of the conversation, she said, "at the end of the mock cycle, we'll see where C is in her cycle and then sync everything up." I told her, "It's a frozen transfer". Here I am about to walk out the door with patches to start a mock cycle and she thought it was a fresh transfer this whole time. She said, "Oh wait, that changes things. We may not need to do a mock cycle since it's a frozen transfer and we can just adjust your meds and extend it out if we need to. Let me go check with Dr. M." Really? She came back and said, "Ok, nevermind. Let's start over. Hi, my name is B." I went along, "Hi B, I'm Julie." It was quite comical honestly. So instead of starting a mock with patches, I was to start BCP's immediately. Since I was on day 4, I would need to take two pills. One right away and the other before going to bed. Before I left, I did think to ask her if the embryo's were in two separate straws or if they were frozen together, as that had come up in an earlier conversation. She said that she wasn't sure and she would need to check with the lab. We are all really wanting to transfer only one, so I'm not sure if that will have an impact on an SET or not. Guess we will have to wait and see. From what I understand, there doesn't seem to be a significant risk to freeze and then refreeze an embryo and it seems to be done quite often, so we will just have to wait and see on that one. She told me that she would get busy working on the calendar as soon as she can and that she was off on Friday. She told me that we could be transferring in as early as 6 weeks. That timing works out just about perfectly for me, as I am on sabbatical for work from March 4th - 22nd. So exciting!!
After I finished with the NC, I had made plans to meet with a couple of surrogates that live in Houston for lunch. The medical center is connected to a mall, so I found myself through the maze to the entrance of the mall and we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. It was fun and the food was yummy! Dominique and I split the avocado club egg rolls and they were really good. I'll definitely have to get those again sometime. We spent about an hour talking and it was really nice meeting some more of my surro-sisters.
After we finished lunch, I walked back through the maze (got a little turned around once), got back to the car and headed back home. I stopped at a Starbuck's in The Woodlands for coffee to help make the trip home, as it had been a long day. Lots of good memories for me in that City, so it was nice to pass through. Hit a little bit of traffic on the way home and a couple of people that wanted to go under the speed limit (a bit frustrating), but for the most part a good trip home. Got home safe and sound and texted C to let her know. I was so glad I drove because it allowed me to not feel rushed, have lunch with some wonderful ladies and really enjoy the quiet time in the car.
Looking forward to getting our calendar and moving on to the next step through this wonderful journey.
Because Houston is a little over 4 hours away, I decided to give myself 5 hours before my appointment time just to be on the safe side and it really couldn't have worked out much better. I was up before the sun (4:30am) and out the door about an hour later (the time I'm usually getting up to start my day). I was so excited to see C&W again and knew I wouldn't need any coffee for a little while. I figured I would stop around half way to get some coffee and oatmeal for breakfast. Traffic was light and I had some good tunes, so on my way I went.
Around 7:30am, I figured it would be a good time to stop for coffee. I opened my Starbuck's app searched for the closest store. To my surprise, the closest one showing was in Houston! Really?! I was quite disappointed. I had to go in and get coffee at the Loves Truck Stop where I was currently sitting. Needless to say, that even after the sugar and creamer I added, I only had a couple of sips. NOT good. Drove on a bit further and found a McDonald's. Got a cup of coffee and some oatmeal from there. Coffee was ok, but the oatmeal is always good and continued on my way. I usually don't drive a lot, as DH usually does the driving and I get to sleep. Hehe
I did hit a little bit of traffic once I got into Houston when I was getting onto the Tollway and a little close to my exit too. The drive itself was pretty easy without issue. The medical center the clinic is at is HUGE. Thank goodness Gayle told me what to look for when I got close. I exited and pulled right into the garage I was supposed to be in. I got in a parking spot at a little after 10 and texted hubby that I had arrived safe and sound. I headed on in for our appointment. The clinic is on the 23rd floor and has floor to ceiling windows and a beautiful view. If it hadn't been such a cloudy, gloomy day, I would've taken a picture. I'll be back for at least 2 more visits, so I'll take a picture then. C arrived a few minutes after me and W wasn't far behind. We went in for our appt and had some really good and honest conversation. Again, we had to talk about of a lot of the what ifs that are so important in ensuring that it is a good match. We talked for about an hour and then C&W had to head back to work. As we were talking on the way out, I asked C if they would be ok with me blogging publicly about the journey. She said that it would be fine and I'm so excited about it. She said she was going to start one after her diagnosis, but just didn't get a chance. We discussed the parameters and I agreed to only use their first initials and I won't post any pictures of them without their permission. I can definitely do that! I had a little less than an hour before my exam appointment, so I went to grab my laptop from the car and went to the cafeteria to grab some water and burn a little time.
At about 12:15, I headed back up to the clinic for my next appointment. This was the fun one. *sarcasm* This appointment was for a hysteroscopy, where the RE would check to make sure my uterus looks good (no cysts or issues) and is ready to carry another baby. I took a couple of Advil before because the last time I had one done, there was a little bit of cramping. Dr. M came in and started the procedure. This time, I barely felt a thing (thank goodness). The procedure took all of about 7 minutes. I think it would've only been 5 minutes, but they had some computer issues. Gotta love technology. Dr. M was taking some pictures and they got a printer error and the screen went blank, so she couldn't see anything. Thank goodness it didn't take too long to get it back on line and she took a few more pictures. I think around 5-6 all together. She said that everything looked great.
Once I got dressed, I went to get some blood work done and meet with our NC. Went to get my blood drawn and the tech pulls out 6-7 vials. I knew that was a lot and I had done a ton of blood work at my OB's office back in December at my yearly exam in anticipating another journey in the next 6 months. I had all the infectious disease screening that is typically required, along with several other tests that are usually performed. I told the tech this, so she went to check with the NC (even though I had emailed the records to the NC a couple of weeks ago and informed her of the tests I had already had). I got a bit frustrated because some of these tests are quite expensive. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind having blood drawn and have had tons of blood draws over the and I always try to save my IP's money when I can and I thought she was going to make me retake ALL of them. She came out and removed some of the tests at least. I still think they duplicated some of them and some I will have to have again 30 days before the transfer due to FDA requirements. We have to go through the same FDA testing for an embryo transfer as someone who is getting a tissue or organ transplant.
Once I was done with blood work, I went to meet with our NC and let me tell you, that was very interesting. She introduced herself and then we started talking about protocol and a mock cycle. A mock cycle is where you are placed on cycling meds as if you were doing an actual cycle to see how your body reacts to the meds. Near the end of the conversation, she said, "at the end of the mock cycle, we'll see where C is in her cycle and then sync everything up." I told her, "It's a frozen transfer". Here I am about to walk out the door with patches to start a mock cycle and she thought it was a fresh transfer this whole time. She said, "Oh wait, that changes things. We may not need to do a mock cycle since it's a frozen transfer and we can just adjust your meds and extend it out if we need to. Let me go check with Dr. M." Really? She came back and said, "Ok, nevermind. Let's start over. Hi, my name is B." I went along, "Hi B, I'm Julie." It was quite comical honestly. So instead of starting a mock with patches, I was to start BCP's immediately. Since I was on day 4, I would need to take two pills. One right away and the other before going to bed. Before I left, I did think to ask her if the embryo's were in two separate straws or if they were frozen together, as that had come up in an earlier conversation. She said that she wasn't sure and she would need to check with the lab. We are all really wanting to transfer only one, so I'm not sure if that will have an impact on an SET or not. Guess we will have to wait and see. From what I understand, there doesn't seem to be a significant risk to freeze and then refreeze an embryo and it seems to be done quite often, so we will just have to wait and see on that one. She told me that she would get busy working on the calendar as soon as she can and that she was off on Friday. She told me that we could be transferring in as early as 6 weeks. That timing works out just about perfectly for me, as I am on sabbatical for work from March 4th - 22nd. So exciting!!
After I finished with the NC, I had made plans to meet with a couple of surrogates that live in Houston for lunch. The medical center is connected to a mall, so I found myself through the maze to the entrance of the mall and we had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. It was fun and the food was yummy! Dominique and I split the avocado club egg rolls and they were really good. I'll definitely have to get those again sometime. We spent about an hour talking and it was really nice meeting some more of my surro-sisters.
 |
| Me, Dominique (38 wks-Singleton), and Denise |
Looking forward to getting our calendar and moving on to the next step through this wonderful journey.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Contract Review
One step closer. I received the contract via email today and started to read over it. Looks like only a couple of changes so far and I don't think there will be too many more. Once I review everything, I will send any changes to my attorney to adjust and then she will send it back for one more read over, then back to the C&W's attorney. Hopefully we can have it all wrapped up by the end of next week (or close to it).
Contracts are always the hardest part for me because even though we want to always think, "Oh, that will never happen to me/us" or all the other "what if's", this is the piece where we realistically have to consider all of those things. It really stinks, because no one ever really wants to consider those options and most people having babies the "traditional" way don't have to cross that bridge until they get there. As surrogates and IP's, we don't really have to cross those bridges until we get there either, but we have to plan in the event they are there. We all have to be protected, which is why it is so important to discuss these things while matching and I'm glad that we did that and are all on the same page.
Contracts are always the hardest part for me because even though we want to always think, "Oh, that will never happen to me/us" or all the other "what if's", this is the piece where we realistically have to consider all of those things. It really stinks, because no one ever really wants to consider those options and most people having babies the "traditional" way don't have to cross that bridge until they get there. As surrogates and IP's, we don't really have to cross those bridges until we get there either, but we have to plan in the event they are there. We all have to be protected, which is why it is so important to discuss these things while matching and I'm glad that we did that and are all on the same page.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
She has arrived...
AF that is. Yeah, I know. Typically not something we look forward to, but in the surro world, it's an important step towards the next step. She arrived late last night, so today would be day 1. Testing at HIVF is typically done between day 2 and day 4, so I'm excited that we can actually schedule something for Wednesday instead of Monday or Tuesday, because Mon/Tue are really busy work days for me. I'll be emailing the nurse coordinator (NC going forward) today to let her know and get a few more dates ironed out. She hasn't been very clear in the last couple of emails and I'm such a planner that I really need to get some things written down so that I can start planning.
Time will go by so quickly I'm sure, but I think it's going to be a great journey!
Time will go by so quickly I'm sure, but I think it's going to be a great journey!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Surro-sister Get Together
 |
| Back: Me, Amber, Kayla G., Vanessa, and Allyson (5 wks-Litter-LOL!) Front: Meredith (10 wks-Singleton), Beth (37 wks-Singleton), Kayla E. and Kristina |
Oh my! This was probably one of the most fun GTG's so far. It was so nice to visit with the ladies I've met before and got to meet a couple of new ladies too. We met at Saltgrass in Grapevine. I had left in plenty of time, expecting there to be traffic and there wasn't any. Since there wasn't any traffic, I stopped at Nothing Bundt Cakes in Southlake on the way. I LOVE their cakes, so picked up a dozen bundtinis. They are so yummy and I knew the preggo ladies would especially appreciate them. Oh, come on, you can splurge a little when your pregnant. Hehe They put the box together for me and I headed on my way. I still made it 20 minutes early, sat in my car for about 10 minutes and then headed in.
I wasn't there long before Beth arrived and shortly after that, our table was ready and we headed back. We were there for several hours and had a great time. I actually had a drink at this one (other than water of course) and it was yummy! I hardly ever drink, but one of the girls said their Pina Coladas were really good, so figured I'd have one. We had some pretty conversations and it was a really fun get together. We (mostly Vanessa) teased Allyson that she is having a litter because her BETA numbers have been astronomical. They actually only did an SET (Single Embryo Transfer), so in reality, it either split and is twins or it is a singleton really producing A LOT of Hcg. Her ultrasound will be in another week or so, so we are all waiting to see what that shows.
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