Calling All Eggs...

IT. HAS. HAPPENED!  My intended fathers are back in the States and the egg retrieval has taken place. 10 months after signing up to be a surrogate with my agency, we are "this close" to growing a baby!

The donor was kind enough to provide 24 eggs! Some of them are being set aside for a possible sibling project in a little while, but the rest will hopefully fertilize as planned and we'll have 12 (or so) excellent embryos to pick from for a transfer this week.

In other news, I'm no longer doing Lupron injections. This does mean that I am doing Progesterone in Oil (PIO) injections.

I had it all planned out. I had the nurse at the clinic mark my behind where the injections are to go. Then I had my husband (who isn't quite terrified, but isn't exactly comfortable with needles) watch a video of another surrogate doing her own PIO injections so he had a visual reference. Then, he put our son to bed and I chickened out and did the injection myself. If it's not obvious, let me just say, I have a difficult time relenquishing control.

Overall, it wasn't as bad as I feared. It was a huge needle (to my eye) but I barely felt it go in. Hooray! The hardest part was pulling the plunger out a little to check for blood - to make sure I didn't hit a vein. Then changing the grip again to actually inject the medication. Otherwise, easy as pie. This certainly doesn't mean that my behind will be spared from the ache that is typical for an intramuscular injection. But a bruised feeling surely can't be too bad, right? Not compared to the worry over an inch-and-a-half long needle coming at me!

So I'm glad the anxiety about that is gone. Now to look forward again to the next few days and see how everything goes in the lab. Very excited about hopefully having more good news to share again later in the week!

Creeping Closer

In the last week of December, I got to stop taking the Birth Control Pill and go see the IVF clinic for a baseline ultrasound and blood work. They said everything was great, so I started adding estrogen patches to my regimen. (at least I get to see what hormone replacement therapy is like for women who've gone through a hysterectomy or who are menopausal - is that a good thing? LOL)

So far, so good. More bloodwork scheduled in just a few days! Twelve more days until the Intended Parents arrive back in the States!

I'm getting very excited about the date of the transfer creeping ever closer. I'll be completely honest and admit that I'm getting a little more nervous too. The reality of possibilities such as a cancelled cycle or an unsuccessful cycle are becoming a little more intimidating, but I realize that remaining positive is the best thing to do. It works well in other aspects of my life. I really do believe that the power of positive thinking can bring good things your way, so I will focus only on how well things will go and look forward to getting a positive test result early in February!

Injectibles

I've never been so thrilled to jab myself with a needle. Well, to be perfectly honest, I've never done that before... Okay - maybe I should take that back. When I was a kid, my friends and I used to pierce our thin ankle skin with safety pins. We must have been crazy because in no way does that sound fun now...

Anyhow - today was my first day of injectible medications. I did my first Lupron injection and it really wasn't too bad. I've stepped on kid's toys which hurt far worse. I'm not sure how many more days of this I have ahead of me, but I'm not complaining!

And of note - 4 weeks until our first possible transfer date! Yeah! Bring on the new year....

A Plan...

I received great news yesterday! The IVF clinic called and informed me that the egg donor is ready to begin cycling!! Everything looks good with her so she starts birth control pills now and will begin injectibles sometime in January.

As for me, I will continue taking the birth control pills until near the end of December. For a couple of days, I will take both the birth control pills and use a Lupron injection. The Lupron medication is administered via an insulin needle. The Lupron acts on the pituitary gland to suppress ovulation (since my own biological material won't be needed for this surrogacy). A few days later, I will discontinue the birth control pill and only use the Lupron.

The first week of January, I will have blood work and an ultrasound to get a baseline for the cycle. That's also when I'll get all the details on the other IVF medications I'll be taking.

Based on all of this, we're now looking at a transfer in the last week of January. If the cycle is successful, then my awesome Intended Parents can expect their bundle of joy sometime around the middle of October!

Just 50 days or so to wait! How very exciting....

A Fun Package

Well, here it is! My fun package of drugs and needles has arrived.... it was terribly fun to pull it all apart and look at everything. But sadly I must pack it away for now. Hopefully it will only be another 2 weeks (or less maybe?!?) until I get to pull it out again....

Everything, all together...seriously hoping they went a little overboard on packing needles...eek!

The meds include Lupron, Progesterone in Oil (PIO), birth control pills, a steroid and estrogen patches.

This is the enormous needle for the PIO. Sadly, the entire needle tip must be inserted into my rear end  as it's an intramuscular injection. Thankfully, I don't think the actual injection will hurt much worse than getting a flu shot...but I'm guessing that since I'll eventually be doing this daily for several weeks, I can pretty much expect to have a sore bottom for a good long time. (it will be worth it) And since my husband (who has no medical training and an aversion to needles) will be doing these injections for me, I'm a little anxious about how bad the first few might be!

This is the tiny (by comparison) needle for the Lupron injections. It is an insulin needle and only a 29  gauge.  This particular injection is for my well-padded tummy and is only subcutaneous, so it goes just under the skin, rather than into a muscle. Yay! 

Just for comparison's sake... I think it's a safe bet to say the guy with the orange cap will be my  favorite. 

Make Way for the Meds!

At my last update, I'd had my baseline blood work and ultrasound done. I did get a phone call a few days later and they asked me to start taking the birth control pill so that when the egg donor started her next cycle, I would be already in a "holding pattern" and could be synced to her cycle immediately. I'm currently about to finish my second week of pills. When I run out of active pills, I get to skip the inactive "placebo" pills and skip right on to the next pack.

I did get a call from the pharmacy last week. They confirmed all my information and told me that they'll be shipping my other medications to me the day before Thanksgiving. According to their records, I'm to start medications the day after Thanksgiving, but I haven't gotten the official word from the clinic yet.

No major complaints so far. I gained about 3 pounds my first week on the pills. According to Dr. Google, weight gain from water retention is a common side effect of BCP (birth control pills). It's been almost 8 years since I've used them, so I can't say that I remember it all that clearly. I did get hit with some nausea too the first few days, but it wasn't terrible and so I started taking the pills at night and that took care of the problem right away.

I'm very excited to get started on whatever comes next. My guess (if I remember correctly from my appointment ALL the way back in June or July) is that estrogen patches are first, then I move on to injectibles.

The last I heard from the clinic and from the intended parents is that we're tentatively looking at an egg retrieval at the end of December and a transfer at the beginning of January...I sure hope it works out with no further delay! That would be such a fantastic start to the new year!

Getting Started

It's the start of another cycle and I was very happy, when I called the clinic, to be told that they wanted me to start taking the birth control pills so we can get ready for cycling with the egg donor. Apparently, they are still waiting for her to have another cycle before we start the IVF protocol, but it seems that she's only a day or two behind me, so perhaps soon, I'll get word on what we're doing next.

I did get to take a trip to the clinic for baseline bloodwork and an ultrasound. They called later to say that everything looks good. So now, more waiting to hear what's next. It should be just a few days until I get a phone call...