Back from Cali...

So... Michelle and I got back from California on Friday. We calculated that the cost of the 2 day trip had to come to at least $1000.00. So basically, my Intended Parents just paid $1,000.00 for a 20-minute ultrasound appointment. I can't help but feel guilty and I'm kind of upset that they're being taken advantage of. I know this appointment could have been done here locally. Why I HAD to fly to Cali for it, I don't know. Many people may have the impression that my IPs are wealthy since they're able to afford this. On the contrary, they have put their whole life savings (and then some), just so they can have a biological child of their own. To be honest, I wish I could afford to do this for free. I want to make it clear that I am not doing this for the money. I would be lying if I said that the money isn't a factor. The income that I will make from the surrogacy is going to help my family in many ways. We plan on saving most of it to put towards a house. But at the end of the day, there is no price tag that you can put on the child that we will be bringing into this world. I feel so blessed that I've been given this ability. And the money (or as I like to call it, "monetary gift"- that just sounds better don't you think?), well... let's just say... it's a nice little bonus. :)

As far as the trip went, like I said it was quick and painless. All they had to do was check out my uterus to make sure it's baby ready. Not surprisingly (we all know how fertile I am), it's ready! :) There is one kink left though. I guess right now we're still waiting on some blood work to come in from Rome (from the intended father). I guess California law states that the sperm from the father cannot be fertilized (and implanted) until it's clear that he is disease free. Now, maybe someone else can make more sense of this... he already had all of his blood work done when his sperm were frozen months ago. How would getting new blood from him now, have anything to do with the "old" sperm being disease free. Doesn't make sense to me, but it's "the law". Sooo... once the clinic in Cali receives his blood, then the egg donor and I can both start our next hormone cycle and get this ball rolling! I think I have to be on the Progesterone about 5 days before the transfer. So now it looks like we won't be doing it until the first week of December. More waiting! Now, the Progesterone is a while other story. I start with injecting myself once a day, then move to twice a day. I will be taking the Progesterone twice a day until my second trimester begins. These aren't just little shots , like the Lupron I've been injecting myself every night. These are the big, thick "intramuscular" shots. I can't even do these on myself. KC's going to have to administer them. Now, those of you who have seen me lately, know that I don't have a whole lot of muscle on me. I'm pretty scrawny actually. So, as you can imagine, I'm a little nervous about how this is going to work. There's only so many spots that I can be stuck! I can do this, right?! That's what I keep telling myself, anyway. To be continued...

Progress...

Happy Belated Halloween everyone! I don't know about you, but we had a blast. It's so fun watching the girls get older and really get into the holidays. I'm mucho excited about Christmas this year!

So, I started my Estrogen pill last night. Right now I'm just taking it once a day after my Lupron shot. I will be gradually increasing it to 3 times a day within the next couple of weeks. Not really sure exactly what it does (I should probably find out). So far I haven't had any real side effects from the meds. I've been getting headaches, but that could just be from anxiety. I've had to finalize a lot of legal junk this week and it can be pretty overwhelming and stressful. It's the attorney's job to make sure you think about every possible thing that could go wrong, so that you stay protected throughout the pregnancy. Not real calming, but again, necessary. I have to admit, that I'm a little nervous. There's a lot of trust involved between myself and the Intended Parents. That can be a little scary, especially when you don't really know the other person very well. I'm praying that they hold to their promises, as I'm sure they're praying I hold up to mine.

So far so good...

I'm starting this blog a little late, so let me recap the past couple of months. In August I was matched with an amazing couple that lives in Rome. They flew to Denver to meet KC and I. From the start it just seemed "right". They were it. They were the couple I was searching for. Without going into too many details, the intended mother (IM) was forced to undergo an emergency hysterectomy after a botch job from a fertility doctor in Italy. It's a tragic story and one that makes my heart cry. She wanted nothing more than to just be a mother. And she picked me to bring her child into the world. I can't explain how honored I feel. I mean, I will be carrying her child for 9 months while she's across the world. No pressure. :)
Since the meeting, I have flown out to California (where our fertility clinic is) for a slew of medical testing. KC had to be tested as well . I was given my treatment plan and was explained the whole process. Amazing what technology can do these days. Think about it. They will be putting drugs into my body that are basically faking my body into believing that I am trying to become pregnant. At just the right time, they will then inject a 3-5 day old embryo (2 in my case) directly into my uterus. I wait a couple of days for the embryo(s) to attach and just like that, I'm prego. Amazing. Now, the first trimester can be a little tricky b/c my body will still try to treat the embryo as somewhat of a foreign object (b/c this baby has no genetic link to me whatsoever). The risk of miscarriage is higher with surrogacies for obvious reasons. This is where more drugs play in. I have several hormone medications that I will be taking until the end of the 1st trimester. After the 1st trimester, it's basically like any other pregnancy.
Now, I have already started taking an injectable medication called Lupron (this stops me from ovulating). I have to give myself a shot every night at the same time. Not a lot of fun, but necessary. Once I get my next menstrual cycle, then we will calculate the day of my transfer. Right now the tentative day to go back to Cali is November 6th. I will be out there for 10 days on a strict hormone treatment cycle. During my 10 day stay, we will calculate the exact day of the transfer. I could be pregnant in a month! Another question I've been asked a lot is the "carrying multiples" factor. I am only implanting 2 embryos, so yes there is a pretty good chance of twins in my case, but any more than that would be pretty rare. We'll just have to see! :)